About to start on Minoxidil...

[Raz]

Heya guys! As someone who is thinking of trying out Minoxidil, I've got a few questions to the more knowledgeable people in here. But before that, little background info...

I've been on Finasteride for about 9 months now and it's been good for the most part. Went from heavy diffuse thinning on the top and having a super thin but not yet bald area around the cowlick in the vertex to some improvements and sporting a Norwood 2ish hairline with some peach hair sprouting out now. I've noticed that the overall texture of my hair has improved, the ridiculously thinned down area around the cowlick has gradually filled in and I've noticed some baby hairs sprouting in my crown and my hairline, surprisingly enough. But I want more, so I was thinking of starting on Minoxidil. While I've gotten decent results so far with Finasteride and will continue its use - I really want to do all I can to get some more thickness on the top. Now that I've ensured I don't get any sides or bad stuff from finasteride and have confirmed it is fine for me, it's time to move on to Minoxidil as I initially thought I would, after 6-12 months of finasteride use. I have never used any type of Minoxidil before.

So my questions are mainly as follows:

1. Should I get on the foam or the liquid?
What would you guys say are the difference between the two? I can get Rogaine in both forms with relative ease in here, at 5%. Which would you recommend for long-term usage and do you think there are any differences in effectiveness or undesired side-effects? (Such as itchiness of the scalp). Or should I look into an alternative, such as Kirkland?

2. How do you combat any of the side-effects such as the itchiness?
I am currently using Nizoral and I find it helps with some of the male pattern baldness-itchiness in general (that hasn't occured in a while now though, being on Finasteride!), but as these products (mostly?) have alcohol in them, I figured they would cause some dryness and flakiness for the scalp? Do you guys have any supplements or home-remedies you use to alleviate the itchiness, if it occurs? Like, coconut oil or whatever.

3. Is once a day enough or do you truly need to apply Minoxidil twice a day for it to take effect?
I am not asking this question to half-*** it: I will do whatever it takes to grow some hair, but as a 24-yr old student, the more affordable it is the better. I've heard stories of people maintaining or even regrowing with once a day application of Minoxidil. Has anyone done this, or currently doing it? If so, did you start with twice a day but cut down the dosage to once a day? Any hairloss from that, or can you maintain with once a day? Cutting the cost in half would be pretty nice and save some time and effort in the long run, too.

4. Did you go through a shedding period when starting on Minoxidil? If you did, how long did it last for?
I am not worried about riding out a shedding-phase for gains, but just trying to prepare myself mentally.

Thanks for your time, guys. :blush:

 

[Mja017]

1. I started out with liquid 2 months ago after I had just shaved my head to a 1. Recently I've been heeding the advice of people here and applying liquid only at night and foam before going to work. If you have medium to longish hair- liquid minoxidil will make your hair look greasy and gross for 3 hours after application.

2. I haven't experienced any itch. But I also apply an emu oil cream about 15-30 min after liquid application. (Emu oil is said to help prevent inflammation)

3. I've only been using minix for 2 months twice a day and feel pretty lucky with the results I've seen thus far. Black hairs are literally sprouting up everyday around the hairline and temples. But I have read some reports around here of people maintaining with only once a day applications.

4. I have not yet noticed a substantial shed. But this could very well be due to shaving my head upon starting minoxidil. The longer my hair is the more I seem to shed, or at the very least shedding is more noticeable when my hair is longer.

In conclusion if you're seeing good results from finasteride alone, but want to see better results definitely add minoxidil.

 

[AubreyMcClendon]

Wondering if any one else on the forums has input on this, specifically with regards to items 1 (foam vs liquid) and 4 (# of times to apply).

 

[charlangas]

Good questions, im using the liquid minoxidil once a day, mostly beacouse i have medium to long hair and it makes it look greasy for a coulple hours after i apply it, if i see no change on a few month i ll probably try the foam and do it twice a day.
I ve been on minoxidil+finasteride+keta shampoo for a month now, i used to lose maybe 10-20 hairs a day, on the 3 week of treatment i started losing about 50-70 hairs every time i showred, i got scared but stayed on the meds, this last 2 days the shed went back to 10-20 so im hoping its over.

GL!