minoxidil non-response theory

[Guest]

I have searched on this one and haven't found anyone asking it so here goes....

I use minoxidil 5% on the hairline only for about 3 months now. Everywhere is defintely a lot thinner, so i guess i have shed a some. However, if i am a non-responder to minoxidil, have i just acclerated my hairloss by inducing a shed that will only grow back thinner?

If this is the case, I feel this is why some people report minoxidil ruining their hairlines.

I caught my hairloss early and had literally gone slightly thin on one edge of my hairline now after 5 months on finasteride and 3 on minoxidil my hailrine is increasingly looking like sh*t. the first 1cm of it has become thin and pluggy looking.

I use dermatch to cover it but it is becoming harder and a bit of a crutch, i'm hoping it will grow back but it just seems like it won't and its getting worse.

 

[Guest]

It sounds as though it's a minoxidil shed. Please bear in mind that once a hair has been shed it can take a while to grow back. Plus, if the hair was thin anyway then it may take a few shedding phases to notice the difference. Hair is slow thing to grow back.

 

[Guest]

It sounds as though it's a minoxidil shed. Please bear in mind that once a hair has been shed it can take a while to grow back. Plus, if the hair was thin anyway then it may take a few shedding phases to notice the difference. Hair is slow thing to grow back.

Thanks for the reply.

I really hope you are right. I made the ultimate mistake of not researching the treatments enough beofre starting them, mainly because the thinning was very minor and just on the right side of my hairline so i just strted putting minoxs on it. Now that it has got worse and spread across my whole hairline, I have been reseraching more on this site and on HLH a lot and found out that I should of just stuck with the finasteride for a year before adding minoxidil.

Anyway, since starting minoxidil i havent noticed much hair actually falling out (but it probably has) but it looks like the front 1cm has just kept growing but got thinner to the point that i have had to change my hairstyle and use dermatch.

I can clearly see the diffused outline of a norwood 2 developing but there is definitely some assymmetry to my hairline where the minoxidil has been.

I'm lucky that my hair is pretty thick bui this kind of shows up the thinning areas more.

Do you think that my theory about non-responders could be true in the sesne that it accelerates the thinning by causing a shed and those shed hairs then growing back thinner because the minoxidil doesn't work?

Whereas if i never used minoxidil, i may have lost those hairs eventually but at a slower rate and in a more even manner, with the possibility of the finasteride saving them?

 

[Guest]

bump

anyone have any opinions/advice?

 

[The Gardener]

Traxdata hit the nail on the head. Additionally, minoxidil regrows hair at best, does nothing at worst. minoxidil does not adversely affect your hair follicles, so whatever happens to the scalp would have happened anyways with minoxidil or without.

 

[Guest]

Traxdata hit the nail on the head. Additionally, minoxidil regrows hair at best, does nothing at worst. minoxidil does not adversely affect your hair follicles, so whatever happens to the scalp would have happened anyways with minoxidil or without.

Thanks for the reply.

So at worst, the minoxidil shed hairs should grow back at a similar thickness?

or

If i am a non-responder, they will grow back thinner?

If the latter is correct, then my theory on it accelerating the thinning of my hair in the areas i applied it to is effectively true.

I appreciate that these areas would of thinned quite soon anyway but not as quickly and not in such a patchy , jagged way, due to the application of minoxidil.

 

[Chujgcha]

Re: another minoxidil question.....

...

 

[Guest]

Chuj,

Thanks for the morale boost!

I'm using Dr Dickie Lee's 5% minoxidil PPG Free version.

I meant to order the normal quick drying minoxidiil but ended ordring the PPG free stuff.

It still drys quickly though, do you think it's just as effective?

 

[Chujgcha]

...

 

[former]

hey me too man, i am at the 3rd month of minoxidil, and my hair is at its shittiest state, and i am now praying that minoxidil will work, and regrowth will soon be seen.......

 

[Guest]

I wish i nevr started taking the fuggin' sh*t - I hate it.

I have nightmares about it, I have to use dermtach all the time to make the hairline look passable but its becoming harder to hide the thinning and i'm worried it might become more noticeable especially in work where we sit under flourescent lights.

I appreciate evryone's opinions on this but a lot of experienced posters are generally saying that its impossible for minoxidil to make your hair worse.

However, there are seeming to be more people saying that their hair and hairlines have been screwed up on it, and seeing as nobody actually knows exactly how minoxidil works to regrow hair, then I would say its defintely possible that it can make your worse if you react badly to it.

At the end of the day its a chemical that we are putting on our heads.

 

[Guest]

bump

what do you think of my theory?

 

[Guest]

bump

 

[Guest]

It's possible that some people may have a bad reaction to minoxidil. minoxidil works by allowing more blood to flow to the root of the hair.

It does not block DHT or anything like that. It just forces the hair to grow. Now I have a theory.

If you have been suffering from hair loss for some time and your hairline is on it's last legs, let’s say one more natural hair shed and it's curtains. I think that applying minoxidil would do nothing to save those hairs. It would force the hairs to shed quicker and then I don't think they would grow back.

If however you had a hairline that was in good shape, The hair was healthy and was not yet being attacked by DHT then yes, I think minoxidil would still cause a shed but the hair would grow back thicker and stronger because of the work minoxidil is doing. But I think in the long term DHT will still have it's way whatever chemical you pump into your body.

 

[Guest]

It's possible that some people may have a bad reaction to minoxidil. minoxidil works by allowing more blood to flow to the root of the hair.

It does not block DHT or anything like that. It just forces the hair to grow. Now I have a theory.

If you have been suffering from hair loss for some time and your hairline is on it's last legs, let’s say one more natural hair shed and it's curtains. I think that applying minoxidil would do nothing to save those hairs. It would force the hairs to shed quicker and then I don't think they would grow back.

If however you had a hairline that was in good shape, The hair was healthy and was not yet being attacked by DHT then yes, I think minoxidil would still cause a shed but the hair would grow back thicker and stronger because of the work minoxidil is doing. But I think in the long term DHT will still have it's way whatever chemical you pump into your body.

My hairline is just about intact but its just so much thinner in the mid-frontal area and right temple, whereas left temple is pretty much perfect.

I'm really shitting it about the mid-frontal bit as i will be fucked if that goes and i have a line down my head. It's beem almost 5 months on the minoxidil and exactly 7 months on finasteride(proscar). My crown is pretty good but the front and temples have just got worse and worse, i'm using dermatch a lot in the front but its getting difficult.

I do get paranoid about minoxidil a lot - I always tend to think that its doing more harm than good whenver i apply it - i dont miss any applications but i dread putting it on my hairline everyday.

 

[Guest]

Just see how it goes. Hair takes a while to cycle so hopefully you will get some growth.

My mid hairline is also pretty much intact but as you explained, the temples are starting to go. I'm not that bothered really but I would like them to stay where they are at this time.

Had my hair cut also and this may make them look worse than they are.

 

[Hotlegs]

It's possible that some people may have a bad reaction to minoxidil. minoxidil works by allowing more blood to flow to the root of the hair.

This theory has been largely proven incorrect and is to be considered out of date, the common concencus is that minoxidil extends the anagen phase of hair growth.

 

[Hotlegs]

I use minoxidil 5% on the hairline only for about 3 months now. Everywhere is defintely a lot thinner, so i guess i have shed a some However, if i am a non-responder to minoxidil, have i just acclerated my hairloss by inducing a shed that will only grow back thinner?

The shed is a response, and not always a bad one, so you cannot shed and be a 'non-responder'.

If this is the case, I feel this is why some people report minoxidil ruining their hairlines.

I caught my hairloss early and had literally gone slightly thin on one edge of my hairline now after 5 months on finasteride and 3 on minoxidil my hailrine is increasingly looking like sh*t. the first 1cm of it has become thin and pluggy looking.

You had only gone slightly thin on one edge of your hairline so you decided to go on both minoxidil 5% (not 2%) and finasteride ?

I use dermatch to cover it but it is becoming harder and a bit of a crutch, i'm hoping it will grow back but it just seems like it won't and its getting worse.

If you were to stop the treatments now you will initially shed a little more hair than you have gained (which we have established is nothing, so nothing to loose there) after a few months you hair will evetually return to where it would have been had you not started using the medications (which we have estabished is just slightly thin on one edge of your hairline).

If you feel minoxidil is adversely effecting your hair growth I would stop using it.

 

[MiddleAgedManiac]

Massive Loss

Howdy! I have been steadily losing hair for about 5 years now, but very slowly thank goodness. However, four months ago I started using 5% minoxidil 2x per day and now my hairline has been receding quickly (almost an inch in the last two months) and I have lost half my density on top! This is crazy! I have yet to see very many little hairs growing back in. Sure, there are three or four here and there, but I am falling behind. If I keep using this I might be slick bald on top by the end of the year.

Every time I ask someone on these forums they always say "stay on it for a year!" I don't know if I have a year!

 

[Hotlegs]

Re: Massive Loss

Every time I ask someone on these forums they always say "stay on it for a year!" I don't know if I have a year!

You are more than likely experiencing a shed, this is a sign that you are responding to the medication.

If you do not feel the advice you receive from people on this forum is right for you seek advice from your doctor or discontinue the medication and let the balding process take it's natural course.

In the event that you are a good responder to minoxidil (this is something you will only be able to tell after a year or so) your hair loss is likely to continue as minoxidil alone does not address the reasons you are losing your hair.