I’m on oral minox, finn, and estrogen. My hair regrowth is ridiculous.

I remember when I was about 8 I asked my dad (who had the typical cul de sac bald on top thing going, and was a general practitioner) why he didn't use any of the hair growth pills. He told me that he would "rather have a dick that worked and no hair, than a full head of hair and a limp dick".

I still kinda wish he just told me "there are side effects", I was fucking 8.

My limited research into these is that you pretty much have to keep taking them. I considerd it, mostly because of sun and skin cancer risks, but not if I have to take a drug for the rest of my life. I have hats, they work fine.

There have been reports of water forming around the heart due to oral minoxidil. It needs to be tested that the oral extended release version is safe. The problem is only a small percentage might have this potentially lethal side effect, so it needs to be tested very throughly

I look forward to hearing how this will fuck you up 20 years down the road. Just bite the bullet, grow a pair, and let that hair go. You'll thank yourself down the road. Note, that I'm referring to men specifically.

I'm gonna be so fucking hairy.

Seriously, though, pro-tip, I got my last 3-month batch of the regular Minoxidil at Ollie's in the US for $8. YMMV. But $8 is a steal.

They're called testosterone blockers.

that is basically a low dose hypertension drug lol and also coincidentally exactly how minoxicidil spray was discovered when they realized some hypertension drugs resulted in hair growth. seems like it reached a full circle.

Lot of misinformation in this thread. Every drug has side effects but that doesn't mean everyone or even a majority of people will experience them.

Minoxidil was originally designed as a blood pressure med and was found to support hair growth. Kind of like Viagra was designed for pulmonary hypertension and it was later found that it supported erections.

The doses of minoxidil given to support the anagen or thicker phase of hair growth {2.5 to 5 mg) are much lower than those given for blood pressure (10 to 20 mg). The higher doses are more commonly associated with side effects like lightheadedness, palpitations, lower extremity edema and pericardial effusion.

Detasteride or Finasteride decrease the conversion of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone. Scalp DHT accelerates follicle minituarization. This medication has a long half life so if youve taken it for weeks it stays in your system for weeks even after youve stopped it. There are people that have reported longer standing mood changes due to this drug.

I know many who tolerate both just fine but everyone should assess their own risk tolerance and make a decision based on that. The topical formulations help but the oral combination is much more effective and for those that pursue a hair transplant these meds will always be started afterwards (often beforehand as well) because otherwise your DHT will just wipe out the transplanted follicles.

We've got wars and bad economy everywhere in what is quickly becoming a full on dystopia but we have a pill that can give you your boner back and now another pill that will give you your hair back. You can then pretend you are an "alpha" again and do more wars and cheat the masses out of more money. Pharmacy is a miracle! /s

I heard that minoxidil doesn't actually grow hair.

Just putting it out there, because I have been silenced every time I have tried to talk about my negative experiences with minoxidil:

I was on a 10% topical formulation (so 2x the strength of regular Regaine/Rogaine) and the stuff destroyed my skin on a permanent basis. About a month or 2 in I started noticing lines and wrinkles where I previously had none, my eyes were really puffy, and I started to look like the 'after' photo in those PSAs about doing drugs. I had to come off the stuff and take collagen supplements daily to even slightly reverse that. I'm not back to baseline and likely never will be; that shit aged me by about 8 years in the span of 6 months. It was honestly much worse than hair loss itself.

Before I came off it, when I told the ""clinic"" that prescribed me what I was experiencing, they said it was placebo. Meanwhile, other hair loss sufferers online told me that I was making it up because I was jealous of other men's gains (???)

I am by no means saying this will necessarily happen if you take minox, but it wasn't even a reported side effect on the leaflet (where it lists common/uncommon/rare/very rare side effects), and I was genuinely trying to get it on there so people could be aware that this is a risk.

I would be super cautious of oral administration. When I was on the topical, it was only in contact with my scalp and any part of my body that would touch my pillow while sleeping I guess. Can't imagine what it would have done going through the digestive system instead.

Sincerely, fuck the hair restoration industry and the way it preys on desperate people.

Sorry that this isn't necessarily super on-topic (or uplifting), but seeing/hearing about minoxidil brings up a really bad experience.