I started balding in 2014. I was 27 then. As a minoxidil user for 5 years (started in 2015), I'mm be real honest, all I can say is that minoxidil will only grow you colorless baby hairs (velllus hairs). It will never grow you a normal strong black hair especially on hairline and temples. What it only does is it just maintain the hairs that you still have on your head and make it thicker and stronger so it won't easily fall. This creates an illusion of having thick hair and making it seem that you're growing hair back but you're not. You're just letting it grow long. I mean even in hair transplants, they don't let you grow new hairs. They get follicles from the back of your head and just replace it on your top and front.So if you're on norwood 3 or 4+ and you want your hairline back, minoxidil won't work. Microneedling seems to blacken these vellus hairs and make it more visible on the hairline but very rare it becomes a new normal hair strand. So my take is, only use minoxidil if you still have hair on your hairline and crown. Is it worth using? Yes, it's another tool in the bag. But don't expect to get back your old hairline coz it won't happen. Only hair transplant will do that. And yes, you will lose your gains if you stopped using it. Maybe not in a few weeks, but after months, your hair will go back to baseline. It's good that you're on finasteride already. Minoxidil without it or a dht blocker will be useless. It will give temporary result then will lose it's effectiveness after 2 years. That's what happened to me. Finasteride with minoxidil is your main weapon.