Regaine

You're so right MayBee. What's the point.

It’s impossible to look nice if your hair is awful, even when you’re dressing in a casual way. It makes you just want to not bother to be honest. I’ve got awful feet as well so I can’t wear nice shoes either.

Yes greenlady you're right. Sad that hair loss ruins lives and relationships. It's been more difficult than I ever imagined.

Kate1949

Well greenlady you may be right. All I know is that I spent hundreds of pounds on lotions, potions, serums, creams, old wives tales and then thousands of pounds on a hair system. As I said, I was on my own. There was no help.

I guess I was lucky in that I knew about hair loss and the causes and options, including telogen effluvium before I spent much money.....and no there is no state funded help because there is no cure.

Well greenlady you may be right. All I know is that I spent hundreds of pounds on lotions, potions, serums, creams, old wives tales and then thousands of pounds on a hair system. As I said, I was on my own. There was no help.

I think it does both greenlady102:

Although the exact mechanism by which Minoxidil works is not fully understood, the treatment is a vasodilator, meaning it widens the blood vessels to deliver more oxygen-rich blood to the hair follicles. Minoxidil also helps increase the size of hair follicles, which promotes the growth of thicker, stronger hairs.

I think my main point was that if it works for someone they have to keep using it.

We are doomed by our genes, Maybee. A lesson in choosing a partner. Thing is, I have always preferred bald men to hairy ones. Maybe I inherited that from the female line.

Perdido

It sounds like yours in not male-pattern. Maybee.

My understanding of Minoxidil is that it's a dilator. It will enable hair follicles to dilate allowing new growth through but only if it's there is hair waiting to come through. You have to keep using it for ever more. If you stop, the follicles will shrink and block growth again. As hair has a natural growth and shedding cycle, any new growth as result of Minoxidil will eventually shed.

not really....its a vaso dilator which means in increases the blood supply to the hair follicles. It also (and not clear why) increases the size of the follicles so that if hairs do grow they are thicker...but hair follicles don't dilate or block.

www.hairclub.com/blog/will-minoxidil-help-regrow-my-hair/

Thin hair goes down the female line in my family. I don’t know if any men in my family suffer from hair loss other than the only relative I know went bald quite young. Thin hair is also on my dads side so I was doomed right from the start! Highlights thickened my hair when I was in my fifties but I then went grey at quite a young age.

It sounds like yours in not male-pattern. Maybee.

My understanding of Minoxidil is that it's a dilator. It will enable hair follicles to dilate allowing new growth through but only if it's there is hair waiting to come through. You have to keep using it for ever more. If you stop, the follicles will shrink and block growth again. As hair has a natural growth and shedding cycle, any new growth as result of Minoxidil will eventually shed.

I used to see a lady who worked in a local shop that had hair similar to mine. Very thin hair and her parting was very wide and getting wider. Used to think that would be me in a few years time. No idea what happened as the shop closed but I have used minoxidil for several years and even though my hair gets very thin as it grows I’m not thin on top. So I do think minoxidil is worth trying.

I was diagnosed with androgenic alopecia in my early 50s. A rather blunt but honest doctor asked me questions about the men in my family. Baldness on both sides, I'm afraid. He simply said I was unlucky to have inherited a double whammy of the male-pattern baldness gene and that no drug or lotion could fix it. Fortunately it's thinning rather than bald patches and fifteen years later hadn't got much worse. Keeping hair pixie short and light in colour helps disguise.

I'm not saying this is the reason for non-chemo-related hair loss in all women but if you have male pattern baldness in your family I wouldn't waste money on Minoxadil, Viviscal or similar.

Kate1949

It's interesting to hear that you say your hair is not growing through blondenana. Throughout my horrible hair loss, at no point did any shed or fall out. It just stopped growing through. I have only ever heard one hairdresser say that there is a condition where the follicles block and the hair can't get through. He said it's possible to get the hair to grow through with various oils, treatments etc although this is a slow process. This process would not be suitable for me with total hair loss as it would take too long and I had stopped leaving the house. I needed a quick solution. I can't recall the names of the products.

Kate, that blocked follicles thing is snake oil too...sorry.

MOnica I have thought about a wig but have too much hair apart from the baldish spots
I did look at toppers but that wouldn't work either,as i have quite a lot that i can pull over them from the top,it's very strange that the hair loss is at the back, from the crown down but other hair covers it if i manage to arrange it properly

Blondnana No, I am not sure what she was prescribed. She is now looking at wigs and I think one can be prescribed on the NHS.

It's interesting to hear that you say your hair is not growing through blondenana. Throughout my horrible hair loss, at no point did any shed or fall out. It just stopped growing through. I have only ever heard one hairdresser say that there is a condition where the follicles block and the hair can't get through. He said it's possible to get the hair to grow through with various oils, treatments etc although this is a slow process. This process would not be suitable for me with total hair loss as it would take too long and I had stopped leaving the house. I needed a quick solution. I can't recall the names of the products.

MOnica thanks for your reply,yes even had a scalp biopsy, luckily my surgery has a dermatologist and he has given me steroid lotion as he said it is Telogen Effluvium and would grow back, it has stopped shedding but not growing back in, he said it would by last summer
The steroid stuff didn't work and i even lost more nearer the front,
I decided to try Regaine, but nothing happening there either
I know it can take time, but i'm losing patience now, but will persevere a bit longer
From the front i look to have loads of hair,lol
Have you any idea what your friend has been given,
Although not losing any now,just not growing new hair
I was told saw palmetto is good as it removes the DHT from the scalp
I googled this and it is used for hair loss, can be bought from H&B or any health shop

Have you been to see your doctor about your hair loss? A friend's hairloss is the result of an autoimmune problem and she has seen a specialist and been prescribed certain drugs, which have helped slow the loss down.

I paticularly mention this because her pattern of hairloss seems very similar to yours blondenana

When my hair started to disappear, a GP said to me 'There's very little that can be done for hair loss'. No sympathy whatsoever there. I knew I wasn't going to get any help. I had to sort out a solution myself.

greenlady102 I agree, i have tried lots of various hair growth products, viviscal as well, but i didn't use it for very long,as it is very expensive, my dermatologist gave me a steroid lotion, but it made no difference,although some people have had steroid injections,[do a search on here], but eventually i decided to try regaine [minoxidil] i have used it for about 8 months now and very disappointed
The dermatologist said mine was Telogen Effluvium and would have grown back by last summer,it hasn't he said it was stress-related, well i can understand that i have quite a stressful 3 years, including 2 very bad shocks
Biotin did make the hair i have got grow very fast, so i had to have it cut every 2-3 weeks, but no new hair growth,
I will persevere a bit longer,it says in the leaflet that came with it,that it can take up to 32 weeks to show any difference

MayBee70

If hair growth was found to be a side effect of blood pressure medication then it can’t be snake oil. Albeit not necessarily working for everyone. I do think that, if I hadn’t used it for several years I would be bald on top now. The trouble is, I can’t be certain about that because I’m scared to stop using it. And my hair still doesn’t grow beyond a certain length.

minoxidil is the only one that isn't...but its no miracle. It has to be used continuously and even then it doesn't work for everybody or even forever for the folk it works on. Its the only one that has been through proper clinical trials. by "hair growth miracles" I meant the ones that are touted as wonder products with no actual statements of fact or research.

If hair growth was found to be a side effect of blood pressure medication then it can’t be snake oil. Albeit not necessarily working for everyone. I do think that, if I hadn’t used it for several years I would be bald on top now. The trouble is, I can’t be certain about that because I’m scared to stop using it. And my hair still doesn’t grow beyond a certain length.

I was told Minoxidil was the only thing that would work
I have been told also that saw palmetto is good to block DHT from the scalp,

blondenana

Sorry should say says most hair growth miracles
are snake oil

I would go further and say they all are.

Sorry should say says most hair growth miracles
are snake oil

Yes my dermatologist ssyd!octogenarian gtowth miracles are snake oil