Is Oral Minoxidil really worth the hair it gives you?

[he_who_dares_wins]

I'm already on quite a large dose of topical 2 times a day with low to mild side effects; dark eyes, some water retention, and some other cardiovascular ones . I want to switch to oral so I can get rid of one or even both applications, but I need to find the equivalent of what I use topically so I don't lose hair in the process. How is 2mg in terms of efficacy?

 

[LITUATUI]

You should use minoxidil only once a day. The half life when applied topically is 22 hours and 4 hour for oral.

Just make sure to wash your head with warm/hot water and an anti-dandruff shampoo for men (with piroctone olamine, H&S for example) before applying topical minoxidil. It'll increase its absorption by opening pores and removing sebum. Sebum clogs the pores and feeds fungi.


To enhance minoxidil's efficiency you can also use tretinoin or microneedling. I'm doing both. Tretinoin 2-3 days a week (at night) and microneedling once a week (soon will change to every two weeks).



See this to check oral minoxidil's response rates:

https://sci-hub.se/https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13555-020-00448-x

 

[Norwoody]

Just try 2.5mg

 

[lukedorian]

Make your skin look like old man, make you hairy like ape.

There are plenty of studies showing it depletes collagen, however it stimulates elastin production. I got hit on both ends because I was taking OM+eplerenone. Minoxidil depletes collagen, while eplerenone inhibits both. Perhaps if I had only taken OM it wouldn't have been as noticeable. Regardless, the amount of body hair growth is too much. I was already as hairy as a man can be without looking gross.

Even topical minoxidil gives me noticeable collagen depletion on my face and hands.

Just where do you get this info from man?? some of you saying it does nothing are also taking some weird stuff, one guy taking spironolactone and you taking eplerenone both are potassium-sparing diuretic with a lot of side effects and compete with androgen receptor.
I only take Finasteride microdosed 0.25mg 3 times per week and recently swithced from topical minoxidil but only at 2%, got terrible sides from 5% but mostly related to skin including, enlarged pores, wrinkles, dark under eyes circles, i felt like i was holding a lot of weight on my forehead every time i applied that crap but the 2% also gives me skin related issues and when i stop using it for as little as 1 week i begun noticing improvements.
recently i switched to oral but only 1 mg, i dissolve a 10 mg pill in 5 cc of vodka and take 0.5 ml every day, taking 10 mg is just too much, a lot of people think that more is better and i believe that is not the case.
So far i´m happy with what i´m noticing, over all better skin no more puffy face/eyes, dark under eye circles fading away , no more enlarged pores on forehead and i am noticing no shed since i was using very little of topical not even 1 ml a day, i´m noticing a slimmer face, i´d say i´m also getting more morning wood, i´m already on TRT several years in and i feel 5% kills my libido more than finasteride.
I was very hesitant since i had sides with topical i figured it would be worse with oral but it has turned out to be great, have in mind i notice sides with 5% the same day i apply that trash on my head, once i got 10% from minoxidil max and i was looking like a Zombie, no strength or pumps at the gym at all and the hair OMG it is a bless to style it now that i don´t have to use this trash, i´m very happy, it was a good call on my part to the point that i would not mind upping the dose but i´ll give it more time before doing it

 

[Norwoody]

The PG wreaked havoc on my scalp.


The oral also provides benefits of providing sulfotransferase.

 

[Derelict]

It works, just don't expect miracles, although i think my case is probably atypical from what i have seen in studies and other people who have tried it online. It works well when used in conjunction with oral castor oil imo. Im still deciding whether to drop from 10mg to 5mg oral min and keeping my castor oil at 10ml.