What to do when you stop responding to rogaine?

[warner8]

i use to be such a great responder to the 5% minoxidil 6 years ago when i started to use it; i could have been poster child for rogaine. then in my late 20's it just seemed to stop having the effect, and despite being on finasteride over a year, and now even RU for over a month, i just cant get the same reaction and results i got from it previously despite using all these DHT blockers. i thought upping the % of minoxidil to 12, and now 15% would make a diff, but i am just not seeing it. so now I'm contemplating 30% minoxidil before the areas really go slick bald. i wonder if i am just now a non-responder to minoxidil, or is the dht in my scalp just way too high for it to have an effect, any thoughts on the matter? what i could be doing? other things to try?

regimen

1 mg finasteride ED
5% target brand generic minoxidil 1x day
15% minoxidil lotion with AA, retin a, progesterone, hydrocortisone 1 x day (alternating wit the 5%)
RU 5% premade from Anagogic inc 1 or 2x a day before applying minoxidil
derma rolling once a week, 1,5 mm
regenepure DR, 3 x week

 

[DoctorHouse]

i use to be such a great responder to the 5% minoxidil 6 years ago when i started to use it; i could have been poster child for rogaine. then in my late 20's it just seemed to stop having the effect, and despite being on finasteride over a year, and now even RU for over a month, i just cant get the same reaction and results i got from it previously despite using all these DHT blockers. i thought upping the % of minoxidil to 12, and now 15% would make a diff, but i am just not seeing it. so now I'm contemplating 30% minoxidil before the areas really go slick bald. i wonder if i am just now a non-responder to minoxidil, or is the dht in my scalp just way too high for it to have an effect, any thoughts on the matter? what i could be doing? other things to try?

regimen

1 mg finasteride ED
5% target brand generic minoxidil 1x day
15% minoxidil lotion with AA, retin a, progesterone, hydrocortisone 1 x day (alternating wit the 5%)
RU 5% premade from Anagogic inc 1 or 2x a day before applying minoxidil
derma rolling once a week, 1,5 mm
regenepure DR, 3 x week

You just had less hair loss 6 years ago so now things look worse. Minoxidil will always stimulate growth but when you are losing more density you have less to stimulate. People fail to remember so far we have no cure for baldness. So your treatments will not completely stop the balding process dead it in tracks. They are only "time machines" to offset your true genetic destination. Your next step might have to be a hair transplant if you want to bring more hair back in areas that you have lost density.

 

[Dench57]

Assuming you're not getting sides from finasteride, dutasteride is the next logical step. Will do better than any amount of minoxidil.

 

[DoctorHouse]

Assuming you're not getting sides from finasteride, dutasteride is the next logical step. Will do better than any amount of minoxidil.

However, you don't see many photo documented cases of switching to dutasteride showing drastic improvement after being on finasteride. male pattern baldness is really hard to stop dead in its tracks. Most people with aggressive loss just go straight to Dutasteride without even knowing they if they would do the same or better on finasteride. I stopped Dutasteride and I am actually doing better on just finasteride but still slowing losing ground although yesterday was a really good hair day and it looked good.

 

[Dench57]

However, you don't see many photo documented cases of switching to dutasteride showing drastic improvement after being on finasteride. male pattern baldness is really hard to stop dead in its tracks. Most people with aggressive loss just go straight to Dutasteride without even knowing they if they would do the same or better on finasteride. I stopped Dutasteride and I am actually doing better on just finasteride but still slowing losing ground although yesterday was a really good hair day and it looked good.

Pretty much every clinical study shows Dutasteride being more effective than finasteride though. I do hear people say, almost exclusively frontal receders, that their hair got worse on Dutasteride and my broscientific theory is that these people's frontal hairs are sensitive to all androgens, specifically Test which is boosted some 20-30% on dutasteride. dutasteride can also cause huge sheds both at the beginning and in cycles thereafter, which is why some people probably drop it when they are shedding heavily and claim it made their hair worse.

Considering this guy is already on finasteride, RU and minoxidil, the only proven thing that could improve his situation is dutasteride. Unless he wants to give CRTH2 inhibitors a try but they are unproven at this stage.