Minox once or twice a day ?

[NewHare]

So far, I've been using Minox once a day for approx 6 months. I've noticed some change in the quality of my hair, but no new hairs noted.  Would going to twice a day make that much of a difference ?  Are there those who only use Minox once a day with good results ?     

[bear56]

it will not grow new hair but will strengthen your existing hair and to a certain degree thicken hairs that were stating to thin. i found that the penetration of minoxidil was better after a hair wash,  the tingling sensation was increased. i have used in in conjunction with micro needling and it was even more effective as noted with increased rate of growth. 

[duckling]

Twice a day will give you a little bit more results but not a big difference according to studies atleast. But if lot of scalp coverage you are doing then definitely do twice a day. People use it before bedtime as its hectic to apply twice a day.

Micro needling can definitely help you in more results. This might increase absorption of the topical solutions ( according to some articles) so you will get more response from minoxidil when combined with micro-needling regime once a week ( depending upon the healing timeline and depth of needles). You can micro-needle and then wait for next day to apply minoxidil and that might reduce too much absorption.  

People use 1.5 mm once every week so get more penetration of solution and some people use 0.5 mm to just irritate the scalp by creating very small micropores before applying minoxidil. Check out the results and add to your regime.

[A_4_Archan]

10 hours ago, NewHare said:

So far, I've been using Minox once a day for approx 6 months. I've noticed some change in the quality of my hair, but no new hairs noted.  Would going to twice a day make that much of a difference ?  Are there those who only use Minox once a day with good results ?     

Minox will not grow hair where roots aren't there..it will help you to make your existing hair thicker and will make your miniaturised hair better and fuller...i dont know what mg of minox you are taking...you should not cross 5mg per day imo...so if you are taking 2.5mg than you can take it 2 times a day or 5mg once a day....still you can consult your doctor for that as everyone's body is different and adapts to drugs differently ...

[arthurSam]

Twice is a little better (see graph bellow) : black cicles are twice 5% and empty circles are once) and squares are placebo ; week 96 is the date at which minox have no effect anymore. After about 108 weeks you return to the same state that you had been on without taking minox (minox only work for 2 years).

Edited April 6, 2023 by arthurSam

[12345]

using topical, I got by with only 1 x day at night. If you can ramp it up to 2, then do it. In my personal experience, I do not think 2 x a day would have made a diff for me, but I think consistency is more important than frequency.  I would often start to slack after I saw the results. Learn from others' mistakes

I'm on oral now, which eliminates the whole twice-a-day application thing. but  I know not everyone is keen on orals due to the greater chance of side effects.

[Cory]

1 hour ago, arthurSam said:

Twice is a little better (see graph bellow) : black cicles are twice 5% and empty circles are once) and squares are placebo ; week 96 is the date at which minox have no effect anymore. After about 108 weeks you return to the same state that you had been on without taking minox (minox only work for 2 years).

So what you are implying is to stop taking minoxidil after  96 days?

Do you have a source of this study?

[BackFromTheBrink]

35 minutes ago, Cory said:

So what you are implying is to stop taking minoxidil after  96 days?

Do you have a source of this study?

There's 4 lines, 2 percent strength, 5 percent, placebo and nothing.

The study doesn't include any analysis of the half life of the drug so I can't see how it's relevant to this topic. 

[NewHare]

Thanks for the insight guys, very interesting.  Yes I should have mentioned I'm using 5% Foam (Kirkland).

The graph is rather surprising, I don't recall ever seeing that before.  I'd be interested in hearing more about this study.

I did consider oral Minox, though at my current age (66) I was concerned with side effects. 

Just curious, has the group found any one particular product works better than others ?  So far I've used Kirkland, though I just started ELEVATE 5% Minoxidil Foam (less expensive). But I can't speak to that as it's only been a few days.

[arthurSam]

Study is easy to find on internet and it is well known that minox work for only 2 years on average

Edited April 6, 2023 by arthurSam

[Cory]

10 hours ago, arthurSam said:

Study is easy to find on internet and it is well known that minox work for only 2 years on average

Topical version that is

[arthurSam]

Sorry I read again the conclusion of the study in fact they stopped taking minox at 96 week.

Quote

After treatment was stopped at week 96, the 5% and 2% minoxidil groups showed a rapid loss of hair weight and decreased hair counts. Vertical lines drawn at week 96 in Figs 1-3 indicate when treatment was stopped. By 24 weeks after treatment had been stopped, the weight and number counts of the treated groups decreased to become similar to those of the placebo and untreated groups, showing the growth offset produced by topical minoxidil. This loss of treatment-stimulated hair growth is expected since treatment does not alter the underlying genetic predisposition for androgenetic alopecia

But here it seems to be 2 years without discountinuous use :

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamadermatology/article-abstract/549888

Quote

Koperski et al,¹ in a previous issue of the Archives, noted a drop in total hair counts between the 12th and 30th month of minoxidil use

I think it will be same for oral form.

Edited April 7, 2023 by arthurSam

[GoliGoliGoli]

I've seen this graph before but never dug into it. But I think you're misinterpreting the results. It's not saying minoxidil has no effect after 96 weeks or that after 108 weeks you will be in exactly the same place you would have been had you never used minoxidil. Instead it's measuring percent change over time. That is, minoxidil stops providing measurable growth after awhile which is obvious, otherwise anyone who used minoxidil would end up like Teen Wolf. But that doesn't mean you will keep that growth if you stop using it. 

[arthurSam]

21 hours ago, GoliGoliGoli said:

I've seen this graph before but never dug into it. But I think you're misinterpreting the results. It's not saying minoxidil has no effect after 96 weeks or that after 108 weeks you will be in exactly the same place you would have been had you never used minoxidil. Instead it's measuring percent change over time. That is, minoxidil stops providing measurable growth after awhile which is obvious, otherwise anyone who used minoxidil would end up like Teen Wolf. But that doesn't mean you will keep that growth if you stop using it. 

Thanks you 🙂

[GoliGoliGoli]

1 hour ago, arthurSam said:

Thanks you 🙂

It's worth reading that section of the study to fact check my understanding - like I said I didn't read it or dig into it. If I do I will report back here .

I personally have used minox 1 per day for about a year now, and am very happy with the results.