Dr. Lee's 5% minoxidil (Luv it!)

[Bryan]

Well, now you make me wonder if I have my facts straight!

That 80/20 figure I quoted came from someone on alt.baldspot several years ago, who called Dr. Lee's office at the time and was given those numbers over the telephone for his standard 5% topical minoxidil. What does everybody else say about that? Have you seen different numbers, or is the 80/20 correct?

Bryan

 

[Cassin]

Straight from his site.

Q. Why is the Rogaine 5% Extra Strength solution and its generic versions so oily?

A. Upjohn and the generic 5% minoxidil solutions use 50% propylene glycol in its base, which leaves a long-lasting greasy film on the scalp. About 7% of patients are allergic to propylene glycol. Regrowth, LLC offers a 5% minoxidil solution that has only 30% propylene glycol in the base and, for those who have irritation with propylene glycol, a 5% minoxidil solution that has no propylene glycol in the base is also offered

http://www.minoxidil.com/faq.htm#MINOXIDIL

 

[Bryan]

Ok, thanks for the info! I stand corrected about his regular 5% formula.

BTW, it sounds like it's closer to the 2% Rogaine formula, which also contains 30% propylene glycol. Has anybody used them BOTH recently? How do Lee's 5% and the old 2% Rogaine compare to each other in the greasiness department?

Bryan

 

[Cassin]

Ok, thanks for the info! I stand corrected about his regular 5% formula.

BTW, it sounds like it's closer to the Rogaine 2% formula, which also contains 30% propylene glycol. Has anybody used them BOTH recently? How do Lee's 5% and the old 2% Rogaine compare to each other in the greasiness department?

Bryan

Your welcome.

I used 2% to start off with and stopped about 8 months ago when I switched to 5%.

They are almost exactly the same. I would say the 2% is a bit more runny and thin. Only slightly though.

 

[Bryan]

I used 2% to start off with and stopped about 8 months ago when I switched to 5%.

They are almost exactly the same. I would say the 2% is a bit more runny and thin. Only slightly though.

Ok, that makes perfect sense! I would suspect that 2% Rogaine is slightly runnier and thinner due to the small amount of water that's also in the product. I don't think Lee's product has any water in it at all, and that's one reason why he's able to pack a 5% minoxidil concentration into only 30% PPG!

Bryan

 

[Cassin]

I don't think Lee's product has any water in it at all, and that's one reason why he's able to pack a 5% minoxidil concentration into only 30% PPG!

Bryan

Actually he does.

In order on the bottte

ethyl alcohol, propylene glycol; purified water and tocopherol (Vit E)

 

[Bryan]

Oh, well....I'm oh-for-2 today! I shoulda just stayed in bed this morning! :hairy:

I bet there ain't very MUCH water in it, though... That product must be pushed RIGHT TO THE LIMIT of what it can hold, much like his new 15% Xandrox. Well, actually...from what I've heard lately, the 15% Xandrox is pushed BEYOND the limit of what it can actually hold! :wink:

Bryan

 

[The Gardener]

I don't know where Dr. Lee gets that idea. I've never seen any mention of propylene glycol used as a preservative, including the authoritative reference book the Merck Index. Neither has it ever been mentioned in any of the numerous studies on topical minoxidil that I've read, or any other studies related to propylene glycol as a vehicle for drugs.

Bryan

It didn't have to do with PPG being a preservative, per se.. it had to do with the fact that the higher PPG level in the Rogaine allowed it to sit on a store shelf much longer before the minoxidil started to precipitate.

 

[Bryan]

Ummm....did he state that explicitly, or did you infer that that's what he meant? That sounds kinda weird to me.

Bryan

 

[The Gardener]

Bryan, I honestly don't remember the exact wording of his response... It was an email I sent way back when I first tried his product. I liked the consistency of his minoxidil so much that I emailed him asking him why the other minoxidil producers don't use the same PPG/Alcohol balance that he does. I do remember that he had a very concise answer... as if this was a question that he gets asked frequently.

 

[Becks]

What about his PPG free version. It's sit's longer on the scalp so absorbotion is nearly the same as the rogaine ( 4 hours). ??????


I'm very confussed now because I only use Dr.Lee minoxidil.....

I think I'll go for Dr.Lees at am and rogaine for pm.

 

[Bryan]

Ok...maybe that IS what he actually meant. If it is, that would seem to support my theory that I previously stated that his products are pushed to the limit of what they can hold!

Suppose that you had a solution consisting of alcohol, PPG, and water as a vehicle, and it had every bit of minoxidil dissolved into it that it could hold. And then for some reason you leave the bottle sitting around with the cap off (the phone rings while you're applying minoxidil, so you set the bottle down for a moment and get to talking, and forget about it after a while). The alcohol will slowly evaporate out of the bottle, leaving a vehicle which will slowly lose its ability to hold that minoxidil in solution, with the predictable result over time.

BTW, propylene glycol is hygroscopic, and _may_ slowly draw moisture out of the air to some extent. In the example above, you might slowly LOSE alcohol and GAIN a bit more water, making things even worse!

In the case of Dr. Lee's products, you better keep them tightly capped as much as possible!

Bryan

 

[Bismarck]

Once I get a prescription from the Doctor for minoxidil 5%. It was made by the chemist only with alcohol.
Result: It dried after 10 seconds. And i had a thick white minoxidil-crust on my scalp.
If you ask me, the PPG gives the minoxidil time to get into the skin. I've also heard that it prevents the scalp from going dry.

BIS

 

[HairFreak]

For your information... when I asked Dr Lee why Rogaine doesn't copy his PPG/Alcohol formula, he said the reason was because the higher PPG % in Rogaine gave it a much longer shelf life, which is important for a product that they ship to and sell in grocery stores.

This is so not true. I have checked my bottles of Dr. Lee's minoxidil and the expiration date is the same as the expiration date on my Generic minoxidil bottles.
Even if there is some difference, would you really make it so messy and so much worse to get a few extra months of shelf life.
Dr. Lee’s minoxidil that I have is expiring in March 2006 and I bought it several months ago!!!! Why would you need a longer shelf life than that???
I think that it's just a lame excuse. The only reason that currently comes to my mind is that he made his minoxidil like that, in order to make it more appealing to us, and make some good money. If his minoxidil was the same, nobody would buy it. Again, I cannot be sure about that, but I see no other reasonable explanation!?