Quiting Rogaine. Should I Do It And What Are Your Experiences?

[Hajo1992]

Hey guys,

I have been using Rogaine since 2015, just after my hair transplant (mainly in the front). I used it every day, twice a day. Just as advised. However, I kept losing hair and decided to go for another hair transplant late 2017.

From early 2017 or late 2016, I had decided to use Rogaine only once a day. My hair got all greasy in the morning and it wasn't showing much results after two years of usage. The hair transplants basically cover my whole head now and just a light pomade and Toppik for the finishing touch. I'm much happier with my hair now then I was in 2012/2013 when my hair loss started.

Anyway, right now, I'm thinking about quiting Minoxidil. I kept losing hair while using the product and there are only a few untransplanted hairs left on my head. I kept making pictures and there is still some thinning going on there even with the use of Minoxidil.

What do you think?

tl;dr, have been using Minoxidil for a number of years, not much result in regrowth or slowing down hair loss.

 

[itsjustsimon]

Look, minoxidil is fun but the truth is if you don’t address main issue ( DHT and other androgens ) you’ll lose this battle sooner or later.

 

[Yakitori]

Losing hair is one thing but losing ground is what is most important. If you lose hair but keep the overall look, then it's probably doing what it's supposed to. If, on the other hand, you lose ground you might wanna consider quitting, at least for the sake of letting go of the hassle of using it.

Popping a pill is far easier and doesn't devour your life like a topical solution might do, in terms of scheduling/planning around your hair loss. While minoxidil didn't work for me in any way except just flat out losing hair, stopping it helped me mentally at the very least, not magnifying and thinking about my hair loss all the time.

 

[Hajo1992]

Try it with microneedling and check back in a few months.

I saw this before! I have been massaging my scalp with a brush (with little dots on the ends) for a week now. That also feels really good.
Does microneedling work similarly? I have seen dermarollers as well. They seem pretty cheap and most people have some good results with them!

 

[Hajo1992]

Losing hair is one thing but losing ground is what is most important. If you lose hair but keep the overall look, then it's probably doing what it's supposed to. If, on the other hand, you lose ground you might wanna consider quitting, at least for the sake of letting go of the hassle of using it.

Popping a pill is far easier and doesn't devour your life like a topical solution might do, in terms of scheduling/planning around your hair loss. While minoxidil didn't work for me in any way except just flat out losing hair, stopping it helped me mentally at the very least, not magnifying and thinking about my hair loss all the time.

Exactly the reason why I was asking that
It does not seem to have much impact after all those years. One week I see no hairs in the sink, other weeks I see a dozen. I have quit for about a week now. Same amount of shedding but my hair seems more manageable. I still got one bottle of Rogaine left. I'm In doubt if I should get another set... Any thoughts?

 

[whatintheworld]

Usually quitting this stuff leads to massive sheds. I saw a thread earlier of this guy on dutasteride who quit minoxidil and lost a ton of hair. Anti androgens may be enough to stop further miniaturization to an extent, but whatever "boost" minoxidil was providing is necessary to keep those follicles alive as well.

 

[Yakitori]

Quitting minoxidil usually leads to a shed that might scare you but you should recover from it after up to 6 months, so if you are confident that minoxidil doesn't work for you or that it's not worth the hassle, then stick to your decision. Quitting and "regretting" after a few weeks of sheds (and restarting the treatment) will not do any good.

 

[Chad T.]

You will lose all the hairs that were already lost, but minoxidil kept them alive. This is why people say you are on minoxidil for life (or when you are ready to lose your hair)

 

[Hair Restoration Daughter]

Try using oral Minoxidil 2.5mg taken once per day. Much less messy and wont irritate the scalp like the foam sometimes does.

 

[Derelict]

Yeah you could try oral minoxidil, i quit topical minoxidil for around 6 months, massive shed, my hair got even worse than before baseline but that might have been because finasteride wasn't strong enough to halt my baldness.

 

[dralex]

I was a non-responder and quit after using for 1.5 years, and it had no effect on my hair whatsoever, hence non-responder. Only way you'll know for sure if you're a complete non-responder is if you quit and don't start losing a bunch of hair though.