According to this Doctor, applying liquid minoxidil 1/day is enough

[All_The_Above]

I am currently applying Minoxidil foam in the morning and Minoxidil liquid at night. According to this Doctor, Dr. Bernstein, (I copied and pasted the article and link below), he says that it is enough to only apply the liquid once at night and it is not necessary to apply anything in the morning. Do you guys agree with him? While I like how the foam makes my hair look thicker, I could achieve the same result with any cheap hair styling foam from the dollar store, and save myself a ton of money.


http://www.bernsteinmedical.com/hair-transplant-video/which-is-better-rogaine-foam-or-liquid/

Rogaine comes in a number of different forms. It comes in a 5% solution for men, a 2% solution for women and a 5% foam. The original formulation was the 5% solution for men, which has propylene glycol in it. The propylene glycol is what actually allows the medicine to penetrate into the scalp. That’s the best vehicle, the most effective way of getting the medication into the follicles. And that’s why it was originally designed that way. Many medications have propylene glycol as a base.
The problem with propylene glycol is that it is irritating to the scalp in some patients, and some patients actually can have an allergic reactions to it. Also, it is a little bit greasy. So because of that, for women, they put the minoxidil in an alcohol-based solution, so it’s going to be a little less effective, but less greasy.
Then, a number of years later they came out with men’s foam which has no propylene glycol in it. The problem with the foam is that, even though it is aesthetically a little bit nicer, it doesn’t really allow the medicine to penetrate quite as well into the scalp. Also, the foam is very hard to get on the scalp, especially if you have a lot of hair. It seems like the foam gets caught up in the hair, where with the liquid, you can separate the hair and get the liquid directly on the scalp.
What’s interesting is that although Rogaine has been prescribed in the packaging insert to be used twice a day, often people can get the same results if they put it on more liberally just once a day at night. So if you can put it on at night and use the propylene glycol based solution, the 5% men’s solution, then you can circumvent the cosmetic problems with it being greasy because you can wash it off in the morning. Most people take showers in the morning.
So what we advise most people to do is use the more effective 5% just once a day, at night, wash it out in the morning and then you’re done.
The other thing is we find that when people use the medication twice a day, it’s kind of a nuisance. They kind of just dab it on and you really want to get a good even coat of the entire areas that have the potential to be bald, not just the areas that are thinning a lot. Because the medications work, as you know, as a prevention just as much as regrowing hair back.

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[Bryan]

1) Topical minoxidil used alone doesn't "maintain" hair. In most people who use it, hair continues balding at about the same rate.

2) I can't speak for Rogaine Foam, but when you use either version of the liquid (2% or 5%), the volatile components of the vehicle (alcohol and water) evaporate after a short while, allowing the minoxidil to form a saturated solution of the minoxidil in propylene glycol of about 7.5% or so. The 5% version of Rogaine gives you a little larger quantity of that saturated solution, but the 2% version of Rogaine gives it to you, too.

 

[WarLord]

1) Topical minoxidil used alone doesn't "maintain" hair. In most people who use it, hair continues balding at about the same rate.

2) I can't speak for Rogaine Foam, but when you use either version of the liquid (2% or 5%), the volatile components of the vehicle (alcohol and water) evaporate after a short while, allowing the minoxidil to form a saturated solution of the minoxidil in propylene glycol of about 7.5% or so. The 5% version of Rogaine gives you a little larger quantity of that saturated solution, but the 2% version of Rogaine gives it to you, too.

Topical minoxidil doesn't maintain hair! It actually doesn't work at all, because people on minoxidil lose hair at about the same rate! We actually don't know, why we use it. It is a big mystery that should be definitely resolved! We could use a topical Coca-Cola instead, and the result would be the same!

This guy is an uncurable moronic wackoo. A frustrated balding guy, who is irritated by the idea that minoxidil could help to other people. Don't listen to him. It is a sad pathetic figure of this forum.

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The other thing is we find that when people use the medication twice a day, it’s kind of a nuisance. They kind of just dab it on and you really want to get a good even coat of the entire areas that have the potential to be bald, not just the areas that are thinning a lot. Because the medications work, as you know, as a prevention just as much as regrowing hair back.

This is exactly, what I think. This is an Achilles' heel of minoxidil use. Once I saw an application of minoxidil on YouTube and I had to laugh. The guy basically dripped few drops of minoxidil on hair and then masaged it into the scalp. Such a treatment can't guarantee a complete coverage of the scalp affected by male pattern baldness. He would start to lose his hair very soon.

But even if you apply a sufficient dose, you don't have to wash it off in the morning. If you wash your hair in the evening and then apply it on mildly wet hair, the next day your hair won't be greasy. I really don't understand, how someone can apply it on dry hair.

 

[All_The_Above]

But even if you apply a sufficient dose, you don't have to wash it off in the morning. If you wash your hair in the evening and then apply it on mildly wet hair, the next day your hair won't be greasy. I really don't understand, how someone can apply it on dry hair.

Just for clarification, you take a shower at night, wash your hair and then apply the Minoxidil after your hair is towel dried, and then you don't take a shower in the morning? Also, you only apply Minoxidil once a day? I am thinking about cutting out applying the foam in the morning since it is becoming too expensive. I have to use several cap fulls just to cover my scalp. I have long hair and a lot of the Minoxidil seems to be getting absorbed by my hair.

I started applying Minoxidil to my scalp when it was slightly wet starting about four months ago and have noticed some nice results. I am wondering whether it would be even more effective to do what you are doing, and wash the scalp with shampoo before applying the Minoxidil. The heat from the shower might open the pores more and the shampoo would get off any dirty and oil which would also help for better absorption. Right now, I just splash on a some warm water on my head and then dry it slightly with a towel before applying the Minoxidil.

 

[Boomer01]

After using minoxidil twice a day for years, I decided to start only using it at night. Big mistake! In only a few weeks, I have lost ground on my crown and have started using it twice a day again. I am also on finasteride. Every person may react differently, though.

When I stopped using minoxidil twice a day:

5 weeks later:

 

[Beingbaldsucksass]

minoxidil has done wonders to me, people who saying its **** are dumbasses

 

[Rocky V]

that's a stupid statement. just because it works for you doesn't mean it works for everybody

 

[The_Mentalist]

1) Topical minoxidil used alone doesn't "maintain" hair. In most people who use it, hair continues balding at about the same rate.

That is incorrect. This is coming from a user of 18 years. I detailed in some other post my experience

 

[Bryan]

"1) Topical minoxidil used alone doesn't 'maintain' hair. In most people who use it, hair continues balding at about the same rate."

That is incorrect. This is coming from a user of 18 years. I detailed in some other post my experience

I think it IS correct. Long-term studies of topical minoxidil have invariably shown that haircounts and hairweights slowly diminish as the years go by. If that hasn't happened to YOU in 18 years, you're a very very lucky person. What I think is actually more likely to be the case is that you HAVE had a loss of hair in all that time, but you just haven't noticed it.

 

[WarLord]

that's a stupid statement. just because it works for you doesn't mean it works for everybody

But those, who were not successful with minoxidil, are surprisingly active on internet forums and passionately spread mystifications that "minoxidil doesn't maintain hair". And consider, please, that people, who have been using minoxidil for many years, usually don't visit these latrines attracting mainly whining losers and self-righteous wackoos.

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I think it IS correct. Long-term studies of topical minoxidil have invariably shown that haircounts and hairweights slowly diminish as the years go by. If that hasn't happened to YOU in 18 years, you're a very very lucky person. What I think is actually more likely to be the case is that you HAVE had a loss of hair in all that time, but you just haven't noticed it.

"Long-term studies have invariably shown"? What "long-term studies" do you mean, you obsessive dumbass? The 1-2 years' studies of Olsen and Price (the latter based on 16 people?!) You cherrypick graphs that fit your sick theories and ignore everything that contradict it. If the long-term studies from late 80's invariably showed something, then they showed that at least one-third of people on 2-3% minoxidil continued to gain hair even after 4-5 years! Why do you ignore these findings? Oh, you are paid by Merck, aren't you? Nobody on this planet can just be so demented.

Here you have another example of a man using minoxidil for 18 years. But he is again "lucky", of course. Minoxidil just doesn't work at all, of course. Maybe there are other "lucky" people, who have maintained hair for 15-20 years on topical lemonade or orange juice.

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Just for clarification, you take a shower at night, wash your hair and then apply the Minoxidil after your hair is towel dried, and then you don't take a shower in the morning? Also, you only apply Minoxidil once a day? I am thinking about cutting out applying the foam in the morning since it is becoming too expensive. I have to use several cap fulls just to cover my scalp. I have long hair and a lot of the Minoxidil seems to be getting absorbed by my hair.

I started applying Minoxidil to my scalp when it was slightly wet starting about four months ago and have noticed some nice results. I am wondering whether it would be even more effective to do what you are doing, and wash the scalp with shampoo before applying the Minoxidil. The heat from the shower might open the pores more and the shampoo would get off any dirty and oil which would also help for better absorption. Right now, I just splash on a some warm water on my head and then dry it slightly with a towel before applying the Minoxidil.

You describe it correctly. Actually, I think this producedure is natural and logical, and I would never do it other way. You can't just apply it on dry hair. It would look terribly. Only when I cut my hair short, then I sometimes apply it without washing my hair.

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After using minoxidil twice a day for years, I decided to start only using it at night. Big mistake! In only a few weeks, I have lost ground on my crown and have started using it twice a day again. I am also on finasteride. Every person may react differently, though.

Your hair became dependent on the twice-daily usage. Perhaps if you used 7.5-10% minoxidil, you wouldn't have to use it twice daily.

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minoxidil has done wonders to me, people who saying its **** are dumbasses

My words. These internet forums became an Augean barn attracting hypochondriacs, whining defeatist losers and self-righteous crackpots that mystify newbies with their fabricated fairy-tales. While in the vast majority of people in the real world, the treatments work successfully, here, instead of useful pieces of advice, you are welcomed by ultimate statements, how certain chemicals do (not) work, and how everything is actually useless and a waste of time. It's a time to make a general cleaning of this sinkhole.

 

[Bryan]

"Long-term studies have invariably shown"? What "long-term studies" do you mean, you obsessive dumbass?

If all you're going to do is call me foul names, I'm not going to waste my time on you.

 

[WarLord99]

If all you're going to do is call me foul names, I'm not going to waste my time on you.

First of all, you shouldn't "waste" your time on this forum. I think it's the right time to interrupt your glorious career as the biggest internet mystifier of all-time. Enjoy your pension in Florida, mister!

 

[Beingbaldsucksass]

that's a stupid statement. just because it works for you doesn't mean it works for everybody

I started early so it restored my tramples almost compleatly, people lost too much and did nothing to prevent it and then they crying why it dosent work

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minoxidil is for regrowth so any statement that it dosent maintain is usless, maintaining is finasteride rule, but people spread fear mongo ring lies that it shrink your penis and more lies

 

[WarLord]

I started early so it restored my tramples almost compleatly, people lost too much and did nothing to prevent it and then they crying why it dosent work

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minoxidil is for regrowth so any statement that it dosent maintain is usless, maintaining is finasteride rule, but people spread fear mongo ring lies that it shrink your penis and more lies

My words, bro! Sixteen years ago, I started immediately after I observed the first signs of hairloss (although it took about 6 months, until I realized that it was not my paranoia.) Early treatment is the key for success - and especially in young men, whose male pattern baldness progresses quickly and agressively! I wholeheartedly despise all the defeatist losers, who idly wait until they have a bald vertex, and then they start to whine in the internet that fighting male pattern baldness is a lost battle.

 

[Koga]

@WarLord: You only apply minoxidil once a day? Double (2ml) the recommended amount of one application (1ml) or not? And no anti-androgens of any kind? I absolutely believe that minoxidil can do much more than some people (on HairLossTalk.com or other forums) seem to admit. According to my dermatologist, lots of people keep their hair (forever) by only using minoxidil.

 

[WarLord]

@WarLord: You only apply minoxidil once a day? Double (2ml) the recommended amount of one application (1ml) or not? And no anti-androgens of any kind? I absolutely believe that minoxidil can do much more than some people (on HairLossTalk.com or other forums) seem to admit. According to my dermatologist, lots of people keep their hair (forever) by only using minoxidil.

I have ever used it only once a day. But I cover the whole scalp affected by male pattern baldness, ca. 3,5-4 ml at once. I have been on finasteride for nearly 4 weeks, but I decided for it only after a long reasoning, because I was losing patience (and nerves) after I lost a big amount of hair in my left temple. Ironically, it was due to a long-term minoxidil overdose. I wanted to improve the density a bit, but after 13 months on 10-15% minoxidil, I ended up with less hair than at the beginning. The stuff was too strong and my hairs were apparently overstimulated by it. They fell out, grew back and shortly after fell out again. But the worst was yet to come: After I quitted the strong minoxidil concentration, I began to lose even more hair - the hair that became dependent on the high-strength minoxidil in the meantime. In mid-June, the area in my left temple, where I applied it, was nearly bald, and no regrowth of the lost hair is on the horizon, despite that the 5% (now 6%) minoxidil keeps the rest of my hair well. I was pretty distressed from this experience, because this has been the first time since late 90's, when I lost some hair. The biggest irony is that I have been just regrowing solid, thick hair in my right temple, on places that have been bald for 15 years! And I can't really tell, what caused it. I attribute it to the dermastamp, but it can also be some "rebound effect" after the quitting of the high-strength minoxidil...

And as for your final sentence, yes, my experience is in full accordance with it. But these people don't go to whine on this forum, unfortunately. I would like to add that according to Rossi et al. (2011), only 4% men, who had reacted well to finasteride after 1 year, had worse results after 10 years. Although this percentage may be higher in people using 5% minoxidil, I also believe that the stories about the loss of efficiacy are negatively skewed, exaggerated and unobjective. I think that nearly all of these users belong to the category of young people, who started with the treatment too late and whose hormones still haven't reached their peak. Furthermore, discipline and compliance during the minoxidil use are a big problem in general.

 

[Koga]

Very interesting experience, thanks! So what would you advise to a 21 year old, starting minoxidil? Twice a day, the recommended amount? Or once a day, covering the whole affected area..?

 

[Beingbaldsucksass]

I prefer 2x times foam, it's very easy and absorb better, the liquid **** spilled to your face

 

[WarLord]

Very interesting experience, thanks! So what would you advise to a 21 year old, starting minoxidil? Twice a day, the recommended amount? Or once a day, covering the whole affected area..?

You MUST cover the whole area normally affected by male pattern baldness, if you want to take your anti-hairloss treatment seriously. Otherwise you can give it up right now.

But I can't tell you, how your hair will prosper, when you apply it once or twice a day. I am not a prophet. Normally I would recommend to take it twice daily at first, and when you reach the maximum benefit, you can continue with the treatment once daily. However, there was a guy on some forum, who said that he was losing hair, when he switched to the once-daily usage. So it's hard to say. Perhaps you could do the switch gradually, at first every other day, and then every day.

 

[Koga]

Then I'll start by twice a day and covering the whole area. I'll check the ml's though, to be sure I use the same amount everyday. Bought the liquid btw, foam seems easy but I have fairly long and voluminous curly hair: the foam would mostly get absorbed by the hairs and not the scalp I guess. A pipette with the liquid seems far more precise.