Is this true about minoxidil

[Bryan]

All this still leaves me wondering if I have anything to gain by using minoxidil if male pattern baldness will still occur indefinitely.

What you have to gain is a little more hair than you would othrwise have.

If I DO use it there is the question of which brand.

I'd suggest sticking to the standard formulas like Rogaine or a generic. The high-potency versions like Dr. Lee's 15% Xandrox are unproven, in my opinion.

AND if I do start using it, I will have to for life...

Only if you want to maintain that offset of extra growth...

But what about if something more effective comes out and I have to keep forking out for minoxidil as well so I don't go bald all of a sudden?

Simple: stop taking the minoxidil, and switch to the new treatment.

Should I jump on the minoxidil wagon...?

If you want an offset of extra growth and you don't mind the hassle and expense, go for it.

Bryan

 

[smacker]

Some great advice, thanks Bryan.

Regarding a more effective product coming on the market though - would I be ABLE just to stop using minoxidil, because wouldn't all the hairs artificially kept in anagen phase then all fall out - even the ones not affected by male pattern baldness - meaning that I would be balder (at least hopefully only for a while) than before I started treatment?

P.S. what if the hairs NOT affected by male pattern baldness, but artificially kept in anagen phase DON'T come back after they shed when I stop using the minoxidil?!

Perhaps I should go with Revivogen if I feel this way...?

 

[Bismarck]

Some great advice, thanks Bryan.

Regarding a more effective product coming on the market though - would I be ABLE just to stop using minoxidil, because wouldn't all the hairs artificially kept in anagen phase then all fall out - even the ones not affected by male pattern baldness - meaning that I would be balder (at least hopefully only for a while) than before I started treatment?

P.S. what if the hairs NOT affected by male pattern baldness, but artificially kept in anagen phase DON'T come back after they shed when I stop using the minoxidil?!

Perhaps I should go with Revivogen if I feel this way...?

If you stop minoxidil you will be there where you would have been if you never used it.
It seems that these minoxidil-hairs can't be kept alive with an antiandrogenic approach.

 

[Bryan]

Regarding a more effective product coming on the market though - would I be ABLE just to stop using minoxidil, because wouldn't all the hairs artificially kept in anagen phase then all fall out - even the ones not affected by male pattern baldness - meaning that I would be balder (at least hopefully only for a while) than before I started treatment?

Vera Price's study shows that you might actually get balder, but it's just a temporary phenomenon. If you want to avoid that, I suggest tapering-off slowly, not quitting "cold-turkey". BTW, I suggest the very same thing to people who decide to quit Propecia: taper-off slowly.

P.S. what if the hairs NOT affected by male pattern baldness, but artificially kept in anagen phase DON'T come back after they shed when I stop using the minoxidil?!

What if a truck hits you when you cross the street to get a cup of coffee? What if you are struck down by a heart attack tomorrow? What if a meteor hits you on the head and kills you as you're walking down the sidewalk?

You gotta play the odds in life. The evidence shows that people (MOST people, at the very least) recover from stopping topical minoxidil after a few months.

Bryan

 

[Guest]

What if a meteor hits you on the head and kills you as you're walking down the sidewalk?

:freaked2:

 

[smacker]

Thanks, Bryan. You have convinced me to start using minoxidil. My hairline receeded, probaby to NW1.5, all of a sudden - over 6 months when I was 20. It didn't budge anymore until 2004, which was an horrendous year, and it has gone back to NW2. I can't just keep watching and hoping for no more loss anymore!

By the way, who is Vera Price and where can I find her study?

This site is AWESOME! Congrats and thanks to all who come here.

 

[jason566]

I believe Bryan explained it pretty well
minoxidil gives u extra hair but the male pattern baldness coninutes since it doesnt inhbit dht in anyway or androgens affecting the hair follicle and because of that you get a peak of hair growth if it works that is..and eventually due to male pattern baldness that peak doesnt decline per say just that the male pattern baldness catches up with you ..and makes the intial peak less visable due to male pattern baldness still going on..of course if they did a study with finasteride and minoxidil that be different since your taking a growth stimulant and a drug to inhbit dht formation in the body

 

[smacker]

Yep, indeed he did, and about Vera Price - I didn't read his reply properly, sorry Brian.

SO best to choose minoxidil with azelaic acid, I guess, to stop/slow down the progression of male pattern baldness.

 

[Buffboy]

I believe Bryan explained it pretty well
minoxidil gives u extra hair but the male pattern baldness coninutes since it doesnt inhbit dht in anyway or androgens affecting the hair follicle and because of that you get a peak of hair growth if it works that is..and eventually due to male pattern baldness that peak doesnt decline per say just that the male pattern baldness catches up with you ..and makes the intial peak less visable due to male pattern baldness still going on..of course if they did a study with finasteride and minoxidil that be different since your taking a growth stimulant and a drug to inhbit dht formation in the body

Hell yeah! The motto must be: Get regrowth or die trying! :!:

 

[curbed my enthusiasm]

So if you can tolerate the inconveniance you might as well use minoxidil from the begin? I thought i read where gourmetstylewellness.com wrote something to the effect that he was saving minoxidil for when his hair got worse and didn't want to waste that option w/ the prospect of increased hairloss in the future.

 

[The Gardener]

So if you can tolerate the inconveniance you might as well use minoxidil from the begin? I thought i read where gourmetstylewellness.com wrote something to the effect that he was saving minoxidil for when his hair got worse and didn't want to waste that option w/ the prospect of increased hairloss in the future.

It a matter of hairline. If you don't need regrowth, you don't need minoxidil. If you have a great hairline, but are just thinning, then don't use minoxidil. If you have an unacceptable hairline, and want to restore some of the lost real estate that used to have hair, then use minoxidil. That's Gardener's stand.

The true and soul-searching question that one has to ask himself is whether or not the hairline is SO unacceptable as to warrant a lifetime addition of Minoxidil to your daily routine.

 

[former]

hmm what happen if i am now jus applying minoxidil on the vertex, as i still have some thickness of hair in the frontal region.. but down the road, what happen if the frontal region starts to thin ? Should i now start applying the frontal region or wait till its thinning ?

 

[Guest]

I'm sorry but I dont believe that chart. I know for a fact that Finasteride works better than minoxdil.

the following is from a post by Bryan


[Here is the data for counts and weights for both drugs, at both the 48 week and 96 week points. Please note that the values for finasteride are EXACT, because Dr. Price actually reported the exact numbers in the text of that particular study. However, she didn't do that in the earlier topical minoxidil study, she just showed the graphs which I've have scanned and posted several times. Therefore, the numbers for minoxidil are what I have carefully estimated from those graphs (you can double-check my numbers by estimating them from the graph for yourself...all numbers are in reference to the original starting baseline):

Hair COUNTS

2% minoxidil, 48 weeks: +26% (estimated from graph)
2% minoxidil, 96 weeks: +24% (estimated from graph)

5% minoxidil, 48 weeks: +32% (estimated from graph)
5% minoxidil, 96 weeks: +30% (estimated from graph)

finasteride, 48 weeks: +12.4% (exact figure reported by Price)
finasteride, 96 weeks: +9.1% (exact figure reported by Price)


Hair WEIGHTS

2% minoxidil, 48 weeks: +23% (estimated from graph)
2% minoxidil, 96 weeks: +14% (estimated from graph)

5% minoxidil, 48 weeks: +32% (estimated from graph)
5% minoxidil, 96 weeks: +20% (estimated from graph)

finasteride, 48 weeks: +20.4% (exact figure reported by Price)
finasteride, 96 weeks: +21.5% (exact figure reported by Price)


After a careful examination of those numbers, the following facts appear obvious: 1) finasteride is relatively better at improving hair WEIGHTS than hair COUNTS, whereas minoxidil is relatively better at improving hair COUNTS than hair WEIGHTS; 2) minoxidil is better than finasteride in both areas (weights and counts) during the first year or so, but finasteride eventually "catches up" to minoxidil in total hair weight per unit area of scalp by the time a couple of years have passed; and 3) this data supports what I've been saying for a long time: minoxidil is relatively more effective at stimulating hairgrowth than finasteride per unit area of scalp, but it probably doesn't interfere with the fundamental balding process like finasteride does, which explains why finasteride will eventually "catch up" and surpass minoxidil after a period of time.

 

[Buffboy]

I'm sorry but I dont believe that chart. I know for a fact that Finasteride works better than minoxdil.

finasteride works better at MAINTAINING but minoxidil is slightly better at getting REGROWTH. But this is generally speaking, I know that you have experienced major regrowth on finasteride alone - consider yourself lucky, but don't base your opinion on your own experince alone.

 

[curbed my enthusiasm]

The Gardner, so minoxidil. grows as much hair in year seven as it does in year two? I realize your hair will appear worse because your continuing to lose hair, but minoxidil will continue to due the same job it did from the beginning as long as you take it? thus making any decision to hold off on it would be based on willingness to live with lifetime applications and not on concern for using up one of your main weapons against male pattern baldness before it's absoloutly necessary because it's only effective for a certain amount of time?