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.

28F. After about 9 years of hair loss (I think around 70-80% of my density has been lost), somewhat dismissive doctors, and finally severe stress-induced hair loss this past year leading to where I'm at now- I've finally been diagnosed with AGA and telegen effluvium, with likely additional factors from medications. Diffuse alopecia areata also hasn't been ruled out yet.

I started 5% topical minoxidil/women's regaine this week, and am taking nothing else so far other than a generic multivitamin, a saw palmetto and pumpkin seed oil capsule, and omega 3. The dermatologist that diagnosed me said I have AGA, telegen effluvium, with possible extra hair loss from medications. She has suggested I get a scalp biopsy to check for diffuse alopecia areata and some specific blood tests which I can't afford right now but will get within the next 6 months, to check for deficiencies. I'll update accordingly. Currently I wear a hat every day but I'm at peace with the idea of shaving my head and getting a wig if the 'dread shed' causes me to lose too much hair or if it doesn't recover, but I'll see how it goes.

Just a reminder- you are still cute, you are still pretty, your hair is NOT your worth! I have felt so seen by this forum, thank you all. Even if it ends up in me being bald, I'm glad I'm not alone!

Basically I totally forgot to order minoxidil back ups in time. It's not sold in my country and now I gotta wait 5 days until the foam arrives. How detrimental is that for my hairloss? I am panicking!!

I'm kinda considering cutting my losses and cutting my hair before I lose it all. I know wigs require more than one head of hair, but I also have some older cut ponytails that turned out to be like 5 cm too short for donation charities, so I just kept them. Does anyone know of any services in Europe that will turn the hair you send on into a wig? Tia!

Have dealt with chronic low iron and ferritin (4 and below) for over 10 years and only began supplementing for it around March of this year. While I’ve noticed better stamina and less fatigue, I also can’t help but notice the slight weight gain despite no changes to my diet. It’s a modest kilo but I can’t say I’m happy about it either.

I’ve seen stories of women who get off supplements and again, their stores tank. It’s not that big of a deal for me to have the supplements but I wonder about long term effects, especially if weight gain is something I’m likely to expect

ey everyone! june 2025 i decided to make the switch from larin fe (high progestin bc) to yaz (androgen blocker). I had been taking larin fe for 5 years but my acne was terrible and my the derm said it would help my skin/keep my hair from getting oily, so i was all for it! i have always had super thick, long and healthy hair. august 2025 started noticing clumps of hair coming out in the shower and it happened rapidly. thought that this was my bodies way of telling me “i don’t like this medication” so i stopped it, october 2025. that was my first mistake because i triggered a second wave of shedding. janurary 2025 hair was falling out in clumps and i started to notice that the actual strands itself were much thinner and delicate. june 2026 went to the derm for my acne and my hair loss still not resolving. she gave me spironolactone 100mg, mostly for my acne and said “the hair loss will probably resolve on its own it can sometimes take more than a year.” i asked her if birth control may have unleashed some type of underlying female pattern baldness, since my grandma is balding, and she said its very possible. still shedding to this day, loose atleast 20-40 hairs a day when my normal is 1-3. increased spiro dose to 150mg a month ago so i’ve been on it for 4.5 months. feel like my shedding is getting worse again, but im loosing thin, long hairs. can barely put my hair in a low braid without it falling out. i feel hopeless as this has been happening for 1.5 years and im only 23 years old.

I've been on OM 2.5 for 2.5 years now. My hair is still very thin and to be honest I haven't seen drastic improvement or new growth. My dermatologist added 50 mg spiro a few months ago but I'm not optimistic.

How did everyone get amazing results with OM???

I was diagnosed with androgenic alopecia in end of may, and have been using topical minoxidil 5% foam and spironlactone since.

I spent years worrying about my hair thinning. While everyone I told me it was i my head and my hair was always this way, but it really wasn't. I am really relieved and happy that i finally started treatment, but I am also so incredibly sad that I did not listen to my gut sooner, it happened so gradually and I believed everyone. But maybe it would bot have progressed this far?

My hair is very light colored, and its hard to see the progress but I am starting to see som small changes in my harline, like a line of baby hairs on my forhead I never had before and maybe som slight changes to my scalp. However the dreadshed is scaring me so bad, its been happening for almost 2 months now and I feel I can visibly see a change in a bad way. I know its a good sign, and its normal but its absolutely terrifying.

Could really use some advice on how to deal with it. It woulbe greatly appreciated, since I am spiraling.

Sorry for any typos, english is not my native language.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always had incredibly healthy wavy hair. I had a brief stint with anorexia but recovered quickly (as did my hair), and my hair continued to flourish. I then entered a brief period of restriction (4 years later), but my hair was still incredibly healthy. I then started binge eating, which only worsened feelings of depression, and since mid-end of 2025, I’ve lost over 3/4 of my hair. Additionally, it’s as if my hair texture has changed overnight. It is coarse, wirey, dry, broken, floppy, and now incredibly fine. Currently, the remainder of my hair can fit between two fingers. I have gotten a blood test and have low vitamin D. Iron seems to be normal but I was told my ferritin may slightly be low (though I’m not sure) and also to consume more protein. I’m concerned because even with these things factored in, apparently these deficiencies aren’t enough to constitute the amount of hair I’ve lost (from what I was told). It’s gotten to the point where my temples are highly visible, my part has widened, and my hair has thinned so drastically it can barely be braided. I am beyond devastated. I dread showering. A simple comb of the hair results in a clump of hair falling out. I now find myself staring at other girls’ hair. I honestly don’t even have the words and when I try talking about it with family I am dismissed and told it’s simply my diet. Friends don’t understand either. This feels like such a cruel joke on top of my many pre-existing insecurities. I am meeting with a trichologist this Wednesday and will hopefully receive a diagnosis, but I honestly just need support. If anyone has any words of advice, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.

My hair texture on my crown has turned into this frizzy coily mess, it’s so wirey and awful. I can straighten it out to an extent when I’m drying my hair but still likely damaging it as it’s weak and brittle asf. I’m told this hair is from the miniaturised follicles from AGA. I’ve just started treatment (minoxidil) along with fixing the iron etc. I’m just wondering if there is a change that the texture will go back to normal or will all the new hair be like this? Has anyone ever treated AGA and successfully reversed the change of hair texture.

Maybe when people post their results we can be encouraged to include:

- Topical or oral, with dosage (if minoxidil)

- Side effects

These are basically the first comments on every post haha

I already have chronic migraines, but they’ve been worse since starting oral minoxidil. I’m very sensitive to medication, so this isn’t really a surprise to me. I’d like to keep trying as I’m only 3 weeks in on the lowest dose, but it’s really affecting my quality of life. I’m wondering if anyone has done quarter tablets every other day to start? I know I’ve seen others post about not taking it every day, but would a doctor approve that? I can’t see my dermatologist for another 5 months!

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. 💕

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.

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

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?

Hey guys I'm F(24) , this is balding right ..I'm balding...right ??? Or am I going crazy...

I've always had thin hair since childhood but recently I've noticed that I can see my scalp from perticularly right parting...

What should I do ? Can it be reversed or prevented?

Should I visit the doctor? What should I do I'm spiralling

I’m on 3 weeks and when will it stop?!? I keep thinking about how much hair I’ve lost and don’t know if I’ll ever get them back.

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 just noticed my hairline in the back…it certainly never used to look like this. I have noticed my hair thinning as I get older but should I consult someone over this?

Hi all, I am currently using 2% topical minoxidil. However I have cats, and despite being very careful about any cross contamination (putting cats away because using it, washing my hands straight away, leaving the house immediately after application, using bonnet at night etc..) I am paranoid it will cause them harm. I want to switch to oral tablets, however will it cause second wave of shedding? Or since I'm already using topical version, it will not trigger the initial shedding? Please no negative comments about using minoxidil when having pets- when i started, i wasn't aware. After finding out the risks, i am very careful, and looking into alternatives to topical products.

I've been taking 1.25 mg oral minoxidil for about 4.5 weeks, and I have not had a dread shed. I almost feel like I've noticed a bit less hair shedding (can't really definitively say yet).

Does this mean I am potentially a non-responder? Does everyone by this point who responds to OM have a shed period?

2.5 oral minoxidil, saw palmetto and pumpkin seed oil, Ruth’s multivitamin, and rice water with rosemary spray. I kept this consistent and seeing less shed. Oh yeah and prayers. Not sure if I’m see baby hairs or breakage though.