Minoxidil 5 % important question

[MrFloater]

Dear Forum,

I am new here and I am glad to be a member.

A question to you experienced users out there,

I am treating the top of my head which has been thinning for a while,

I have full hair in the front of my hair and I would like to ask based on your experience,

is it a NEGATIVE thing for me to put minoxidil on that place as well, as sort of a "prevention" for eventual future loss, or just to make it stronger?

I reckon reading somewhere that you actually may lose more hair during the first 2 weeks, and I am scared of "hurting" my normal / good hair in the front of my head, is this possible or is it a good thing to "nurture" the hair in the front even though it hasn´t been thinning with 5 % minoxidil?

Thank you for your kind answers, anything is appreciated,

Kind regards,

Frank

 

[longtime]

I would hold off on applying it to areas not currently effected but watch it closely and soon as you see it starting to thin jump all over it. I think most of us are in denial when we first start to thin and wait to long to start treatment.

 

[Bryan]

is it a NEGATIVE thing for me to put minoxidil on that place as well, as sort of a "prevention" for eventual future loss, or just to make it stronger?

Topical minoxidil doesn't act as a "prevention" for future loss, because it doesn't interfere with the fundamental balding process. All it does is stimulate a little rather short-lived regrowth. You still go bald at about the same rate.

 

[Mens Rea]

is it a NEGATIVE thing for me to put minoxidil on that place as well, as sort of a "prevention" for eventual future loss, or just to make it stronger?

Topical minoxidil doesn't act as a "prevention" for future loss, because it doesn't interfere with the fundamental balding process. All it does is stimulate a little rather short-lived regrowth. You still go bald at about the same rate.

I disagree Bryan.

I think given what minoxidil does (pretty much widens the hair follicles) it certainly can slow down the balding process even if it hasn't hit the root of the problem.

I say so, because, since i went off minoxidil i had a brutal shed yet i had never witnessed regrowth. Clearly, it was working at some sort of maintainer...

I think it stands to reason that the vehicle it uses for regrowth can also act as a retainer subsequently or just as. Of course, long run you still need to be on finasteride if you have even mildly agressive male pattern baldness imo

 

[rcom440]

is it a NEGATIVE thing for me to put minoxidil on that place as well, as sort of a "prevention" for eventual future loss, or just to make it stronger?

Topical minoxidil doesn't act as a "prevention" for future loss, because it doesn't interfere with the fundamental balding process. All it does is stimulate a little rather short-lived regrowth. You still go bald at about the same rate.

I disagree Bryan.

I think given what minoxidil does (pretty much widens the hair follicles) it certainly can slow down the balding process even if it hasn't hit the root of the problem.

I say so, because, since i went off minoxidil i had a brutal shed yet i had never witnessed regrowth. Clearly, it was working at some sort of maintainer...

I think it stands to reason that the vehicle it uses for regrowth can also act as a retainer subsequently or just as. Of course, long run you still need to be on finasteride if you have even mildly agressive male pattern baldness imo

I think I agree with you Colin297.
I've been using minoxidil for a while and I believed that It did slowed by hairloss. I also know people who can also say that it did maintain their hair. There is a guy on this forum who has been using minoxidil for 25 years and it does help him keep his hair somewhat.

 

[Thinning Sucks]

[quote="rcom440IThere is a guy on this forum who has been using minoxidil for 25 years and it does help him keep his hair somewhat.[/quote][/quote][/quote]


That would be me :whistle: ...started in 1985-86 with 2% and have been basically on since then with some breaks until Rogaine was sold non prescipt. around 1995.
It has seemed to keep most of my hair at 45 but have also been on finasteride for 10 years. I am still heavily diffuse and crown gone but maintain well with concealers.

 

[ali777]

well... Isn't minoxidil marketed as prevention and regrowth medicine? My point is, it is supposed to fight hairloss by maintaining existing hair?

 

[BoilerRoom]

Minoxidil doesn't stop Androgen-related damage to the hair follicles. That is what is meant by the saying "Propecia doesn't stop the fundamental balding process". Antiandrogens and things such as copper peptides stop inflammation and, ultimately, apoptosis.

However, minoxidil does promote DNA synthesis of the follicle...so you can argue both ways.

 

[Bryan]

Topical minoxidil doesn't act as a "prevention" for future loss, because it doesn't interfere with the fundamental balding process. All it does is stimulate a little rather short-lived regrowth. You still go bald at about the same rate.

I disagree Bryan.

I think given what minoxidil does (pretty much widens the hair follicles) it certainly can slow down the balding process even if it hasn't hit the root of the problem.

It "slows down the balding process" in only a very superficial manner: it buys you a little extra time by providing that extra offset of growth for the balding process to work on. It's an extra "buffer" of growth which the balding process won't take very long to conquer. That's not much of a "slowing down" process, in my opinion!

I say so, because, since i went off minoxidil i had a brutal shed yet i had never witnessed regrowth. Clearly, it was working at some sort of maintainer...

I don't understand the point you're trying to make. Those graphs I've posted numerous times from the 1999 Vera Price study clearly show that the "shedding" after the discontinuation of minoxidil drops haircounts and hairweights BELOW even the baseline counts, so the fact that you never noticed any regrowth from the minoxidil is beside the point.

I think it stands to reason that the vehicle it uses for regrowth can also act as a retainer subsequently or just as.

What evidence can you cite that the vehicle does anything at all for regrowth? That same Vera Price study that I mentioned before showed no such effect at all from the vehicle.

 

[Bryan]

well... Isn't minoxidil marketed as prevention and regrowth medicine? My point is, it is supposed to fight hairloss by maintaining existing hair?

A few years ago I vaguely recall seeing Rogaine commercials in which they used a very suspicious and misleading phrase like "use it or lose it", or "keep what you have", or something along those lines. But that was VERY misleading, if not downright dishonest, and I doubt you'll be seeing those silly advertising claims again. We have clear scientific evidence in the form of clinical trials that haircounts during the use of topical minoxidil continue to slip, as time goes by.

BTW, people tend to have short memories about things like this. It wasn't that long ago on hairloss forums that people were up in arms about that rather frightening phrase that was being included somewhere in the Rogaine material (possibly in the package insert): something to the effect that haircounts from the use of Rogaine "...have not been shown to be maintained beyond 48 weeks." People use to talk about that statement all the time, but I haven't seen any mention of it in a long time. Nowadays, of course, it makes perfect sense to me.