Regular Member alopie Posted January 19 Regular Member Share Posted January 19 After getting my HT, I switched from topical to oral minox. I started at 5mg, but I grew a unibrow so I lowered that to 2.5mg, and some months even 2mg daily. After reviewing the literature, it looks like 5mg oral minoxidil is so potent that it also disrupts dht pathways and it is such a beast that is nearly impossible for dht inhibition to miniaturize hairs that quickly. I am wondering if anyone here has tried 5mg oral minox alone, without finasteride? My suspicion is that the effect of 5mg oral minox might postpone hair miniaturization by 20 or more years, alone. If that's the case, it means we can use a super potent version of oral minox with a small oral dose of finasteride (0.25mg daily), and have less exposure to the androgenic side effects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member RisinStar Posted January 19 Regular Member Share Posted January 19 31 minutes ago, alopie said: After getting my HT, I switched from topical to oral minox. I started at 5mg, but I grew a unibrow so I lowered that to 2.5mg, and some months even 2mg daily. After reviewing the literature, it looks like 5mg oral minoxidil is so potent that it also disrupts dht pathways and it is such a beast that is nearly impossible for dht inhibition to miniaturize hairs that quickly. I am wondering if anyone here has tried 5mg oral minox alone, without finasteride? My suspicion is that the effect of 5mg oral minox might postpone hair miniaturization by 20 or more years, alone. If that's the case, it means we can use a super potent version of oral minox with a small oral dose of finasteride (0.25mg daily), and have less exposure to the androgenic side effects. Hi, I'm using the 1,25 mg dose of oral minoxidil currently (no finasteride due to libido side effects) After just 1 month of usage, it seems more hair is appearing on my body (beard, chest, belly,..) so just like you I'm also curious what effect a 5 mg would give. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Eli_Avdikian Posted January 19 Regular Member Share Posted January 19 I switched from 2.5 to 5 mg about 3 months ago. Nothing too crazy for the moment. But I also hopped on oral dut twice weekly. I'll have to reevaluate 3 months from now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Eli_Avdikian Posted January 19 Regular Member Share Posted January 19 However, on a side note, I don't buy that someone can keep their hair on Oral Minox alone without some form of 5AR inhibition Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member 12345 Posted January 19 Regular Member Share Posted January 19 minoxidil inhibits dht? where did you read this????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member alopie Posted January 20 Author Regular Member Share Posted January 20 3 hours ago, 12345 said: minoxidil inhibits dht? where did you read this????? Here are two papers: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10461613/#:~:text=Multi-target mechanism of minoxidil,expression%2C thus reducing DHT production. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4039155/ The general consensus is not that inhibits 5ar, but it can disrupt dht pathways which prevents tissue binding. Effectively, dht circulates in the blood stream but it get disrupted when it reaches the skin tissue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member alopie Posted January 20 Author Regular Member Share Posted January 20 9 hours ago, Eli_Avdikian said: However, on a side note, I don't buy that someone can keep their hair on Oral Minox alone without some form of 5AR inhibition 5mg oral daily and twice dut weekly is a very potent combo, you will definitely get results. 5ar inhibition is important and it may increase hair diameter, that's why I am suggesting a 0.25mg oral daily. But your dut protocol is close to what I am suggesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member DermMD Posted January 20 Regular Member Share Posted January 20 10 hours ago, Eli_Avdikian said: However, on a side note, I don't buy that someone can keep their hair on Oral Minox alone without some form of 5AR inhibition Correct. Board certified dermatologist here, agree. You need both. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member alopie Posted January 20 Author Regular Member Share Posted January 20 13 hours ago, DermMD said: Correct. Board certified dermatologist here, agree. You need both. The question is if 5mg oral minoxidil + 0.25mg oral finasteride daily could be considered as potent as 1mg oral minoxidil + 1mg oral finasteride. This would be an interesting study. My experience is that, at least in the short term, 5mg minoxidil will increase the diameter of the hair, giving a fuller appearance. Long term, though, it is unclear if that 50-60% of androgens that are not blocked by 0.25mg finasteride can miniaturize hair. If 5mg minox + 0.25mg oral fin is enough for maintenance, I would choose that over 1mg oral minoxidil + 1mg oral finasteride Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member jim1973 Posted January 24 Regular Member Share Posted January 24 (edited) For the last year I've been on oral MInoxidil (5mg) and oral Dutasteride (.5mg) daily. I switched to each of these because my 7 year run on topical Min and oral Fin was no longer working well (had stabilized for 7 years before quickly losing hair). After this year on the oral Min and oral Dut, I can tell you that the Min works well but the Dut not so much. I say this because my hair grows fast and thick everywhere. If you have body hair on arms/legs, it will thicken and grow fast if you are used to trimming. Where you have strong hair on your head (back/sides), that will also thicken and grow fast. The issue I notice is that I'm still shedding out hair from my top of my head so although some hair is getting thicker, other hair is falling out and my scalp is quickly becoming more visible by the day. I've checked my bloodwork every 3 months over the last year and my DHT levels are very low, well below standard/average but somehow the hair on my head is still miniaturizing. I'm actually considering switching to a topical Finasteride/Dutasteride as I am not sure what else I can do. I would think my scalp DHT would also reduce on oral Dut but maybe not. Edited January 24 by jim1973 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member DavidFrancis Posted February 4 Regular Member Share Posted February 4 Interesting discussion, Do you think there is a big difference between 2.5mg and 5mg oral minox ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member alopie Posted April 20 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 20 On 2/4/2024 at 8:26 PM, DavidFrancis said: Interesting discussion, Do you think there is a big difference between 2.5mg and 5mg oral minox ? The difference in shaft diameter is significant and noticeable, but not in hair count as much. 5mg is as good as it gets, you can't go higher than that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member jim1973 Posted April 21 Regular Member Share Posted April 21 @alopie is correct in that I'm not regrowing any new hair but my existing hair is much thicker. I'm on 5mg of oral Min and .5mg of oral Dut. Unfortunately I still shed hair daily in the sink after showering and I'm approaching 1 year on both of these doses of each. I think this is as good as its going to get for me. I'm not sure how others get into the regrowth stages but it doesn't seem to be in the cards for me. I'm also a little older (51). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Jayson1361 Posted April 22 Regular Member Share Posted April 22 6 hours ago, jim1973 said: @alopie is correct in that I'm not regrowing any new hair but my existing hair is much thicker. I'm on 5mg of oral Min and .5mg of oral Dut. Unfortunately I still shed hair daily in the sink after showering and I'm approaching 1 year on both of these doses of each. I think this is as good as its going to get for me. I'm not sure how others get into the regrowth stages but it doesn't seem to be in the cards for me. I'm also a little older (51). What do you mean by shedding? You towel dry your hair and then see a few more fall or you see another 10-50 hairs fall? I would think even after shampooing towel drying hair might cause a few to fall normally or even running hands through wet hair. If 50-150 hairs shed normally, daily… that’s possibly up to 6-7 hairs an hour…so I guess I’m curious what you mean by shedding after showering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member jim1973 Posted April 22 Regular Member Share Posted April 22 11 hours ago, Jayson1361 said: What do you mean by shedding? You towel dry your hair and then see a few more fall or you see another 10-50 hairs fall? I would think even after shampooing towel drying hair might cause a few to fall normally or even running hands through wet hair. If 50-150 hairs shed normally, daily… that’s possibly up to 6-7 hairs an hour…so I guess I’m curious what you mean by shedding after showering. Good point. After towel drying, usually I see 10-15 hairs in the sink (no idea how many fall in shower during shampooing). When I was on oral FIN and topical Min from 2013-2020, I don't think I saw a single hair fall and my hair loss stabilized as well as I could have imagined. I only started the new regimen in 2020 once I noticed hair starting to fall daily. It could just be that my body fought off hair loss as well as it could (and still is) but will never be 100% successful at stopping all loss. But since I witnessed first hand how my hair loss stopped 100% for that period in time, I prob think anything less efficacious than that is unacceptable. Me getting older certainly doesn't help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Jayson1361 Posted April 22 Regular Member Share Posted April 22 10-15 after a shower… I’m sure that’s probably anecdotal… unless you have a process and documented observations. I bet this has been going on for quite some time you may have not noticed or had a darker sink or your head wasn’t over the sink or… whatever variable. My opinion for that type of shedding over time being on the strongest stuff you can be taking for hair loss is that personal opinion, how you feel, observation of aging and knowing your age… etc… influences people to pay closer attention to perceived change. I’m willing to wager that anything you’re seeing is an accumulation of time on the body and not sudden. Most people use the term shedding for acute hair loss due to a change in routine of some type. Not that it makes it any easier to observe and deal with but I bet you’ve seriously slowed your loss being on dutasteride and oral min. You could really be experiencing the periodic shed people get. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now