Can my hair become Minoxidil dependent after only 1.5 month?

[uzi]

Hi guys.

I have been using minoxidil 2% for 1 month and than minoxidil 5% for just ten days, before I got chest pain and decided to stop using the drug. I applied it twice a day, and gave extreme emphasis on the left side hairline which was thinning a little bit.

It was 3 months ago. Now it seems as if the hair on my left side had gone back much more. It seems unsymmetrical to my right side. I also put a touch of minoxidil on my left temple every day and now i'm losing hair there while the hair on my right side temple is completely fine.

Should I be worried or is it just the shedding that comes along with quitting minoxidil and this hair will grow back? Can receding hairline ever grow back? And most importantly - Can my hair become minoxidil dependent after only 1.5 month?!?

[mattj]

Hair that has been gained due to the use of Minoxidil is normally dependant on continued use, but you weren't really using it long enough for it to cause re-growth, so I don't think any sort of dependency can factor into this. If you have continued to use it on your temple and have noticed increased loss then it could be treatment-induced shedding of the sort also caused by Propecia.

Have you read about that? Normally the hair will return.

Yes, Minoxidil can work in re-growing hair at the hairline. It's not amazingly successful in doing this but it happens.

[uzi]

I have been using propecia for 4 years now but I don't think it has something to do with the current shedding.

[mattj]

What I mean is, at about one month into using Minoxidil, many users experience increased shedding brought on by the drug. This is a normal effect which also occurs when using Propecia or other treatments which actually work.

That Minoxidil you put on your temple counts as use, even if you think of it as a small and insignificant amount.

I'm hoping some Minoxidil users will chime in and confirm what I'm saying.

[uzi]

Yes, but I'm not using minoxidil anymore, plus the shedding began afterwards.

The main thing that I want to know is - will my hairline grow back if the shedding happened because I used minoxidil 3 months ago (And I'm almost certain it did happen because of that) and that it didn't get minoxidil dependent only because I used it for 1.5 months.

[Havok]

your existing healthy hair wont become dependent on minoxidil and if it did then they will all fall out once you stop taking minoxidil.

[uzi]

So what are you saying? When you say once I've stop using minoxidil do you mean immediately or in the course of 3 months? If they fall, even if they're healthy, they will not grow back?

[Havok]

if you received any regrowth from using minoxidil, they will fall out over the course of several months once you stop using minoxidil. in your case you probably didn't have any regrowth in such a short time span. so no gain, no loss is what i'm saying.

shed just a shed and they will grow back after a while. the ones you should be worried about are the miniaturized hairs that grow back thinner and thinner.

[PabloR]

There are numbers of studies that I've read online and all suggest that there willl be dependency on minoxidil after long term usage. When you abruptly stop the usage, the hair you lose as a result of acute shedding is exceedingly disproportionate to any gains or loss prevention you may have attained. However, if you have only used it for few months, you are likely still in the initial shedding stage, then I don't really think it is going to be an issue here. To clarify, in all cases, treatments or no treatments, shedding is not actually "losing hair". This is one of the most common misconceptions in the world of hair loss. Shedding is in fact just the transition of follicles from growth phase to resting phase. They don't fall out and die, never to return. They in fact "go to sleep", to return several months later. Hope this helps!

[uzi]

Very much and very well articulated! Thanks!

[KeepTheHair]

Can my hair become minoxidil dependent after only 1.5 month?!?

Definitely, yes.

[uzi]

Why do you think so?

[Havok]

There are numbers of studies that I've read online and all suggest that there willl be dependency on minoxidil after long term usage. When you abruptly stop the usage, the hair you lose as a result of acute shedding is exceedingly disproportionate to any gains or loss prevention you may have attained. However, if you have only used it for few months, you are likely still in the initial shedding stage, then I don't really think it is going to be an issue here. To clarify, in all cases, treatments or no treatments, shedding is not actually "losing hair". This is one of the most common misconceptions in the world of hair loss. Shedding is in fact just the transition of follicles from growth phase to resting phase. They don't fall out and die, never to return. They in fact "go to sleep", to return several months later. Hope this helps!

whoa didn't know that. thanks for sharing. well at least the OP can sleep better knowing there's nothing he can do about it lol jk. there's very little you can do against aggressive hair loss so don't dwell on making small mistakes here and there during your battle with hair loss.

[KeepTheHair]

Most people have maximum results around the 3rd-4th months or so. At 1.5 you will have...SOME hair that are there because of minox and didn't shed, though your still growing back some of which was shed by minox etc...


Some hair will be minox dependant for awhile but will grow back. It won't be much just wait it out the hair will grow back assuming you didn't lose more because of hairloss itself.

[uzi]

Thanks for your comment!

What you are saying is that if the hairloss itself didn't had effect on my hair - hairloss that is not connected to minoxidil - everything will go back to normal after awhile...