A question for those who are saving Minoxidil for later.

[too bald too furious]

I have read on this forum somewhere that the success rate of Minoxidil is only 30% or so. I have seen so many posters here staying off from Minoxidil as they are on the Finasteride+Nizoral Combo mainly because of its convinience.

I think that Minoxidil may have a better chance of working if used in combination with a DHT inhibitor like Finasteride.

My question is that lets say you use finasteride for 10 years and then it loses its effectiveness...how do you know that you will be in that lucky 30% and Minoxidil will save your ***? Why doesnt minoxidil work for everyone..since it basically keeps the hair longer in the Anagen phase?

I saw a TV ad for Rogaine 3 years back or so in which Rogaine claimed that it stopped or slowed hairloss in 4 out of 5 people and regrew hair in 3 out of 5. So which claim is correct...the 30% success rate or the 80%?

 

[WithTheLidOff]

most likely somewhere between the 2. I think that EVERY hairloss product claim is a little bit off, but if they said "maintains hair in 55% of men, it wouldnt sell." Then again, if they did some serious research and tests, even in the early stages and saw that it was only working for about 30% of the test subjects, they would have pulled the plug on the whole thing.
Sure, you COULD be in that number that doesnt respond..but what if you were in that number that DOES but didnt do anything about it? Only one way to find out.
Good luck

 

[too bald too furious]

most likely somewhere between the 2. I think that EVERY hairloss product claim is a little bit off, but if they said "maintains hair in 55% of men, it wouldnt sell." Then again, if they did some serious research and tests, even in the early stages and saw that it was only working for about 30% of the test subjects, they would have pulled the plug on the whole thing.
Sure, you COULD be in that number that doesnt respond..but what if you were in that number that DOES but didnt do anything about it? Only one way to find out.
Good luck

Thanks for the reply dude.

I dont understand why Minoxidil wont work for everyone? :?

The success rate of Minoxidil is quite poor.

 

[WithTheLidOff]

I have had a bit of type 1 regrowth, which is new hair..but very little. Where minoxidil has really helped me out is by thickening my exhisting hair..BIG TIME!! I think the hair is growing out thicker and darker. I had crappy thin hair on my crown and it looked like a bald spot. Its almost completely gone, even though theres no NEW hair there. It isnt new growth, but i havent lost anythign and its a definite improvement.

I am also on propecia, but I htink its the minoxidil thats thickenned up the hair.

Good luck!!

 

[Bryan]

I have read on this forum somewhere that the success rate of Minoxidil is only 30% or so.

How does one define "success rate" in this context?

I think that Minoxidil may have a better chance of working if used in combination with a DHT inhibitor like Finasteride.

Maybe, maybe not. There was a stumptailed macaque study which used oral finasteride along with topical minoxidil, and the results appeared to be ADDITIVE, rather than synergistic. In other words, the finasteride did ITS own thing, and the minoxidil did ITS own thing. They probably had their own distinct and independent effects.

Why doesnt minoxidil work for everyone..since it basically keeps the hair longer in the Anagen phase?

Why doesn't ANYTHING work for everyone? Nobody knows...

BTW, in my opinion, the way to look at Rogaine is simply to think of it as something that provides an offset of extra regrowth. It doesn't directly inhibit the fundamental balding process.

Bryan

 

[too bald too furious]

I have read on this forum somewhere that the success rate of Minoxidil is only 30% or so.

How does one define "success rate" in this context?

[quote="too bald too furious":8ba52]I think that Minoxidil may have a better chance of working if used in combination with a DHT inhibitor like Finasteride.

Maybe, maybe not. There was a stumptailed macaque study which used oral finasteride along with topical minoxidil, and the results appeared to be ADDITIVE, rather than synergistic. In other words, the finasteride did ITS own thing, and the minoxidil did ITS own thing. They probably had their own distinct and independent effects.

Why doesnt minoxidil work for everyone..since it basically keeps the hair longer in the Anagen phase?

Why doesn't ANYTHING work for everyone? Nobody knows...

BTW, in my opinion, the way to look at Rogaine is simply to think of it as something that provides an offset of extra regrowth. It doesn't directly inhibit the fundamental balding process.

Bryan[/quote:8ba52]

Bryan,

Minoxidil is a growth stimulant. The success for Minoxidil is ideally regrowth of new hair or even super thickening of very thin hair.

When Minoxidil is being used in conjunction with Finasteride, how can there effects be independent from each other? Finasteride lowers the level of DHT under the scalp and the lesser DHT will help all the hairs grow better. Minoxidil on the same hair will keep the growing hair longer in the anagen phase.

If minoxidil is used alone, isnt there a possibility that the force of DHT is too strong for minoxidil to handle. So when DHT is less, Minoxidil may have a better chance of working.

And when u say that Rogaine will provide an extra offset of growth...This extra offset of growth will be only for the 30% of users who are success stories or for everyone?

 

[eliazush]

Hi,

Well, I learned no to count on the success percentage of the companies...I do count on its clinical studies that had been done - it means it is proven experimentally. Success percentage varies a lot between indivuduals and think about it: even if the company claims to 80% success how can you know you fall withing these 80%? If you are not, that you don't really care it helps the other 80%...

So, I am into trying ANYTHING (that is clinically proven) that might help. You have nothing to lose...except money, of course. Also, I think baldness is cruel and will never stop itself if you don't treat it (as long as you don't amputate your balls...hehehe). So it's best to strike it as powerfully and early as possible. The earlier you catch it the more you will maintain and restore. Besides, even if you don't see a significant results with a certain product you can't say for sure it doesn't at least maintain the situation because you can't turn the time forwards and backwards with and without the specific product and to compare the terminal situation.
The treatment is only limited to one's own budget since these treatments are damn expensive.

Eliaz

 

[iamnaked]

I think studies devoted to analysing 'success rates' of telogen-growth phase extenders such as minoxidil are doomed to a certain degree of inaccuracy, let alone feedback from people using it in non-clinical trials...

Think about it - your hairs are not synchronised in their growing patterns (otherwise, when your hair all reached the end of its growth phase, you'd become as bald as a freshly plucked chicken before it all regrew). Because the studies are effectively based on hair-counting there are likely to be a high number of false negatives from people with coincidentally high shed rates on the day of the test. Now if you factor into the equation the fact that people often forget to apply it, and cosmetically the wet greasy effect is unsatisfactory, it is unsurprising that it has a mediocre rep.

Give it a chance, guys...