So I'm in my mid-30s now. In my late 20s I noticed my hair was starting to thin a little, mostly in one spot in the back and a little on one side in the front. I knew little about hairloss and was raised to think if it's going to happen, it's going to happen, so I didn't really do anything about it. Cut to over half a decade later and I have a medium size bald spot in the back and more diffuse thinning all over the top. I'm not bald but it's definitely noticeable. I've been making some positive changes in my life lately and thought "It'd be nice if I could get some more mileage out of my hair" and started doing the research, learning a lot from sites like this one.
I've never done anything before when it comes to trying to treat hair loss but I just bought some 2% Ketoconazole shampoo and have some generic 5% liquid Minoxidil on the way. Now, I realize from all my research that Finasteride is the big help for hairloss, that it works great in conjunction with Minoxidil. I realize that even if Minoxidil brings back some hair, that it's a temporary solution without Finasteride. For me though, I just don't want to risk the Finasteride side effects, even if for most people they either don't occur or are temporary. The possible worst case scenarios just aren't worth the risk to me.
So my goal is to use Minoxidil to try and bring back some of the hair I've lost and hold onto it for two or three years. I'm not aiming to stave off hairloss forever, I'm just hoping me and my hair can have one last nice run before we hit middle age. So my biggest questions are:
I've never done anything before when it comes to trying to treat hair loss but I just bought some 2% Ketoconazole shampoo and have some generic 5% liquid Minoxidil on the way. Now, I realize from all my research that Finasteride is the big help for hairloss, that it works great in conjunction with Minoxidil. I realize that even if Minoxidil brings back some hair, that it's a temporary solution without Finasteride. For me though, I just don't want to risk the Finasteride side effects, even if for most people they either don't occur or are temporary. The possible worst case scenarios just aren't worth the risk to me.
So my goal is to use Minoxidil to try and bring back some of the hair I've lost and hold onto it for two or three years. I'm not aiming to stave off hairloss forever, I'm just hoping me and my hair can have one last nice run before we hit middle age. So my biggest questions are:
- How realistic of a goal is that? Am I wasting my time if I'm not willing to go all the way?
- How likely are the Minoxidil side effects? The official literature suggests they're rare and minor, but I notice a bunch of people talking about swelling, dark rings under the eyes, and most importantly, rapid heart beat and palpitations, which is...kind of scary one.
- Would it help to wear disposable gloves to apply the minoxidil, but is that just a needless extra step?
- I see a lot of people suggest supplementing the minoxidil with dermarolling, but the problem is everywhere I read has a different method. Some people say only use needles .5mm and smaller, some say they use 1.5. Some say you should wait at least 12 hours after using a dermaroller to apply minoxidil, some people say 24, some people say you should apply minoxidil shortly after you dermaroll. Basically, what's a good regime for this and is it even worth it? My main concern would be the dermarolling causing me to absorb too much minoxidil and risk me suffering some of it's more serious effects.
