Debating starting rogaine / minoxidil....

[omgwtfbbq]

I've been using Revita (which seems to actually be working, strangely enough - though it might be just me and a placebo effect ), and my supply of finax is in the mail right now...

I'm THINKING of adding foam to my "diet", though doing it twice a day sounds like a total pain in the neck. Is it effective used just in the mornings? I could easily add it to my "getting ready for work" ritual if I decide to start it up...

What bothers me though, is the idea that if I stop using it for whatever reasons, the hair I gained goes bye-bye really, really quickly. Is there a way to prevent that if I stop using the rogaine? Will finax help me to hold onto the newly gained hairs?

Also, in looking at spectral DNC, it seems to have more "good stuff" in addition to the minoxidil - is it worth using instead?

What are the best vendors to look at for foam? Is there a generic version that doesn't suck?

Thanks in advance for anyone's replies.

 

[UK1]

It's very easy to apply so there's no reason not to do it twice a day, nothing but minoxidil will keep the hairs that you gain unfortunately.

 

[omgwtfbbq]

It's very easy to apply so there's no reason not to do it twice a day, nothing but minoxidil will keep the hairs that you gain unfortunately.

so even if finax is working to maintain my current hair levels, minoxidil is the only thing that works on the hairs gained by minoxidil use?

that's really weird. is there something different about those hairs?

 

[Guest]

They both work differently. finasteride reduces your DHT levels. Follicles that are susceptible will miniaturize when DHT binds to them.

The exact mechanism by which minoxidil works is actually unknown, but if you remove a lifeline from ANYTHING it will die too. Therefore you need to make a commitment to keep applying the minoxidil up until the point comes around where some new and improved treatment comes out. Applying foam is no more difficult than brush your teeth, same with the Spectral DNC as they both dry quickly.

What a lot of people here do is use Spectral DNC at night, and the Rogaine Foam in the mornings since the foam makes your hair look better immediately after use.

Revita, foam/dnc, and finasteride.....Welcome to the Big 3, your hair should be in really good shape a year from now.

 

[dietcola]

i dont know why people have such a dilemma about starting minoxidil

yes the hairs are dependant on minoxidil, but those are hairs that you wouldn't even have if you didn't start minoxidil. it's not like when you quit you will lose more hair than you would have, you will just lose what you gained.

so use minoxidil and maybe enjoy some new hair until you decide you're comfortable losing it.

or don't use it, and don't enjoy new regrowth.

 

[Bryan]

What bothers me though, is the idea that if I stop using it for whatever reasons [minoxidil], the hair I gained goes bye-bye really, really quickly.

Will somebody please explain to me why there is always so much chatter on hairloss forums about how you'll lose all the gains you made if you stop using minoxidil? The same is true for absolutely any OTHER drug treatment, too, not just minoxidil, so why do people insist on singling-out that particular one for bitching and complaining?? The only treatments of any kind that have a permanent effect are hair transplants and castration! :wink:

To drive the point home, here are some examples of other medical (drug) treatments that have the same problem as minoxidil:

If you stop using Propecia, you will lose any gains you made on it.

If you stop using Tricomin, you will lose any gains you made on it.

If you stop using Folligen, you will lose any gains you made on it.

If you stop using Proxiphen, you will lose any gains you made on it.

If you stop using NANO shampoo, you will lose any gains you made on it.

If you stop using Nizoral shampoo, you will lose any gains you made on it.

If you stop using RU58841, you will lose any gains you made on it.

If you stop using spironolactone (oral or topical), you will lose any gains you made on it.

See how it works?

 

[frontal]

I've been using Revita (which seems to actually be working, strangely enough - though it might be just me and a placebo effect ), and my supply of finax is in the mail right now...

I'm THINKING of adding foam to my "diet", though doing it twice a day sounds like a total pain in the neck. Is it effective used just in the mornings? I could easily add it to my "getting ready for work" ritual if I decide to start it up...

What bothers me though, is the idea that if I stop using it for whatever reasons, the hair I gained goes bye-bye really, really quickly. Is there a way to prevent that if I stop using the rogaine? Will finax help me to hold onto the newly gained hairs?

Also, in looking at spectral DNC, it seems to have more "good stuff" in addition to the minoxidil - is it worth using instead?

What are the best vendors to look at for foam? Is there a generic version that doesn't suck?

Thanks in advance for anyone's replies.

Wah...Revita only?
Lucky you.
How old are you?

I guess all those hairloss products has it's own mission.

 

[omgwtfbbq]

What bothers me though, is the idea that if I stop using it for whatever reasons [minoxidil], the hair I gained goes bye-bye really, really quickly.

Will somebody please explain to me why there is always so much chatter on hairloss forums about how you'll lose all the gains you made if you stop using minoxidil? The same is true for absolutely any OTHER drug treatment, too, not just minoxidil, so why do people insist on singling-out that particular one for bitching and complaining?? The only treatments of any kind that have a permanent effect are hair transplants and castration! :wink:

To drive the point home, here are some examples of other medical (drug) treatments that have the same problem as minoxidil:

:: SNIP ::

See how it works?

Yeah, I get what you're saying.. what I'm saying is that I'm not sure I understand why the hairs gained from ONE treatment wouldn't be kept up by another...

IE if Finasteride is supposed to retard hair loss fairly effectively, shouldn't it help to keep the minoxidil generated hairs as well? That's what I'm not sure I understand, personally. What makes minoxidil-gained hairs different from other hairs? If I am on a treatment that KEEPS hair (like dutas or finas or miracledrugX), wouldn't that treatment affect the hair minoxidil helped grow? If not, why is that?

I get that if, for example, I am just on minoxidil and i gain hairs, when i stop taking minoxidil i lose those hairs... but why do combinations of other things not affect those hairs?

What worries me about the process is this - let's say, hypothetically, someone comes along and discovers that some new topical regrows hair permanently and is a miracle and whatnot... when I switch from minoxidil, all my gains go bye-bye?


hope I said it enough ways here that my question is clear.

 

[TheOliviaTremorControl]

Yeah, I get what you're saying.. what I'm saying is that I'm not sure I understand why the hairs gained from ONE treatment wouldn't be kept up by another...

IE if Finasteride is supposed to retard hair loss fairly effectively, shouldn't it help to keep the minoxidil generated hairs as well? That's what I'm not sure I understand, personally. What makes minoxidil-gained hairs different from other hairs? If I am on a treatment that KEEPS hair (like dutas or finas or miracledrugX), wouldn't that treatment affect the hair minoxidil helped grow? If not, why is that?

I get that if, for example, I am just on minoxidil and i gain hairs, when i stop taking minoxidil i lose those hairs... but why do combinations of other things not affect those hairs?

What worries me about the process is this - let's say, hypothetically, someone comes along and discovers that some new topical regrows hair permanently and is a miracle and whatnot... when I switch from minoxidil, all my gains go bye-bye?


hope I said it enough ways here that my question is clear.

This is exactly why I'm hesitant to start minoxidil.

Say in 10 years they invent a cream that totally reverses the effects of baldness.
"Ooops, sorry, for people with minoxidil-dependant hairs, this won't work.".

Whats more, I know minoxidil *spreads* when it is absorbed into the scalp... so what if hair that was previously dependant on Finasteride suddenly becomes dependant on Minoxodil?
Then when minoxidil becomes ineffective, these hairs which were formerly dependant on finasteride, and now dependant on minoxidil, are lost.

Eg; if minoxidil is inadvertently applied to finasteride-dependant hairs, which drug will take "precedance"?

 

[UK1]

I thought about all of that too then remembered that I'd be bald within a year or two anyway.

 

[Bryan]

Yeah, I get what you're saying.. what I'm saying is that I'm not sure I understand why the hairs gained from ONE treatment wouldn't be kept up by another...

IE if Finasteride is supposed to retard hair loss fairly effectively, shouldn't it help to keep the minoxidil generated hairs as well? That's what I'm not sure I understand, personally. What makes minoxidil-gained hairs different from other hairs? If I am on a treatment that KEEPS hair (like dutas or finas or miracledrugX), wouldn't that treatment affect the hair minoxidil helped grow? If not, why is that?

Did you ever consider that maybe minoxidil is something like "life-support" for certain hair follicles? To use an obvious metaphor, if a patient is in a serious car accident and lies close to death in a hospital but is being kept alive on a ventilator, what do you think is gonna happen if they pull the plug on the life-support? He's gonna die, right? The same thing is going to happen to hair follicles which are being stimulated artificially with minoxidil.

Finasteride, on the other hand, isn't any kind of growth stimulant. It doesn't FORCE your hair follicles to grow, all it does is ALLOW them to grow as they normally would, by removing the presence of DHT. It's up to them to do their own growing, provided they haven't already been too damaged.

So looking at it from that point of view, it doesn't seem at all surprising that finasteride alone may not be able to sustain the growth of hair previously stimulated with minoxidil.

I get that if, for example, I am just on minoxidil and i gain hairs, when i stop taking minoxidil i lose those hairs... but why do combinations of other things not affect those hairs?

I think you're over-thinking this. What makes you assume that combinations of other things COULDN'T affect those hairs?

Nobody's making any big, bold statement that absolutely NOTHING IN THE WORLD can sustain minoxidil-stimulated hair, we're just making one very specific claim, which is that FINASTERIDE ALONE may not be able to do it. Don't try to over-generalize it to include all other possible treatments.

What worries me about the process is this - let's say, hypothetically, someone comes along and discovers that some new topical regrows hair permanently and is a miracle and whatnot... when I switch from minoxidil, all my gains go bye-bye?

Same as what I said just above: don't try to over-generalize! :roll: We're just talking specifically about minoxidil and finasteride.

 

[omgwtfbbq]

I thought about all of that too then remembered that I'd be bald within a year or two anyway.

i don't quite have that bad of a balding issue - it's worse that I thought it was, but still not accelerating or anything...

nice little bald spot in back and thin up top to the front, but not HORRIBLE yet.

still.. i just bit the bullet and started the minoxidil foam. not sure what the best application method is though - seems like putting it in the cap then on the fingers makes it just mostly wind up on the hair rather than the scalp, so I tried to put the can right on my scalp and pop out little droplets of the stuff.... seemed to be a bit easier, but again, not extremely efficient.

any hints would be nice.


EDIT:

Just saw your post Bryan - I was under the impression that the general consensus is this: No matter what, if I gain hair on minoxidil, I'll lose that hair when I stop regardless of what other treatments I'm taking (finasteride etc). That's the thing that tripped me up - seemed kind of counterintuitive. If I understand you correctly though, it seems that this generalization's actually not right?

 

[Bryan]

Just saw your post Bryan - I was under the impression that the general consensus is this: No matter what, if I gain hair on minoxidil, I'll lose that hair when I stop regardless of what other treatments I'm taking (finasteride etc). That's the thing that tripped me up - seemed kind of counterintuitive. If I understand you correctly though, it seems that this generalization's actually not right?

Right. It's not right! It's an example of some rather paranoid over-generalizing on hairloss sites.

 

[omgwtfbbq]

Just saw your post Bryan - I was under the impression that the general consensus is this: No matter what, if I gain hair on minoxidil, I'll lose that hair when I stop regardless of what other treatments I'm taking (finasteride etc). That's the thing that tripped me up - seemed kind of counterintuitive. If I understand you correctly though, it seems that this generalization's actually not right?

Right. It's not right! It's an example of some rather paranoid over-generalizing on hairloss sites.

gotcha.

so i'm not as worried then.



good stuff, good stuff.

I mean, I'd expect that if I was doing NOTHING but minoxidil that if I stopped, I'd lose whatever gains... but this finax and revita SHOULD be good for SOMETHING, right?
Thanks for your reasonableness.