Rogaine destroyed my life.

There is always the risk that when you use minox, you'll shed and those shedded hairs won't return. About 1/3 of men don't respond to Minox. Of course, those hairs were not coming back after they fell out naturally, either.
Minox can make you bald a year faster, but it's basically just speeding up where you'd be in a another year without it.

Hair loss can be slow or rapid. I lost about 2/3 of my hair in 18 months. I never touched Minox. I wasn't doing anything other than "natural" treatments, aside from Neutrogena's T-Gel(Zinc).

Edit: Lol. Dude, you're not even an NW3. Ruined your life? You don't even look much different. And you've done nothing to max out your looks.

I never had hairloss and went from a perfect NW1 to thin see through diffused hairloss all over my head even the sides in 8 months after using minox a few times. I might not look much different to you but to me I do. I'm just trying to let guys know my story and what happen to me after minox. And to say this is where I would have been without using minoxidil is just crazy talk. My hair was perfect.

So was mine.
Then I lost 2/3 of it without Minox.
That's what happened to you too. Minox didn't cause it. There is nothing in Minox that can actually cause follicle death.

And it makes no sense that you started using hair loss treatment if you really thought your hair was "perfect". You clearly felt you were losing hair already.

No one would start using the nasty mess that is Rogaine, if they aren't losing hair. It's a pain, it smells bad and feels gross in your hair.

I *still* won't use Rogaine and I'm close to an NW3.

I wasn't losing my hair. I had no idea how Rogaine worked and thought it was safe to use in healthy hair, I mean it is advertised right by regular shampoo. I'm not saying I wouldn't have lost my hair but I definitely shouldn't be where I am today. I've even thought about getting a scalp pigmentation done when it gets worse.

Just off topic:

But why did you go for a drug you knew nothing off, when you describe yourself as:

"I never had hairloss"
" perfect NW1"
"My hair was perfect. "
"always had a full thick hair."

It was truly just because of "I used it in my hair after a short haircut thinking it would grow my hair faster. "? Seems so absurd. I am sorry for you, I don't use any drugs and my hair loss is quite slow, and I am young. At least you have learned to get educated before taking medication, which someone should have taught you...and you should have read the label.

I suppose people considering starting with this could try to apply it to a smaller area first and go from there.

Ive heard of Rogaine before and thought you could use it to grow your hair faster and that it was healthy. Do you actually think I would have used something in my hair if I knew it would cause most of my hair to fall out in a matter of 10 months? I mean honestly this product is advertised by shampoo seeming like its safe to use. I'm sure I'm not the only person this has happened to.

You're not the only one. As I said, it can bald you a good year faster than normal. The sheds can be bad. But it won't kill healthy hair.

I went from an NW1 in early 2012 to nearly an NW3 in late 2013. That was without any strong product. I was 26 at the time(29, now).
And I lost the bulk of it between fall 2012 and Summer 2013. It was about seven months of bad, bad shedding. Again, while using nothing more than some pills like Taurine and Biotin, and Foligen and some hair loss shampoo from Sally's.

If I had used Rogaine at the outset, it would have happened all in a few weeks. That hair was already near-death. The Rogaine just would have made it go much faster. Instead of taking 7 months, it would have taken 1. But the Rogaine itself wasn't killing my hair. It just shedded out all the weak and dying hairs.

Sometimes, hair loss creeps and sometimes it comes bowling down like a giant snowball. We both got snowballed.
All I can tell you, is it in your best interest to learn about hair loss and do it soon. You're losing hair fast, just like I did. If I hadn't started on Fin last year, I'd probably be at NW3.5 or worse by now.
Your hair is actually quite fine, whether you realize it or not. but if it fades another point, that will no longer be true. Then the tattoo really is your best option. That's my backup for in case my hair ever starts falling out again.

So even if I didn't use rogaine in my hair I was going to lose it anyway? I had no hair loss at the time but it does run on my dads side. My dad has a full head but my grandpa is bald and my 2 cousins are bald at 27 and 29. The good thing is my hair isn't shedding but it shed for 8 months and stopped out of nowhere. I wish nobody had to go through this, it really is terrible. I've already talked to a scalp pigmentation company and when I'm readt all I have to do is let them know. I don't want to be on any medication for hairloss.

Aside from the minoxidil, did you experience ANY serious physiological change? i.e. an injury, surgery, serious mental or physical stress, start taking any serious medication, lose a lot of weight, indulge in a crappy diet, etc??? I lost 60% of my hair in ONE YEAR! This was due to SERIOUS physical stress.. surgeries, injuries... ONLY IF YOU ARE PREDISPOSED to MPB, then the hair that would eventually die off will not return anyways. It sounds like some event that seriously affected your physiology also caused telogen effluvium. This is a rapid switch of your hair growth cycle from anagen (growing phase) to telogen (resting phase). The only problem with guys with MPB, is that the hair, especially in the MPB prone regions, will not return or return as vellous hair.

I dont think anyone taking fin wants to take medication for hair loss for the rest of their lives. It is what is though. Use what exists or live with it. Not many other options and fin is one of the only things you can do right now

To me it sounds like you suffer MPB, DHT has taken its cause........

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your "before" pic shows clear signs of male pattern baldness. Temple recession, thinning, etc.

Yeah, I have had no real sides from Fin at all, but still, I'd prefer to not need it.
But, I take it or I lose my hair. So, I take it. Though I do only take it at 1/4 strength(0.25mg) and only every other day. So about 1/8 the way it's normally prescribed, and it's completely stopped my hair loss, which nothing else did.

What I don't understand is he says that losing his hair is ruining his life, but he can't be bothered to take a pill. Hmmm?

I'd go get acupuncture in my balls if it would fix the thing that's ruining my life.

Exactly. Who in their right mind would want to take any medication for the rest of their lives? It came down to two choices take finasteride and fight hair loss or go bald. I choose to fight.