Question about hair becoming "minoxized"

[Ryants]

Hi all,

I'm new to the board. It looks like there is a ton of great information here. I'm 31 and I'm starting to experience a receding hair line as well as diffuse thinning.

Anyway, I have a question about the "minoxidization" of hair. Basically, my question is, when you stop using minoxidil after using it for a while, do you lose only the new hair created by the minoxidil? Or are you likely to lose even more hair than that?

Thanks.

 

[Ryants]

Thanks Monty. To clarify, when you lost hair after you stopped, would you say you were worse off than if you never started minoxidil? Or about the same as if you had never started minoxidil?

 

[bezerra]

What minoxidil gave you, only minoxidil keep.
In short, stop minoxidil and after a hair cycle or two almost all your hair is gone, even those that were good before the application.

 

[Ryants]

Bezerra, wow. I didn't realize that.

I think I'm fairly early in the game at this point. So, I'm considering starting out with propecia and see how things work. If it doesn't get me to where I want to be, I probably will start minoxidil then.

 

[Ryants]

Thanks for the info.

 

[davestep]

I agree, i stopped using minnox for just over a month, i'm back on it know, but i lost so much ground and it's at it's worst its ever been now, feel like the break has done lasting damage!

 

[bezerra]

I think minoxidil should only be used in pre-advanced stages or when Finasteride/dutasteride isn't doing the job very well (or after you've been in finasteride/dutasteride for more than 2-5 years [if the things get worst, obviously])

After you start with minoxidil you can never stop, unless you want to be bald.

 

[Bryan]

In short, stop minoxidil and after a hair cycle or two almost all your hair is gone, even those that were good before the application.

After you start with minoxidil you can never stop, unless you want to be bald.

I don't know of any evidence to support that, and I've read a bunch of topical minoxidil studies. In fact, the best one I've ever seen (by Dr. Vera Price, 1999) seemed to show that you take a major hit in both haircounts and hairweights right AFTER you stop using it, but a while later (six months or so), counts and weights "rebound" back to about the same level as if you had never used topical minoxidil at all.