Drying too fast when cycling?

[thinman2]

Hi I have been on Rogaine for 6 weeks now, nothing to show so far, no big shed of hair nothing much. Have to give it lots more time I know. What i wanted to ask people is about the drying time and does to affect how well the stuff works.

I have read a lot on the forums here with people complaining that it leaves the hair a mess so they dont like putting it on in the morning, takes ages to dry etc... but honestly I dont have that problem.

I use the extended applicator lift up my hair (which is quite long) and apply the solution every morning and evening. The thing is I ride to work every day, so when I ride to work with the wind in my hair by the time I get there it is completely dry. This is great as have none of the problems others complain about, i just wanted to know if anyone thinks this could stop it from working, as it says in the instructions dont use a hair dryer to dry the solution, i dont do that but is the wind effectively the same thing? or are they just worried about the heat of the hair drier settings you head on fire .

Any idea?

 

[redtan]

You're probably not getting the full effect of the minoxidil that way. Liquid especially can take up to 3 or 4 hours to fully be absorbed in the scalp. So by you going out and getting the stuff blown off by the wind you're only getting what like a fraction of the absorbtion time. This will make it very innefective and wastes a lot of it.

What I would do is put on foam in the morning which dries and gets absorbed much faster than the liquid, and leave the liquid for at night when you have plenty of time to let it absorb. Otherwise you're pretty much wasting it by only giving it a chance to absorb for less than an hour.

Think about how long it takes for the liquid to get completely absorbed by your scalp if u just sit still. Then divide how long it takes you to get to work by that...that's what % of minoxidil you're actually absorbing while the rest is a waste.

 

[rusty_y2k2]

you're assuming that more minoxidil would be absorbed in the foam application than with the, albeit shortened time period, liquid. I'm not sure that's the case given some of the info floating around on foam's efficacy or more accurately - the lack thereof.

Everything I've seen tends to suggest the majority of absorption occurs in the first hour. Certainly it's not necessarily a linear trend as you have assumed, and Indeed I would suggest that logic dictates as the concentration on your scalp reduces (as more gets taken in) the concentration gradient is going to get more and more shallow resulting in less asorption occuring during say the 4th hr than in the 1st hr.

Different types of minoxidil dry at different speeds too - Dr lee's 5% xandrox for example dries within 10 minutes I'd say - certainly appears to anyway. But that utilises a different carrier to standard minoxidil... anyway, point is not all minoxidil formulations are the same.

I'd say stick with what you're doing... you're happy with the way it works at the moment (arriving at work with unaffected hair) which means you're more likely to stick with it. If in 6 months you still have seen butt-kiss then try mixing things up.

 

[thinman2]

Thanks for answering, yeah I guess it makes sense its not going to work as well if its drying up. Might stick with it for now (i am on the branded Regaine), I dont think I like the idea of the foam because its not on sale here in the UK and some people have written some nasty stuff about it. I dont work on the weekend so no bike riding, maybe if i wear a hat on the odd day it might mean it gets the natual drying time 4 times a week.

 

[thinman2]

Oh I forgot to say its still feels like its sitting on the head, its still greesy when I get to work, its just any spillage thats got onto the hair itself seems to have dried as the hair appears dry.