Minoxidil once a day?

[Cassin]

I know what "half-life" means, I just wanted to know what it means in this specific context!

Like were they talking about the half-life in the blood (from systemically absorbed minoxidil), or did they mean the half-life of minoxidil sitting on top of the scalp, or did they mean the half-life of minoxidil INSIDE the skin/scalp, or did they mean the half-life of minoxidil inside the hair follicle, or what, exactly?

"Once a day topical use of Rogaine (topical minoxidil 2% and 5%) seems to be almost as effective as using it twice a day. The reason is, that although minoxidil has a relatively short half-life of several hours when given orally, when topically applied, it has a half-life of 22 hours in the skin."

(bernsteinmedical.com)

so we only really need to use it once a day???????????

There is an article on the main part of this site from a Dr who thinks we could likely just use Minoxidil once a day for 10 minutes and take a shower.

and I'm wayyyyyyyyyyyyy too lazy to go find it.

 

[Bryan]

"Once a day topical use of Rogaine (topical minoxidil 2% and 5%) seems to be almost as effective as using it twice a day. The reason is, that although minoxidil has a relatively short half-life of several hours when given orally, when topically applied, it has a half-life of 22 hours in the skin."

(bernsteinmedical.com)

At least part of that is due to the so-called "depot effect", in which minoxidil is stored in certain parts of the skin (possibly the stratum corneum) after being applied topically, and then diffusing out of that reservoir over a period of time.

 

[Bryan]

so we only really need to use it once a day???????????

Out of all the topical minoxidil studies I've read, I've seen only ONE that bothered to compare once-a-day use with twice-a-day use. They found that the former isn't quite as effective as the latter, but they were only using 2% or 3% versions of minoxidil solutions at the time. I would expect modern 5% versions to have even less of a difference between once-a-day and twice-a-day, for the simple reason that they are more likely to saturate the skin with minoxidil.

 

[MEANSTREET]

haha bryan got owned LOL

 

[Risugo]

Bryan,

From your point of view if you use Dr. Lee's 12.5% minoxidil it should be use once a day without any problem. :agree: