Stu85 said:
I'd also like to know, more specifically, if Rogaine hairs eventually die even with continued use of the product? Basically, does it lose it's effectiveness over time, or will the hairs grown with Rogaine always continue to respond providing they are subjected to a bi-daily dose of Rogaine?
A metaphor to help you understand:
As a hair follicle on a person suffering from male pattern baldness gets older, it becomes more frail...the hair it makes grows thinner and grows shorter until it is so small and thin you cannot even see it.
Minoxidil "resets the time clock" for a follicle and turns it back to a more youthful state...let say it takes a 40 year old follicle and makes it feel like a 30 year old follicle. As long as you continue to use Minoxidil, the initial offset of ten years will continue. So in a year when the follicle is actually 41 it will feel like 31. Time continues to pass at its normal rate....but the follicle feels like it did in 1997 even though it is actually 2007. Now the follicle starts cranking out hair like it used to. But Minoxidil cannot "stop" time. It can only "offset" it by the, say, "10 years". So the follicle continues to age at a "normal" rate and will eventually, after 10 years, be 41 and weak again....you just "bought" yourself 10 years by cheating father time with Minoxidil.
Now a DHT blocker such as Propecia or Avodart (or some other topical DHT blocker) has a different special power. They actually "slow down time". So, for example, if you use Propecia even though, say, ten years have actually passed, the hair follicle will "age" only 5 years or less. Propecia has slowed down time. The more powerful the DHT blocker (the more DHT is blocked) the slower time passes for the follicle and so the longer the life of the follicle.
So in this metaphor (to address your question) Yes, even on Minoxidil you will eventually still loose hair "to age" at the same rate, you've just reset the time clock back a few years. It's not that you become "immune" to Minoxidil, but rather you've just used up the time that Minoxidil gave you because it cannot "stop" or "slow" time.
Propecia or Avodart will actually extend the life of the follicle by actually slowing down the "aging" process....not just offsetting a few years. So the moral of the story is....it is believed that the most effective treatment is a compliment of both, say, a potassium channel opener such as Minoxidil AND a "DHT blocker" of one form or another such as Propecia, Avodart, possibly spironolactone, etc. Make your hair "younger" with Minoxidil and then "slow down time" so it says younger longer with Propecia.
It should also be mentioned the "effect" both Minoxidil and Propecia induce on the hair follicle cease once treatment is discontinued. You can't just "reset time" with minoxidil and then stop using it. The illusion stops once the treatment stops. The same goes for Propecia. If Propecia made 10 years pass like 4 years, when you stop Propecia the follicle will go back to feeling like 10 years have passed and instantly become weak and old again.
Disclaimer: this is just a metaphor to help visualize the characteristic effects of the treatments discussed. The actual scientific reasons for their effectiveness in treating male pattern baldness is, of course, not discussed. The resulting effect, however, is generally accurate. Also when "ten years" is used in the example....this is not the actual time minoxidil will keep the hair. Again this is only for metaphorical use and the actual time minoxidil "keeps" a hair might be quite shorter of a span without the combining of other treatments.