2% min did little for me and 5% just burned my scalp red so I dropped down to one application a day untill just last week I used the last of the min bottle .But I've been applying for six weeks now roughly 4%-10% min disolved in myown nutrient solution and now realize its superior effect .It simply doesn't inflame the tissue although I feel the circulation increase literally in the scalp .Very faint pulses of veins can be felt and its not a bad sensation at all .Just a very healthy sensation and my vellus hair seems to be liking this approach as well based on thier pigmentation near my existing line .I'm going to try and take a photo of front top of hair line with digital camera later today .
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quickly realizing benefit of min/nutrients combo
- Thread starter Christoph
- Start date
The Gardener
Senior Member
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From my knowledge, diluting the minoxidil as you are doing is not something I would say is a good idea. I can completely understand that normal, full-strength minoxidil might have caused your scalp burning. There are a few components to minoxidil that often cause that kind of reaction in people.
However, numerous studies have shown that diluting minoxidil reduces it's effect on hair regrowth, over time... and the reduction is exponential in nature. Using .5% minoxidil as you are, as opposed to the 5% that has been shown to maximize hair regrowth potential means your chances of seeing sustained regrowth are slim.
I don't mean to be the bearer of bad news here, but this MB is also supposed to be about honesty, and honestly speaking the pigmented vellous hairs you see are not at all a guranteed sign that those same hairs will inevitably become terminal. It's a common 'first thing' that minoxidil users see, and they often delude people into thinking that they will be looking like David Schwimmer by spring when in fact only a small fraction of those hairs will end up long on the first cycle of regrowth.
Additionally, I think the dilution of your minoxidil is indeed helping your scalp because you are reducing the amount of PPG, a common irritation-causing ingredient in minoxidil, that you are applying on your head. In effect, the PPG probably caused your burning reaction (and, btw, scalp 'burning' is a classic symptom of PPG irritation), and once you started putting on the diluted minoxidil, with only 10% of the original level of PPG, the burning stopped.
As for your nutrient solution, I don't think it would have any effect whatsoever on your scalp condition unless you are also mixing in some sort of skin-penetrating vehicle chemical into your solution as well. Your skin is waterproof, so any nutrients you try to dissolve into water and apply on your head are most likely drying and sitting right there on your scalp, which is dead skin. The only way a nutrient could actually do any good to a follicle would be if it were dissolved in some sort of alcohol, PPG, DMSO, or other known penetration vehicle. Then, it could actually get THROUGH the skin and to the hair follicle and potentially do some good.
That being said, what nutrients are you putting in your solution? Most nutrients have to be absorbed in the gastronomic tract, where enzymes can break them down into usable substances. For example, grinding up a vitamin and putting it into a skin-penetrating vehicle such as alcohol, and applying it on your skin will not get you any benefit. Sure, the vitamin will enter the skin, might get into the lympatic tract a bit and from there into the blood, but because the vitamin has not been 'digested' as orally eaten vitamins are, it is more than likely being pissed out.
I know I am sounding negative and I don't mean to be. I am honestly trying to help you, give you some good advice so you can get the regrowth you want and minimize the burning side effects. To do this, I think you want to KEEP using minoxidil at 5%, but try a variant of it that is free of the most common irritation-causing ingredient in minoxidil, which is PPG. You can buy 5%, PPG-free minoxidil from Dr Lee, who is a very reputable hairloss products sales website. I think is both worth a try, and in your best interest. I would hate for you to be spending all that time dripping a liquid on your head every day, day in and day out, only for you to figure out later that you have shot yourself in the foot by not using the FDA-recommended level of minoxidil that is statistically shown to give the good stuff, the regrowth.
All the best, and good luck with the fight.
Gard
However, numerous studies have shown that diluting minoxidil reduces it's effect on hair regrowth, over time... and the reduction is exponential in nature. Using .5% minoxidil as you are, as opposed to the 5% that has been shown to maximize hair regrowth potential means your chances of seeing sustained regrowth are slim.
I don't mean to be the bearer of bad news here, but this MB is also supposed to be about honesty, and honestly speaking the pigmented vellous hairs you see are not at all a guranteed sign that those same hairs will inevitably become terminal. It's a common 'first thing' that minoxidil users see, and they often delude people into thinking that they will be looking like David Schwimmer by spring when in fact only a small fraction of those hairs will end up long on the first cycle of regrowth.
Additionally, I think the dilution of your minoxidil is indeed helping your scalp because you are reducing the amount of PPG, a common irritation-causing ingredient in minoxidil, that you are applying on your head. In effect, the PPG probably caused your burning reaction (and, btw, scalp 'burning' is a classic symptom of PPG irritation), and once you started putting on the diluted minoxidil, with only 10% of the original level of PPG, the burning stopped.
As for your nutrient solution, I don't think it would have any effect whatsoever on your scalp condition unless you are also mixing in some sort of skin-penetrating vehicle chemical into your solution as well. Your skin is waterproof, so any nutrients you try to dissolve into water and apply on your head are most likely drying and sitting right there on your scalp, which is dead skin. The only way a nutrient could actually do any good to a follicle would be if it were dissolved in some sort of alcohol, PPG, DMSO, or other known penetration vehicle. Then, it could actually get THROUGH the skin and to the hair follicle and potentially do some good.
That being said, what nutrients are you putting in your solution? Most nutrients have to be absorbed in the gastronomic tract, where enzymes can break them down into usable substances. For example, grinding up a vitamin and putting it into a skin-penetrating vehicle such as alcohol, and applying it on your skin will not get you any benefit. Sure, the vitamin will enter the skin, might get into the lympatic tract a bit and from there into the blood, but because the vitamin has not been 'digested' as orally eaten vitamins are, it is more than likely being pissed out.
I know I am sounding negative and I don't mean to be. I am honestly trying to help you, give you some good advice so you can get the regrowth you want and minimize the burning side effects. To do this, I think you want to KEEP using minoxidil at 5%, but try a variant of it that is free of the most common irritation-causing ingredient in minoxidil, which is PPG. You can buy 5%, PPG-free minoxidil from Dr Lee, who is a very reputable hairloss products sales website. I think is both worth a try, and in your best interest. I would hate for you to be spending all that time dripping a liquid on your head every day, day in and day out, only for you to figure out later that you have shot yourself in the foot by not using the FDA-recommended level of minoxidil that is statistically shown to give the good stuff, the regrowth.
All the best, and good luck with the fight.
Gard
Wow,Thanks for that extensive post .I see what you mean now .Although ,besides what your saying I'll continue this direction just to see for the hell of it .As for David Swimmer I have no chance in hell of coming anywhere close to that density unless gene therapy becomes available and I add hundreds of thousands additional hair cells to my scalp .My scalp has been visable now for seven years .If I can get a thin but complete coverage of scalp to where I can't see it I will be a very content man .I've been to the site already and I don't like the initial doctor fee he asks for besides your purchase ,its nothing more than another nickel and dime tactic to get more money .
I'm using Jason's thin to thick scalp elixir with additional aminos I added as well as other things .Jason adds liposomes and polysorbates but I also add dmso to the mix to thin out the mix a little and add absorbability.I have little doubt that at least a small portion of vitamins are atleast reaching the follicle .My hair just hasn't responded well until I added the solution I made .If it didn't I would take your advice and drop the sh*t immediately if I wasn't seeing these little bastards respond although as faintly as they are its progress the finasteride/min tactic didn't do .Also I need to add that there is a little bit of dutasteride added to the solution .