you can use rogaine anywhere. it works everywhere. it increases hair mass by about 30% while you are using it. it takes about 2 months to see some small improvement and about a year to see maximum improvement. If you quit, you shed down to a bit below where you would have been without it and then climb back up to where you would have been without it, and have to start from scratch. The shed starts in a week or so and is fast. The 2% will drop you straight to this point, and the 5% will go below and back up. The 5% gives you a much faster increase in the short run, but the 2% is almost the same in the long run. This is all based off some graphs Bryan posted. By how jagged they looked, I think the sample size was small. The more widely known results show 5% being as far ahead of 2% as 2% is ahead of placebo, which also regrew hair.
Besides the mass build up, i think minoxidil protects blood vessels to some extent. I buy the $6 5% minoxidil and dilute it with 70% isopropyl alcohol and use 3mL on my whole scalp at night an 1mL on my front in the day.
Most people on here use it the way the directions say. Some use 15%. Nizoral 1% shampoo will get rid of the irritation. I plan to add 1/2 mL of flax seed oil to my bottle just to counteract the surfacting and drying effect of the alcohol, even though i have not had problems yet.
