minoxidil frustration! (irritation)

[slacker86]

Hi everyone. First of all I'll give you a quick update with regards to my current situation. I have been on propecia for over 2 years, and minoxidil for nearly 1 year. Results have been fantastic, especially since the inclusion of minoxidil last June. I now have a thick norwood 2 and my baseline was a very weak 2.5. However over the last two months I have developed a love/hate relationship with the minoxidil. I'm currently using standard 5% rogaine which all of a sudden seems to be really making a mess of my scalp. I have red inflamed areas in my hairline, and even on my forehead. When they dry out they flake like crazy to the point where if I run my fingers through my hair it's like a snow storm. I don't know what to do. The irritation on my forehead bothers me most mainly because its more obvious. When I apply the rogaine it also seems to burn occasionally. Luckily i now have enough hair to have a thick fringe, otherwise this would be unbearable. I really hope that I can stay with the rogaine as i believe i owe at least 50% of my regrowth to this product. Anyone have any idea what could be causing this and what I can do to help? I recently started using Nizoral again but it doesn't seem to have helped at all. I use Jasons thin to thick shampoo on nizoral off days.

Thanks.

 

[slacker86]

Hopefully someone can help me out. Didn't get a reply before but I've now realized that minoxidil was indeed causing me irritation. My scalp, hairline, forehead and eye lids became really red and sore. It seemed to be some kind of dermatitis and has caused me to stop applying rogaine. It's now been about a month since i stopped treatment. I don't know what to do. The irritation has cleared up I think, at least as far as I can tell. Should I restart treatment? Is there another type of minoxodil which will be easier on my scalp? It's so strange that this allergic reaction happened a year into treatment as I didn't change anything. This set back has made me want to try even harder and possibly add something else in addition. Anyone have any ideas? Perhaps something with the added benefit of improving scalp health.

Thanks in advance.

 

[slacker86]

No one have any input on this? Any other brand of minoxidil that might be kinder to my scalp? Im starting to worry, I think i may be starting to shed. It's like realizing I'm balding all over again, so cruel, thought I had this beat for a couple more years at least.

 

[Cassin]

Ill get you sorted put

I can't use regular minoxidil either...many of us have problems with it. Are you specifically using the foam or liquid? It makes a huge difference.

 

[slacker86]

Thanks for your reply! I was using the 5% liquid.

 

[Cassin]

The PPG in off the shelf minoxidil is brutal. It was painful to me.

Check out the foam and you'll be fine. Also, grab some tea tree shampoo to help the heal the scalp.

 

[Cassin]

BTW stop using nizoral for a few weeks. Give your scalp a break.

 

[slacker86]

Thanks a lot. I always considered trying the foam, but seeing as I had such a good response from the liquid for the first year, coupled with the fact that I live in the UK and can't buy it from UK stores I didn't bother. Looks as though I can purchase it from ebay though. Will also try the tea tree shampoo. Thanks again.

 

[Cassin]

No problem...dr lees item 500 is good too

Minoxidil.com

I have used both with great results.

 

[fallout2rocks]

Just some minor note to add to Cassin's response...

Did you have a sleeping pattern or lifestyle change recently? (ie. Dayshift/Nightshift)

What about your diet? :dunno:

I assume you didn't change your shampoo?

I don't know if the above factors are relevant enough to make a huge impact but I am sure they all tie into scalp health one way or the other.

I use Retin-A which makes my scalp peel away and flake like there's no tomorrow. Sometimes, especially during the beginning of treatment, I would get burning inflammation from minoxidil application. I find that through consistent and scheduled treatment, I was able to ride out the minoxidil kinks so to speak. My scalp still burns from minoxidil as we speak actually. However, I noticed my shedding does somewhat noticeably increase when I have insomnia or a bad night of rest the night before. (The difference between 2 vs. 4-6 strands of hair!) Maybe it's just me paranoid, but maybe it's worth looking into?

 

[CBF]

No problem...dr lees item 500 is good too

Minoxidil.com

I have used both with great results.

are u use both at the same time? example at night foam and at morning dr lees 500?

 

[Cassin]

I'll use them randomly in no order whatsoever with no thought to frequency.

 

[slacker86]

Ok, I have now been trying the foam as an alternative to the liquid for around a week. My scalp had healed due to not having any minoxidil applied to it for around a month. I decided to try only using once a day to start with. Unfortunately the skin condition has returned, i fear I may in fact have developed an allergic reaction to minoxidil. Im really not sure what to do now, whether to count my losses and just stick to propecia, or to try another brand altogether. What a blow! any further words of advice?

 

[slacker86]

So I've been off monox for around 3 months, and I am of course shedding hair :shakehead: I mean, it could be worse and I could be shedding a lot harder, but it's really terrible none the less. Has anyone got any words of wisdom? I think i had developed contact dermatits, or something of that ilk. It may have been Seborrheic dermatitis. Either way it happened with both the foam and liquid brand name rogain. Do you guys think its best for me to now wait it out another few weeks and assess the damage? Or try an alternative?

And are there any other viable growth stimulants out there? I fear I already know the answer to this question and that it is a resounding NO.

I have never had a particularly sensitive scalp by they way, this is totally out of the blue! Although my face is sort of sensitive and can be quite picky with products, so maybe this was always going to happen eventually.

 

[MrBastard]

You chould try folligen. Folligen for blondes if your hair picks up the green tint off the regular one. It is copper/tin peptides who repair your skin, making it thicker and supposedly increasing follicle size. Helps with inflammation too

 

[slacker86]

So the shed is still continuing. Anyone know how long the shed from minoxidil cessation is likely to go on for? I'm still on propecia.

So tempted with trying the minoxidil again, but very anxious to do so seeing as this reaction took a year to occur. If this were to happen again and I was once again forced to quit a few months down the line, would I likely be worse off after the next shed? or the same as now?

Besides the hair growth that minoxidil provided, I think a big plus for me in using the medication was knowing that along with the propecia, I was doing pretty much all I could for my hair. Now knowing that I'm not is almost as bad as the resulting shed.

 

[Ende]

I was having trouble too when I used liquid minoxidil twice a day. Try using nizoral every morning for a week. Expose the scalp for 1-3 minutes. Then try minoxidil again, while continuing treatment with nizoral. Apply at night. Begin with 1ml or less. Rub it in. Comb your hair backwards, to make sure the scalp gets air. Works for me.

If your scalp gets irritated again, it's probably contact dermatitis. I've experienced that with Diprosalic. Nothing to do if that's the case.

 

[hairhoper]

I'm also using the Regaine 5% liquid and having some trouble with flaking. My hair is buzzed really short so any flakes are really obvious.

Thing is I don't always get the flaking so I've tried to figure out the pattern and whether it relates to showers & Nizoral use etc. My current theory is that applying minoxidil liquid when I've recently showered ('hydrated scalp') seems to cause flaking when the minoxidil dries (even though I can seemingly get my buzzed scalp damn dry).

Anyway my routine is now to apply minoxidil at 6PM & leave on til bed (unless going out), then at 6AM I get up apply some more, go back to bed for a bit until time for work, then wash it out after about 2hrs (sometimes using nizoral) and apply a light moisturiser to my scalp (it's 'Simple' cream, I usually use on my face, it's UV protective too which kinda make sense since my scalp is so exposed).

Basically this means I never actually have any minoxidil on my scalp when out in public, but I also rarely see flakes after my evening application.

I'd switch to foam but the results from liquid have been so great so far that I don't want to change unless I really have to.

 

[MrBastard]

I had flaking since i started threatments late june till around mid otober. Was extreme in the beginning when i was on recrea forte(rogaine). I actually lost 2 skin layers after only a few weeks... I was on recrea forte for 5 days or smt only!
Greately reduced when i changed to dr lee's + spironolactone wich ontain aloe vera after 1 week breake. Still had random flaking till i started folligen + emu oil EOD. Started on start of october and reduced to no none within 2 - 3 weeks.

So it tok 5ish months for me to have ALOT of flaking till none now. It is all about skin condition. Try folligen + ret-a to heal up the skin then retry minoxidil

 

[blaze]

maybe you could try nanominox. That is by far the most gentle minoxidil. No alcohol. they use nanosomes.

There is a large thread on it.

Dont use retin-a, it is way to harsh.

Maybe a minoxidil in a lotion base might work for you?

Copper Peptides do help with scalp healing and strength. Maybe using them along side minoxidil will enable you to start using minoxidil again? If you buy folligen make sure you water it down by 50% since your scalp is sensitive.

Prox-N is a growth stimulant which contains a variety of ingredients but no minoxidil. But it does contain NANO, which is a natural version of minoxidil. Plus it also contains copper peptides and other SODases. Maybe you could try that instead of minoxidil.