doubleplay said:
good $#iT on the chart. it's scary to see how bad and fast you fall off when you drop the minoxidil
The bottom chart is not based on trial data (the top chart
is), it is a relationship chart showing the efficacy of each product only in relation to the others.
So read no actual data or scale of data from it, it simply shows that minoxidil is initially (in the majority of people) more effective in increasing hair count than finasteride, but that finasteride is likely (in the majority of people) to maintain hair count over the longer term, don't infer from this graph that minoxidil is twice or thrice or four times more effective at two years, just that it likely to be more effective.
If you are worried about how fast you 'fall off' after cessation of minoxidil use you need to do more research, this graph does not show how fast, just that you
are likely to initially dip below the position you would have been had you not used minoxidil. I have
illustrated it over 18 months it may be 4 weeks or 4 years.
doubleplay said:
which is the main reason I'm hesitant to pick it up in the first place and be enslaved to it.
Your view confuses me ?
You seem to see that if you stop its use you will lose the hair gained on minoxidil, but can you not also see that you return to where you would be without minoxidil ? Did you expect to use minoxidil and stop and keep that hair for ever ? (this is normally know as surgery).
If you have gained no hair on minoxidil, then you will lose no hair if you stop, so no worry there.
If you have gained a significant amount of hair, and have a lot to lose if you stop, then why would you stop?
I find it hard to understand that you can look at the bottom graph and conclude (for whatever reasons) that you would be better off following the blue line rather than any of the other options because you would have a long way to drop to the blue line if you stopped using the medications.
I have followed this same logic and decided not to use soap or to wash because if I stop washing I will quickly (over just a few days) become dirty and I do not want to be enslaved to washing with soap.