Rogaine will kill exisiting hairs?

[junglemonkey]

Hi all,

 

I am new to this forum but I've been losing hair for quite a few years. I just came across Rogaine etc. stuff very recently.

 

I bought Rogaine 2 days ago and I have questions for you:

 

When we apply Rogaine to the balding area of the scalp, it still have some hairs, albeit very very thin. But it still have some hairs on it. When we apply Rogaine to these regions, inevitably the liquid will spread to the roots of these hairs. I've heard that Rogaine will kill these existing hairs which is called shredding... and it will regrow hair in these regions which is called Rogaine hair.

 

Now the question is: I've heard Rogaine does not work for everybody in terms of regrowing hair, what if after it kills all the existing hair thru shreddind and does not regrow hair at all? Would that be even worse than not applying Rogaine at all?

 

Those precious existing hairs will be killed forever?

 

Moreover, does anybody experienced success with Rogaine applied to front region? Being at NW4, I also want to apply Rogaine to both of my front and vertex. But I've heard Rogaine does not work for the front, I am afraid that after I applied Rogaine to the front and it killed all my precious front hairs but it did not regrow front hair at all...

 

Does Propecia has the same problem of the regrowed hair being Propecia-dependent?

 

Thanks everybody! Please give me some pointers! As a newbie to hair restoration procedures, your help and advice are invaluable to me!

[hairbank]

I'm no expert but will answer some of your questions as best I can............

 

Rogaine(Minoxidil) works similar to Propecia (Finasteride). They're both DHT inhibitors.....DHT is what is attacking the hair, minimizing the follicle causing it to degenerate over the years and eventually stop growing completely.

 

Minoxidil is a topical DHT inhibitor, Finasteride is taken in the form of a pill. Neither using Minox nor taking Finasteride will KILL your hair. Actually, to the contrary, it will help block the DHT which is killing your hair with the hopes of helping strengthen it over time.

 

All hair goes through a shedding phase, it's normal. When you use Minox or take Finasteride occassionally it can kick a lot of your hair into it's resting (Telogen) phase at once making the shed more visible rather than experienced at random like normal. So, the shed is actually a good thing and hopefully when the hair does grow back (and it will) it will be stronger via the DHT blockers you're using.

 

Yes, you must continue using Minoxidil and/or Finasteride to continue to help strengthen existing hair or any regrown hair from them. If you quit using them, any hair you've kept will continue degenerating and any hair you've regrown will fall out. I chose to use only Finasteride because I didn't like the messy regimen with Minoxidil. I have been taking it around 6 months and have experienced some very mild regrowth in my hairline. The most common place for either Minox or Finasteride to achieve regrowth is in the crown.

 

Hope this helps.

[JakeVig]

Originally posted by hairbank:

I'm no expert but will answer some of your questions as best I can............

 

Rogaine(Minoxidil) works similar to Propecia (Finasteride). They're both DHT inhibitors.....DHT is what is attacking the hair, minimizing the follicle causing it to degenerate over the years and eventually stop growing completely.

 

Minoxidil is a topical DHT inhibitor, Finasteride is taken in the form of a pill. Neither using Minox nor taking Finasteride will KILL your hair. Actually, to the contrary, it will help block the DHT which is killing your hair with the hopes of helping strengthen it over time.

 

All hair goes through a shedding phase, it's normal. When you use Minox or take Finasteride occassionally it can kick a lot of your hair into it's resting (Telogen) phase at once making the shed more visible rather than experienced at random like normal. So, the shed is actually a good thing and hopefully when the hair does grow back (and it will) it will be stronger via the DHT blockers you're using.

 

Yes, you must continue using Minoxidil and/or Finasteride to continue to help strengthen existing hair or any regrown hair from them. If you quit using them, any hair you've kept will continue degenerating and any hair you've regrown will fall out. I chose to use only Finasteride because I didn't like the messy regimen with Minoxidil. I have been taking it around 6 months and have experienced some very mild regrowth in my hairline. The most common place for either Minox or Finasteride to achieve regrowth is in the crown.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Hairbank I believe you got it wrong. I don't believe Minoxidil is a DHT inhibitor at all. I believe it works by allowing a better blood supply to the follicles. There does exist Minoxidil based products (read: Xandros and Revivogen) that combine DHT inhibitors like Azelic acid (which is believed to prevent nearly 100% of scalp DHT forming where applied) with the Minoxidil solution. I believe this is the reason why hair gained with Minoxidil will not be kept with Finasteride as they work completely differently.

[Guest Landen]

Minox is a vaso-dilator, not a topical DHT inhibitor. These forums have the blind leading the blind sometimes.

[hairbank]

Jakevig- Thanks for keeping me in check.........not sure why I thought what I thought about Minoxidil? Though it seems to work in a similar fashion to Finasteride, it is not a DHT inhibitor..........which I learned after further research. I should have verified before posting...........sorry about that.

 

junglemonkey - If either of these helps you keep or regrow hair discontinuing the use of them will cause the loss of that hair.