Caffeine 0.2% Topical Almost As Effective As minoxidil 5%?

[HairCook]

Wouldn't drinking coffee be just as good. Wow hair loss problem solved.

No, you heart would stop before your hairloss would. You need relevant levels locally.

 

[HairCook]

Would adding caffeine to minoxidil be a good idea? I'm not sure if it will dissolve properly. Could be thrown in there for added benefit possibly...?

I saw it in some sketchy high % minoxidils. However I think thats absolute bs, see here why https://www.hairlosstalk.com/interact/threads/adenosine-versus-caffeine.32268/

This might be an manifest of why you shouldnt apply PGE1 and PGE2 together regardless of both of them being beneficial. But I also read that caffeine might also be a cox2 inhibitor, which then again might render it more or less worthless.

 

[thickhaironhead]

Having a cup of coffee right now..

Did you notice any regrowth during your coffee session?

 

[Trichosan]

I just poured freshly ground, medium roast hot coffee on my head. This scientific method of increasing circulation combined with wounding effects plus the introduction of caffeine is certain to induce regrowth. I'll wait 24 hours and repeat.

 

[deraj]

Hey, @Bearded, are you actually trying a homemade caffeine topical at all? Im interested in giving it a pop.

 

[yayapapaya]

I just poured freshly ground, medium roast hot coffee on my head. This scientific method of increasing circulation combined with wounding effects plus the introduction of caffeine is certain to induce regrowth. I'll wait 24 hours and repeat.

make sure it is boiling too or it wont work!

 

[HairCook]

I think there are premade 3.5% caffein cremes for fighting cellulite on the market as well btw. maybe hardcore for the temples?

 

[Trichosan]

I think there are premade 3.5% caffein cremes for fighting cellulite on the market as well btw. maybe hardcore for the temples?

If it's premade and doesn't have some counteracting crap in it, good idea.

 

[HairCook]

If it's premade and doesn't have some counteracting crap in it, good idea.

If someone wants to try it I would suggest to take one with escin, it is an anti-inflammatory which seems not to effect the pgs: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19815952

If caffein actually is a pge2 analogue then this might actually be a very interesting combination. Some also come with panthenol, retinol etc some interesting stuff, but that escin is new to me. I assume no one tried it before.

 

[Trichosan]

If someone wants to try it I would suggest to take one with escin, it is an anti-inflammatory which seems not to effect the pgs: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19815952

If caffein actually is a pge2 analogue then this might actually be a very interesting combination. Some also come with panthenol, retinol etc some interesting stuff, but that escin is new to me. I assume no one tried it before.

Nice. Now we need the Walter White of Hairlosstalk to formulate this homebrew. Hey, you're Haircook. Get to work!

 

[HairCook]

Man I got already so many topicals xD

If I would just try the cellulite thingy.

Didnt find one in germany with escin yet but lot of them contain also rosemary extract which has rosmarinic acid (increases pge2, but more of that acid is actually found in spearmint :/), they are quite cheap as well like 8bucks for 250ml. Some are ofc more expensive there is even one with gold particles lmao

 

[Trichosan]

Sodium escin has other interesting functions involving JAK/STAT pathway also. Negative for it's effect on inhibiting nitric oxide, but shouldn't matter as a topical.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21400616

 

[Sanchez1234]

Color me skeptical that the study is sponsored by products distributor and the author is actually an employed by the manufacturer.

Its probably a scam. Alcepin liquid is the 0.2% solution in the study.

 

[HairCook]

Its probably a scam. Alcepin liquid is the 0.2% solution in the study.

Everyone is aware of it. It just fired up the discussion about it.

 

[abcdefg]

Could you use something like this and just apply it topically? Doesnt caffeine have good scalp penetration naturally? Just a strong pure dose of caffeine and apply it topically.
The issue with topicals is you probably have to soak your entire head in this stuff and leave it on for hours before it would even have any major effect. As usual we dont know how much, how long to use it or anything. Back to guessing. Is it even worth trying? All these kinds of things never end up producing results

https://www.caffeineinformer.com/purecaf-the-most-potent-liquid-caffeine-money-can-buy

 

[rclark]

Yes I know, caffeine brought up once again.. What is the general consensus on caffeine? I know it was considered years ago but we missed something.

I came across this recently and it looked promising as an alternative to min. for those that don't respond to it or don't want to use it. (maybe they work through different mechanisms and could give a better result if used together?)

https://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/481141

Methods: We conducted a randomized, open-label, multicenter noninferiority study to determine whether a caffeine-based 0.2% topical liquid would be no less effective than minoxidil 5% solution in males (n = 210) with androgenetic alopecia. The primary end point was the percentage change in the proportion of anagen hairs from baseline to 6 months using a frontal and occipital trichogram. Results: At 6 months, the group of the 5% minoxidil solution showed a mean improvement in anagen ratio of the trichogram of 11.68%, and the group of the 0.2% caffeine solution had an anagen improvement of 10.59%. The difference of mean values between both groups was 1.09%.

Short answer: NO.

I use caffeine to thicken my hair strands. That's ALL it will do.

Not saying Minoxidil is that great. Temporary on it's own. But with finasteride or dutasteride, it can be a game changer.

 

[champpy]

I got the alepecin in the mail today. Will start now. I hope this is the real deal and not someone selling me worthless sh*t. Not expecting much, if i can get 1% hair growth ill be ecstatic.

 

[champpy]

You should get caffeine powder

I was actually looking into it. Any brand you might suggest?

 

[HairCook]

Short answer: NO.

I use caffeine to thicken my hair strands. That's ALL it will do.

Not saying Minoxidil is that great. Temporary on it's own. But with finasteride or dutasteride, it can be a game changer.

Well, for 60% of the people minoxidil does nothing. Also if it works: It increase 5ar activity, so an anti-androgen should be used.

I got the alepecin in the mail today. Will start now. I hope this is the real deal and not someone selling me worthless sh*t. Not expecting much, if i can get 1% hair growth ill be ecstatic.

As I said, you can also get a cellulite cream. They have at least 3% (usually 3.5) from what I read - but depends on your status, would do that only for complete empty spaces like temples. Would be interesting.

 

[NimuDash]

Well, for 60% of the people minoxidil does nothing. Also if it works: It increase 5ar activity, so an anti-androgen should be used.