Why does Minoxidil get a bad rap on here?

[WarLord]

Fred, may be you should wait for a longer time before making a judgement about Minoxidil, minoxidil does help in a way, but not for a long time and not too effective either. Also different ppl experience differet result with Minoxidil so you cant really compare.

If minoxidil "does help in a way, but not for a long time", how is it possible that people in long-term studies from late 80's were still a way above baseline after 4-5 years? You only parrot some fallacies of self-proclaimed internet "experts", who think that if a treatment "doesn't address the underlying cause of MPB" (i.e. DHT), it can't work in the long-term.

My experience tells me that almost all guys, who are whining in the internet that minoxidil mysteriously "stopped working" after few years, turned out to be sloppy slackers, who stopped using it regularly after some time. Some of them are even so stupid that they can't realize, what blunders are making. They think that when they use minoxidil once a week or when they even interrupt its use for several months (!!!), it will further maintain their hair by some unknown magic. The worst thing is that subsequently they start to spam internet forums with posts like "minoxidil won't maintain your hair, no matter how frequently you use it" - the last words being a perverse irony of their poor discipline.

[Phatalis]

You know I still don't get it.. I was hoping to get input from one of the surgeons or what not.

It seems like most of them have something they dislike about Rogaine and I still don't know what it is.

Thus far, it's working great for me. My hairline is relatively restored and its been about a month.. I mean the hair is shorter but its still growing it. I feel as if when it reaches full length it'll basically be as if I didnt ever lose much hair.

I only hope to god it stays like this for the next few years ...by then ill be out of school and be able to afford a good HT

[Phatalis]

Something I've noticed in my research with Minoxidill and it's results that are published, the numbers are always almost close to 50/50. Using it is like flipping a coin.

And generally people are more inclined to moan up a firestorm of anger when something goes wrong. Few people will actually post up their success.

I've been using it for a month, I have not experienced any shedding, any dander or any of the side effects I've read of.

So I'm lucky, I fall into the positive side of the bunch.

I do too. I don't want to jinx anything but at the moment Rogaine Foam as been incredibly good to me. I'm growing back a decent amount of my hairline and my hair is thicker. I notice a LOT less hair falling out when I run my hands through etc and the only sides have been some zits on my head here and there but nothing big.

My "overdose" was my own fault and it came in the form of a quick panic attack and went away quick. Other than that I've been fine. My hair looks a lot better and applying the foam doesn't get in the way of my day at all.

I think it's great.

[godzillamk]

Something I've noticed in my research with Minoxidill and it's results that are published, the numbers are always almost close to 50/50. Using it is like flipping a coin.

And generally people are more inclined to moan up a firestorm of anger when something goes wrong. Few people will actually post up their success.

I've been using it for a month, I have not experienced any shedding, any dander or any of the side effects I've read of.

So I'm lucky, I fall into the positive side of the bunch.

[Phatalis]

I’ve had panic attacks, they are no fun. Try staying away from the post workout supplements for a while and see how you feel. It's unlikely it was the minox, but I guess you never can tell.

No, I was a big dummy and realized what I was doing wrong. I read the directions and read "apply a CAPFUL two times a day.." not "half a cap full"

not sure how I managed that but I was apply 2x what I should've been. Two capfuls twice a day and I also applied it directly after I took a shower... I dried my hair a bit but it was still wet and I read somewhere that you're not supposed to apply it when your hair is wet because it will soak in more..

So basically, I have a minox overdose lol. That's what I believe anyhow. Haven't had one since and been fine.. it was just my dumbass messed up is all. And the NoExplode i'm cycling off anyhow, it does mess with me also... need to take a break from it.

[Winston]

I’ve had panic attacks, they are no fun. Try staying away from the post workout supplements for a while and see how you feel. It's unlikely it was the minox, but I guess you never can tell.

[Phatalis]

I had like a mini panic attack today... well.. my heart sort of started beating fast. I don't know if this was from minoxidil (side effect) or something else... I had just been working out and I took No-Explode... 2 scoops... it's pretty heavy duty stuff. it was after i had gotten home a good 30 mins later.

Could've been that.

I applied 2 times today.. might go back to 1. I dunno. I'm gonna experiment and see.

Heart beat was around 100 something when I checked it. I calmed myself down and everything was ok.

[Phatalis]

I use minox on my hairline, I was shedding for a good 2 months, possibly more. It was kinda scary seeing tons of hair on my hands when I washed me hair. But now I'll see 4 or 5 hairs on a bad day, and my thinning areas are no longer thin.

I do have more dandruff cause of minox though. But it's a fair trade off. You can clean you head, you can't just make hair appear =P

Yeah dude the weird thing is is that I don't really get any dandruff with the nizoral. I had more dandruff before going on rogaine and niz... I even used head and shoulders and had more dandruff still...

I don't know what did it.. if it was niz or rogaine or both.. but I'm basically dandruff free now. it was actually pretty bad prior to this too.

I hope in a few more months it fills in even more...I do it every morning after my shower...

I just hope it doesn't all the sudden stop worknig or.. I dunno.. but as of right now its pretty cool and hassle free really. plus I have short hair.. so it's a sinch..

3 month supply for like 49 or something like that at walmart.

[Phatalis]

To be honest; I don't know. I've been using it for maybe 3 weeks to a month now...

...I haven't noticed significant shedding.. I guess I did notice it for a week or so maybe... I didn't really notice much.

I put it on once a day and in the beginning twice... I'm kinda lenient on it I guess... I put more than half a capful on once a day... I'm probably going to go back to putting it on twice.. umm..

I notice shedding like I said for a week but maybe I haven't started yet.. I think I did but it was so minor I don't honestly know.. its odd.

All i know is I can see a slight difference in the hairline right now.. my gf notices it too... so I hope after more time it'll fill in better. My hair seems slightly thicker but I definitely notice that I have less hairs on my hand after I run them through.. and that's for sure.

[Layercake]

I use minox on my hairline, I was shedding for a good 2 months, possibly more. It was kinda scary seeing tons of hair on my hands when I washed me hair. But now I'll see 4 or 5 hairs on a bad day, and my thinning areas are no longer thin.

I do have more dandruff cause of minox though. But it's a fair trade off. You can clean you head, you can't just make hair appear =P

[sk8drew201]

Hey Phatalis, How long did the initial shedding phase last when first starting out on rogaine, and how severe was it for you? I just started rogaine 2 weeks ago and am in the shedding phase now..

[Phatalis]

So I guess that means most of the criticism was unwarranted or for small reasons?

I'm actually noticing a difference already after using it on my hairline. Hope this lasts...

[Phatalis]

Fred, may be you should wait for a longer time before making a judgement about Minoxidil, minoxidil does help in a way, but not for a long time and not too effective either. Also different ppl experience differet result with Minoxidil so you cant really compare.

the side effect from Propecia is not permanent and the half life of the pill is only two weeks, but u r making it sounds really serious. (as u said it "seems" permanent, may be you can do more study on it) ask a doctor or expert instead of jus reading it from website, bcos sometimes they tend to be a bit exaggerated and misleading.

You know, I understand there are most definitely circumstances where the propecia sides are exaggerated. I'm certain a lot of cases are... maybe even more than the guys that have no side effects at all...

...but the thing is, there are whole forums dedicated to people with problems. A decent amount of posters are reoccurring... not just once post.. this shows dedication to the problem. Some have upwards of 1000 posts.... and there is a decent number of guys like this with stories. At some ponit I had to think that with such a large number and so many forums there has to be SOME truth to the propecia side effects thing.

I don't doubt some corporations or businesses or even a person would get online and try to make up fake things to slander another business... but it really got to the point where it seems like the possibility that these are all someone who has personal gain from posting bad stuff about propecia side effects seems silly. Even then if a couple hundred people are talking about crazy side effects... I'm going to believe that at least a few are legit. It just doesn't seem right.... I mean there isn't a huge forum for the hairmax lasercomb being fake even though the verdict is pretty much out that it is... and propecia has huge forums on it's sides.

Now, I'm not saying propecia is bad... by all means if there is no sides and it works for many on here thats ****ing awesome! But I'm personally too scared to mess with it. I could be hunky dorey... and grow hair back with it but it's not worth even the slight risk to me. I'd rather go bald and wait for some new state of the art hair thing in the coming years (let's hope!)

anyhow, I'm settling with Rogaine, Biotin, Selenium and Nizoral for now. Eventually probably get an HT and I buzz my hair shorter. I'm not seeing much from the Rogaine yet but I haven't been taking it for long. It feels like when I run my hand through my hair a I see a lot less hair... I'm just going to keep it up to see where it goes...


But I did remember reading it was just as effective as propecia (in foam form) and that it was relatively effective on the hairline. The only drawback at this point seems to be it is hard to style if you have long hair or that you get a dependency on it... which at this point it's like... regardless if I didn't use it I'd lose my hair.... same with propecia..

So what's wrong with it?

[aiyosh]

Fred, may be you should wait for a longer time before making a judgement about Minoxidil, minoxidil does help in a way, but not for a long time and not too effective either. Also different ppl experience differet result with Minoxidil so you cant really compare.

the side effect from Propecia is not permanent and the half life of the pill is only two weeks, but u r making it sounds really serious. (as u said it "seems" permanent, may be you can do more study on it) ask a doctor or expert instead of jus reading it from website, bcos sometimes they tend to be a bit exaggerated and misleading.

[fred970]

I'm thinking the same as you do about minoxidil. I've been using it for about three months and you already can see some little improvement and I'm losing way less hair everyday since i'm using it. No itchy scalp, redness, puffy face, or other things that have been reported on some hairloss forums. I added Nizoral to my regimen too, my dandruff is now gone.

I really can't understand how can people immediatly jump on propecia without thinking more seriously about what they're doing, they don't seem to realise the risk they're taking. You only have to take a look at the propeciahelp.com website. From what I've read, some had just taken the drug for only one week and that was it, they had lost their libido, and this side sometimes seems to be permanent. And still, there are plenty of people to say that it's all in their head and that this drug is sooo safe. "come on, at least give it a try" pfff...

Well I guess that said, a lot of people will come and say: "I've been taking propecia for more than 10 years and I never ever experienced any side effect blablabla..."