Scalp massages do have data backing them up as being at least statistically significant in terms of effectiveness. Combined with derma-rolling, maybe just a few minutes a day might help but if we are talking about Rob's massages, well, they simply require too much time to do for virtually everyone. Maybe if someone massaged always when doing something mindless one might reach hair regrowth nirvana but Rob estimates that you need to do the equivalent of 41 minutes a day of his massages, if I understand correctly. He is much less cogent about his "own" method that he is when he writes about essentially everything else.
Anyway both micro-needling and scalp massage can have positive effects on hair loss but the effort required for maintenance using these techniques without at least finasteride is likely to be prohibitive and the results from massage statistical testing were significant but not that great pictorally in terms of hair growth/regrowth, if I recall correctly.
I can't recommend any mechanical methods to people who refuse to use some form of AA. It's just a waste of time otherwise. There is nothing here for you, in either massages or micro-needling functionally, I promise unless you have severe scarring from a hair transplant or just a small area that you are focusing on. Estrogen also promotes scar and wound healing and skin regeneration so guys are just fucked hair-wise in general since hair does come out of skin and all. I had amazing parental hair genes and great hair as a teenager but it didn't save me nor did any of the traditional "male" meds except for oral min which is actually pretty new in terms of usage and availability although I think that Loniten has always been quietly available. People were worried in the olden days about the blood pressure effects of two percent minoxidil which can be too much for some users to tolerate.
There's Keto which works much better for men seemingly than women because of the male harsh scalp environment. Current research indicates that just by managing inflammation that one might avoid excessive hair loss so that should be an exciting topic for XY's but again that's maintenance. Nothing tends to grow hair for people who are balding and chemically male, FtM's included except for oral min so when I hear guys emphatically state no to oral minoxidil and oral finasteride or even topical finasteride, I know that they are just spinning their wheels and wasting time. Especially for older guys, nothing works except for HRT and perhaps oral min for substantial regrowth. Nothing, that is in terms of cosmetic significance. Young guys might substantially improve but often nobody thinks those guys are even losing their hair yet and that was my case at 20. You could only see an incipient bald sport from on top, not really visible when my hair was dry but I knew.
Without min or finasteride, none of the other hormonal meds for males work well enough to be worth the time and effort except for obsessive types. Take a look at some proudly posted CB and RU hair "improvement" pics and see if you think that it is ever cosmetically significant. Not likely, if neither min nor finasteride can achieve that. And if you think your hair looks fine in certain mirrors, yes, that is true and it means that you are going bald since non-balding people don't fear mirrors or cameras. Sorry but most of you guys looking for non-hormonal/non-feminizing solutions are wasting your time in terms of promoting attractiveness even if they do grow (some) hair.
Not many people have come even close to working as many hair regrowth/maintenance angles as I have and I had great maintenance for close to 30 years but never any regrowth or visible improvement in hair texture or anagen or ability to wear my hair long without it looking hobo-ish. I have posted all of the the pics either on here or here:
Most people only think about the temples and crown but I had diffuse thinning everywhere and it is amazing now in retrospect to see how much of my regrowth has been in front of the ears but below the temples out to the sideburns. I knew that it had thinned in front of the ears and more so on the right side of my head but those side areas became just as much of a problem for me eventually as the more traditional male pattern baldness spots and it makes a huge difference for diffuse thinners, this regrowth on the sides that most of you don't even realize is balding or at least not the extent of it. I wish that I could be more sanguine but that's the way that I see it and I would love to be proven wrong by even one male XY but that isn't going out on a limb much.
Goddess bless,
Janey