Topicals, irritation, microneedling, scarring: needing advice

[grassPacket]

Before anything, here's my progression

Left: https://imgur.com/a/UokWTn0

Right: https://imgur.com/a/SGKDiz0

The photos are (should) be in chronological order with the first one being right before I started treatment and the last being a little more than a week ago. They're all about 1 month apart.

Obviously, there was improvement in the beginning and eventually I decided to microneedle to wring out any extra benefit I could. However, I either made a mistake or I'm wrong, but I believe that made things worse. I noted the pictures taken after my brief microneedling period.

I bought a Derminator 2 and used it for (I believe) 3 days. I microneedled my hairline at 0.25 mm (the lowest possible setting) in the morning with a brief stamping motion until my hairline turned red. I never remember seeing any blood so I then immediately applied topical finasteride and minoxidil. Maybe this wasn't wise, but I figured I was microneedling at such a low depth that I couldn't be doing much damage if any. Maybe not? I noticed a negative difference on the 4th day so I stopped and haven't used the Derminator since. Do you all think my hair looks worse afterwards?

Whatever, maybe I made a mistake. But I have one concern: did I create scar tissue and how might this affect a prospective hair transplant? How might I figure out if I did create scar tissue?

In addition, although effective, the topical finasteride and minoxidil creates irritation on my scalp causing the skin to peel. This is visible in the 6th picture of the left temple where it was the worst it's ever been. Upon close inspection, my hairline has distinct areas of redness/pinkness where I spread the topical which you can see in the first couple photos I attached (this may be increased vasculairty due to minoxidil though, I don't know). Is THIS causing scarring that could effect a prospective hair transplant?

I'm sure the irritation is caused by the carrier agent propylene glycol but there's not much I can do about that. I could buy liposomal finasteride, but each little bottle from Happy Head costs $180; not to mention I wouldn't know how to dose it to maximize effectiveness and minimize side effects. What's the point of topical otherwise? They also have water as a carrier agent, but from what I know that would be pretty useless and have almost no penetration.

The obvious solution would be to switch to oral, but I'm not doing that. Suggestions on how to minimize the irritation would be appreciated as the only thing I've tried over the last few days is applying rosemary oil several hours before a shower. Yes, yes, I know; rosemary dumb bad stupid bad stuff but I figure it may at least moisturize and soothe my scalp.

Also, I only wash my hair every 3 days which gives the topical plenty of time to sit and irritate. I've been considering washing it more frequently, but for those of you who apply PG topicals, how often do you wash your hair and is Nizoral shampoo likely to provide me any benefits?

Edited January 13 by grassPacket