Minoxidil sucks!

[ThinningB420]

It's been almost 3 months on this stuff and I've lost so much hair. Yes, I've actually grown some in my hair line but the density of hair on the top of my head has taken a huge hit. I hate being able to see my skull even though my hair is almost half an inch long.

I hope the hair grows in the next few months. What good is it to have a decent hairline if your scalp is diffuse thinning.

[Tracy C]

You always have the option to stop trying to treat your hereditary hair loss and simply allow nature to take it's course.

Most males cannot treat their hair lines with any medications for hereditary hair loss because they are genetically programmed to develop an adult mature male hair line. This is especially true for caucasion males. The areas that respond best to these medications in males are the vertex and mid-anterior areas.

Three months is not long enough to determine how well the medication will work for you. You may know if the medications is working for you in that time, but you will not know how well it is going work for you until you have been using it for 12 to 18 months.

[ThinningB420]

I'm not so concerned about the hairline. It's that fact the my entire hair on top of my head is so thin you can see my entire scalp, from hairline to crown. Prior to Rogaine, my crown was solid. We will see. As you said, I won't know for a year how well it will work. I'm going to hold out until then. This is just a rant on the current progress because my hair looks much worse since starting Rogaine. I just hope I wouldn't have been better off in the short term had I not touched the stuff.

Edit: I'm a diffuse thinner and my derm recommended applying Rogaine to the entire top of my head, which I have been doing. Most of the more severe thinning was in hairline and top of head except for crown.

[Tracy C]

Edit: I'm a diffuse thinner and my derm recommended applying Rogaine to the entire top of my head, which I have been doing. Most of the more severe thinning was in hairline and top of head except for crown.

Then it is very likely that your crown was weaker than you thought it was. The hairs that shed out are from follicles that were already weak prior to starting treatment. If you had done nothing to treat your hair loss, you would have lost those hairs eventually anyways.

[Identity Loss]

I've been using minoxidil for a year but I just stopped using it due to side effects. I too am a diffuse thinner and had little to no positive results. My hair loss never saw any reduction and even excellerated after 8 months. My crown worsened more than anywhere else also. No sure if I can blame the minoxidil or if it was just coincidence.

I've seen it work well for some people and not at all for others. We just happen to be the latter.

[ThinningB420]

I'm considering dropping minoxidil since I'm now on finasteride. My derm thought I would be okay. I just wish I never touched the stuff. It definitely made my hair loss worse in the 7 months I've been on it.

To answer your last response Tracy, no it wasn't weaker than I thought. My scalp has become much more visible now. The shedding from minoxidil has lessened but I have seen no real growth outside of vellus hairs in my hairline.

[Pate]

Minox wouldn't have made your hair worse, the most it would do would be a temporary shed, but if you've been on it 7 months that seems unlikely.

I think it's just not strong enough to counter the effects of aggressive MPB.

I'd stick with the minox at least until you have been on Propecia six months or so - just so you can get an idea when you stop using it of how much effect it's having. It may be your hair would actually be worse if you hadn't used minox.

[ThinningB420]

I understand what you're saying but my hair was not loosing density at the rate it did prior to minoxidil. I don't find it coincidental that other people have reported the same results. I find it hard to believe that my hair would have been worse if I hadn't used minoxidil since the shedding increased exponentially after about a month of use of the product.

[Tracy C]

I find it hard to believe that my hair would have been worse if I hadn't used minoxidil since the shedding increased exponentially after about a month of use of the product.

Shedding is part of the process of treating hereditary hair loss. The hair that sheds out when you first start treatment usually grows back - and when it grows back it is usually thicker, fuller and stronger than it was before the shed.

I went through three periods of shedding during those first two years of treating my hair loss. Each and every time my hair grew back a little thicker than it was before.

It takes a long time to treat hereditary hair loss. There are no quick fixes.

[Julius Caesar was bald]

Hey well it's not the time to stop. Arguably you shouldn't have applied it to your scalp in areas that were NOT thinning, because it does cause dandruff and dryness which can cause superficial hair loss. But now that you've started you might as well continue to use it because it will thicken your hair, especially if you are seeing results in front of your hair line, that is a good indicator that you are also sprouting new hairs on your crown. I have been on it for over a year and only then did I start to see some of my new hairs start to actually grow at more than a very slow pace. Monoxidil should also be used with moisturizers or your scalp will become very dry and you won't have great results.