I stopped minoxidil after approx. 4 months inconsistant use.

[moseymoose]

I began using minoxidil once a day, but then due to my lifestyle and moving around so much it came to whenever I'd remembered to use it/pack it, so after the 2nd month it was about every 3rd day I'd apply it. My shedding lasted into the 3 month and I lost a lot of density and a lot of my hairline coverage. It ended with me either not being bothered to apply it because I didn't feel like it was doing anything for me after such a dramatic period of shedding, I didn't use minoxidil long enough to gain any hair, it's just all been downhill, and it advises to discontinue if results aren't yielded after 4 months so I did. I continue to use spironolactone because it seems to reduce my hair fall a little, though I don't get much at all come out in the shower, compared to what it was when I started minoxidil, or even before that, I used to lose quite a considerable amount in my hands before minoxidil and when I was only using Nizoral, but after not having any minoxidil at all for what must be 4-5 weeks now I haven't seen any particularly noticeable shedding of hair that can't be considered a normal amount accept for the fact that I've been left with a hairline twice as bad as when I began applying minoxidil to my hairline.

The simple fact of the matter is I've befallen a lot of bad luck and bad planning recently and I cannot afford any more minoxidil solution, I have enough spironolactone to last me a good 3 months and an equal amount of nizoral.

Will I lose much hair in the coming months DUE to stopping minoxidil if I did not gain, and will the hair that shed return? Or can I expect to lose my hair ahead of schedule?

 

[drunkmonkey425]

I've got to say this is all just guessing on my part really but imo:

If you didn't have any gains on minoxidil and it doesn't sound like you maintained then you shouldn't see any accelerated loss, just a continuation of male pattern baldness.

I'm not sure if the hairs that shed will grow back if you stop, I don't think they will, your miniaturised hairs have fallen out to make way for new hair growth (that happens with minoxidil) if you stop using it I'd imagine you won't see any regrowth there.

 

[knowingyou]

I guess your hair will just go back to the baseline before you used minoxidil.

 

[moseymoose]

Well, I think that my hairfall is on the increase again, I'm not sure how long its been now since I stopped minoxidil use completely, but all I can say is towards the end it must have been working because I was hardly losing any hair at all. What I can say though is that after experience of using it inconsistently, it's not really needed everyday to maintain hair, as I was seemingly maintaining with a once twice to three times weekly average application of one dose. I was using about 2-3ml per application. 1ml for the vertex and just over a ml for each temple.

I will admit that after a bit more time my hair loss is beginning again, though I'm not sure if it's just the "minoxidil hair" falling out, or continuation of male pattern baldness, maybe both, but again the question arises of how hair responds after stopping the exposure to minoxidil if the hair was reasonable before then, my temples were a bit thin, but they weren't that recessed, as you can see from my signature thats my hair before I started, but after my shed (which was considerable and lasted months) I no longer have enough hair to effectively cover my fringe, which is the entire reason I started minoxidil to thicken my existing coverage, at least I had a good fringe before I started and now I struggle to cover my forehead. I would hate to have lost all that shedded hair, knowing the only way to (possibly) recover it is t begin another traumatic shed again, to shed as much as I did the first time a second time would leave me with very little to work with.

I really do need so solid, educated and impartial advise on this one, it seems that I was doing okay on minoxidil even with how infrequent I was using it, it just took me a LONG time to stop shedding, so I lost a lot. I can't see any reason why the hair I shed wont come back, a lot of it was of reasonable thickness and I lost HEAPS where I applied it on my temple.

 

[moseymoose]

My hair has only seriously thinned where I'd applied minoxidil to, and it really has, alot. I lose track of time but over what seems like the last couple of months, my hair is drastically different, not a problem I had before minoxidil, I just dont know wether to take up minoxidil to risk another shed (would leave me with probably such a thin thinge I wouldn't be able to style my hair whatsoever. Or to wait to see if my hair does fill back out again, and if it will return to baseline. But I'm confused, I don't appear to get much hair fall out at all, and when I run my hands through my hair, I don't get it fall out like before I went on minoxidil, I get the odd one or two, but certainly not the pile of hair I got while I was using minoxidil. It's baffling, I seem to be losing hair, but theres no evidence of it.