New Regime: Stemox|minoxidil|ru|oral Castor|other Oils

[Afro_Vacancy]

I'm 32, been diffusing and receding slowly for a long time, at least since age 23. I'm NW2 or NW2.5.

I cannot take finasteride due to the risk of ED side effects, as this would exacerbate the ED I already have.

I don't have all my ingrediants yet, some of them are in the mail, but I'm posting the thread here and the starter photos to get it done. I'll update the details as the ingredients come in.

Components:

1) Minoxidil from MonixidlMax. It's 15% Minoxidil with 5% azelic acid, some tretinoin and caffeine, dissolved in propylene glycol. I think 15% minoxidil is too much, I've ordered some propylene glycol in the mail to dilute it by 50%. I'll thus be taking ~7.5% minoxidil once a day.
2) RU58851, currently being shipped, from the kane shop. I plan to take it in a small dose, 10 mg a day, to start off. I will dissolve it in the minoxidil in the necessary quantity to achieve that dose.
3) Garnier Fructis 5% Stemoxydine, been taking ~3ml/day for a few weeks, applied evenly over the scalp, will start using measuring devices to be more consistent;
4) Oral castor oil ~1 ml/day, taken at night with my other supplements taken for reasons other than hair -- currently: vitamin D, fish oil, glucosamine-chondritin, coconut oil, grapeseed oil, organic mixed maca, powdered greens, apple-cider vinegar, l-aginine, pine bark extract, also dopa mucuna in the morning.
5) Shampoos as can be seen in my signature. Right now it's Nizoral 1% followed by Paul Mitchell Tea Tree Oil conditioner on Mondays, Thursdays, Saturdays. I take 1% keto with 14 DHT blockers from Pura D'or on the other days. This is overly complicated and clogs up my bathroom, I'll simplify things when they run out.
6) Separately, I'm doing nofap (2 M+O without P since starting, see my sig) and intermittent fasting. Intermittent fasting means no food prior to 12 at least five days a week, and one ~36-hour fast per week, though the exact protocol might vary from week to week.
7) I'm considering buying tea tree oil and lavender to dissolve in the minoxidil. We'll see.

Here are some pictures from March (~2 months ago), that I took just after a buzz cut, 2 on top 1 on the sides, just before starting fnasteride 1.25 mg/day which I took for 30 days so presumably it had no noticeable effect.

I will post the final numerical combination and dose of my topical once all the ingredients are in.

 

[buckthorn]

sounds good brother!! wish you luck! that sounds like a solid regimen. Are you including dermarolling?

 

[transam]

minoxidil seems like the only thing worth a damn....everything else will certainly help the hair that isn't damaged by DHT

 

[Afro_Vacancy]

Personally I think the issue is tretinoin, and I will tell you why. When I used that
with a fifteen percent solution it burned the hair off my scalp. The solution I used
was legitimate. It was prescribed by a doctor and made by a pharmacy.

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Let me also say this. Now I am using thirty percent Minoxidil, with hydrocortisone (.1%), and no
tretinoin. I am not having any issues at all with my hair falling out. My hair fell out when I used the
highly concentrated amount combined with retinol.

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Had the exact same issue that David_MPN is having, or a similiar issue.

My mailbox is full. Please take the retinol OUT of your concentrated formula. The concentrated Minoxidil
isn't hurting your scalp. It's the addition of the retinol.

Highly recommend using hydrocortisone with your scalp.

Good luck.

Hi K9,

I don't have any issues from the minoxidil, all of the pictures posted are pre-minoxidil.

The retinol fraction is very low: 0.025%.
https://www.minoxidilmax.com/dualgen-15-pg
Once I dilute it 50/50 with more pg, it will be 0.0125%. I'm skeptical that it will give me problems.

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sounds good brother!! wish you luck! that sounds like a solid regimen. Are you including dermarolling?

What's the actual evidence for dermarolling?

 

[patienceiskey]

Can I ask what the purpose of intermittent fasting serves to help with hair in your regiment? From what I recall, fasting and then assuming a larger meals thereafter would lead to greater insulin spikes and a higher chance of type II diabetes. Diaetes or just in general mild insulin resistance itself, has a whole myriad of symptoms of which one of the encompassing problems would be including but not limited to inflammation and other mechanisms (still somewhat unknown at this time) that could play a part in hair LOSS.

 

[Afro_Vacancy]

I took my first minoxidil dose today. I dropped 1ml with the dropper, of 15% minoxidil.

Can I ask what the purpose of intermittent fasting serves to help with hair in your regiment? From what I recall, fasting and then assuming a larger meals thereafter would lead to greater insulin spikes and a higher chance of type II diabetes. Diaetes or just in general mild insulin resistance itself, has a whole myriad of symptoms of which one of the encompassing problems would be including but not limited to inflammation and other mechanisms (still somewhat unknown at this time) that could play a part in hair LOSS.

Intermittent fasting is what I'm already doing for other reasons. I'm listing everything I'm doing. It's a means of losing weight.

Regardless, if it has any effect on hair loss, it's probably beneficial in reducing or preventing androgenic alopecia. Here are the reasons:

1) Fasting increases SHBG, where low levels of SHBG are positively correlated with AA;
2) Intermittent fasting reduces insulin levels -- which is the exact opposite of what you are wrote. You are mistaken. It's well-documented by now that people who fast have lower insulin levels and higher insulin sensitivity;
3) Intermittent fasting reduces inflammation -- which is the exact opposite of what you are wrote. You are mistaken;
4) Intermittent fasting leads to massive increases of human growth hormone;

Given that we only have anecdotal reports to go by, it's not enough for intermittent fasting to be a regime by itself. However, given the evidence, it's more likely to help than hurt the hairline and crown.

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Holy ****, the minoxidil+PG really dries my hair and turns it into muck.

- - - Updated - - -

The minoxidil/azelic acid/retinol/caffeine in PG really dries my hair.

What I did this morning is I took ~1 ml of that using the dropper into a mini measuring cup, then poured Garnier Stemoxydine in there until it reached ~5 ml. That makes 4ml of stemox, whereas the suggested daily dose on the bottle is 6ml, I don't think it makes much difference. The 5ml of solution, which is all that stuff mixed together, I then slowly pour on my head and mix semi randomly with my hand. It's a morning application.

Soon, when it comes in, I will add low-dose RU58851. I am not sure if I should add something like lavender oil, might fight the dryness from the minoxidil. I might also dilute the minoxidil 50/50 with more pg.

 

[Afro_Vacancy]

OK, I figured out how to dissolve the RU into my stemoxydine at the require microdose while going for my night walk.

5 grams of RU (what I got) is roughly equal to 2 teaspoons, I measured this in a small measuring cup.
So 1/8 of a teaspoon gives ~300 milligrams.
If I dissolve that into 84 ml of Garnier Stemoxydine, and take 4 ml each day, I will thus be taking ~15 mg of RU each day. I can monitor the sides at that level. I dissolved it into two bottles of stemoxydine tonight, that should give me enough to last ~42 days.

I will start the RU in a few days, at a daily dose of 15 mg. My regime will then be complete, barring future variations in dosage of the constituents.

 

[Afro_Vacancy]

Been on RU 15 mg/day for a few days now. minoxidil I've been using for maybe two weeks, and Stemoxydine since May 10th or so.

I hope I can get some regrowth on my hairline, it might be my most egregious facial feature. Every inch would be helpful. I think I have good odds since 15% minoxidil once a day is fairly aggressive, and my male pattern baldness is fairly slow ... I've been slowly losing my hairline since at least 10 years based on old pictures where I can now look back in hindsight and see the recession.

Not a great angle since my head is tilted back, but the head tilted back is part of life and I won't always be at my best angle.

Might be shedding the past couple weeks, I wouldn't know, I never notice lost hairs.

 

[Kevand]

Hi David!
Do you remember at what store you bought Garnier Stemoxydine, also which area? I live in Stockholm, Sweden.
Looks like a good regimen!

 

[transam]

I'm 32, been diffusing and receding slowly for a long time, at least since age 23. I'm NW2 or NW2.5.

I cannot take finasteride due to the risk of ED side effects, as this would exacerbate the ED I already have.

I don't have all my ingrediants yet, some of them are in the mail, but I'm posting the thread here and the starter photos to get it done. I'll update the details as the ingredients come in.

Components:

1) Minoxidil from MonixidlMax. It's 15% Minoxidil with 5% azelic acid, some tretinoin and caffeine, dissolved in propylene glycol. I think 15% minoxidil is too much, I've ordered some propylene glycol in the mail to dilute it by 50%. I'll thus be taking ~7.5% minoxidil once a day.
2) RU58851, currently being shipped, from the kane shop. I plan to take it in a small dose, 10 mg a day, to start off. I will dissolve it in the minoxidil in the necessary quantity to achieve that dose.
3) Garnier Fructis 5% Stemoxydine, been taking ~3ml/day for a few weeks, applied evenly over the scalp, will start using measuring devices to be more consistent;
4) Oral castor oil ~1 ml/day, taken at night with my other supplements taken for reasons other than hair -- currently: vitamin D, fish oil, glucosamine-chondritin, coconut oil, grapeseed oil, organic mixed maca, powdered greens, apple-cider vinegar, l-aginine, pine bark extract, also dopa mucuna in the morning.
5) Shampoos as can be seen in my signature. Right now it's Nizoral 1% followed by Paul Mitchell Tea Tree Oil conditioner on Mondays, Thursdays, Saturdays. I take 1% keto with 14 DHT blockers from Pura D'or on the other days. This is overly complicated and clogs up my bathroom, I'll simplify things when they run out.
6) Separately, I'm doing nofap (2 M+O without P since starting, see my sig) and intermittent fasting. Intermittent fasting means no food prior to 12 at least five days a week, and one ~36-hour fast per week, though the exact protocol might vary from week to week.
7) I'm considering buying tea tree oil and lavender to dissolve in the minoxidil. We'll see.

Here are some pictures from March (~2 months ago), that I took just after a buzz cut, 2 on top 1 on the sides, just before starting fnasteride 1.25 mg/day which I took for 30 days so presumably it had no noticeable effect.

I will post the final numerical combination and dose of my topical once all the ingredients are in.

David you said that 15% minoxidil is too much...why would you say that?...do you feel it's too much as in the side effects? Or it's too much as in; it's unnecessary to use that much minoxidil. I'm interested in your thoughts

 

[Afro_Vacancy]

David you said that 15% minoxidil is too much...why would you say that?...do you feel it's too much as in the side effects? Or it's too much as in; it's unnecessary to use that much minoxidil. I'm interested in your thoughts

It's much higher than everybody else uses, but maybe that;s fine I don't know.

I'll get my blood pressure tested in a bit, if it's dropped, I'll lower the dose by 50% by diluting it with water.

My BP was approximately 110/80 prior to starting minoxidil. If it's dropped to 100/65 then that's a problem.

 

[Afro_Vacancy]

Hi David!
Do you remember at what store you bought Garnier Stemoxydine, also which area? I live in Stockholm, Sweden.
Looks like a good regimen!

I bought mine in Sweden actually lol, I think that product is not available outside Europe.

I was in Lund when I bought it. I looked all around town and could not find it. I found it at "ICA".

I miss the cinnamon buns and cardamom buns. You may not be aware of this, but you get much higher quality bread products in Europe than we typically do in the English speaking countries.

 

[WangMQ]

Ten years to reach this. Wow!

You've got a good chance of improving/maintaining with what you have now before new treatments come out!

 

[Afro_Vacancy]

Ten years to reach this. Wow!

You've got a good chance of improving/maintaining with what you have now before new treatments come out!

It's probably more than 10 years. I can see it on my pics as a 23 year-old in hindsight, though at the time I had no idea. I think I only realized I'd eventually go bald around 28 or 29. I noticed my afros (when I grew them) were no longer as round, they were longer on the sides.

Does this also mean my hair will take a long time to recover? I don't know.

 

[Afro_Vacancy]

I'm travelling now, so:

- I'm taking ~8 days off from stemoxydine+RU, as I'm out and didn't pack more. When I'm back home I have a stockpile waiting for me.
- I'm taking ~5 ays off from minoxidil, see above.

 

[Afro_Vacancy]

Back on Minoxidil, RU, etc. I think I might do minoxidil twice a day for a few days here and there to compensate for the few days I missed it last week.

I have neglected to swallow the castor oil the past few days. It tastes really bad.

 

[buckthorn]

David,
May I ask what made you decide to use 15% minoxidil? I am very uncertain about higher concentration minoxidil myself. Yes, everything I have read has been anecdotal, but some people indicate severe scalp irritation and for a few even more aggressive hair loss. I loved the idea of increasing the concentration myself, as I have been on 5% for four years. After about 5 months of using 15%, I have a strong suspicion it drastically increased my hair loss and was a big contributing factor to the scalp inflammation you always hear me complaining about. Is there legit evidence backing it? Good luck man! I hope you monitor yourself carefully on that stuff! Measure your heart rate both on and off it as well.

 

[Afro_Vacancy]

I use a higher dosage so that I only need to apply minoxidil once a day.

15% after 12 hours is equivalent to 8.7%, given the 22 hour half-life of minoxidil. So I don't need to apply 5% minoxidil if I already have some 8.7% leftover from the morning.

I don't want to dedicate my life to applying as many lotions, creams, etc as possible. Between hair loss, acne, teeth, etc I'm overwhelmed.

 

[Afro_Vacancy]

I can't tell if I have any regrowth as I'm sporting a different hairstyle for the time being.

It doesn't feel like regrowth, I keep looking into the mirror though and feeling like it looks like sh*t. Is this greater diffuse thinning? Is this greater recession at the hairline and temples? I can't even tell for sure again, it could be the mirror or the new haircut lying but damn it f*****g sucks.

I keep doubting myself and paying a psychosocial tax of having a voice at the back of my head asking stupid questions. For example I went nearly a week without minoxidil when I ran out while travelling ... is that permanently damaging my hair? I fasted for three days last week, is that a problem? Probably not and probably not.

Can I take a cheap blood test to know if I'm a minoxidil responder?

Maybe I'm shedding? I've never seen hairs in the shower, and I have no association with people who post things like "last week I was losing 85 hairs a day, and this week I'm losing 115 hairs a day!". I have no idea when hair is being lost or how. It is just being lost over time.

II have some options: I can increase the dosage of RU (currently very low), and I can get a hair transplant. However, since I'm a diffuse thinner, an hair transplant will need to be followed up with another hair transplant.

I already deal with the challenge of being an aesthetically mediocre single man in his 30s, the threat of further hair loss is enraging.

 

[kj6723]

I can't tell if I have any regrowth as I'm sporting a different hairstyle for the time being.

It doesn't feel like regrowth, I keep looking into the mirror though and feeling like it looks like sh*t. Is this greater diffuse thinning? Is this greater recession at the hairline and temples? I can't even tell for sure again, it could be the mirror or the new haircut lying but damn it f*****g sucks.

I keep doubting myself and paying a psychosocial tax of having a voice at the back of my head asking stupid questions. For example I went nearly a week without minoxidil when I ran out while travelling ... is that permanently damaging my hair? I fasted for three days last week, is that a problem? Probably not and probably not.

Can I take a cheap blood test to know if I'm a minoxidil responder?

Maybe I'm shedding? I've never seen hairs in the shower, and I have no association with people who post things like "last week I was losing 85 hairs a day, and this week I'm losing 115 hairs a day!". I have no idea when hair is being lost or how. It is just being lost over time.

II have some options: I can increase the dosage of RU (currently very low), and I can get a hair transplant. However, since I'm a diffuse thinner, an hair transplant will need to be followed up with another hair transplant.

I already deal with the challenge of being an aesthetically mediocre single man in his 30s, the threat of further hair loss is enraging.

As far as the shedding thing, I also get confused when people give specific number counts of what they shed. It seems to me a person would have to follow himself around all day with a 360 degree, up close, 3rd person view of his hair to know such a thing.

Maybe you should consider doing some of the online consultations for a hair transplant and see what the surgeons say. The reputable ones will hopefully give you a realistic and honest opinion on whether they think it's a good option for you right now. hair transplant might turn out to be a good route for you to go. I'm glad I scheduled mine, it's nice knowing I'm doing what I can.