Stopping Rogaine for Women

[hello102204]

Hello. I am new to this site but very thankful that i found it! Here is my history of hair loss: When i was 22, I noticed that my crown area was starting to dramatically thin. I panicked and ran to the store and bought Rogaine for women. I didn't even think to go to a dermatologist to have my scalp checked so I don't know if I have alopecia areata or anything like that. Thinking back now, I didn't even stop to think that maybe my crash dieting and being on the Atkins and eating a ton of greasy hamburger meat and cheese had anything to do with my hair loss at the time. My mother, aunts, and sister all had/have thick hair. BUT I have ONE uncle that had extreme hair loss. He started losing hair when he was VERY young (like mid-late 20s). I had REALLY thick hair throughout my high school years but did some damage when I was 17 when i decided to bleach my hair blonde. (I am a natural brunette). The front/center of my hair got really damaged and i started spraying Infusium 23 corrective hair stuff to restore it. I did that for about a year. My hair was fine after that. I didn't notice any thinning until I was 22. SO anyway, i've been using Rogaine since then I was about 22 and my crown really filled out. My hair looked great. I just turned 25 years old this past July and I just started noticing thinning in the frontal/center area of my scalp and the crown area losing the density that it had before. Now my scalp itches every now and then and I have a slight dandruff condition. I stopped using the ROgaine about 3 days ago because of the itchiness and dandruff. But now I am afraid that my hair will increasingly start to fall out if I don't go back on ROgaine. Has anyone had this same problem?? Now i am really starting to consider a HT for the frontal area. HELP!!!

[JakeVig]

Hi hello,

 

Im afraid the curse of rogaine (minioxidil) is that it must be used indefinately otherwise the hair that it regrew or helped maintain will shed in about 3 months. Nizoral is a great shampoo for dandruff and will help with the itchy scalp. I also use folligen therapy (copper pepptides) spray and conditioner to minimize the minioxidil itch. You may also want to try an anti-inflamatory like emu oil, I cant tell from experience but others have suggested it may help.

 

I would seriously reconsider dropping minioxidil as once the hair sheds it will be really hard to get it back the second time. Dr Lee of http://www.minioxidil.com fame mentions that after 2-3 years of use minioxidil is unlikely to grow more hair and you should be able to safely drop down to 1 application per day to maintain the hair you have.

 

Hope this helps!