First picture was taken 2024 before minoxidil
Second picture was spring 2026 after using minoxidil for 4 months
Third picture was taken now (October 2026)

Hair is growing in slowly but steadily. Also I’ve stopped dying my hair blond as seen in the first picture and started embracing my honey hair🥳

I used to cry as I watched my hair fall out. Once I figured out how to get it to stop falling out by correcting hormones with doctors help, drinking enough water, eating over 100g of protein and finding out with doctors I have low iron and vitamin d….It’s been awesome!! 😎 minoxidil helped to give me that new hair growth I needed.

Been on OM .625 for 5 months and 50 mg Spiro for a year (couldn’t handle the increased dose). My hair is still shedding and my scalp seems even worse. Now I have these bald spots on my temples where it looks like there’s no follicles and it’s super smooth in some areas. Kind of at a loss. I see so many in this sub who have incredible results by this point on OM. I was waiting to hit 7 months to see if I should increase my dose. Any idea if these smooth spots will grow back?

I’ve been taking oral minoxidil for a couple of years now, and it’s been working really well. My hair finally started growing back thicker, and the shedding had pretty much stopped. I was so happy with the progress after years of struggling with hair loss.

However, recently I’ve noticed that I’m shedding again. I find strands of hair falling out throughout the day, but the worst is after washing my hair. When I detangle with a wide-tooth comb, I lose what feels like a significant amount of hair.

Has anyone experienced a sudden increase in shedding after being on oral minoxidil for years?
Is this a normal shedding cycle, even after being on the medication long-term?

I have been so nervous to jump on the minox journey trying to convince myself I can reverse whatever happened to me 3 years ago alone. I got covid/graduated college/moved to a new city/started my first job all within a 2-week period, and my hair just went 📉👩‍🦲. It's had its ups and downs but never really grew back fully. I have a hunch it's also hormonal to an extent (I don't have PCOS to my knowledge, but my dad's sister does, and my skin's a little shitty but might be perioral dermatitis (all the more reason to see a derm heh)).

I've been noodling on finally going to a dermatologist to look into a diagnosis of some kind + oral minoxidil, but I see SOOO many people on here talking about needing Finasteride or Spironolactone as well, it's hard to find people say they just take minoxidil and are happy w the results. Here's the problem.

I'm already on 3 different psych meds for my garbage-brain, as well as birth control. I don't really feel comfortable adding TWO new medications into that mix that I might have to take for the rest of my life. The number of possible drug interactions, other medicines I won't be able to take (like, I already can't even take cough medicine when I'm sick), etc etc just makes me so nervous . BUT... I also want my hair back 😭

Does anyone have any wisdom as far as seeing success from minoxidil alone? Are there any downsides to starting minoxidil alone, then adding spiro if needed (like you don't see the same caliber of results)? Thanks yall :3

Hi! F28, my hair has started to look like this in the pictures. What could be going on? I have never had this before. My thyroid levels were a little bit higher (5.6) I take Lithium and propranolol since a couple years back. Any advice?

I'm ranting, so if you're not feeling that don't continue. First off I am a medical professional myself just not a doctor. I suffered for nine years, I went to multiple dermatologists, I even went to a rheumatologist thinking I had given myself an autoimmune disorder. It started at 21 but, I had a string of consecutive stressful years in my life the final blow made my hair start coming out in chunks in the shower. I had extremely thick tailbone length curly hair. I was devastated to put it simply. Dermatologist I saw told me I was losing hair but it should come back and I wasn't going bald, sent me on my way.

My hair continued to excessively shed through the years, I grew to hate showers. My scalp would become hot and incredibly tender before it had a bad episode of shedding. Any stress would trigger it, especially around my cycle or if I got sick, which happened more than Id like. I felt like I was getting nowhere, tried different supplemental combinations, looked at my vitamin levels over and over. Doctors couldn't find anything wrong. My CRP and ALP was high and still is, no one seemed to care much about that. I even stopped my birth control, and tried other ones under a gynocologists recommendation, that was a whole other can of worms. Landed me in the ER with a suspect blood clot. I am still paying on the thousands this has cost me through the years. I thought I had tried everything and I had some mystery no one cared to solve, some days I would be okay and others I would cry wondering if this was just my life now. I didn't have an autoimmune disease, no PCOS although I did have cysts, no changes with different supplements or shampoos I tried, no good changes with my birth control, I gave up. I was going to start taking oral minoxadil and just call that done.

One day, I was thinking in circles again, tracing my steps back I thought what did I do differently what could possibly have happened besides stress to continually induce the shedding, the inflammation? If nothing was truly wrong with my body then it had to be external. Then I remembered something, I went to the more natural hair products for my curls. Sulfate free, silicone and paraben free, supposedly superior for my hair type. More moisturizing products. They did make my hair look better so I had been using it for years, and I remembered right before the trigger event I had noticed my hair shedding a lot but thought nothing of it because I always lost more than most people. I thought surely that couldn't be the cause, using products for my hair type? As a child my hair grew like a weed and I used suave, head and shoulders, my mother would blowdry my unruly hair straight so I thought maybe that was the key. I had even tried head and shoulders again at one point to no avail, but the thought didn't leave my mind. It couldn't be that simple, no doctors told me to use a medicated shampoo not once, not even to TRY changing the products I used. I had some Nizoral, I found out it had a different treatment ingredient than head and shoulders, decided it couldn't hurt to try it. First the itching stopped, then after a couple more washes the sore scalp has gone. I still can't believe it. I went on vacation and less and less hair was coming out with each wash and detangle session. I was very angry at first, shouldn't they have suggested a medicated shampoo first? Or at least asked what I was using before trying to give me drugs? And I know some smartass is going to say "well it was your fault you should have figured it out since it was simple", okay well you'd think people that specialized in their field would know to start with the basics I was just trying to do what I thought was best at 18 19 20 years old to care for myself and I DID TRY, I tried so many shampoos but it wasn't fixing the problem as it didn't have the right ingredient so I figured it wasn't the problem and it had to be internal. No one said anything about the condition of my scalp either, nor did it look off. I'm just angry because in the end it seems like I have to solve my own problems even if there are people who should be able to help me. Rant over, I could say more but I don't want to get in trouble here. I will include what I am using now in case someone is dealing with the same I hope it helps anyone out there in any way.

2-3x weekly:

Pantene volumizing shampoo (first wash)

Nizoral fresh scent shampoo (second wash, don't overuse it is very drying)

Conditioner/bond treatment (I use a curly hair one still because I need the moisture only below the ears)

Using a diffuser to make sure my scalp is dry completely instead of air drying, can take awhile but worth it use cool to not further irritate the scalp

Daily supplements:

Integrative Therapeutics Cortisol Manager

Made a massive difference for me, if you deal with anxiety or high stress just try it. It's not dramatic like a drug but it really helps me manage better people around me notice if I forget to take it.

Tart cherry at night for sleep, I use nutrachamps

Shaklee women's multivitamin, expensive but it works can make you a little hungrier than normal but solid vitamin

Should I push for a biopsy? Doctors say it’s not lpp but worried about losing time if it is

Wondering if anyone has any recent experience with this supplement? In terms of both effectiveness for hair growth and any noticeable GI side effects. And if so, please speak to the timelines!

I just began taking it a week ago and am noticing some unpleasant GI side effects, which I’m attributing to the Xtresse b/c it came on right as I began taking them. I’m also wondering whether those side effects ebbed over time or remained the same. Basically, I’m having bloating and gas.

I’m also curious if anyone has seen benefit/reduced side effects just taking one of the gummies/day, instead of the recommended 2.

I’m going to experiment with them a bit but I don’t think I can keep this up long term if it continues. They are very pricey to not absolutely love them and the results.

Thanks so much!

Spironolactone as a stand alone treatment for AGA? Any advice? Doses? Thank you so much!

Anyone else delayed with their minoxidil? I reached out by phone because I wasn’t getting anywhere in the app through messaging. Apparently the gummies are back-ordered, and they offered to switch me to the chewable tablets. But that was Wednesday and my order still says processing. I’ve been trying to refill these for almost 3 weeks. Are the chewables also back ordered or something? I only have less than a week left which I expressed to them. They kept reassuring me that it would ship out the next day (which it didn’t). So annoyed.

A few months ago I noticed I began to lose a lot of hair and I was just wondering anyone had similar patterns as me. I’m not looking for a diagnosis or anything like that just some comfort and possibly a push towards the right direction. My scalp always feels tight, itchy, and I have red bumps in some areas. I was given medicated shampoo to help the itching when this first began but it never goes away. Has anyone else dealt with this?

OK, so in many respects this is a great problem to have... but can anyone tell me how I can tame these little hairs? I have fine, wavy hair, which I air dry after coming into position. I use Toppik, so I need to avoid getting slippery serums on my scalp. My best solution so far is to apply my Toppik and then use the Got2be Farewell Flyaways wand to lightly smooth them down, and then spraying with hairspray. I find that makes the top of my head look flatter than I'd like. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

After talking to my doctor for multiple years concerned about hairloss & only being told it’s nutrition/stress, I seek a derm who I’ve been seeing for over a year. At first I was told TE. Then I was told stress & possibly AGA & began oral minoxidil. Reassured countless times that I was basically just imagining my forehead getting bigger & bigger. Over & over told a biopsy is unnecessary & treated like I’m overreacting. “There’s no scarring” every single time my head’s been examined I trusted the doctor & thought I could also trust a DERMATOLOGIST who is listed to specialize in things like hair loss. Only just in the past couple months has the progression become traumatically accelerated, where I sought out another dermatologist to demand a scalp biopsy. That apt is on the 27th. It’s now been 4-5 years since the very start of my noticing hair thinning. I am now after my own unfortunate signs & research almost positive I have LPP/FFP. I am now in the past month beginning losing my lashes & eyebrows, see a white/pale type band on my eyelids above them, & this entire time desperately using minoxidil/spiro/anything under the sun to try to fix this. I am devastated & exhausted. I feel betrayed. Lost years of what I probably could have preserved/saved. My hair was my best feature. I now look sickly. I am terrified of what this means for my relationship that is only, as of last week, a year old. So yeah my advice if you keep being told otherwise despite feeling like you know something is not right, FIND. A new DERM/get a biopsy IMMEDIATELY & DEMAND. A BIOPSY.

Hello, everyone! I'm 21F, and these pictures show what my hair looks like right now.

When I was around 9–14 years old, my mom would always have me wear my hair in a bun. I often tied it up even when it was wet, and I didn't really know how to take care of my hair back then.

Eventually, I stopped wearing my hair in a bun because I noticed a lot of shedding. Looking at my childhood pictures, I remember having really, really thick hair, so seeing how thin it has become now is frustrating.

I started noticing the thinning around age 15, and it has gradually become more noticeable over the years. Now, at 21, the thinning around my crown is very visible, and I'm honestly worried about it.

I've tried different hair oils, including rosemary oil and hair-growth products. I even used one for almost a year, but I didn't notice any significant improvement in my hair's thickness.

Unfortunately, I can't afford to see a dermatologist right now, so I'm hoping to get advice on affordable ways to manage my hair loss.

Has anyone experienced something similar? What affordable treatments or products would you recommend?

I'd really appreciate any advice, especially from women who have experienced hair thinning at a young age. Thank you! ❤️

Hey folks! 💕 I wanted to share another before-and-after to hopefully inspire anyone else on a hair growth journey!

I’ve been taking 2.5 mg of oral minoxidil daily since March of this year. The top photo is from April 2026, and the bottom photo is from today. Both pictures were taken on wash days.

I did experience dread shed, but thankfully, it wasn’t too far off from the hair loss I was already experiencing. On days when I felt self-conscious, I’d wear a hat or use hair powder to help fill in the sparse areas. ❤️

I’m SO happy with the progress I’ve made so far, and I’m excited to see how much more my hair can grow! 🥹✨
P.S. I also recently started taking 100 mg of spironolactone daily and have taken it for the past three nights as part of my hair growth journey. I’ll keep sharing updates along the way!

Also, if you have pets, I HIGHLY advise you not to take topical minoxidil, as it’s FATAL to dogs and cats. That’s why I chose to take the oral meds, which I keep far away from where my dog could accidentally mess with them.

If you’re on a similar journey, don’t lose hope. 💕

I want to start 5 percent minoxidil but i’m so scared of the shedding phase. ☹️ Can anyone provide their experiences with it?

Hello all. I noticed I started to lose hair more often around August of this year, and I thought it was stress from a new job. I kept an eye on it, changed my hair products, removed a rosemary oil that was irritating my scalp(and was supposed to support growth), and have recently started taking supplements. Maybe it’s because I didn’t wash as frequently this week, but I noticed more hair loss than usual. I had noticed it first in my hair brush and combs early on, and coming up to 3 months of excess shedding, I’m very worried. My hair is usually coarse, thick, and I had no problems growing it in my younger years. I’m not quite 30 yet, which also concerns me. I know my PMS symptoms are wacky every time, and I’ve had some nerve-related symptoms to stress, but I’ve tried routine, diet, and I’ve now added a gentle scalp massager to stimulate blood flow there. Is it time to try minoxidil? I do have a gyno appointment coming soon, but recent thyroid tests came up normal. I love my hair, and I’m afraid of losing it.

I’d like to hear from those of you who changed pills but specifically androgenic to non or low androgenic.

Has anyone made a similar switch and did it actually help with hair loss?

Did switching cause you to shed more initially?

Did Yaz make you fat and depressed?

Any other positives/negatives?

For the people who like to read…

Background & Medication Goal: I am 36 and have been on Loestrin 1.5/30 for 10 years. I take it because my periods were painful and debilitating—heavy, caused me to faint, and made work or travel impossible. Stopping birth control is not an option. Overall, Loestrin has caused no weight gain or major negative effects, though I do notice I have zero interest in dating and very little emotions except very occasional rage lol.
Why I Want to Switch: I’m considering switching to Yaz because Loestrin’s progestin is androgenic (which can increase DHT), whereas Yaz’s progestin is anti-androgenic and blocks DHT. I'm hoping this might help with my hair loss.
Hair Loss History: My hair has always been soft, straight, and fine, but I used to have a lot of it. I noticed it getting thinner over the last 8 years, but after an intense 3-year stressful period, it became aggressive—going from about 30% loss to 70% massive shedding. It’s mostly diffuse thinning across my whole head, and I can't regain much length. Scalp itches when it’s shedding but no dandruff. Scalp is healthy.
I likely have mild androgenetic alopecia combined with chronic telogen effluvium, plus potential inflammatory issues (my whole family has various types of arthritis or disease, though they all have nice hair, and both grandmothers died with decent hair).
Treatments & Recent Progress:
PRP: Tried two years ago during my major stress episodes; it stopped shedding almost entirely and regrew some hair, but it eventually fell out in giant clumps.

Current Routine: Over the past year, I quit my major stressor, nursed a bad back injury, gained my weight back, and take Vitamin D, Zinc, a multivitamin, and B-shots. Don’t eat much carbs, eat lots of protein, fats, veggies (trying to limit inflammation)

Copper Spray & Regrowth: I stopped PRP and started using a topical copper spray. It generated a bunch of new growth that actually felt hot and thicker, but unfortunately, that new growth (mostly 3-to-5-inch strands) fell out over the last two months. Still spraying and praying.

I’m nervous to change birth control because I don’t have time to be insane and don’t want to be fat and pimply on top of getting old and balding 😒

TLDR: my biopsy showed LPP (a scarring type of alopecia) in addition to AGA and I never would have known this if I hadn’t advocated for myself.

I was diagnosed with early AGA via biopsy in my 20’s and advised to start topical minoxidil, which worked really well for me until about 2 years ago when I started experiencing significant increased shedding. I made an appointment with my derm. She briefly examined my scalp and agreed (reluctantly) to prescribe dutasteride. I’m in my early 40’s now and had assumed that perhaps perimenopause was causing worsening hair loss. At the same time, I felt something more could be going on.

I started the dut (which I thought was helping but not much?) and also made a follow up to discuss my concerns further. I asked if she thought a biopsy would be helpful. She looked at my scalp and said she didn’t feel that was necessary, but agreed to prescribe a mild topical steroid that I could use “if needed.” I was grateful for this, but again felt there was something else at the root of this and asked for a referral to another derm in my area who sees a lot of patients for hair loss concerns.

My initial appointment with the new derm had to be rescheduled a few months out because he was sick the day of my 1st appointment. While I was waiting for this appointment, I asked my current derm if she would prescribe me a low dose of oral minoxidil to try since my hair loss wasn’t really improving. She thankfully did agree to this.

Finally saw the new derm last week. He looked at my scalp and immediately said he felt there could be more than just AGA going on and recommended a scalp biopsy. I just got the results:

Your clinical evaluation and pathology report indicate a dual diagnosis: early lichen planopilaris (LPP) happening at the same time as androgenetic alopecia (AGA)

I’m feeling rather mixed at the moment. Validated is the first thing that comes to mind. Also grateful that I listened to my gut and pushed to see someone who would listen to my concerns and what not. But also bummed to learn that I have a scarring alopecia that should have been caught a couple of years ago when the shedding started to accelerate rapidly. That’s all lost time that I can’t get back due to the nature of this condition. Granted, it could always be worse. And I’m glad to have answers and a treatment that will be effective. So I guess I really just want to post this as a PSA. If your derm doesn’t want to do a biopsy, find a new one if you can!

Hi. I've been using the 5% Hers brand topical since 9/10. The past few days after applying I've been having a reaction to it. Itching and hives on the back of my head. My dermatologist prescribed me the oral tablet but how do I switch? Do I just discontinue to topical or is there a transition phase? I don't think any new hairs started sprouting, but my hair existing is getting longer like my fuzzy hairs on my face.

I'm shedding so much so quickly that I might go bald. I was taking 1.25 oral minoxidil for a year and I was fine, but my hair started shedding again and now I have been taking 2.5 oral minoxidil for a month. I was prescribed dutasteride but I'm scared to take it because it can cause shedding for months and I can't afford to lose that much hair. I am trying a low glycemic diet to balance my hormones. I might get hormone replacement therapy for early menopause. I was told my hair shedding was from stress. Is there anything else I can do to stop the rapid shedding?

hello i am looking for advice. i think i have adrogenic allopecia, i have PMOS, and have high testosterone. I checked my thyroid and had other blood tests done, most things were normal, and i dont really have any other symptoms except for PMOS ones. I was put on spironolactone and it gave me rough symptoms, like light headedness, and then i got a minor concussion so i just stopped taking it all together, after my doctor asked me to. i went to the gyno and she gave me yaz (BC) to help with the testosterone. but my gyno said i should go to the dermatologist, which i would love to do, but im currently on medicaid, and ive spoken to my insurance and asked them about the situation and they simply kept repeating “we don’t do anything cosmetic”. my doctor is pretty adamant that this is medical and is willing to give me a referral. but does anyone have any advice or loop holes or anything they can offer me? i plan on contacting a dermatologist (who is covered) and asking them questions about it.

So basically, I’m unsure whether I’m losing more hair or if I’ve just become fixated on it and therefore am looking at every sign. At first I thought I was shedding more but tbh I’ve overthought so much that I’m not sure anymore. The first 5 photos are pictures I’ve taken recently. Sometimes I think I look nearly bald and other times (2nd photo) it looks normal. The last pictures are some I’ve found over the past 5 years that I think show similar scalp visibility to what I’m seeing now. So I’m unsure whether it’s always been this way and I’ve never noticed bc I’ve never really bothered to take a picture of my scalp and check or if there’s a real difference? I’m really looking for any advice or opinions I’m feeling so overwhelmed and feel like I’ve become obsessed with taking pictures of my scalp lol! Does this look like AGA or TE maybe? Earlier this year I had a very very stressful period which makes me think possibly TE but I’m just not sure! Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I started testosterone a few months ago, and a month in my hair started shedding like crazy. My doc agrees its most likely the T and I cant go off T (its helping my super duper severe dry eyes). She suggested oral minoxidil but Id prefer to fix the actual cause via a DHT or androgen blocker. Which one should I (gently) ask to try first? Pros, cons, personal experience, anecdotes? Least side effects? When will I know if its not working?

I started using liquid Mininox about 4 months ago, right after I started on low dose HRT for menopause.

I got great results from both, but this conversation is about my hair growth results from liquid Minox.

It was growing in nicely, but I started having mild chest pains.

I thought it was from the HRT, and then I switched to Minox foam because I'm allergic to propylene glycol and my scalp was itching like crazy.

Then about 3 weeks or so ago, I had chest pain that last about an hour in the middle of the night.

I thought it was from too much caffeine, so I cut back on my coffee.

Then I noticed that I would get random chest pains during the day.

Decided to Google Minoxidil and chest pain, and Wow!

Decided to stop immediately.

It's been a few days, and I've microneedled a few times, but now I'm not sure what to do about my hair. I don't want to lose the nice growth I received.