March 15 2006, 2:38 pm PT | Posted in: Drugs + Drugs (Cause Hair Loss)
I started taking propecia 3 weeks ago but i’m still seeing excessive shedding. I think i am losing more than 200 hairs a day. I think i have lost around 50% of hair density in 1 year. Strange thing is if i lightly pull on my hair in “usually non balding areas” (near the ears, or back of neck) hair
is coming out massively. Today from those areas i probably pulled out 200 hairs (they come out with the white part at the end). Can this mean my hair loss is medical (since traditionally non balding areas are losing the most hair) I am 23. Thanks.
Some people have reported increased shedding after starting Propecia. One medical explanation for this reflects accelerated hair cycling. Hair goes into various phases, producing growth (anagen) or regression (catagen). If cycling is accelerated to bring in more anagen hairs, then regression may be seen to cycle into more anagen hairs. You must stay on the course you have started on. This accelerated cycling may last 3-4 months (rare) but if you do not keep to the pill regimen, then you will lose the value of what you started. Alternatively, you could be going through an accelerated cycling from the balding process. In either case, stay the course. For information on hair cycling, see DermNet NZ.
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Balding Forum
30% minoxidil cream, once a day. WORKS!!!
Hello:
I started using 5% Rogaine in 1997, I was 27 yrs old then. Now I am 37 and I am using 30% minoxidil cream, once a day on the scalp for the last 7 years. I started with a 5% minoxidil in 1997, then in 1998 I used 12.5% and 15% minoxidil/xandrox and in 1999 I went to a 20% minoxidil cream to a 30% minoxidil cream.
The 30% minoxidil cream solution from Community Drug works well and the cream is easy to apply also it is not as messy than the gel 15% (it does not fad or crystalize either). Community Drug from communitydrug.com sells this. It comes in a tub in 2 30ml or 1 60ml, which cost about $116.00 (which includes the shipping fee).
I saw this info on regrowth.com forum about the 30% minoxidil back in 1999 and I tried it, it worked. I am surprized nobody is talking about the 30% minoxidil now as this is much stronger and is way better than the 15%’s stuff. I noticed the difference from going from the 15% gel to the (well 20%) 30% cream minoxidil in 2 months. I went from 65% to 95% hairloss back. The hair is strong enough for hair coloring, beaching or anything. It is normal full hair than getting Rogaine fuzz hair. I know some people are taking the 30% also that been on it for 7 years also, none of use have any side effects to report.
30% Minoxidil Cream - 60gm tube Compounded with 0.025% Retinoic Acid (RA), 5% Azelaic Acid (AA) and 0.025% Betamethasone Valerate (BMV). It is what Community Drug puts in it but I use when they make my solution is with the 5% Azel and 0.025% Beta, it comes white cream, I don’t use the Retinoic Acid though.
Now for safety reasons for those who are concerned about blood pressure, I have got the ok from several doctors that the 30% is nothing to worry about. Even when I went to the emergency or had a new doctor after I have been on the 30% for almost 7 years now, none of my doctors have been too concerned to warn me about the high minoxidil solution. I asked if it is an ok solution many times, you will find that doctors don’t feel it is dangerous to be worried unless you have felt any side effects, then their could be an issue to stop but there hasn’t.
As an experience patient using the 30%, I am 37 years old, still young but getting near 40. I have nothing to worry about this medication. I have been examined on EKG’s, blood, blood pressure, CAT scans, Heart X-Ray’s and regular doctor visits, I am clean as a whistle.
The 30% minoxidil is the best alternative you have if you want to really control your hair loss. You can use this solution once a day or every other day. I think once a day is fine and taking it twice a day is no harm either. I used it twice a day as well when I started but I experimented with the doses to once a day and found there was no hair loss. When I take the 30% cream not, I am not even using 1 ml application, I don’t measure as I need only less than a finger worth of cream. I apply it in spots
on the bad of my head and I rub it in. It is like handcream and it spreads very easy.
Also where I didn’t have hair when I started the 2% back in 1997, I don’t even apply the 30% minoxidil cream in those areas anymore and I was going bald too back in 1997 but since I have hair now, I am not taking twice a day or washing my hair every single day either. I don’t need too and I don’t need expensive shampoos either. I can miss my 30% minoxidil for two 2 weeks and not worry. It is amazing that the 30% really makes the world easier than to feel required to do something like all the other guys are taking the 2% or 5% or 12.5% or 15%’s twice a day and using 1 ml application twice a day and buying 12 bottles a year when I can going through 1 60 ml tube in almost a year.
I asked my medical hair doctor about the 30% and he said it’s unlikely that many patients will have systemic effects from the minoxidil because the transdermal absorption will considerably less than 6 times the amount of the same quantity of a 5% solution, i.e. absorption is not directly proportional to the concentration.
If you have done tests and their is nothing to report a health concern with the 30%, there’s nothing to be alarmed about. Yet the safety margin against systemic effects from the minoxidil 30% would be very narrow in his opinion.
Anyway as I said if you get regular doctor visits, get a blood pressure tests often and you feel fine (also eat right, don’t smoke and drink little as I do), there is nothing to be alarmed on the 30%. As the other guys using the 30%, nothing has been reported of it’s ineffectness or side effects.
Sincerely, Scott
I wanted to mention when I started on the 2% minoxidil back in 1997, I had a almost a full crown in the back of my head as to now on the 30% minoxidil, I have nothing to look at anymore. When I was frosting my hair with beach back in the early 1990’s, I was able to color my hair again when I started using the 30% minoxidil by 1999.
When I stated my loss treatment on the 2%, I gained maybe 15% of my hair back and then on the 5%, I gained about 25% of my hair back, then on the 12.5%, I gained about 35% to 45% of my hair back, then on the 15%, I got to about 50% to 60% or my hair back, then on the 20% minoxidil cream, I got to 70% of my hair back and then when I got on the 30% got to 90% to 95% or 98% back of my hair back.
Considering the ladder of minoxidil solutions I went through, I remember when I first started. From early 1997, I started on the 2% and by late 1999 going on the 30%, I witnessed my own hair gone back to normal because of the higher minoxidil solutions.
Im 1996 was on the verge to get a lazer hair transplant of a new technology in Beavly Hills California because the normal hair transplants were horrible. It was a expensive to consider the lazer method but when I kept calling the office to think about it, the man in charged told me, if you want some hair back and your worried, go on the 2%. When I heard that as I knew about Rogaine since the early 1990’s, I decided to try the 2% again (as my frontal area back in 1991 was showing very little but wasn’t a big concern, I tried the 2% on the frontal area and it didn’t work for example). When I started, CNN announced Proscars story and Dr. Lee had a new 5% out before Rogaine, I was going to try to get my hair back from that point. It took me 2.5 years to going from bald to 95% of my hair back. That was from switching higher minoxidil solutions and taking Proscar.
The only way to get your hair back is you have to go on to the higher minoxidil solutions, that was how it worked for me. I asked all my doctors and it was never health concern and I have my health to prove it.
I started using the 20% minoxidil cream twice a day for four months back in April of 2006, I am now switching to the 25% upgrade. I began noticing more hair in the back of the head from the 20% minoxidil cream. I was using the 15% Xandrox for the last couple of years and didn’t notice much after my first 6 months of use from it, so I was only maintaining what I had from it, the 20% did change that, it was like I added more monoxidil but only a stronger concentration, some 1 ml twice a day.
When I will try the 30%, I would rather see the results on the 25% then go from there to debate on the 30% minoxidil if necessary.
Brad
Someone told me about asking about the 30% minoxidil on another forum site and wanted my inputs. I am new to this site, so I am just going to reply. I started the 30% minoxidil 2 years ago and been happy with the results with it. I heard some guys talking about it back & forth and found one guy using it once a day and several others using twice and back to one.
I been using the 15% for many years and thought this stuff has no great use for me anymore. I’ve always hated taking the 15% solution as it stinks and you have to wash your hair every time after an hour from using it. I used everything from Xandrox, gel, oil and form but the cream was easier to use, much easier. I did not find it like toothpaste but like a soft hand cream, it rubs in and disappears. It is a real white cream. It took about 6 months to notice the 30% from the 15%; greater density by far but what I liked about it is I didn’t have to wash my hair anymore after using it. The 15% felt like motor oil every time I applied it on where the cream eliminated that completely. I could maybe wash the hair every other day as the cream does buildup but washes out easily. Dr Lee didn’t debunk the 30% either as rumored, I found him to be like this, if the 12.5% or 15% doesn’t work than go higher. I had nothing to be concerned with my health as the 30% is just fine and is not dangerous at all, there are guys using 15% 2 x and even 3 x a day or 5% 4 x a day and using more. I use 30% twice a day in small amounts about less than 1ml maybe or half that.
The draw back is, the 30% is not cheap but it last longer than a regular 15% 60ml bottle, I found myself refilling every 3 months. I don’t think anything soon is coming out in the market with something better as the old minoxidil formula’s are getting real old and not great to wait for results. I am someone to speak from what I have experienced, I like it. There is no turning back as I am happy with it; I threw my hat off which is a lot to say it works a lot better than the old 15%. My health concern is perfectly fine, so eliminate that factor out and decide for yourself with your doctor.
I took Propecia for 8 months at age 27 and experienced some shedding at first, then good hair regrowth. When I went to renew my prescription with a new doctor, he said he could save me some money by prescribing proscar and I take 1/4 of a tablet a day. Well after a few months of this I noticed I had grown small breasts. After a year of discomfort from that I decided to have an operation to remove/reduce them. This cost me $6000 - and now more for revision surgery. I also experienced reduced sex drive and poor sexual performance while on both propecia and proscar. My family doctor (who didn’t know I was taking these) later told me that breast growth and shrunken testicles are symptoms he has encountered in several patients. Obviously not everyone’s body is going to react in these ways.. but before taking propecia/proscar (active ingredient Finasteride), research the forums and consider whether it’s worth the risk. There are other treatments out there!