What does minoxidil and finasteride do, exactly?

[Avocado]

I've a vague idea of what these two things do exactly. I'd like to be able to better articulate my understanding of these two products.

Does Minoxidil makes your hair grow by promoting blood flow near your hair follicles?
Does Minoxodil "regrowth" is actually turning vellus into terminal hair? Or does it actually regrows terminal hair from shrinking/dead follicles?

Does Finasteride stops your follicles from dying by blocking DHT accumulation?
Can Finasteride revert a dying hair follicle back to normal? Or does it just keeps it from shrinking any further?

 

[zzzzz]

minoxidil does supposedly something like that but its complicated. Yes it strengthens/thickens the hairs. "dead" follicles are the same as villous hair basically, just further in the male pattern baldness process

finasteride inhibits enough dht to prevent it from binding to androgen receptors in the scalp by enough to stop the miniaturization/male pattern baldness process. Converting a completely "dead" hair to terminal is not likely if even possible. This is why you will never see a completely bald person get a full head of hair back from these drugs

 

[Zaidius]

Ok, I understand how finasteride stops DHT, but why do damaged follicles fall out and grow back stronger?, or hair appear thicker.

I can understand how hair loss halts, not sure as to why hair begins to get thicker.

 

[GoldenMane]

minoxidil is a vasodilator but that's not what makes it promote hair growth. Other vasodilators have not been found to enhance hair growth. It is unknown precisely waht the mechanism is yet and there doesn't seem to be much interest in finding out. It works, that's enough. Some researchers have suggested that it opens ion channels to the hair follicle. It may be a combiantion of the two, increased blood flow, increased ion transfer to the follicle.

 

[DENI3D]

I found out (unfortunately too late) that minoxidil alone does not work for most guys. In fact in the 7 months I took it it increased my hairloss exponentially.