shedding after 3 1/2 weeks on minoxidil

[UK-mate]

i expected this to happen, but didnt realise quite how much! its all a step in the right direction i spose though. how quickly does it come back, becuase to be fair, its not looking great!
cheers

 

[Hans Gruber]

hey,i has a minoxidil shed around the 2/3 week mark,about 2 months later was looking good,but im shedding again now,but itll come back thicker so thats fine!

just stick with it,if anything,just ignore it,keep up with ya treatments religiously and it should work,an early shed should be a good sign that treatment is working!

:hairy:

 

[UK-mate]

its awesome to be honest, im really excited about it! at least i know that something is happening, im not going to get down in the dumps, i think the shedding has stopped so thats cool.

 

[UnReal27]

I'm around the 3 week mark for minoxidil. and Im shocked by the shedding also. It's one thing to hear people talk about it, but another to see it in the mirror. I have actually developed a little baldspot at the back in like 3 weeks! I hope it comes back, it's freaky thinking I'm losing hair for good!

 

[-cj-]

I'm 3 weeks in on minoxidil (Xandrox 5%) and I've just noticed an incrase in shedding. Rather, I'm shedding what I was before I started treatment.

I estimate this to be roughly 50/day starting today. After starting treatment I had nearly no noticable loss in the beginning. This isn't shocking, just thought I'd put some input into this thread as to what to expect.

I have noticed that all in all, the quality/length of these hairs is fairly crappy. Maybe 15% of the hair I shed is quality hair, which I expect to be normal (not miniturization) shedding. The rest is shorter with less pigment.

 

[-cj-]

3 1/2 weeks into treatment and BAM:
http://www.hairlosstalk.com/discussions ... hp?t=26263

 

[Nighthawk]

minoxidil 5%

I've been on minoxidil for 8 weeks, I've tried it in the past too
Unbelievable shedding, a carpet on the bathroom floor..
The other thing is your hair is like plastacine after putting it on..

Still there's no other option one you've started you have to go on

 

[kalbo]

Thank God I looked at this thread b/c I was seriously gonna go through a panic attack very soon....

I started using minoxidil 5% and nizoral 5 weeks ago... So today I was at the mall and took a glimpse of myself in one of the mirrors and my jaw just dropped to the floor. The areas where I put minoxidil (temples and hairline) looked SUPER thin and much worse than when I first started using it.

So this freaked me out because I thought shedding at this level only occurred when using finasteride..... So it's good to see that there's people who experienced the same thing when using minoxidil.

But I'm still in a little predicament here b/c I'm going to a formal party this weekend and I'm seeing people I've never seen in a while.... they're probably gonna wonder how I lost so much hair so fast.

 

[jambri]

Tell them the truth!

minoxidil seems to shed worse than finasteride from many accounts I have read.

 

[hairwegoagain]

Tell them the truth!

minoxidil seems to shed worse than finasteride from many accounts I have read.

The drugs have completely different mechanisms of action so a comparison of what "sheds worse" in relation to prognosis is irrelevant. I don't claim to have a comprehensive pharmacological knowledge of each, but in laymen's terms:

Finasteride inhibits the mechanism of hair follicle miniturization in the first place. Depending on how long the follicle has been bombarded by the bad stuff, it may recover to a degree which grows a thicker hair - or more likely, the drug will maintain the remaining "good" follicles and shield them (for some period of time) from DHT to some degree....hence the importance of not waiting around for treatment if your male pattern baldness bothers you.

Minoxidil's mechanism is to reverse the miniturization process once it's started. Follicles that are already miniturized may grow back to a normal or improved, more productive state. Its effect may also keep "healthy" hairs from miniturizing as quickly as Mother Nature's schedule would have them. Then again, they may not. Everyone responds differently to each drug.

So, finasteride can be viewed as a substance that provides a somewhat-protected environment for "healthy" follicles, and a good environment for minoxidil to do its job of miniturization reversal.

It must be stated that anything that has any effect on hair growth will also have an effect on the hair cycle. Luckily for us, not all the follicles on your head are on the same growth/shed schedule....hence some gradual loss daily, even for those with no hairloss. The above drugs, however, induce the follicle to change states...which changes their cycles. Hairs that were on their way out anyway may fall out sooner, only to be replaced by another hair that probably wouldn't be as thick or pigmented if treatment was not en force.

Summary - stick with it. The combo of the two above drugs has been shown much more effective than either in solo...oh yeah, do it under a doctor's supervision.