Does minoxidil on its own make your hair worse

[Kaotic_100]

I was wondering if minoxidil on its own without finasteride makes your hair worse. I was planning to take it as I have thinning hair but without finasteride (due to side effects and please don't encourage me to get on to finasteride as i never will). Also I'm not talking about the initial shedding stages which it goes through to regrow new hair. I'm wondering if for example after a year or two of use, will the minoxidil stop working and make my hair worse? Please people that use finasteride and minoxidil together, do not answer this question as I only want answers from those who used minoxidil on its own. Thanks

 

[daredevil14]

Theoretically, it just doesn't stop working. It is, however, a losing war since your follicles are still being invaded by DHT and you will eventually continue to cosmetically thin.

 

[Kaotic_100]

But would I rather fight the war and enjoy a few years of good hair or continue to thin as usual with not that great hair? What would you say, and also would it cause hair loss any faster or make my hair look worse?

 

[daredevil14]

Yeah well, if your thinning is limited to a particular area, then minoxidil could really be helpful as the loss is only in one location and dosing would be practical, unlike diffuse thinners.

Shedding is usually natural and a sign that the treatment is working. It doesn't cause your hair loss to be accelerated, all according to this chart: http://img.medscape.com/fullsize/migrated/470/297/bjd470297.fig1a.jpg

You will return to baseline once you stop the treatment, however the baseline here could be by "itself" affected by DHT and hence you may never see it again.

I strongly recommend a DHT blocker or an anti-androgen. I am myself suffering from a side effect from finasteride but it turned out that things aren't really bad after all.

 

[Kaotic_100]

Lol no mate finasteride is out of the question, I heard numerous cases that when you stop the 'mythological' side effects actually come and haunt you. I think I'll stick to minoxidil for the meanwhile and if it can last me a few years, I'm happy, then I'd be ready to go bald. I'm 16 btw, very young I know and I embraced becoming bald even though I'd like to fight it but I care way too much about my d*ck and sex life for it to not function properly. Cheers for the reply though mate much appreciated

 

[yetti]

I don't think minoxidil will ever make your hair worse. That's true for the vast majority of people, anyway. But if you stop after a couple of years, I think you'd relatively quickly lose hair until you get to the point where you would have been if you had never taken it... so the change could be dramatic. It seems that the key is to use it every day, at least once a day, and never stop.

 

[Wolf Pack]

Lol no mate finasteride is out of the question, I heard numerous cases that when you stop the 'mythological' side effects actually come and haunt you. I think I'll stick to minoxidil for the meanwhile and if it can last me a few years, I'm happy, then I'd be ready to go bald. I'm 16 btw, very young I know and I embraced becoming bald even though I'd like to fight it but I care way too much about my d*ck and sex life for it to not function properly. Cheers for the reply though mate much appreciated

You're 16 and already balding? Shows aggressive genetics. If you don't want to use Propecia at 18, look into things like RU. An experimental but effective somewhat although safety is unknown due to lack of trials. However, quite a few people have been using it.

Without an anti androgen and such aggressive genetics, you may as well not bother with Minoxidil alone. You will go bald. Use Rogaine for 2 years and then think about things like RU/finasteride.

 

[TinTon]

Lol no mate finasteride is out of the question, I heard numerous cases that when you stop the 'mythological' side effects actually come and haunt you. I think I'll stick to minoxidil for the meanwhile and if it can last me a few years, I'm happy, then I'd be ready to go bald. I'm 16 btw, very young I know and I embraced becoming bald even though I'd like to fight it but I care way too much about my d*ck and sex life for it to not function properly. Cheers for the reply though mate much appreciated

I wouldn't recommend finasteride to you as you're only 16 and at that age you would quite possibly have trouble getting it from a legitimate source anyway, at least one would hope to be the case. Seems too early to be balding anyway, so I would suggest taking a bunch of photos right now, and then reassess the situation with more photos every six months until you are 18. (It may just be paranoia, as the mind is very powerful).

I will guarantee you one thing though, you will not ever be "ready to go bald", especially not at any point in your 20's. You made the effort to join a hair loss forum, hence clearly you care quite deeply right now about the possibility of going bald. It may sound like a lifetime away now but you'll soon be in your 20's and you will feel exactly the same about going bald then as you do at this very moment in time.

One thing I cannot guarantee is that you'll get side effects from finasteride use. It's a possibility yes (as with any substance you ingest, be it medicine, be it food), but side effects from finasteride are definitely not a given.


Best of luck

 

[Kaotic_100]

I want to survive past uni with hair atleast, and I had a relative who used finasteride and experienced the side effects, and **** I'd rather go bald then experience any of that ****. You're right, I'm not so prepared to go bald but I'm also not prepared to lose my sexual drive, plenty of geeza's out there that girlfriends when their bald whereas there's plenty of guys that had their life and relationship ruined because of finasteride. Anyways are you recommending me to take picture every 6 months with or without the use of minoxidil?

Thanks bud for the reply

 

[TinTon]

I'd say take photos now and don't take minoxidil, then take some more photos in 6 months and compare. If you have a mate who you are totally open with then ask him to spot the difference without telling him which photos are the most recent.

If it's blatantly obvious that you are balding then fair enough, get some minoxidil and go with that, as I'm not sure what the age requirement of minoxidil is, but you won't easily get finasteride from a trustworthy source (i.e. a registered GP) until you're 18. There are also a whole bunch of "possible" side effects with minoxidil too, I trust you are aware of those?

I will state that any guy serious about fighting his balding genes should always start early on in the game with finasteride. If finasteride works for such a guy, then minoxidil is simply redundant. And taking a finasteride pill once a day is a heck of a lot easier to 'put up with' in the long-run than slapping minoxidil on your noggin 2 times daily for the forseeable.

The complexity with yourself of course is your age. Being 16 is very young to confirm full-on MBP and too young for prescription treatment, so I fully appreciate the fact that you may not want to play the 'wait and see game' for too long and minoxidil may be your only immediate weapon of choice. If you play the 'wait and see game' for too long then even finasteride may be redundant - I myself may possibly be learning that lesson first hand, time will tell.

 

[daredevil14]

Lol no mate finasteride is out of the question, I heard numerous cases that when you stop the 'mythological' side effects actually come and haunt you. I think I'll stick to minoxidil for the meanwhile and if it can last me a few years, I'm happy, then I'd be ready to go bald. I'm 16 btw, very young I know and I embraced becoming bald even though I'd like to fight it but I care way too much about my d*ck and sex life for it to not function properly. Cheers for the reply though mate much appreciated

Ok great so you're only 16! I remove my previous recommendation, just stick to what the other posters are saying.

 

[KRATOS1980]

PLEASE TELL ME IS IT AA OR Androgenetic Alopecia ?

[h=2]IS IT ALOPECIA AREATA OR Androgenetic Alopecia ?[/h]

Good Christmas guys,
Im a 20 year old guy from Italy A 20 YEAR OLD MALE FROM ITALY
In October I noticed a coin sized bald patch. I was really stressed about it and I decided to shave my head off.
Its been nearly 2 months since I noticed it. Currently it looks like the bald patch is gone but the area looks bigger and looks like there is less density of hair there, I dont know how to explain but it kinda looks weird. Was it Apolecia Areata or is it Androgenetic Alopecia ?
Today I took a pic with and without flash.



In addition Im not sure if its related or this might be just coincidence. But I noticed the hairloss shortly after I was diagnosed with Varicocele and my left testicle started to shrink. In case if someone doesn't know what Varicocele. Its when the veins in the scrotum dilate. Correct me if Im wrong, but, as I know in Varicocele the ciculation of blood is disturbed and the free T that should have traveled into body goes directly into Prostate which enlarges the prostate and might lead to prostate cancer (oh well ). And The amount of free T in body decreases which in result gives increased levels of DHT. Also its interesting to note that there is a relation between balding men and large prostate size. Recently, I read that bald males are more prone to have prostate cancer. Also a fact that I think I need to share with you is that before all this started to happen I had only body hair in my arm pits, lower part of my legs andprivate areas. But since all this srated to happen, in a matter of 2 months I have now chest hair and underarm hair growing aggressively. I also think this is due the drastic increase of DHT because of the low amount of free T in the body.

Your opinions would benefit me a lot.
And sorry for my grammar, tried my best.​

​

 

[TinTon]

View attachment 37123View attachment 37124View attachment 37125View attachment 37126

HELLO GUYS, SORRY I CANT CREATE MY OWN POST SO IM WRITING HERE
IM A 20 YEAR OLD MALE FROM ITALY
IN OCTOBER I NOTICED A COIN SIZED BALD PATCH. I WAS REALLY STRESSED ABOUT IT AND I DECIDED SHAVE MY HEAD OFF.
ITS BEEN NEARLY 2 MONTHS SINCE I NOTICED IT. CURRENTLY IT LOOKS LIKE THE BALD PATCH IS GONE BUT THE HAIR LOOKS THINNED OR WEIRD I DONT KNOW HOW TO EXPLAIN. WAS IT AA ? OR IS IT Androgenetic Alopecia?
( PICTURES ARE ATTACHED UNDER ) TODAY I TOOK A PIC WITH FLASH AND WITHOUT.

YOUR ANSWERS WOULD BENEFIT BE ALOT. THANKS ALOT IN ADVANCE.

GOOD CHRISTMAS TO EVERYBODY
​

Stop writing in all CAPITALS, it looks like pure spam right out of the gate!

 

[KRATOS1980]

sorry haha i didnt notice it

 

[Kaotic_100]

My friend I don't think you're understanding the point. There is NO way im getting on to finasteride, I am not taking the risk and yes I'm aware of the side effects. And my hairs been on nw2 for a solid 10 months now, not so sure if I should start minoxidil though, Would it cause me any problems i.e extra hair loss?

 

[TinTon]

If there's no way you would ever even consider finasteride but you will happily consider minoxidil, then yes, you are very much correct, I don't understand you lad.

Best of luck

 

[Hairloss23]

Don't bother with minoxidil especially if you're going to be too scared to go on finasteride, and FTR minoxidil can make you lose more hair without regrowth, I used it for 4 months and then gave up because I lost 50% density and went from NW1.5-2 with 0 signs of regrowth, also lost a lot of ground on the crown. Terrible drug also it ages skin horribly. If you're content with going bald then just do it and shut up about treatments.

 

[TinTon]

Don't bother with minoxidil especially if you're going to be too scared to go on finasteride, and FTR minoxidil can make you lose more hair without regrowth, I used it for 4 months and then gave up because I lost 50% density and went from NW1.5-2 with 0 signs of regrowth, also lost a lot of ground on the crown. Terrible drug also it ages skin horribly. If you're content with going bald then just do it and shut up about treatments.

You can put it better words than I can bro (scared of finasteride but not scared of min = best of luck with that)

 

[Kaotic_100]

Nice one mate that's exactly what I wanted to talk about, maybe if you used your sense you would've understood that this was the initial stages of shedding, it means that new hair growth is bound, it just takes longer than others. Lol I'm happy with going bald until I reach atleast 20, before that I want to fight it

 

[Hairloss23]

Nice one mate that's exactly what I wanted to talk about, maybe if you used your sense you would've understood that this was the initial stages of shedding, it means that new hair growth is bound, it just takes longer than others. Lol I'm happy with going bald until I reach atleast 20, before that I want to fight it

Do you understand what 0 signs of regrowth means? It means 0. My dad had the exact same reaction to minoxidil when he tried it for his hair, except he was on it for 2 years and went from NW2 to NW4 in that time period with guess what? 0 REGROWTH.