Quitting Minoxidil Early

[Newonthis]

Hello:

I made the mistake of starting on Minoxidil a month ago without doing any research. My hair has never really bothered me as I just had very minor thinning in the crown area and no family history of balding. A friend just recommended it and and I didn't think there would be any negatives in trying it.

I have had a lot of shedding in my crown area since starting and my scalp is now quite visible. Also, applying this twice a day is really not practical for me. My question is if I can just stop using this and get back to where I was. Or am I now at a point where I need to continue using Minoxidil until I get the hair to grow back. I have switched over to once a day recently to see if that will decrease the shedding.

Thanks for your replies.

[dex89]

Hello:

I made the mistake of starting on Minoxidil a month ago without doing any research. My hair has never really bothered me as I just had very minor thinning in the crown area and no family history of balding. A friend just recommended it and and I didn't think there would be any negatives in trying it.

I have had a lot of shedding in my crown area since starting and my scalp is now quite visible. Also, applying this twice a day is really not practical for me. My question is if I can just stop using this and get back to where I was. Or am I now at a point where I need to continue using Minoxidil until I get the hair to grow back. I have switched over to once a day recently to see if that will decrease the shedding.

Thanks for your replies.

Shedding is normal for a certain time, I say stick threw it. Have you tried seeing a dermatologist or a hair specialist? I would recommend propecia or proscar but you can have side effects, depending on the person. That medication can halter you hair loss.

[Newonthis]

Yes it sounds like it may eventually work after quite a bit of shedding..But I do not think I want to really stay on Minoxidil and have to deal with applying it consistently indefinitely. Again, I kind of just did this without thinking much and did not realize that there would be any downside. I am just worried that if I stop now I will have trouble returning to where I was. I have lost a considerable amount of hair in one month. Similarly, I am not sure if stopping now will necessarily stop the shedding. I have heard a lot of different things on here.

Thanks again for any help.

[Tracy C]

Hi Newonthis,

You need to know that shedding is a normal part of the process of treating hereditary hair loss. The hairs that shed out usually grow back and when they do grow back they will be thicker than they were before.

You also need to know that if you stop this medication abruptly you can induce a massive shed and some of those hairs lost during that massive shed might not come back at all. If you still want to stop, taper off the medication slowly over time - but you will need to accept the fact that you will probably lose ground.

If you do have thinning in your crown/vertex and/or mid-anterior, Minoxidil is appropriate for you. If you hope to grow some of that lost hair back, you need to stick with it and ride it out for a full 12 to 18 months. You will know if the medicine works for you within four to six months, however you will not know how well the medicine works for you until you have be using it for 12 to 18 months.

Since hereditary hair loss is progressive and continues for the rest of your life, anythng you choose to do to try to treat it will need to be used for the rest of your life - or until a true cure is found. Personally, I believe we are very close to having a true cure.

Whatever you choose to do, I hope the very best for you.

[Newonthis]

Thanks for your response. It just seems a little bit crazy how drastic the consequences of taking this medicine can be. I was kind of just trying it out for a few weeks and it sounds like it may now lead to permanent hair loss if I stop. Why would stopping after such short use cause a massive shed? It seems like that would only occur if the hairs which were falling out were induced by the Minoxidil in the first place.

[VictimOfDHT]

One really bad thing about minoxidil, if it works for you and then you stop using it YOU WILL EXPERIENCE A HORRIBLE SHED and those hairs most likely will never grow back. Minox has been working for me (slowing down hair loss) since late 90's but one mistake I had made I switched to some bullshit snake oil (fake minox) brand and I all of a sudden I lose a massive amount of hair and it hasn't grown back even though I'm back on the trusted brand I've been using for a long time (over 1 1/2 years now and that lost hairs never came back).

I just dont see how you started shedding hair in such a short period on minox. To be honest, I don't know what to tell you. If you drop minox I don't know if the hair you lost will grow back. If you keep using it there's a good chance those hairs will grow back but then your hair WILL become dependent on minox and if you stop using it again in the future you will most likely lose even more hair in a very short time. I don't know why you got on it if the degree of hair loss you had wasnt bothering you. However, look at it this way, you're probably going to start losing more hair with time and you'd have lost those hairs anyway. So, getting on Minox early on will probably safeguard against rapid hair loss whenever the process is programmed (genetically) to kick in.

[Tracy C]

It seems like that would only occur if the hairs which were falling out were induced by the Minoxidil in the first place.

Those hairs that shed out were already weak due to damaged caused by DHT. Yes when the recovery process starts, the weak hairs are pushed out. If you were using the medicine long enough to start shedding, you had started the recovery process. If you stop during the recovery process, you interrupt that recovery process. Interrupting the recovery process once it has started does more harm than good. If a male chooses to treat his hereditary hair loss, he needs to be prepared to stick with treatment long enough to know if it will do him any good. If a male feels he cannot stick with the treatment, he should not start treatment at all.

[razelschnaps]

HI,

I have did only one week of minoxidil, 1ml/day. And I stopped there is 1 or 2 weeks.
Now I shed a lot.

So what is the most probable cause of this shedding?
(1) shedding due to my week of minox?
or
(2) a telogen effluvium due to a general anesthesia there is twenty days?

Thanks is someone answers me because I am so lost with this shit and I don't want to "interrrupt the recovery process"...! (I am on propecia since 5 months and I stopped the minoxidil to see what finasteride could do on its own at 6/8/10 months...)

[razelschnaps]

I think I am ****ed.
It is obvious that this shedding is minox related because it takes place in the areas where I applied minoxidil.
Only 1 week!
Now I know that I would prefer to wait!
But now I feel that I am forced to start again tonight.
I'm panicking!

[Zdude]

Shedding is normal. It gets back to normal in a couple months, and then from the third month it should look normal again (shave your hair short during this period is my advice). From that point onward, you'll start seeing gains (the first thing I noticed after four months is how much thicker and fuller my hair looked, it's probably the most noticeable change).

[lauriemichelle2]

Hi! Did your hair ever return after the minoxidil? I was on it for a week in January and stopped due to scalp inflammation and itching and now it's the end of March and my hair is shedding at an alarming rate and has been since January! Will it ever stop- will it come back? I'm hoping yours has! Hope to hear from you

[LusciousLadyLocks]

Sure, you can stop. But your balding will continue. This is your chance to keep from going bald. If it's not worth literally 30 seconds of your time twice a day...what is?

Most men who start with minoxidil early enough will never need anything else to prevent balding. (Most people here are the unlucky 15%.) A month's supply is like $17. But if you don't care, you don't care!

[lauriemichelle2]

For: Newonthis: Hello! I know it's been years since you posted this, but I am in the same situation you were in. I was on the minoxidil for the first week in January and stopped due to a bad reaction. It's now April and I'm still experiencing a massive shed. Did yours ever stop? Did the hair you shed ever return? Please help! Thanks

[yankees12345]

For: Newonthis: Hello! I know it's been years since you posted this, but I am in the same situation you were in. I was on the minoxidil for the first week in January and stopped due to a bad reaction. It's now April and I'm still experiencing a massive shed. Did yours ever stop? Did the hair you shed ever return? Please help! Thanks

Nobody ever thinks to return and update these threads! How did this work out?? I did the same thing, used it three times thinking it couldn’t hurt, changed my mind, and bam have a shed that’s probably not too noticeable to others, but is driving me crazy.

Can you please come back and update either way?