Oral Minoxidil If You Don't Respond To Topical?
- Thread starter Yakitori
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Oral minoxidil can work when topical doesn't as for some people the vehicle is not effective enough to penetrate the scalp properly. Also when minoxidil is ingested it is more efficiently converted into Minoxidil Sulphate which is the chemical that actually does the regrowing.
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So you think it would be worth trying for me?
I was on finasteride for a year when I swapped to dutasteride 4+ months ago. I was on minoxidil foam with derma for 8 months somewhere in between overlapping both anti-androgens but it did absolutely nothing for me. Dutasteride only decreased the hair loss slightly more than finasteride but has done nothing for regrowth which is nothing you can expect anyway.
The thing with oral minoxidil for me is that I cannot afford to ride out a possible devastating shed that I won't recover from, then I might just play it safe and ride it out with just using dutasteride, i.e. the least thing I would wanna do is accelerate my hair loss and at this point but no success at all in my treatment, I'm skeptical about anything bringing some slight density back, even just temporary.
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Its definitely worth a shot. If you were to buy liquid topical minoxidil and drink the solution as I am doing 1 bottle will last you about a year!! Very, very cheap. How is your hair right now? If you still have a lot of hair left then I think you should be content with the results you are getting as decreased hair loss is more than some can even hope to get. The shed from oral minoxidil can be intense.. Mine was pretty bad and last about 3 - 4 weeks losing about 300+ hairs a day, which isn't much worse than my usual 200 a day. minoxidil especially oral cannot accelerate your balding, it may seem like it does during the shed but since it doesn't address the root cause any hair loss will be temporary.
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Well, since I pull my hair up when styling you can see some scalp in front so I have to use Toppik. I'm a norwood 2.5 (but I have a deep widow's peak so I can probably make myself look like a 1.5 norwood with Toppik and proper styling).
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Toppik is a godsend isn't it? NW2.5 seems bad enough to justify giving oral minoxidil a try. Its the same as topical though. A life time commitment.
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I'm a diffuser up top all over so a slight increase in density up top would be a world of difference for me. I just wanna quit Toppik, that's it.
Taking a pill "forever" doesn't really bother me. Smearing sh*t on my head that does nothing for me but costs money does bother me, that's why I quit topical mino.
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Oral should give you a good general boost of thickness all over the head. When it was working for me my whole head got thicker and I wasn't even a diffuse thinner! ( as far as i knew anyway )I've never tried topical minoxidil so I can't relate to the inconvenience and hassle that comes with it but its definitely not something I could commit to, so I chose oral.
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How much do you use? and how was the initial shedding? and when did it turn in your favor?
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I originally used 5mg two times a day ( morning and night ) the shedding started by day 7 and by day 40 it has stopped completely. The next 3 months my hair got noticeably thicker.. My hairline and temples began to grow back too! It all went down the drain when I was forced to switch brands and temporarily drop finasteride for two months during month 4 so I'm not sure what caused the minoxidil to lose effectiveness..
If you are now using liquid minoxidil as oral instead of pills, how do you measure out 5mg from liquid exactly?
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With the Kirkland brand the dropper they give you measures 1ml, 0.5ml and 0.25ml. 50mg of minoxidil is in 1ml so 0.5ml is 25mg and 0.25ml is 12.5mg. I'm actually taking about 10mg as its a lot easier to measure. I usually just fill the dropper just under the 0.25ml so its about 10mg
With the Kirkland brand the dropper they give you measures 1ml, 0.5ml and 0.25ml. 50mg of minoxidil is in 1ml so 0.5ml is 25mg and 0.25ml is 12.5mg. I'm actually taking about 10mg as its a lot easier to measure. I usually just fill the dropper just under the 0.25ml so its about 10mg
Did you get the pills you were taking from thailand pharmacy no problems? im thinking of ordering from them instead, want to try oral minoxidil in one form or another,i just don't know if they are dodgy company or not. I was thinking of just 2.5mg once a day or something.
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My experience with them regarding oral minoxidil has been mixed to say the least. Initially they sold Loxidil Forte ( an oral minoxidil brand ) which was the first one I used with great results, but they ran out and had to switch to Mino10 which left me shedding badly, I lost all my regrowth plus more. About the same time I also had to temporarily drop finasteride so maybe that was the cause, who knows but I never recovered. I would recommend you drink the liquid because then at least you know for sure what you're getting is genuine minoxidil! Alot cheaper too. A single bottle costing about 10 bucks will last me about a year!
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Well i ordered from thailand pharmacy, was easier than i thought it would be. Would you say starting at 2.5mg once at night is a good starting point? i got bloated face even with foam, but that was dermarolling on a damp scalp, this way i can know exactly how much is going systematic and hopefully get no sides. I remember a study where they showed it was between 2.5mg and 5mg going systematic with minoxidil applied to the whole scalp. If i have no success with the pills i will just use the liquid. How long was delivery time for you from thailand pharmacy? i believe you are in the UK like me.
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As a starting point 2.5mg should be fine. How did you find dermarolling? I've recently restarted it and my scalp feels pretty good! It took about 2 weeks to arrive for me, yes I am in the UK.
I was only dermarolling to increase the absorption of minoxidil, just last week i started rolling to wound. So i can't say if it's doing any good or not.
yourworld001
Established Member
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Mino10 is either very very weak or fake as sh*t.
Same happened to me, Loxidil Forte I knew was working as it was causing palpitations. Mino10 did nothing.
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Thank god someone else had the same experience! ( not really it sucks ) I'm now drinking Kirkland's minoxidil solution so I hope I can make some gains. Mino10 is useless, I don't think its fake but I do think its just a very poor quality product. The only thing that kept me using it was that it was the only minoxidil I had and that my increased body hair didn't go away so I assumed it was a quality product.. I'm hopeful this time around as since I switched to Kirkland's my body hair is growing extra long.. Good sign. How long were you on Loxidil Forte for before you had to switch? Did you regrow any hair?