I just saw my dermatologist today to refill my propecia. I have been on it for years but I'm now considering minoxidil for some frontal regrowth. I've tried it and hate the way it looks in my hair. The derma said that using minoxidil once a day would be fine and couldn't hurt. He even went so far as to say every other day couldn't hurt. Is he right or is he ignorant when it comes to minoxidil.
dermatologist and minoxidil
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The Gardener
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Good question, and this is a question that we have discussed here on this forum many times. The general 'consensusthink' is that once a day is good for maintenance (i.e. would probably keep what you got, and maybe thicken up the existing hairshafts), but if you want your best chances at actual regrowth (more scalp coverage) you'd better go to twice a day, and be religious at sticking to it. However, this is just the 'rule of thumb' and in reality if anyone actually gives you a definite YES or NO answer to this they are lying. The truth is that despite the 'rule of thumb' that might be anecdotally accepted, in reality one cannot know how once a day minoxidil versus twice a day application might affect you. You might grow huge hair, or, it might do nothing, or maybe something in between. Every individual person responds differently to it.
As for the 'minoxidil looks terrible in my hair' point, I completely agree. Do you have dark hair?... because I think it is a dark hair thing, but, minoxidil tends to leave hair greasy at first, and as it dries tends to leave a white film on some people's hair. It did for me. So, I use a different application technique that I learned here on this message board from a fellow contributor (Cassin). Basically we wash, dry, and style our hair FIRST. Then when the hairspray dries, or whatever, and the hair is relatively dry we take the dropper and fill it with minoxidil. Then, carefully wipe the sides of the dropper so there is no wetness on it. Then, we carefully 'poke' the dropper through the styled hair until it hits scalp. Then let a droplet go. Continue to dot the affected area of the hair until your 1ml of minoxidil is depleted. If you are careful, and make sure to wipe the sides of the dropper dry, and you allow time for your styled hair to dry first, you can do this without getting very much in your hair at all, and without ripping up your hairstyle. As we do NOT rub it in with the fingers (which I think is better anyway because less minoxidil on the hands and hair means more on the scalp), for a few minutes you will have droplets of the sh*t just hanging onto hair roots. So, after applying, you have to sit still for a few minutes to allow the minoxidil to set a bit without running. But, it is well worth it to me. This technique takes about 10 minutes tops, and after the 10 minutes although the minoxidil is not completely dry, the wetness on the scalp is hidden by the dry hair above it. So, I can get into my car and by the time I get to work I am fine and dandy. Morning minoxidil applied, no grease or residue in my dry and perfectly styled hair, and I'm ready to hit the ground running after a final check that there are no remaining drip marks near the hairline area.
As for the 'minoxidil looks terrible in my hair' point, I completely agree. Do you have dark hair?... because I think it is a dark hair thing, but, minoxidil tends to leave hair greasy at first, and as it dries tends to leave a white film on some people's hair. It did for me. So, I use a different application technique that I learned here on this message board from a fellow contributor (Cassin). Basically we wash, dry, and style our hair FIRST. Then when the hairspray dries, or whatever, and the hair is relatively dry we take the dropper and fill it with minoxidil. Then, carefully wipe the sides of the dropper so there is no wetness on it. Then, we carefully 'poke' the dropper through the styled hair until it hits scalp. Then let a droplet go. Continue to dot the affected area of the hair until your 1ml of minoxidil is depleted. If you are careful, and make sure to wipe the sides of the dropper dry, and you allow time for your styled hair to dry first, you can do this without getting very much in your hair at all, and without ripping up your hairstyle. As we do NOT rub it in with the fingers (which I think is better anyway because less minoxidil on the hands and hair means more on the scalp), for a few minutes you will have droplets of the sh*t just hanging onto hair roots. So, after applying, you have to sit still for a few minutes to allow the minoxidil to set a bit without running. But, it is well worth it to me. This technique takes about 10 minutes tops, and after the 10 minutes although the minoxidil is not completely dry, the wetness on the scalp is hidden by the dry hair above it. So, I can get into my car and by the time I get to work I am fine and dandy. Morning minoxidil applied, no grease or residue in my dry and perfectly styled hair, and I'm ready to hit the ground running after a final check that there are no remaining drip marks near the hairline area.
Gardner- thanks for the post. That seems like a good idea for morning applications. I have longer blond hair and plan on applying to the front/center region of my hair. I've tried it and my hair just clumps together usually after I rub it in which makes it look like ***. So for morning applications that sounds like a good idea the only problem is I am usually rushing out the door for work with damp hair. Maybe I should style, blow dry, and then apply the minoxidil.
I was also wondering if you or anyone had any imput on my dermatoligists claim that once a day was alright and couldn't hurt.
Thanks
I was also wondering if you or anyone had any imput on my dermatoligists claim that once a day was alright and couldn't hurt.
Thanks
NilesTilden
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I've seen other poster who've said they've had results from using minoxidil once per day. Twice is best, but once per day is good if that's all you can handle, and you're a responder. May take longer to see results, so I'd give it 6-8 months rather than the 4-6 it should take with twice/day use. I also hear once per day is good for maaintenance of minoxidil results after 1-2 years at 2 times a day.
Not sure if gardener mentioned, but Dr.Lee's minoxidil dries very fast. It costs more, and if in the US, you have to request their consult form, fax/mail it back to them and pay a $20 fee. His stuff costs more, but well worth it! His site is http://www.minoxidil.com.
I usually apply his stuff after the hair is dry, and it's undetectable in minutes. You can also use generic minoxidil from ebay at night to save cash. $25-30 for 4 months of generic.
If your loss is still minor, once a day might be enough to keep hair looking good for a couple years, then you could switch to twice daily if needed.[/url]
Not sure if gardener mentioned, but Dr.Lee's minoxidil dries very fast. It costs more, and if in the US, you have to request their consult form, fax/mail it back to them and pay a $20 fee. His stuff costs more, but well worth it! His site is http://www.minoxidil.com.
I usually apply his stuff after the hair is dry, and it's undetectable in minutes. You can also use generic minoxidil from ebay at night to save cash. $25-30 for 4 months of generic.
If your loss is still minor, once a day might be enough to keep hair looking good for a couple years, then you could switch to twice daily if needed.[/url]
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For some weird reason, you guys have overlooked another obvious option: apply your minoxidil only once a day, but apply TWICE the normal amount.
I think the order of effectiveness would go like this: best of all would be 1 mL twice a day; second best is 2 mL once a day; third best is 1 mL once a day.
Bryan
I think the order of effectiveness would go like this: best of all would be 1 mL twice a day; second best is 2 mL once a day; third best is 1 mL once a day.
Bryan
Cassin
Senior Member
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Bryan said:
Ok, so somewhere between your best and second best, it does not matter the gap between minoxidil apps as long as you apply 2 ml of 5%?
ensativo: Interesting. EX: Say a 2 or 3 hour gap between apps of 5%.
So if this is true, why do we even need to allow minoxidil to dry, then re-apply the apps if all we need is a one time 2ml saturation of the follicle to reach optimum benefits according to the FDA trials?
Is it the re-saturation that is important after a given time(8 hours I believe), thus giving the follicles a "coating" of minoxidil all day?(sorry I can't think of a better way to phrase it) and Up-John used this gap to simply give us a break in applying this chemical for ease of use to make the product more useable given someone that can't sit around all day with a huge coating of minoxidil and must work for a living?
Personally... I used to apply it once a day. I feel like it made my hair worse in the long run. I just felt that I was continuously shedding. I finally got my act together and started to apply it twice a day. I feel that it works a lot better. I think there is a reason why they say to use it twice daily. Like The Gardener said before though, everyone is different. Personally I would say use it twice a day. Goodluck
Wezz said:
No, your doing it fine. Your supposed to space out the application evenly.. meaning ideally you would apply it every 12 hours. But unless you got a perfect daily regimen, that's really hard to do. I personally try to have 8-12 hours between my first and second treatment of the day. 7 hours is not bad at all either.
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Cassin said:Ok, so somewhere between your best and second best, it does not matter the gap between minoxidil apps as long as you apply 2 ml of 5%?
Hey, I didn't say THAT! :shock:
Obviously, the more you spread-out your single mL applications, the closer you get from the SECOND-BEST #2 option to the BEST #1 option.
BTW, you guys are forgetting that switching from a twice-daily application to a once-daily application has actually been tested in a clinical setting! Read the study: "Five-year follow-up of men with androgenetic alopecia treated with topical minoxidil", Olsen et al, J Am Acad Dermatol 1990;22:643-6. "We attempted to identify whether patients who were treated with topical minoxidil once daily (n=17) for 9 to 12 months had a different subsequent course of hair growth or loss compared with those who continuously used twice-daily topical minoxidil throughout the study (n=14). The once-daily group had a notable decline in target area nonvellus counts between 1 and 3 years (-68.2 +/- 90.9, p=0.015) compared with the twice-daily group, who continued to have a slight increase in counts (22.6 +/- 104.3). After transfer back to twice-daily treatment, the hair loss stabilized in the daily dose treatment group."
However, it's important to note that this study used 2% topical minoxidil. I think that for people using the 5% version, there would be less of a difference between once-a-day and twice-a-day, because the skin/scalp stays satured with minoxidil better, even with just a single application per day.
Bryan
Healthy Nick
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But didn't you say that you thought 2% and 5% were basically the same thing? I'm a little confused.
I hope you're right though, because I could definitly handle one application a day, but 2 applications would be impossible for me.
I hope you're right though, because I could definitly handle one application a day, but 2 applications would be impossible for me.
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Healthy Nick said:
Yes, I said that. What's confusing about it? I'm confused that you're confused!
I'm obviously not saying that 1 mL of a 2% solution is the same as 1 mL of a 5% solution, I'm saying that 2 1/2 mL of a 2% solution is the same as 1 mL of a 5% solution.
Bryan
Healthy Nick
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Bryan said:Healthy Nick said:
Yes, I said that. What's confusing about it? I'm confused that you're confused!
I'm obviously not saying that 1 mL of a 2% solution is the same as 1 mL of a 5% solution, I'm saying that 2 1/2 mL of a 2% solution is the same as 1 mL of a 5% solution.
Bryan
Ok. I get now. I thought you meant that the 2% and the 5% were the exact same thing. Something you said before this thread made me think that.