Thinking about quitting minoxidil

[MOPCLABS]

Expect an increase in hair loss if stop using the minoxidil

Minoxidil will keep your hair that is growing in the anagen phase longer. When you quit using your minoxidil product many follicles will begin to reset or go into the Telogen phase, simply stop growing and will end up falling out. This phase can last around 100 days. Expect a thinner weaker hair the next growth cycle after ending your minoxidil treatment.

[kanyon]

MOPCLABS, that does sound like what has happened to me. I lost a lot of hair from October to now. Not sure if it's still thinning or has reached a plateau. Certainly looks like I'm continuing to lose it when I wash my hair.

If you start using Minox again should the hair that has fallen out start to grow thicker each growth cycle again? Or is that the end of hairs growing in that particular spot?

[MOPCLABS]

Never quit

The truth is you will regrow some of the hair that was lost but not all. Minoxidil work better at keeping what you have than regrowing what you have lost. The bad news you might have more hair loss when you start back using. You will have to go back through the common shed that occurs when starting a minoxidil treatment.

[kanyon]

If I could hang on to what I've got now I would be content. It's not ideal but I'm 28 now and not 21 like when I started noticing hair loss. So it's more acceptable. As long my hair is long, I'm not swimming, it's not raining, it's not
really windy or the lighting is terribly unflattering, I'm ok.

Rogaine was great for me in regrowing hair. Just incredible. I hope it can work as effectively as it did before but I've been using it coinstantly for 3 months now and when I began using it in 2004 I don't think it took this long to notice improvement (even though for many it might take longer than 3 months).

When people talk about shedding because of treatments, I get a little confused because even when I was regrowing hair on Rogaine for all that time I don't think I noticed increased shedding (by the amount of hair in my hands). I've always lost a heap of hair when I've showered regardless of using an effective product and seeing results.

Thank you for your advice MOPCLABS and sorry for making this thread about me.

[WarLord]

Minoxidil does nothing for MPB it only regrows and stimulates some hair growth. Your hair is still getting worse.

I see that some visitors of this forum want to trump others in inventing the silliest and most absurd claims about minoxidil. Yes, it does nothing for your hair... It only regrows it. LOL

Bryan the Baldy's signature?

[hellouser]

I see that some visitors of this forum want to trump others in inventing the silliest and most absurd claims about minoxidil. Yes, it does nothing for your hair... It only regrows it. LOL

Bryan the Baldy's signature?

Semantics.

And yah, it doesnt halt DHT so essentially even on Minox your still bound to get screwed by gods wonderful gift of androgenic alopecia. Praise the lord!

[WarLord]

Semantics.

And yah, it doesnt halt DHT so essentially even on Minox your still bound to get screwed by gods wonderful gift of androgenic alopecia. Praise the lord!

Yes, it doesn't prevent your follicles from the attacks of DHT, but it keeps them in the growth phase, probably by counterbalincing the ratio between prostaglandins. According to my experience, the follicles are virtually immortal, when supplied by minoxidil every day (I did it for 15+ years), but once they fall out from some reason, it is virtually impossible to get them back. DHT seizes them and you must add a 5-AR blocker.

[StayThick]

Hi,

My advice: STAY AWAY FROM MINOX!
And if you are on it QUIT (not cold turkey, but very gradually)

And one more thing: I know there is the debate on weather your 'healthy' hair becomes dependent on minox or now. My opinion:

YES! It does 100%. It will cause your unhealthy & healthy hair to fall out for 3 - 4 month after you quit.

However since the huge shed after quitting, my hair in now recovering & regrowing very much everywhere!! It feels better than ever before. Best decision of my life.

I do however still take natural DHT blocker which I strongly recommend:

Biotin
Zinc
Evening Primrose oil
Nisim Shampoo (hair stops falling within the week!!)
Laser comb (3 x week)
Excersie (5 times week)
Also I cleaned up my diet, lots of fruit & veg, lean meat

I promise: THIS WORKS!

This is really terrible advice. Nisim shampoo is well-known as a scam and I should know as it was the first official "hairloss treatment" I ever used.

Nisim does not work and there is substantially better shampoos on the market to target hairloss. Everything else you mentioned is also worthless.

[drybone]

I have been on propecia for almost 3 months and notice nothing in the slighest except my hair density is thinner . I suspect it was from an initial shed and they tell me my hair will come back better and stronger than before.

I dont take minox so I dont know what would happen.

I take Biotin and my hair and nails grow noticeably faster. It doesnt grow new hair but it sure grows the hair you still have faster.

I eat no processed food at all. I dont smoke or drink. I am no drug user. Does it make a difference? Maybe to the quality of the hair, but not to male pattern baldness.

[WarLord]

I have been on propecia for almost 3 months and notice nothing in the slighest except my hair density is thinner . I suspect it was from an initial shed and they tell me my hair will come back better and stronger than before.

I dont take minox so I dont know what would happen.

I take Biotin and my hair and nails grow noticeably faster. It doesnt grow new hair but it sure grows the hair you still have faster.

I eat no processed food at all. I dont smoke or drink. I am no drug user. Does it make a difference? Maybe to the quality of the hair, but not to male pattern baldness.

Currently, there exists no rational reason to start with Propecia. Jump directly on Avodart. Yes, with Propecia you have 80-90% chance to keep your hair, but with Avodart, it should be much higher than 90%. Why to risk frustration after an endless 1-year's waiting for any results, when you can straightforward go on the most effective treatment?

This smart guy understood it well:
http://www.****************/interact...egrowth-Dut%29

[drybone]

Currently, there exists no rational reason to start with Propecia. Jump directly on Avodart. Yes, with Propecia you have 80-90% chance to keep your hair, but with Avodart, it should be much higher than 90%. Why to risk frustration after an endless 1-year's waiting for any results, when you can straightforward go on the most effective treatment?

This smart guy understood it well:
http://www.****************/interact...egrowth-Dut%29

Where do I get this 'avodart' ? What is the difference between the two ?

Any advice would be appreciated.

[WarLord]

Where do I get this 'avodart' ? What is the difference between the two ?

Any advice would be appreciated.

It seems that you are really a novice.

Avodart is a trading name for dutasteride. It is a blocker of the 5-alpha reductase enzyme, similarly like finasteride, but much more powerful. It is not officially marketed as an anti-hairloss drug yet, because its manufacturer thought that it wouldn't earn the desired amount of money - half a billion USD a year.

In a pilot study from 2006, 2.5 mg dutasteride/day regrew 50% more hair than 5 mg finasteride/day after 6 months.

http://www.hairstransplanted.com/articles/PDF_Dual_5_a_Reductase_inhibition_MPHL.pdf

The simple math is as follows: Dominican pseudohermaphrodites, who completely lack the enzyme 5-AR II, never go bald. 5-AR II is responsible for ca. 75-80% of all DHT production.

Finasteride can suppress total DHT levels at best by 70% by inhibiting the vast majority of 5-AR II. However, it doesn't affect the enzyme 5-AR I that is responsible for the rest of DHT production (20-25%).

Dutasteride affects both 5-AR I and 5-AR II, and its effects increase with dosage. With enough dutasteride (1 mg+/day), you can erase as much as 99% DHT out of your blood.

Therefore, in theory, it is not possible to lose hair on dutasteride. In my opinion, it is possible, because some guys can jump on it too late, or don't suffer from androgenetic alopecia, or suffer from hyperandrogenicity (extremely high androgen levels). Nevertheless, these would make up only few percent of the population. In summary, your chances with dutasteride are much higher than with finasteride. It works faster and better.

Look at this guy:
He was taking finasteride for several years, with a rather pathetic result (b). After 4 years, his gains started to wear off (c). His doctor decided to make an experiment and added 1 Avodart pill a week to his regimen. Within 3 months, his vertex balding spot has almost completely regrown (d).


In other words, this poor guy WASTED 4 YEARS OF HIS LIFE ON FINASTERIDE. If he had jumped straightforward on dutasteride, his results would have been much better. Therefore, I must ask: Why to start with finasteride and waste many years of your life with frustrating waiting for results, when you can use a far more effective drug?

But to be objective, the switching from finasteride to dutasteride seems to be a more complicated issue, though; some people complain that their hair worsened, but as you know, such internet stories are difficult to verify. It is not much logical, why your hair should worsen after switching to a more effective treatment. Perhaps, this may be due to the dramatic suppression of DHT and temporary hormonal imbalance. But you don't have to quit finasteride, after all. The addition of 1-2 Avodart pills a week should be enough.

I myself started with finasteride in June 2012. It produced quite a solid regrowth after mere 6 weeks, but it soon stopped. Now I realize that it was not finasteride, but the concurrent use of SARMs that produced this nice regrowth. Finasteride by itself doesn't work much in me. In fact, in winter I let my DHT levels measured and I got values 25-32 ng/dl! What a joke! Therefore, on 9th February I added dutasteride and I gradually increase the dosage, hoping that I would achieve the summer regrowth again. Currently I take 1.25 mg fin/day and 0.33 mg dut/day. It is important for you to know your initial DHT and testosterone levels before the start of dutasteride.

[WarLord]

Although dutasteride isn't officially approved for hairloss, it is used for benign prostatic hyperplasia. You should get a prescription from your doctor, but it is possible that it won't be easy. Considering that dut is "stronger" than fin, I expect that many derms will discourage you from this drug. In reality, the incidence of side effects is not much higher than in fin (something like 2% vs 3%). Or you can buy dut from that website, like the lucky boy.

In my case, I had no problems. The only problem is that I must pay the whole price (ca. 46 USD for 90 capsules).