Thanks Bowser, I wish I would had that understanding when I first used Rogaine and I would have never bothered using it. Bryan helped me understand it better but I did my best now to make it more understandable with case scenarios. Blondguy, people use Rogaine out of desperation to buy the illusion of thicker hair for as long as it will last. Rogaine does work but only with Propecia will it work in the sense, you are actually slowing down balding. Propecia( or avodart if you don't mind a higher risk for more sides) is the most important treatment to use if you want to try to fight male pattern baldness. And like Rogaine, you will shed more at first with Propecia until your body gets used to it and then after 1 to 2 years shedding might SEEM to stabilize IF Propecia is slowing things down and winning the battle against YOUR predetermined genetic pattern of baldness. If Propecia is not going to win your battle, then you are still going to bald but maybe at a much slower pace to a point you think you might be maintaining. When you read about cases where someone continues to bald rapidly even if they are using Propecia alone or with Rogaine, this just means this person has very aggressive male pattern baldness and their predetermined genetic pattern will win the battle and they will blame the medication for doing it simply because they think these medications are supposed to work for everyone in the same manner.
Rogaine is basically icing on the cake that might keep the hairs looking thicker if Propecia is preventing them from becoming weaker or vellus. However, due to the side effects of Rogaine, I wont use it for my icing on my cake. I use Proxiphen for that as it does not give me sides. Blondguy, Propecia does work but if your genetics are very strong for male pattern baldness, you have to face the facts that you will still continue to bald but much slower. People think these medications might miraculous cure their situation so they will take the risk. Others just quit cold turkey and accept their fate. However, many people on here don't have super aggressive male pattern baldness, so all they have to decide is if they want to buy their confidence with a pill or lotion. I did and probably always will. However, I will be the first to admit, I don't have aggressive male pattern baldness so I will always be a success story no matter what I use. Blondguy it takes 2 to 3 years for shedding to slow down as long as you do not alter your treatments. Over the past year my shedding is very little now because my treatments are very consistent and I stopped using Rogaine which means I don't have a large synchronized shed to deal with every six months or so. You have the knowledge, you have to decide if you want to BUY into it, no pun intended.
So the take home message is be prepared to have an increase in shedding if you chose a medication like Propecia and Rogaine, that will alter your normal( what you observe as normal every day) hair growth cycles. If you don't want this to happen then don't use anything, its that simple. Faith sometimes comes with a high price if you feel you are backed into a corner.
