damn second shed...advice please

[haircut2000]

Anyone suffered a shed after a year of regrowth on the foam? This shed has lasted over three months (the first time only 10 days) and I have noticeably thinned. Can anyone speculate a reason for this? Is it common? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[SE-freak]

Anyone suffered a shed after a year of regrowth on the foam? This shed has lasted over three months (the first time only 10 days) and I have noticeably thinned. Can anyone speculate a reason for this? Is it common? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Sheds are common and to be expected. That said, if you are using growth stimulants only your follicles still suffer DHT damage. Do you use the foam 2x daily? or have you loosen up after one year of good results? :mrgreen:

 

[haircut2000]

Thanks for your reply. Twice daily and still do. It still seemed that I was improving so I kept it up, only for the last three months I've noticed a constant shed, much more than when I first started the treatment. I've noticed from the boards that this sort of thing is not uncommon but I can't find much information beyond that. My hair is close to where it was before starting the foam. Is this still a common experience among foam users?

 

[SE-freak]

Thanks for your reply. Twice daily and still do. It still seemed that I was improving so I kept it up, only for the last three months I've noticed a constant shed, much more than when I first started the treatment. I've noticed from the boards that this sort of thing is not uncommon but I can't find much information beyond that. My hair is close to where it was before starting the foam. Is this still a common experience among foam users?

As I have never used the foam, I do not think I have personal input here. Being a liquid user though, I went through many sheds. That makes some sense, since I responded to the drug impressively well and went through a major initial shed 20 days after starting treatment. When that many follicles kickstart a new cycle simultaneously, it is very possible that they go through the next telogen/anagen phases together, explaining the following massive sheds.

I am not proposing that you necessarily bite the bullet and ride it off without revising your treatment, as there might be a real lack of effectiveness causing the shedding. I am just saying that major sheds come again and again and that does not necessarily equal degrading results in the long run.

Have you taken baseline pictures or "my hair is close to where it was before starting the foam" is a rough estimation?

 

[wtf1]

I am happy i found this post because the same thing is happening to me. i have been using the foam since july '07 (1 yr 3 months roughly) and almost exactly a year and a month after beginning foam i noticed a lot of hair on my hands and fingers when applying it. before i started any treatment my hair was coming out like crazy, but after starting rogaine the hairloss slowed down almost completely and i would only see about 5-8 hairs on my hand when applying it. now there are sometimes as much as 60 hairs on my hand after applying. it is scary, but i honestly think this is a shed. i didnt really get a hardcore shed early in my treatment like most people do, however i was still pleased with the results i was getting as the foam was slowing my hairloss and overall my hair looked much better. so basically i was just wondering if anyone else has heard of or experienced this. a shed makes sense to me because of the way the hair cycles work but i just never really heard of a shed coming so far into treatment. anyway, i am going to ride it out.

 

[zossima]

Hi.

I've been on rogaine 5% since March 2003, liquid though.

It worked fine for 4 years, after that, it stop being so effective and I began to shed again.
But this happned to me beacause of the biological caracheteristcs of my alopecia, DHT became to strong and minoxidil alone wasn't enough.

I'm not an expert or anything but you should have in consideration the advancement and level of your alopecia.

It could be a new cycle of sychornized hairs, or minoxidil alone is not enough anymore to counter the effect of DHT on you follicles.
If the shed lasts more than 3 months i would consider revising your treatment plan and maybe make some modifications, like adding a DHT blocker or something.

hope it helps.

 

[wtf1]

thanks, yeah that is helpful

 

[haircut2000]

Hi guys. Feel duty-bound to give an update so as not to scare any potential users off the foam. I shedded for four months in the summer and felt had I kept going at that rate, by this time I would've very noticeably thinned. Shortly after I posted here the shedding stopped and since then it has thickened up nicely and as is continuing to do so. The moral seems to be, even if things look doomed, keep with it, though it might be a bit of a rollercoaster ride.