Minoxidil - Areas on Head where Effective

[Tracy C]

...but i'd have to agree with Hellouser on this one.

It does not matter. Guys who are asking about Minoxidil still need to know about it.

[Breaking Bald]

Two questions:

1. Can it promote growth at the temples? Even if you are only applying it on the crown?

2. Likewise can it make your hairline worse if you are only applying it on the crown?

Thanks

[25 going on 65]

Actually I have also read multiple cases of guys using minox and having bad sheds in the hairline/temples without recovery. At least 1 guy on this forum (was it Jcm something?) used it more than a year and never saw the hair come back.

[akai]

What is it about the hairline that makes it resistant to regrowth from minoxidil and finasteride?

[PatientlyWaiting]

What is it about the hairline that makes it resistant to regrowth from minoxidil and finasteride?

I wouldn't say it's resistant. In my opinion it just takes longer for the medication to work on it.

Think about it. How many hair loss sufferers get on finasteride and rogaine when they are already NW3-4, even 5 and 6? Let's say they have a badly receded hair line, this usually means that the hairs on their forehead have been long miniaturized and it's going to take a long time to get them back to normal. As opposed the hair on top of your head and back, which take longer to miniaturize, therefore when you treat you see results faster.

It just takes more time for the temple and hairline hairs to respond to medication, because they've been "gone" or sleeping for much longer. Look at the guys that just start balding, the NW1.5-2.5's, they use fin and rogaine early and look at the recovery they get, almost get everything back in months. That is because they didn't wait 1,000 years like people do to treat their hair loss.

Basically fin and rogaine not working on the hairline comes from a combination of the meds not being clinically studied on those parts, and people being too impatient and quick to dismiss the meds as ineffective on the hairline.

[Tracy C]

Two questions:

1. Can it promote growth at the temples? Even if you are only applying it on the crown?

2. Likewise can it make your hairline worse if you are only applying it on the crown?

Thanks

Minoxidil affects the areas where you put it. If you do not put it in your hairline or temples it will have no effect there.

[Tracy C]

What is it about the hairline that makes it resistant to regrowth from minoxidil and finasteride?

This limitation only applies to men, particularly caucasion men. Speak to a doctor who specializes in hair restoration about it.

[Breaking Bald]

Thanks for the reply Tracy but are you sure about this? Seeing as it gets absorbed systematically can it not cause regrowth at the temples as well? Even if you are just applying to the crown?

[PatientlyWaiting]

Thanks for the reply Tracy but are you sure about this? Seeing as it gets absorbed systematically can it not cause regrowth at the temples as well? Even if you are just applying to the crown?

I don't know exactly how that works, but you rather be safe than sorry, no? If you last a whole year using Rogaine on your crown, expecting to get crown and hairline regrowth, but you get no hairline regrowth and all along it was that you had to use Rogaine directly on the hairline, then you'd have to go another year or more using Rogaine on your hairline to see results, if any [because I think it would take longer than a year].

[Tracy C]

Thanks for the reply Tracy but are you sure about this? Seeing as it gets absorbed systematically can it not cause regrowth at the temples as well? Even if you are just applying to the crown?

Speak to a doctor who specializes in treating hair loss about this.

[hellouser]

Thanks for the reply Tracy but are you sure about this? Seeing as it gets absorbed systematically can it not cause regrowth at the temples as well? Even if you are just applying to the crown?

It will only work wherever you apply it. Typically theres a lot of PG in minoxidil solutions which doesn't penetrate skin (only slows down the drying). Look at the molecular weight of minoxidil, if its small it can pass through skin. You can pretty much guarantee yourself that Minox will not cause growth or progress hair loss from systemic effects from application to only one area. Why? Because there hasn't been any evidence proving so.

There have been reports I've read about people in India ingesting minoxidil though... I don't remember reading about that being effective.

Regardless, Minox works everywhere you apply it... though hairline is one of the more difficult areas to conquer.

[WarLord]

Guys,

I had a HT about a year ago and have been using Rogaine for quite some time. When I started using Rogaine, I could have sworn I read somewhere that rogaine is only affective in the crown area of your head and that it doesn't help maintain/re-grow hair in the front or sides. For this reason, I've only been applying rogaine to my crown area.

From what I read on this forum, it seems like guys are applying rogaine in various areas on their head.

Any good information on where Rogaine is effective or not effective? Should I apply it everywhere on my head?

It is a matter of common sense that it must be applied everywhere, where you have follicles sensitive to DHT. Sometimes I think that the people writing leaflets to medications must be retarded. They are so rigid in their expressions that they completely confuse the patients.

[WarLord]

Actually I have also read multiple cases of guys using minox and having bad sheds in the hairline/temples without recovery. At least 1 guy on this forum (was it Jcm something?) used it more than a year and never saw the hair come back.

This only indicates that we should take the same reports about finasteride with a grain of salt. This is nonsense, of course. Minoxidil can't damage your hair in any way, unless you use 10+ % versions that are a Russian roulette.

[WarLord]

What is it about the hairline that makes it resistant to regrowth from minoxidil and finasteride?

Certainly, hair in the front is more sensitive to DHT and hence it is more difficult to regrow. I have used 2-5% minoxidil for 15+ years and it maintained my NW1.5 hairline unchanged, yet I have never regrown any hair worthy of note, only invisible "peach-fuzz" on 2% minoxidil and few lightly pigmented thin hairs on 5% minoxidil. In fact, even 15% minoxidil was not much better. It regrew few dozens of worthless thin hairs.

The only change came after I added finasteride. After mere 6 weeks, I started to regrow hair even on the sides of my forehead, which I previously considered as impossible. Unfortunately, later it turned out that it was not only finasteride, but even the effect of SARMs that I was concurrently taking. After I quitted SARMs, the regrowth stopped completely and now I have been desperately trying to achieve the same effect by adding dutasteride. But at least, I know that such a regrowth is possible in me.

This my experience can tell you that when you want to regrow hair in the front, it is better to combine minoxidil with 5-AR blockers, rather than to use one treatment in high doses.

[WarLord]

I found minoxidil did a great job at thickening up my hairline (get the foam)! Also, no side effects! I'd hazard a guess that those who lost ground would have lost it anyway. Seems disproportionate to trumpet the benefits of Propecia which can be dangerous to some people, and criticise the relatively harmless minoxidil, because it might hasten hair loss. I don't understand this forum sometimes.

Minoxidil can't hasten hairloss, unless you use a very high dose that your hair can't tolerate. And this is not possible with 5% minoxidil. At least I can't imagine it. And if it really happened, it would mean that the person was such an excellent responder that he could keep his hair with the 2% version until his death.

These "anecdotes" only show, what a load of garbage we get on these forums.