Regaine (and Fin) Post-Op

[Rossybop]

I'm 3 weeks out of surgery now and I'm thinking of starting Rogaine within the next week or so, if its worth my while. My surgeon said I should be ok to use it 3 -4 weeks after surgery.

However I've been on finasteride for 5 months now and I plan on continuing finasteride but recently I discovered a thread here where someone said its not a good idea to use both Regaine and fin at the same time. I thought it was odd because I've never heard that before.

I'm wondering should I start using Regaine or would it make no difference if I didn't?

Should I use it once or twice a day?

Is there any risks attached; if I use it for 2 years then stop will I lose tons of hair?

Do you really only get 5 years use out of it?

Is it perfectly fine and risk free to use it in conjunction with finasteride?

[deitel130]

I've never heard of any issues with using both at the same time. Have you ever tried Rogaine in the past? You will most likely shed a bit at first as your hair cycles.

[UnbaldEagle]

8 minutes ago, Rossybop said:

..but recently I discovered a thread here where someone said its not a good idea to use both Regaine and fin at the same time. I thought it was odd because I've never heard that before.

What was his reasoning for not using both at the same time?

[UnbaldEagle]

As for your other question, people usually "stop seeing" any benefits from minoxidil after a few years because that's when the minox-lengthened anagen phase ends. That doesn't mean it stops working and its use should be discontinued, on the contrary. 

[Rossybop]

18 minutes ago, deitel130 said:

I've never heard of any issues with using both at the same time. Have you ever tried Rogaine in the past? You will most likely shed a bit at first as your hair cycles.

Cool. I tried it twice but never stuck to it. Once for a few weeks about 10 years ago and again for a few weeks a couple of months ago, I stopped using it because my transplant instructions advised me to do so. I'm willing to commit to it if its worthwhile now though.

[Rossybop]

9 minutes ago, UnbaldEagle said:

As for your other question, people usually "stop seeing" any benefits from minoxidil after a few years because that's when the minox-lengthened anagen phase ends. That doesn't mean it stops working and its use should be discontinued, on the contrary. 

Cool man. You are wise Somebody on here wrote a post suggesting that using the two together can aggrivate or speed up hair loss if they don't agree with the patient or if you discontinue using Rogaine, it was something along those lines.

[UnbaldEagle]

Just now, Rossybop said:

Somebody on here wrote a post suggesting that using the two together can aggrivate or speed up hair loss if they don't agree with the patient or if you discontinue using Rogaine, it was something along those lines.

Well, you know what they say: don't believe everything you read on the internet. 

[Rossybop]

2 minutes ago, UnbaldEagle said:

Well, you know what they say: don't believe everything you read on the internet. 

Lol totally.

[UnbaldEagle]

I hope you're good otherwise. How's the recipient healing?

I've got some persisting numbness and it's so annoying. 

[Rossybop]

3 hours ago, UnbaldEagle said:

I hope you're good otherwise. How's the recipient healing?

I've got some persisting numbness and it's so annoying. 

Lol cheers man I'm actually feeling good and I hope you are too

the recipient seems fine. I've removed all the scabs and crust and most of the flakeyness. There's still a bit of flakey residue at the sides/temporal peaks but its hard to tell if that's healing residuum or if its dandruff, sebhorric dermatitus, dry skin or any such other thing. Generally everything seems good though. The rate of shedding has slowed down and you can see somd hairs have grown faster than others, the expected tinge of pinkness is in the recipient area. No pain, but likewise I still feel some numbess in most of the recipient area and the mid scalp feels a tiny bit bruised but I feel like I'm less numb now than I was before, if that makes sense lol.

Ok, rant over 😂

[TorontoMan]

Plenty of data that shows that in conjunction finasteride and minoxidil work better. It makes sense to me as minoxidil is a vasodilator thats works to promote more blood flow to your folicles, which is great, but if your blood contains all the DHT that works to fuck your shit up, then minoxidil without finasteride's reduction in dht may just be a temporary effort. 

I think what people mean is to not start both at the same time, cuz I guess you'd want to see how any treatment is working for you. But I think all that is nonesense, at the core you need to reduce your scalp dht. 

Edited January 2, 2021 by TorontoMan
typo

[TorontoMan]

Well its not nonesense I shouldnt have said that, not everyone will get an effect from minoxidil either, some men don't have enough minxodil sulfate for it to be effective, and we currently don't have a test for that. 

[Rossybop]

Cool man. It seems like you know a bit about the science behind this stuff. I'm not starting both at the same time as I've been on fin for 5 months now and I defo think the fin has had a positive effect thus far. I guess I'll go ahead and add Regaine to the mix.

[TorontoMan]

1 hour ago, Rossybop said:

Cool man. It seems like you know a bit about the science behind this stuff. I'm not starting both at the same time as I've been on fin for 5 months now and I defo think the fin has had a positive effect thus far. I guess I'll go ahead and add Regaine to the mix.

yeah thats great. add min to your routine and 1x a day is fine. Also I made the mistake of thinking putting more into my scalp is better, more is not necessarily better at all, and when I apply more thats when I feel my scalp get irritated. Take the time that 1x a day to just make sure you apply it will and cover your scalp effectively. 

I would eventually add in microneedling to your routine too to help achieve greater results. 1x a week, 1 - 1.5mm and don't apply any topicals 24 hours after a microneedling session. I believe you just recently had a hair transplant so I wouln't microneedle anywhere near your recipient area as your grafts are likelty still too fragile and sensitive for it. In fact, speak to your doctor about when it would be appropriate starting that if you choose to. 

[Rossybop]

Interesting you say once a day is enough. Most sources seem to say twice a day man.

As for microneedling I don't even know what that is. I'll have to go look it up. I had a transplant just over 3 weeks ago.

[DenverBuff1989]

5 minutes ago, Rossybop said:

As for microneedling I don't even know what that is. I'll have to go look it up

its a popular alternative treatment for hair regrowth. If you head over to Reddit r/tressless, a fair amount of people (mainly very young/early 20s) apparently have a lot of success with it. 

[TorontoMan]

Minoxidil has a half life of around 22 hours, the reason why it is recommended twice is thats just how they tested it during their trials. The patients were using it twice a day and they had to recommend it like that. I was only suggesting once a day, because as you'll see when you start, applying this stuff twice a day is a bit of a bitch. In the beginning you're keen you could do it, and later it does become slightly redundant. However, if you don't have a problem with it, and realistically if you care for your hair then doing it twice a day shouldn't be a problem at all anyway, then by all means do it twice a day to increase your chance of results. 

As for microneedling, there has been a lot of rumble in the community about guys finding it effective. Simply, you create small punctures in your scalp so that your body will send more blood to the areas for healing. More blood = more nutrient supply for the health of your foliciles. I would read into it on your own, but its a fairly low risk treatment with some good potential for maintenance and it will help your scalp absorb any topicals like minoxidil. Also its easy compliance, you would not do it more than once a week, and each session should take you like 10-15 minutes. For me its rather therapeutic. 

[Rossybop]

1 hour ago, DenverBuff1989 said:

its a popular alternative treatment for hair regrowth. If you head over to Reddit r/tressless, a fair amount of people (mainly very young/early 20s) apparently have a lot of success with it. 

I just cast my eye over it on Google. It sounds interesting I'll have to read about it on Reddit. If the results are good I'll defo look into it, but I think its expensive, like, €190 per session in Dublin.

[Rossybop]

1 hour ago, TorontoMan said:

Minoxidil has a half life of around 22 hours, the reason why it is recommended twice is thats just how they tested it during their trials. The patients were using it twice a day and they had to recommend it like that. I was only suggesting once a day, because as you'll see when you start, applying this stuff twice a day is a bit of a bitch. In the beginning you're keen you could do it, and later it does become slightly redundant. However, if you don't have a problem with it, and realistically if you care for your hair then doing it twice a day shouldn't be a problem at all anyway, then by all means do it twice a day to increase your chance of results. 

As for microneedling, there has been a lot of rumble in the community about guys finding it effective. Simply, you create small punctures in your scalp so that your body will send more blood to the areas for healing. More blood = more nutrient supply for the health of your foliciles. I would read into it on your own, but its a fairly low risk treatment with some good potential for maintenance and it will help your scalp absorb any topicals like minoxidil. Also its easy compliance, you would not do it more than once a week, and each session should take you like 10-15 minutes. For me its rather therapeutic. 

I actually started and stopped it twice before, once about 10 years ago and once before surgery. I only came off it because it was in the pre-op instructions to do so. I can see how it is a pain in the ass doing it twice a day sure I've already given up on it before 😂 But now I'm willing to commit these things because I'm more serious about sustaining a good head of hair. If it does work really well once a day then I'd easily manage that. Its funny that you say it works well once a day and yet most people don't say that. Even many doctors will reccomend two doses per day, and even a lot of internet articles reccomend it twice per day.

The microneedling sounds totally fascinating and if its easy, threapeutic and super effective then I'm all for it, but after casting my eye over the net I think its expensive. If it costs way too much I probably won't be able to commit to it.

[TorontoMan]

34 minutes ago, Rossybop said:

I actually started and stopped it twice before, once about 10 years ago and once before surgery. I only came off it because it was in the pre-op instructions to do so. I can see how it is a pain in the ass doing it twice a day sure I've already given up on it before 😂 But now I'm willing to commit these things because I'm more serious about sustaining a good head of hair. If it does work really well once a day then I'd easily manage that. Its funny that you say it works well once a day and yet most people don't say that. Even many doctors will reccomend two doses per day, and even a lot of internet articles reccomend it twice per day.

The microneedling sounds totally fascinating and if its easy, threapeutic and super effective then I'm all for it, but after casting my eye over the net I think its expensive. If it costs way too much I probably won't be able to commit to it.

You could buy a microneedling pen for 100-200bucks, and it’ll last you a long time. Don’t think thats expensive at all 

[Rossybop]

22 minutes ago, TorontoMan said:

You could buy a microneedling pen for 100-200bucks, and it’ll last you a long time. Don’t think thats expensive at all 

Wow, shit, you can do it yourself? I must have cast my eye over a clinic website, they're charging €190 per session lol.