Should I Quit Minoxidil? And How Do I Do It?

[Yakitori]

So I've been using rogaine 5% foam since October 5th, once a day. Early on I was pretty generous and did the 2ml once per day but now it's probably closer to 1.5ml because I'm not really getting any gains, not even temporary by the looks of it.

I never really get any massive shed, not even a 10th of how much I was shedding before getting on finasteride (if I wasn't oblivious to the fact I was balding I would have started up to a year earlier with finasteride and I would probably have up to a norwood less at this point). I did however get some increased shedding after 3 weeks and then again after 5 months. I guess these are the "kill it off and regrow stronger" phases and while as I said, they weren't massive, they did have noticeably increased shedding. I don't think I got anything out of them. My hair line has gotten worse since I started. I apply minoxidil around the hairline and 40% up on the scalp.

I fear that it is minoxidil making my hairline worse because my hairline, ignoring my widow's peak, it is not really a straight line, more wavy sort of if you look closely. On the other hand I don't feel that the somewhat middle-ish area where I apply minoxidil is getting more worse than the back-ish area behind it so I'm not sure what to blame on minoxidil and what not to.

Either way, I'm not getting anything noticeable after 2 "shedding phases", is it time to pull the plug? or is it too early? If I would quit, would I stop completely or stop gradually, dropping off days here and there until I'm off it completely? Should I quit it at a certain time in relation to sheds?

I recently made the jump to dutasteride since 3-ish weeks back, we'll see where it leads me. If I get anything remotely cosmetical from dutasteride, when do people usually see this? Does having been on finasteride prior to that have anything to say about the results from dutasteride?

Cheers

 

[Retinoid]

I think if you are not noticing anything by now it is safe to say that Minoxidil will not work for you. You can move on to other growth stimulants such as Rosemary+Peppermint oil and/or topical Caffeine. Not FDA approved but have some science behind them.

 

[Alex Contee]

I rec giving it a year. Especially if you are switching up other treatments as that may reset your hair cycle.

 

[Yakitori]

I guess, but if it just making my hair line worse, why should I continue? My hair line has sort of a uneven shape which is probably the cause of minoxidil, right?

Besides, if I'm not getting any regrowth, why should I continue with the lifetime hassle of using minoxidil? Adds so many dimensions to my daily routine that's unnecessary if I'm not getting anything out of it, heck maybe even making it worse. At this point I have to shower at certain times, get extra tools like dermaroller and cleaning it every once in a while and getting it stuck in my hair which results in dry hair and stuff.

The only thing preventing me from stopping is the paranoia of getting an enormous shed I won't recover from. On the other hand I just started dutasteride so maybe I want to wait and see if I get regrowth from that and that it's not cancelled out by the minoxidil shed... but at the same time, it's not like I would quit dutasteride anyway, it is at the very least prolonging my hair loss journey. Another point is that if I, against common sense, get any regrowth from duta, shedding after getting some gains will only bring me back to where I am now, if I did drop minoxidil now, my hair would probably look worse.

How quickly do you start shedding after quitting and is that shed as long as the normal once you get every 5-6 months?

 

[Alex Contee]

It's your call. Just know that many dutasteride users get increased hair loss at the hairline. It is possibly due to the sharp increase in scalp test. It will be difficult for you to know if the hairline issues are from Min or dutasteride.

 

[Yakitori]

It's your call. Just know that many dutasteride users get increased hair loss at the hairline. It is possibly due to the sharp increase in scalp test. It will be difficult for you to know if the hairline issues are from Min or dutasteride.

What? I just started with duta... my hair line got worse when I started with minoxidil, period.

 

[Zoro]

I noticed zero change after dropping minoxidil, then again i had no shed or results from it either

 

[Derelict]

Depends how well it's working expect 3/4 month shedding and 6/7 month for your hair to return to what it would have been pre minoxidil use. No point gradually stopping imo, just take it out your regime.

 

[Yakitori]

Depends how well it's working expect 3/4 month shedding and 6/7 month for your hair to return to what it would have been pre minoxidil use. No point gradually stopping imo, just take it out your regime.

After 6/7 months or 6/7 months on top of those 3/4?

 

[Derelict]

After 6/7 months or 6/7 months on top of those 3/4?

6/7 months for your hair to return to baseline, what your hair would have been like without minoxidil.

 

[Yakitori]

6/7 months for your hair to return to baseline, what your hair would have been like without minoxidil.

So it's normal to not have any gains until after 6/7 months?


I started on October 5th if I didn't mention it.

 

[AnxiousAndy]

So it's normal to not have any gains until after 6/7 months?


I started on October 5th if I didn't mention it.

If you are going to drop minoxidil then do it gradually. Even if you didn't get an initial shed you could still likely get a quitting shed which can be worse than a first shed If not handled properly. Start off by lowering your dosage and then drop your usage down to every second day until gradually you are not using it at all.

 

[Yakitori]

If you are going to drop minoxidil then do it gradually. Even if you didn't get an initial shed you could still likely get a quitting shed which can be worse than a first shed If not handled properly. Start off by lowering your dosage and then drop your usage down to every second day until gradually you are not using it at all.

Everyone say different, 50/50 split right now of what I have read so far on this board.

Same with the time table for finasteride etc. It seems like people have no clue, haha. One guy's knowledge is as good as the next guy.

 

[The_Dragon]

I started minoxidil about 3 months ago. My left side had started to thin so I used it exclusively on the whole hairline (EssenGen-5 which has a bit of finasteride in it), including on the right side as it was in the beginning stages as well. However it seems to have destroyed both sides. It used to have a uniform shape, now is a bit jagged. I have read a few topics with titles "minoxidil has destroyed my hairline". I do have a few hairs (I mean about 3/4) which have grown but hardly anything compared to the damaged that it did. I will continue for a little bit longer, but I think it may have destroyed healthy hairs and am not optimistic. Hope that helps..

 

[Derelict]

I started minoxidil about 3 months ago. My left side had started to thin so I used it exclusively on the whole hairline (EssenGen-5 which has a bit of finasteride in it), including on the right side as it was in the beginning stages as well. However it seems to have destroyed both sides. It used to have a uniform shape, now is a bit jagged. I have read a few topics with titles "minoxidil has destroyed my hairline". I do have a few hairs (I mean about 3/4) which have grown but hardly anything compared to the damaged that it did. I will continue for a little bit longer, but I think it may have destroyed healthy hairs and am not optimistic. Hope that helps..

I don't think you should worry, from what i have read your hair will eventually return to baseline and thicken up if minoxidil has caused it to thin. I can't say for absolute sure as im currently going through a shed from stopping it, but like i said in previous post after 6 or 7 months your hair will return to the state it was in before using minoxidil. Are you also taking finasteride?

 

[The_Dragon]

I don't think you should worry, from what i have read your hair will eventually return to baseline and thicken up if minoxidil has caused it to thin. I can't say for absolute sure as im currently going through a shed from stopping it, but like i said in previous post after 6 or 7 months your hair will return to the state it was in before using minoxidil. Are you also taking finasteride?

I hope so, I will give it a few months more. I am not taking oral finasteride (fear of side effects), but am using it topically in EssenGen-5 (although I never needed a prescription for it when purchasing so has made me a little suspect). I also mixed it with RU. This is only on the hairline. Use it once a day in the evening and I use a homemade Zix topical in the morning. I have been on and off RU and Zix for about a year, and only started the minoxidil+finasteride topical when I noticed my left part of the hairline (temple?) continuing to thin. So far, have not seen much improvement with either, but hoping time will tell.

I am thinking about adding topical spironolactone, but waiting a few months first.

 

[Yakitori]

hgdfghfghfghgth I seriously don't know what to do.

Minoxidil has done nothing for me. Probably fucked my hairline (seems likely because I don't cover my entire scalp with him). I have lost about 50% of my density the past 24 month, didn't jump on to finasteride until July/August last year but while it slowed down my hair loss, I am not gaining a single hair so it's just getting worse. I am able to maintain 5% sanity because my hair is long so from distance it looks like I got below average hair but up close you can see down the scalp so easily it's almost scary. It's really frightening to walk by a mirror closely.

What's make it scary is that I got the sheds from minoxidil but regained nothing so if I jump off minoxidil maybe it will just getting worse for whatever reason.

 

[magic]

This is gonna be kinda long. I've been lurking for a while and figured I could help.

Some background: In January of this year, I had been on finasteride for about 2 years and I was on minoxidil liquid/foam for about a year and 3 months. I was about a Norwood 1.5 at that time and my hair was pretty long - around shoulder length.

My hair loss seemed to have stopped at a solid NW2 after a year on finasteride, but still had lots of hair in the NW1 zone. I figure this would be considered an NW1.5, so that's what I'll call it. The right side of my hairline was in worse shape than the left, so I thought minoxidil could help me regrow the lost hairs on my hairline and get me back to a thick NW1 and/or even the hairline out. I wasn't one of those lucky guys who get a ton of regrowth on finasteride, sadly.

After a few months on the liquid, I switched to the foam simply because it was easier to apply and less greasy. I remember a pretty serious shed around that time, but I didn't think too much of it. My hair was pretty long and you couldn't really tell I was losing hair. For the year I was on the foam, I kept losing more and more hair. I was even dermarolling pretty hard with a 1.5mm roller every couple of weeks because I read that was supposed to be more effective than minoxidil alone. However, the hair loss kept progressing. All the hairs in that zone between NW1 and NW2 were thinning. The finasteride seemed to have been doing its job and holding my real solid hairline at NW2. However, everywhere i had applied minoxidil (the NW1 area), the existing hairs were getting thinner and thinner. I also started noticing heavy bags under my eyes like I had never experienced before. Even with a night cream, it looked like I hadn't slept in weeks. Sadly, things didn't seem to be getting better for my hair, so in early January, I stopped the minoxidil. Things got pretty bad at that point. It felt like minoxidil was making things worse, even after 1 year! I had enough, so I decided to shave my head. A huge decision, but I think it was the right choice because it just looked stupid.

So, I've been off the minoxidil for about 5 months now. There was a period of super heavy shedding after about a month off the medication. Only just now am I starting to see some recovery. I'm hopeful that some alternative treatments I'm on will help me, but that will take a little while to really know if they're truly working.

However, to your question: should you quit minoxidil? If you aren't getting any skin issues, I say no. At first, I was like you. I really didn't think minoxidil was doing anything for me. I really believed that it was making my hair worse the whole time I was on it. However, after couple weeks after I shaved my head and stopped minoxidil, I took two very high quality pictures of my hairline with flash (before any shedding occurred due to stopping minoxidil). My hair was a centimeter or so long at that point, but I was amazed at how thick it really looked. I could see a ton of velus hairs in that photo at the NW1 zone even on the worse side. I took a similar photo of my hairline now and compared them. The minoxidil shot was thicker and there were a lot more terminal and velus hairs. There was marked improvement and I think if I stayed on minoxidil for another couple months and suffered through another hair growth cycle, my hairline would have been even better. I lost a lot of hair in the NW1/NW2 zone after stopping minoxidil BECAUSE minoxidil was working.

Do I regret stopping? Surprisingly, no. My hair may be worse now, but it's starting to recover slowly. The skin issues it was giving me were also dealbreaker for me. I already look older than my age and my skin has always been pretty bad. My skin was just horrible on minoxidil. However, if it didn't give me skin trouble, I would have stayed on it for a few more months before giving up on it. Get some really high quality photos with your phone or a good camera (using flash) of the left, right, and middle of your hairline. In three months, do the same and compare them. It might surprise you. That will give you your answer of whether to quit or not.

I think in a couple months I'll really see how much has changed since I've been off of minoxidil. I've read quite a few stories on this and other forums about people really only 'recovering' from minoxidil after about 8 months or so. Basically, the hair cycles should come back to normal and your 'true' hairline/crown/<wherever you applied minoxidil> should show within 6-8 months after quitting. However, as someone in the middle of that time frame, it's kind of demoralizing. I've kept up shaving my head and, when I'm too lazy to, I'm wearing a hat. It sucks, but hair growth is a slow process. However, my skin is noticeably improved and I'm on some alternative treatments that seem promising. We'll see.

I hope this helps.

 

[Yousef]

For me also think gonna drop minoxidil ,
am on my 9th month and my air look worse than ever

all this time all what i could notice is shedding and thinning
no signs of at least hair loss stop

9 months with no results ??

Am afraid to keep using minoxidil , hoping results will come later, but nothing happens
now am close of being total bald

 

[rclark]

If you're not responding by nine months, don't waste your money.

If you want to save your hair, just invest in some Finasteride. Your chances
of responding to that are good.

Just remember, it can up to a year or two for maximum results with Finasteride.