Is it possible to create hair loss by using minoxidil when you dont need it?

[wannakeepitall]

Ive done a lot of google searches, forum searches and never really saw this exact question posted and ive always wondered it myself...

Is it possible to create a hair loss problem, by using minoxidil or other hair loss medications, when a person did not have MPB? As in, I only thought i was losing my hair, freaked out, started using minoxidil, and created hairloss by somehow influencing the hair to no longer be tolerant to DHT.

Im not saying that this is my case, although maybe it is because im only losing hair where i initially put the minoxidil. i have since stopped for almost a year now and the hair loss is slightly worse but basically the exact area i once had hair and was putting the minoxidil. i was only a NW2, now im about a 2.5(yes i know, plenty have it worse, it doesnt make me feel any better though, im sorry)

I have always read its easier to maintain hair than to bring it back, so my initial freak out response was to put it on a larger area than my hair was actually thinning. now its almost exactly that area, I stopped using minox, and havent lost any more since i stopped and its been about a year. My family history is kinda crazy but i shouldnt lose all my hair is all i can say in short. my father is 66 and a NW3 no vertex, im 25, we have similar hair i think, i know MPB comes from both sides of the family, neither side was completely bald.

thus i ask the question, im wondering if i shot myself in the foot, or am i just loosing hair very slowly or in stages? and did i potentially cause hair loss at 25, when it should have maybe started at 40?

[lucrio]

Here is the only theory I can think of to support the idea you pose of Minoxidil initiating hair loss when it isn't fully needed. This is just an idea so don't give it too much credit:

Serum DHT is, I assume, carried in our bloodstream in certain amounts. Minoxidil is a vasodilator, meaning it widens blood vessels and carries more blood to where the vessels are widened. By doing so, the supposition is that it increases nutrient flow to hair follicles, as it is applied directly to hair follicles. If a person were in some sort of equilibrium between serum DHT in the blood, hair promoting nutrients in the blood, and scalp DHT, as well as their innate follicular resistance/receptivity to DHT, then their hair would stay roughly stable and they wouldn't be losing any, or would lose hair very gradually. By introducing minoxidil, you would be possibly increasing two of those variables, serum DHT reaching the scalp, and nutrients in the blood reaching the scalp. If the serum DHT reaching the scalp were in a greater ratio than nutrients reaching the scalp or were more potent in comparison to beneficial nutrients, then it would change that stability and possibly cause your state of hair loss to go further in the loss direction rather than the growth direction.

Again, I am just throwing this out there to play devil's advocate to everyone who says minoxidil can only be beneficial. I have no research to support this, just going off the basic idea of minoxidil's mechanism of action.

[BigThinker]

Didn't read your post, but to respond to the title: I suppose minoxidil could cause a hair shed due to promoting sudden hair cycle transition. There's no reason to believe the hair wouldn't grow back. MPB is due to follicle sensitivity to DHT, and minoxidil doesn't increase sensitivity or DHT.

[burtandernie]

People argue about this or something similar with propecia all the time. Do we understand everything having to do with hair,MPB, and minox method of action? No, we definitely do not and actually we know very little.
So how can you possibly say using treatment when you didnt need it cant make it any worse? You cant. There is no evidence it would but things dont always work according to logic in the body. I would not use a treatment unless you see for sure signs of MPB. Dont risk making a minor problem a bigger one because no one can fix MPB if you make it worse

[BigThinker]

People argue about this or something similar with propecia all the time. Do we understand everything having to do with hair,MPB, and minox method of action? No, we definitely do not and actually we know very little.
So how can you possibly say using treatment when you didnt need it cant make it any worse? You cant. There is no evidence it would but things dont always work according to logic in the body. I would not use a treatment unless you see for sure signs of MPB. Dont risk making a minor problem a bigger one because no one can fix MPB if you make it worse

Not treating is risking saving a full head of hair. I know I wish I had started treating way before I did.

[Notcoolanymore]

I have read many times where guys refuse to treat their hair loss because they are afraid of the initial shed. I never understood this as they are already losing hair as it is. I would rather go through a temporary shed and most likely get that hair back, than do nothing and continue to lose hair for good.

[redy]

If you dump a bottle on your head every day, the alcohol will dry out your hair and it will be damaged.

The only way minox can theoretically cause hairloss is in the shed is can cause, which will either grow back the same or stronger cosmetically because it's working, or will grow back weaker or not at all because it isn't working and you might have fast forwarded your hairloss by a few weeks, and that might even not be true for the last part.\

Obviously if your hairloss gets worse while on meds and it doesn't grow back, your first reaction is to blame the meds and yell at the internet, which is why people see this. Usually it is a shed that will grow back over time. Otherwise, you're just not responding to the meds and your continuing your course to being a bald dude. That's really it, until someone can provide some more scientific evidence - but there isn't a lot out there.

[jason1001]

People argue about this or something similar with propecia all the time. Do we understand everything having to do with hair,MPB, and minox method of action? No, we definitely do not and actually we know very little.
So how can you possibly say using treatment when you didnt need it cant make it any worse? You cant. There is no evidence it would but things dont always work according to logic in the body. I would not use a treatment unless you see for sure signs of MPB. Dont risk making a minor problem a bigger one because no one can fix MPB if you make it worse

Well fin has made my crown much worse, maybe I didn't have mpb.

Jokes on me I guess

[redy]

Well fin has made my crown much worse, maybe I didn't have mpb.

Jokes on me I guess

i'm sorry, but you're lying to yourself.

you don't lose crown hair with no MPB.

[jason1001]

i'm sorry, but you're lying to yourself.

you don't lose crown hair with no MPB.

Well no im not lying to myself as I can see my hair and watch it myself.

I had a tiny bit of frontal thinning. No thinning or loss in the Crown. Jumped on fin incase it wasn't a mature hairline forming.

Experienced burning in my crown every time I took fin. Loss lots of hair on top. Grew hairy more body hair and my skin has broken out.

Im still using fin hoping it will reverse this.


So yeah. Not lying to myself bud.

[Firebird]

I believe Minoxidil accelerated my hair loss which was previously non-existent (I just had a minor receding hairline), my hair hasn't stopped shedding for almost a year.. wish I never tried that shit.

[Armandein]

Didn't read your post, but to respond to the title: I suppose minoxidil could cause a hair shed due to promoting sudden hair cycle transition. There's no reason to believe the hair wouldn't grow back.

Any med that alter natural hair cycle can cause the sheding of hairs, even in healthy scalp hairs.

[wannakeepitall]

So basically its a mixed response, some saying definitely no, some saying they think yes because it happened to them. I should be clear, I am not referring to my crown area, my crown is so far so good, never used meds there, and not losing anything either as far as i can tell. Its all in the hairline, and basically exactly where i had used it in the past not even even on both sides, like i had slipped a few times and went higher on the right side than my left. since my last post, i repurchased the minox foam and am currently only applying to the completely bare area, not doing the extra area i was doing before and im going to see if its doing anything positive, gotta give it a few months though so we shall see where this goes...

Thank you guys for your input, anyone else feel free to chime in.