Temple regrowth - minoxidil/Retin-A/Stemoxydine/alfatradiol 4 Months in

mr_robot

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I started taking 5% Rogaine Foam twice a day & Pantostin in June to tackle some accelerated hair loss on the crown and vertex which I attributed to illness. I already had some diffuse loss on the chrown and temple recession over the years but was n't too concerned as I had resigned myself due to both sides of my family suffering from hair loss including my mother, sisters and aunts on my mothers side.

When starting minoxidil in around two weeks in got shedding, losing around 200 hairs a day from the crown and vertex that lasted around two weeks. Over the next five months or so I saw some modest thickening around the chrown and vertex but nothing spectacular.

At the beginning of October I decided to add a few things to my regime: Garnier Stemoxydine, Retin-A (0.1% Gel form) and Peppermint Oil. I would add around a quarter of the 20g Retin-A tube and 28 drops of Peppermint Oil into the Stemoxydine bottle. Applying minoxidil foam in the evening and then 5 minutes later apply 6ml of my Stemoxydine+Retin-A+Peppermint mix.

One month into the new regime I noticed some filling in on my temple areas and around the recessed hair line, encouraged I decided to try generic liquid 5% minoxidil (Q-Gain brand) applying 2ml in the evening as I read some people saying they had a better response with the liquid.

Regrowth continued and at the end of the 3rd month of the new regime I was running out of foam minoxidil that I was applying the morning so decided to make my own fast drying liquid by mixing 30ml minoxidil with 30ml ethanol, I also added 30 drops of peppermint oil and no longer added peppermint oil to my Stemoxydine. I use 2ml of my fast drying minoxidil in the morning that equates to 1ml of 5% minoxidil.

Now coming into the end of the fourth month and temples are still filling in and I still cant believe that I am getting regrowth after five months of no regrowth at all.

I have attached some pictures, unfortunately the early ones where taken at not very good angles for the temples but you can still use the 3 existing hairs and two lone hairs as a reference point on the right temples.

face_1.jpg - face picture at one month into new regime, front camera from phone so not that good quality but you get an idea of the hairline.
face_2.jpg - web cam picture taken 3 weeks into new regime, I included this as it shows the recession of the right temple better.
face_3.jpg - face picture at four months, you can see the improvement to the hair line and the right temple area.

left_1.jpg - left temple at one month.
left_2.jpg - left temple at four months.

right_1.jpg - right temple at one month.
right_2.jpg - right temple at one and a half months.
right_3.jpg - right temple at four months.
 

Shubham23

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Hi, I am new to this forum. Can u please explain what is Retin A and how does it work with minoxidil.
I am currently on Minoxidil 5% and finasteride topical in one solution with some multivitamins biotin and Ketoconazole 2%. I am 2 months in treatment. 1 month with Minoxidil + Amenixidil and 1 month Minoxidil and finasteride topical solution.
Am I on the right path??

Thanks
 

mr_robot

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I am also using retin a.
What is your frequency of use for retin-a?
Everyday?

It is mixed in with Stemoxydine so I use it every day, I mix about 5g in a 84ml bottle which is 14 doses that is roughly 350mg per does. I use alcohol based gel Retin-A which dissolves nicely with the Stemoxydine, so it becomes part of the 6ml that I rub into the scalp and is plenty to cover the whole head, applying cream into your hair is too difficult.

Note originally I mixed in Peppermint oil too, which combined with the Retin-A give a pretty intense burning sensation however I never get redness on the scalp or any other irritation. I did get flakiness and dry skin on the forehead initially but nothing major, plus it is winter and windy so that does not help but in general I tolerate it well. I am now moving to 7.5g per bottle to see how things go.

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Congradulations, you definitely have some excellent regrowth. What's interesting is that three months later, you have twice the area of regrowth.

It's hard to see it in the picture of your head, because your hair color is dark. The close up shots are excellent.

Thanks I'm quite surprised myself, As I said I did 5 months before with just minoxidil and had no regrowth. Unfortunately I got frustrated and added 3 things to my regime which means I cant be sure what caused the growth but I will carry on with the same regime.

Unfortunately camera phones are not the best at taking pictures, plus it is hard to auto focus on hair from a distance.
 

mr_robot

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Retin A is an acid. It makes minoxidil entry easier, because it "burns off" a small layer of the scalp. That way Minoxidil can
enter the hair follicle easier.

If you have thick skin, than I would say use it. But if your thin skinned, blond, just give it a try. It might burn your scalp.

Not quiet, although it is an acid, the amount is tiny, how it works is that it encourages skin cell turn over to rejuvenate skin which is why it is used to treat acne. People get redness due to one of two reasons, irritation due to allergic reaction or from sun burn as it makes your skin more sensitive to UV so you should never use it during the day, only at night. I use it all over my head and have only ever got any reaction on my forehead which is exposed to the sun.

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Hi, I am new to this forum. Can u please explain what is Retin A and how does it work with minoxidil.
I am currently on Minoxidil 5% and finasteride topical in one solution with some multivitamins biotin and Ketoconazole 2%. I am 2 months in treatment. 1 month with Minoxidil + Amenixidil and 1 month Minoxidil and finasteride topical solution.
Am I on the right path??

Thanks

See how it goes with minoxidil first and then see if you need to add anything else, two months is not really enough time.
 

mr_robot

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Does stemoxydine work ? What s your opinion on that ? Can we combine minoxidil with it ?

Well since I added it at the same time as Retin-A I cant 100% say that if it does anything by itself, the consensus seems to be it does something but is no cure. I use "Garnier Fructis Kraftzuwachs Serum" which is the cheap Stemoxydine from Germany, it is only 7 euros a bottle if you order a six bottles (3 months supply). There is no way I would spend big bucks on the Loreal branded one but this one is cheap enough that I even if it just works as a vehicle for the Retin-A I'm not too bothered.

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Congrats, where do you buy all the products?

I get my generic minoxidil and retin-a from e-bay. Garnier stemoxydine from amazon.de and pantostin from www.versandapo.de.
 

Firemythos

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Interesting thread.

It is possible that minoxidil causes the hair growth afterall.
If your new regime did this then it would have worked in a timespan of one month. This is more unlikely.
 

mr_robot

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Interesting thread.

It is possible that minoxidil causes the hair growth afterall.
If your new regime did this then it would have worked in a timespan of one month. This is more unlikely.

Well I never said minoxidil was not part of it as the new regime still uses minoxidil, it is just that there is some extra things added in. As I was using just minoxidil for five months with no growth the additional elements seemed to have kicked started things so there is definitely a synergy going on here. minoxidil for whatever growth factors it produces, Stemoxydine for Hypoxia CD200/CD34 and finally Retin-A which inhibits PGD2 production. Peppermint oil seems to have conflicting info but I've used it with no adverse affects it seems.

Of course none of this is scientific as I should have added one thing at a time but I got frustrated and was ready to give up, that is why there are no temple pictures before I added as I was not expecting any growth. There are still new hairs coming up beyond the pictures I posted so growth is still going quickly.

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Retin-A removes a small top layer of skin so Minoxidil is more easily absorbed. That's really the extent of it. Here's some information I read from an article, which
also discusses laser therapy. I'm not really a huge fan of laser therapy.

Here's the link below:

http://www.livestrong.com/article/292419-retin-a-hair-loss-treatments/

Actually that article does not say that at all, it says it is believed minoxidil absorption is increased due the skin being irritated causing increased blood flow. If you believe that this is the only reason to for taking Retin-A then I suggest you try using peppermint oil instead, it will cause blood to circulate as you get the cooling sensation on your head and you wont get an adverse reaction.

If you really want to remove skin from your scalp, use a shampoo with salicylic acid (which I do) as Retin-A does not do this, it may cause shedding of skin as the dose my be too high to start but eventually Retin-A actually causes your skin to get thicker.
 

Capone

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Cheers. Between face 1 and face 3 photo you look about 10 years younger,from what I can see. You think there's any need for the peppermint oil?

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Is it suppose to be an anti androgen. Did you notice any symptoms due to increased estrogen? Face bloating etc
 

mr_robot

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Cheers. Between face 1 and face 3 photo you look about 10 years younger,from what I can see. You think there's any need for the peppermint oil?

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Is it suppose to be an anti androgen. Did you notice any symptoms due to increased estrogen? Face bloating etc

Probably not, however if you're not taking Retin-A because your skin cant tolerate it you probably should as it may help with absorption. It has not done me any harm form either a regrowth or side effects point of view. I mix it in with my morning minoxidil as I can then tell that I have applied correctly as it gives the cooling sensation.
 

spring15

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Nice results, so you think Liquid Minoxidil is better than the foam?
 

mr_robot

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Any update?

It's going okay however I think I've hit a "wall" at around NW1.5 which coincides with the two stray terminal hairs I have on the right temple. The last month I've had some dandruff issues for the first time ever but no seborrheic dermatitis issues, I'm pretty sure this was due to a drop in temperature as things have now cleared up. In the past my hair always got very thin during winter so I'm looking forward to see what kind of improvement (if any) once the weather improves but I can definitely say my hair has not been this thick during winter in years.

Regimen wise peppermint oil is now back in my evening stemoxydine and I've managed to obtain vitamin E succinate that is now part of my morning minoxidil application.

If I get some time, I will post some back to back pictures of the right temple regrowth.
 

Capone

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Least if things improve again you'll know the peppermint oil in stemox was helping. Look forward to the pics.
 

mr_robot

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I'm pretty sure the peppermint oil has a positive effect, the only reason I stopped was because there was some contradictory paper that said it inhibited PGE2 and I wanted to see if I got better results without it which looks like it is not the case.
 
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