klink said:
Q1) When did someone coin the phrase "Big 3" and when did it become a widespread popular regimen?
In September of 1997, two asian-americans vacationing in Hong Kong who were smoking crack and shooting up rat poison in room 322 at the Hotel Hiyajiko came up with the phrase. After their untimely demise, due to overdose, authorities found their notebook "diary" with "The Big 3" scribbled on page 6 along with a list of three hair loss products. This almost indecipherable scrall was published the next day in the Hong Kong Daily and has been in widespread use ever since. :wink:
klink said:
Q2) How come the Big 3 is not comprised of only topicals, is it that the concensus was that oral finasteride (etc.) was more effective than spironolactone, or was finasteride better marketed, or what else contributed to which three are the three.
In all seriousness, "The Big Three" title is based on the fact that these three products (Propecia, Minoxidil, Nizoral) have been clinically proven to help with hairloss and two of the three (Propecia, Minoxidil) are currently the only FDA approved treatments for hairloss. That is not to say other products are ineffective....just that most others have not undergone formal, controlled, double-blind clinical testing (although this has been recently changing to some extent)....or have not been recognized by the FDA as effective. There are other products which have been shown anecdotally to be effective however, based on member testimony and other "less formal" trials.
klink said:
Q3) How tested is the theory that you need finasteride to maintain your Min regrowth? Are folks just repeating other when they say this?
finasteride and minoxidil attack hairloss from two different angles/pathways. minoxidil encourages hair growth but does nothing to stop the natural progresstion of hairloss so you will continue to loose hair at the same rate...it just "turns back the clock" a few years, so to speak, by this stimulation of hair growth.
finasteride actually interferes with the conversion of Test to DHT...and so diminishes one of the currently accepted chemical pathways that leads to hairloss.
Based on these facts among others it is generally accepted that together these products work synergistically to attack both the symptom and cause of hairloss by utilizing two different methods. But finasteride does not specifically help you "keep minoxidil hairs" more than any other hairs on your head. Yes finasteride will keep minoxidil hairs healthy and help stop their follicular deterioraton over time but ultimately minoxidil hairs are around because of minoxidil, not because of finasteride and visa-versa. Once you stop minoxidil...you generally will go back to what you would have had on finasteride alone...if you never started using minoxidil....but even minoxidil hairs will eventually miniturize if you don't do something to treat or interfere with the chemical pathway that induces hairloss in the first place....finasteride is one method to address this.
hehe...thanks roki...gotta have a little fun along the path to knowledge... 
