Minoxidil dependency...?

[virtua_]

I was just wondering...

I've been planning to start using Rogaine Foam after my visit to the doctor's office to determine the cause of my hair loss.

I suspect it's just male pattern baldness, but it might also be a rare side effect of Asacol which I take for my ulcerative colitis, or a deficiency. However, my question is, if I use minoxidil to regrow hair which wasn't really thinning due to excessive DHT but allergy or side effects of my medicine, if I take away the cause of the hair loss, will the hair still be minoxidil dependent?

I mean, I've been under the impression that the only hair that gets "dependent" on minoxidil is the hair that is sensitive to DHT, and minoxidil forces it to grow even so. Not hair that is falling out because of other causes...

- I guess I'm just afraid that if a new cure comes out 2 years down the road I'll have to stick with minoxidil for the rest of my life to keep the hair I regrow...

 

[roki]

it wont

 

[virtua_]

So hair regrown with Rogaine, that did not fall out because of DHT in the first place, will remain if I quit Rogaine?

- But DHT-sensitive hair regrown with Rogaine will fall out if I stop using Rogaine, right?

Thanks for answering my questions!

 

[roki]

So hair regrown with Rogaine, that did not fall out because of DHT in the first place, will remain if I quit Rogaine?

- But DHT-sensitive hair regrown with Rogaine will fall out if I stop using Rogaine, right?

Thanks for answering my questions!

when you stop the minoxidil you will return in a month or two to the situation you would be in had you not started the minoxidil at all

 

[The Gardener]

Whatever hair that Rogaine grows for you while you are taking it will fall out if you stop it. "DHT sensitivity" plays no factor in this, as Rogaine's effectiveness has nothing to do with hormones.

However, if you stop Rogaine, you will not lose any more hair than if you never used Rogaine at all. In other words, if you use Rogaine on an area of your scalp where your hair was not receeding or thinning, when you quit, those hairs will remain unaffected.

 

[virtua_]

Good answers, but I still wonder about this:

You say that hair will return to what it would have been like if I'd never used Minoxidil. However, if there was a underlying cause of the hair loss that has since been corrected, I would think that the hair wouldn't fall out even if I stopped using minoxidil.

- But I'm afraid that hair regrown with minoxidil after I've corrected the underlying cause (side effects of prescribed drug etc.) will still fall out as it's become what I've seen some people call "minoxidil dependent"? Any thoughts on this?

Thanks you guys!

 

[The Gardener]

The rule of thumb is that if a hair is grown that would have lived on its own without the minoxidil, it will live after you stop minoxidil.

Hair that was regrown only as an effect of the minoxidil will be lost after stopping minoxidil.

 

[virtua_]

Oh, OK, thanks for clarifying!