Can minoxidil maintain hair?

[metropolis]

I've been using finasteride and minoxidil 5% for the last 13 years or so with good results. Finasteride is my number 1 baldness drug and it's very effective, but minoxidil doesn't seem to be doing much good.

I've been applying minoxidil to my temples 2 x everyday and there's no regrowth in that area. I wonder, however, if minoxidil has helped me to maintain my hair (after 15 years of hairloss hell, I'm still an early NW2).

So, my question to all you experts is this: can minoxidil maintain hair or is it just a regrowth product?

Anyway, I don't intend to stop using minoxidil - it's easy to use and I see no other alternative.

Thanks in advance, guys!

 

[Mens Rea]

it can maintain hair

problem is that hair becomes reliant on it so you need it

im in the very same position as yourself buddy as youll see from my thread

ive been on minoxidil for 3 years and tbh i question what its did for me.

The prospect of usign the for the rest of my life with the possibility that it doesn't do anything for me is insane so ive decided ot try get off it and see what happens.

 

[Cassin]

It provides an offset of growth to your male pattern baldness.

 

[Mens Rea]

^ For some.

minoxidil is rarely and i mean RARELY in every sense, a success story on its own. Cumulatively maybe but it appears most success stories are based on finasteride. In fact finasteride is really the only consistent element of success stories, min not so much.

 

[Cassin]

well said Colin

 

[Bryan]

So, my question to all you experts is this: can minoxidil maintain hair or is it just a regrowth product?

In topical minoxidil studies that last for a long period of time (more than a year or so), by no means is it unusual to see a gradual loss in haircounts after the peak of regrowth that occurs during that first year. In fact, that seems to be the general rule, rather than the exception. So if those studies very typically show a spurt in haircounts after the start of treatment followed by a gradual diminution in those haircounts back toward baseline afterwards, what other conclusion is there to be drawn except that topical minoxidil doesn't maintain hair? It seems pretty clear that all minoxidil does is give an "offset of growth" to our hair, without really interfering with the fundamental balding process.

Anyway, I don't intend to stop using minoxidil - it's easy to use and I see no other alternative.

NANO (nicotinic acid N-oxide) seems to be a minoxidil-like growth stimulator, too.

 

[Fallout Boy]

It seems pretty clear that all minoxidil does is give an "offset of growth" to our hair, without really interfering with the fundamental balding process.

Does this mean that after a certain amount of time , 2-3 years of use?, minoxidil most likely will not be benefiting the user at all? Not even if youre using it in combination with finasteride. ?

 

[screwmpb!]

it will still be of benefit as if you stop taking it, you'll lose the hair youve gained and held on to with the minoxidil, it will just be less effective in fighting male pattern baldness

 

[IBM]

An old barber told me that his friend was using rogaine for many years. He got tired using it and soon he was losing his hair. He got back to minoxidil. I think as long as you use it you're safe. Of course an anti-androgen is fundamental to slow male pattern baldness.

 

[Bryan]

It seems pretty clear that all minoxidil does is give an "offset of growth" to our hair, without really interfering with the fundamental balding process.

Does this mean that after a certain amount of time , 2-3 years of use?, minoxidil most likely will not be benefiting the user at all?

No, I didn't say that. If you're still using topical minoxidil after 2-3 years (or 20-30 years, for that matter), it will still be benifitting you by giving you a little more hair than you would have had without it. That bit of extra hair is the "offset of growth" that I talk about so much, understand?

But it still doesn't MAINTAIN the hair that you have when you start using it, it just gives you a little more hair each step along the inevitable balding process. For that reason, it's not worth as much in the long run as something like finasteride, which _does_ slow or stop the balding process.

Not even if youre using it in combination with finasteride. ?

Obviously, adding finasteride to the mix completely changes the complexion of things.

 

[Bryan]

it will still be of benefit as if you stop taking it, you'll lose the hair youve gained and held on to with the minoxidil...

You don't "hold onto hair" with minoxidil alone. You still go bald, even if it takes a little longer to do that.

 

[Fallout Boy]

Ok. So eventually haircount will decrease back to the baseline but will you still have more hair at that point in time than you would if you had never used minoxidil?

This might be a stupid question but I guess what im asking is does the effectiveness of minoxidil decrease over time or does male pattern baldness just keep progressing therefor causing you to lose more hair? or Both?

 

[Bryan]

Ok. So eventually haircount will decrease back to the baseline but will you still have more hair at that point in time than you would if you had never used minoxidil?

Yes.

This might be a stupid question but I guess what im asking is does the effectiveness of minoxidil decrease over time or does male pattern baldness just keep progressing therefor causing you to lose more hair? or Both?

There aren't any really long-term studies with minoxidil to be able to answer that question definitively, but my hunch (and that's all it is) is that minoxidil works as long as you use it. And by "works", I mean it continues to provide that offset of growth. It would be really nice if we had some REALLY long-term studies to prove that conclusively, like 10 or even 20 years or more. But without that, we're just speculating.

 

[Fallout Boy]

ok lol. I understand now. Thanks for the replies Bryan.

:smoke:

 

[Mens Rea]

Ok lets straighten this out in a nutshell:

minoxidil will help promote new hairloss (if you're lucky) and make those hairs 100% dependant on it. Thing is, it might well promote certain growth (e.g. around the crown) but not in others. Further, other areas will continue to get worse (with no finasteride etc to block the core reason for male pattern baldness) so you could end up with an unbalanced head of hair.

TBH if you are only going to use minoxidil the only way i see this being a feasible medium term option is for a non-diffuse thinner who could do with a bit of growtn in specific areas. For diffuse thinners using it alone is pretty worthless imo.

Basically if you have bad hairloss minoxidil alone is NOT long term option on its own but could be useful to promote some hairgrowth before or (concurrently) going on finasteride.

 

[rcom440]

Try to use minoxidil with nizoral.

Bryan:
What do you think how much of DHT Ketoconazole blocks?

 

[JLL]

I don't think the argument that "I don't want to start using product X because it would mean I have to use it forever" is very good; yes, the next hair growth remedy is always 5 years away, but seriously, at some point we WILL have that magical pill that grows hair back. And before we find that magical pill, we will have slight improvements over existing products.

The question to ask oneself, then, is whether I'm ready to use product X for the next 3-5 years.

 

[spinner2]

Everyone says that it gives an offset of growth forever, but this hasn't really been supported in any studies I've seen. For example, in the following graph, the minoxidil affected hair rates return to baseline/placebo levels after 2.5 years:

http://www.hairtransplantation.com/imag ... apy_02.gif

It seems like minoxidil use doesn't make sense when you look at the long term data.

 

[Bryan]

Everyone says that it gives an offset of growth forever, but this hasn't really been supported in any studies I've seen. For example, in the following graph, the minoxidil affected hair rates return to baseline/placebo levels after 2.5 years:

http://www.hairtransplantation.com/imag ... apy_02.gif

Huh?? You must not really understand what "offset of growth" means, because that graph fully supports the concept. In fact, it's that very graph which caused Dr. Price to suggest that concept in the first place!

You have to understand that minoxidil affected hair rates return to baseline/placebo levels after 2.5 years because nothing is being done to inhibit the fundamental balding process. All you're getting from the minoxidil is a little more hair than you WOULD have had, had you not used it at all. That's why it's called an "offset of growth". See what I'm saying?

It seems like minoxidil use doesn't make sense when you look at the long term data.

I agree with you. It doesn't really make much sense to use topical minoxidil ALONE, because your're still inevitably going to go bald (or lose however much hair you were originally genetically pre-ordained to lose). In addition to the minoxidil, you also need to use something like Propecia, or topical spironolactone, or RU58841, or _something_ which can fight the fundamental balding process in some way, shape, or fashion.

 

[Petchsky]

Minoxidil will continue to give you more hair on your head than if you never used it. I've read that minoxidil keeps the hair in the anagen phase longer, therefore giving the appearance of more hair. I've not seen that written in this thread per se, but i'm sure that's right.