Can minoxidil make things worse?

[hairhaircomeagain]

Damn man....Just when I was feeling good that I have ordered Dr. Lee's Min and that I will be soon seeing some regrowth, this thread comes out.

But I think you guys may be a very small population who may not have been benefitted by Min and also maybe you have not given it enough time. I have read from quite a many peoples experience that their hair looks wirse intially but then it takes a huge turn for good.

 

[avi21]

increase hairloss - that's the reason why i'm afraid to use minoxidil 5%
maybe it's will be smart to start with 2%
what you think about this?!

 

[Nighthawk]

Trouble is nobody is posting here with very positive results from minoxidil
Thats a bad sign..
I'm on 5% for 6 weeks and thinking...where did it all go?

Funnily enough a female co worker, 28, difusse thinning is using minoxidil and growing like crazy..

 

[Mariana]

Im a female and I noticed my hair thinning on top of my head for the first time about 8 months ago, up until just 2 months ago wasn't too bad not enough for me to panic but all of sudden I noticed my hair getting very thin on my crown and top of my head where I can see the scalp through it so I went to a derm who confirmed all my blood work was normal and recommended I start using Minoxidil. I now been using it for about a month and the area where I ve been applying seems to be much worse off than it was before, also i have a lot of hair just fall out in the shower and after when Im combing my hair.
Im thinking Im going to stop the Minoxidil but Im wondering if now that I started it would make matters worse.
Any input would be great, and oh yeah I ve started taking a vitamin regime and also bought a laser comb, so I attack this from all angles.

 

[mpbsux20]

No dont stop MIN,shedding in the first few months is an indication of MIN doing what its supposed to do.My hair looked like crap for the first three months but later it just kept getting better and better.MIN is relatively harmless and can only help your hair's thickness and health.People who say it worsens things up are either paranoid or they must have been losing hair rapidly and even MIN would have been ineffective in their case.

 

[rogber]

I was on minoxidil for a bit over a year with no gains. i then added finasteride. within a few months the crown was improving but the hairline continued to get worse. i therefore starting putting more minoxidil on the hairline/front area and a bit less on the crown. the crown, thought not wonderful, is better than it was and has maintained, while the hairline continues to slowly deteriorate. so is it the finasteride doing all the good work and the minoxidil has no effect/making things worse? or would both hairline and crown be worse without minoxidil? it's imposible to know...

 

[mpbsux20]

Maybe MIN alone wasn't strong enough and finasteride controlled the DHT attack on your scalp.In my opinion a DHT blocker should be in anybody's Androgenic alopecia regimen....MIN just gives you extra regrowth and enhances the condition of your hair with its properties.It cant solely stop the balding process if it is highly uncontrollable and will work well only when your hormonal levels are stabilized.

 

[rogber]

you're probably right. i expect minoxidil on its own wasn't enough and that therefore finasteride was necessary in conjunction. why the finasteride works on the crown for me but not at the front, even with 5% minoxidil, is a (depressing) mystery. but i've read enough posts here to see everyone reacts differently. some (the lucky ones) get improvement all over. some (though not many) see improvement on the hairline but little on the crown. others like me get improvement in the crown but not the hairline. a majority seem to get improvement on the crown and at least a steadying of the hairline.

my only wonder about (liquid) minoxidil, is that when it dries it leaves a kind of crust on the scalp (this is especially noticeable if you don't wash your hair every day, so it has 2 or 3 applications of minoxidil without a wash), which can then get itchy and flaky, and whether this might actually harm the growth of hair? sometimes i wonder whether i should take a break from minoxidil for this reason and just keep with finasteride, but at the same time am worried it will all get worse without the minoxidil...

 

[mpbsux20]

Well thats where Nizoral plays its part...It cleans your scalp and relieves you of your itching.Have you tried the foam yet ? The foam certainly reduced the scalp irritation for me.Whenever you stop MIN or switch over to the foam,you should do it in phases.First you should reduce the amount of liquid you use,then use the liquid and foam alternately and slowly stop the liquid altogether.

What got me concerned was a recent study which seems to indicate that the liquid is more potent than the foam as far as regrowth is concerned.Since I have longer hair,I am planning to switch over to the liquid and bear with the sides for a while solely for this purpose.

The frontal region especially the temples is the area that is the most prone to miniaturization therefore might not really respond to treatments in some cases.If that were to happen to me as I age,I would try to save as much money as I can for an FUE with a top Doctor.

 

[baroudeur]

if i could go back 18 months back i will never ever complain about hairloss
i am a diffuse thinner and have lost 70% ofmy density with that crap
on the vertex i have used some xandrox a,d there it became slick bald
the only area where i never applied anything is hairline and i am managing to keep it
aside from the urinary problems i got by taking fina and duta,minoxidil definately ruined me

 

[rogber]

Well thats where Nizoral plays its part...It cleans your scalp and relieves you of your itching.Have you tried the foam yet ? .

I live on mainland Europe and can't get Nizoral here except by mail order. However I've started using Ket shampoo, which I believe is pretty much the same. Hopefully it'll help.

Ditto the foam. It's harder to get this in Europe and it's much more expensive (more than double the cost of the liquid). I also have slightly longer hair and the liquid minoxidil takes ages to dry in - especially if the hair is unwashed. I also heard the results of the foam are less impressive, but I remember a few months ago here reading lots of posts about how great the foam is...so as usual, contradictory opinions. If it was the same cost I would try it just for the convenience, but as long as it's so expensive, I think I'll stick with the liquid.

 

[mpbsux20]

I think you are doing your best....Do you apply the liquid twice ? I found it quite hard to apply it just once a day and thats why I switched over to the foam.I apply it only once a day to cut back on costs.

 

[rogber]

Yup, I'm doing my best, just like all of us
I usually apply the liquid twice, unless I have to rush out or get home late at night or something. Then just once. I suppose 1,5 times a day on average.
Do you find minoxidil helped you in all areas - front, top and back, or also more top and back?

 

[mpbsux20]

I think it has only helped me moderately in terms of regrowth.I didn't shed that much to begin with because of Minoxidil,I was shedding about 30-40 regularly for about 2 weeks.I did develop a lot of peach fuzz in the front but only when I added finasteride,they began to turn terminal.

In the crown region I apply it in only one spot which has developed due to thinning and so far I dont see any improvements in that area.My biggest concern was my temples and they seem pretty stable so far.Although I am a bit afraid as when I run my fingers through the frontal region,I feel it is very thin and without meds,I would have been a NW3-3.5 in the front by now.Luckily I added finasteride as well and I still look like a Norwood 2 or 2.5.

I would say it has helped with some moderate regrowth in the front as I can see some hairs surrounding a scarred area in the front which was pretty much devoid of hair before I started MIN.

PS:I am having some problems with my camera and I have been too lazy to get it fixed otherwise I would have posted some pics by now.

 

[rogber]

Well that sounds reasonably positive. Maintenance or small improvement in most areas...At any rate, better than the dude from Clockwork Orange in your profile pick (if I recognise it correctly)

 

[mpbsux20]

Ah hah! First guy to correctly point that out :bravo:

[youtube:251i3ojo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XES7gaLfRZs[/youtube:251i3ojo]

 

[Obsidian]

I think the irritation/inflammation would be the biggest factor. Some people's scalp can't handle the PPG or in the case of Dr. Lee's, the heavy alcohol content.

 

[rogber]

great film, great scene :bravo:

 

[Apocalypse]

Just registered here after finding this thread through Google.

I'm 41 years old and I always had dark, very thick and "wiry" hair. Exceptionally thick for a Scandinavian guy. I still have ZERO frontal hairline loss. I never paid attention to my hair, really... most of the time I just cut it really short with a Philishave hair trimmer.

I always had a very strong vortex on the crown area though... the hair starts growing to 4 different directions. My 9-month old son has that too. lol. Even when I was in my teens the barber left the hair longer on that area so it wouldn't stick out and look like a complete mess.

And damn... One day my brother said that I have a bald spot on top of my head.

I thought he was just teasin' me... because I haven't even noticed it before. Then I took a mirror and looked. And yes, there was a slight bald spot. I have no idea how long it had been there... maybe over a year. I simply haven't looked myself in the mirror (from the back).

I'm not a kind of guy who gets really obsessed about stuff like this... at least not compared to many of you guys (I've been reading around a bit). LOL.

Well... I just thought I could shave it all off. I always kept my hair really short anyway so it wouldn't be a big deal. But it still annoyed me a little, so I searched the Internet for hair loss treatments, and found Rogaine. I didn't think it'd work but I gotta say I've had AMAZING results. After 2 months of use the whole bald spot is 90% GONE, and I see improvements every day.

Sounds like a salesman talk but it's not. It worked incredibly well, and I have only used it for 8 weeks! I think it's fair to say that it exceed all my exceptations.

I guess my bald spot wasn't very big. And I also think that if I had blonde hair my brother probably wouldn't have noticed it all. Dark brown hair against white scalp just made it very apparent.

The purpose of this post? Nothing but sharing my experience with Rogaine. It might not work for some, but for me it worked like a miracle cure.

Regards
apoc

 

[Primo]

If minoxidil isn't working for you then try the wine...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8XChxQBmHY&feature=related