Minoxidil for Men: Does It Work? Everything You Need to Know

If you’re losing your hair, then you know all too well how much it sucks. It can make you feel unattractive and self-conscious. It can cause stress and anxiety. You feel like you’re losing your youth and your looks. You used to walk into a bar and wonder which girl you would take home. Now, you pull your hat closer to your head for fear that someone might learn the truth.

Minoxidil for men offers a ray of hope.

More commonly known as its brand name Rogaine, minoxidil has been treating hair loss since the 1980s.

The moment you notice a receding hairline or a bald spot, you will feel like running to the closest pharmacy to buy minoxidil for men. Before you do that, learn about the pros, cons, and alternatives.

When you know more about hair loss treatments, you get to choose an option that works well for you.

How Minoxidil for Men Prevents Hair Loss

Gunter Kahn and Paul Grant discovered minoxidil’s hair-growth potential by accident while working at the University of Colorado. Grant approached Paul about a patient getting treated for hypertension. He had given her minoxidil during an experimental trial for Upjohn (now Pfizer).

To everyone’s surprise, the woman had grown a lot of hair while taking minoxidil. Like, a lot of hair! The patient said that she used to get her hair cut once every three to four months. Now, it was more like every three to four weeks.

She’d also started growing excessive hair on her legs, which she had never needed to shave before taking minoxidil.

What was going on here?

It turns out that the drug designed to lower blood pressure could also enlarge hair follicles. The drug also elongated the hair growth phase of the follicles.

Basically, minoxidil for men could give you more follicles that live longer and grow more hair.

Minoxidil Doesn’t Work for All Types of Hair Loss

Minoxidil works best for male pattern baldness. (It also works for female pattern baldness, but this article is directed at men.)

According to the American Hair Loss Association, male pattern baldness accounts for about 95% of hair loss in men. That’s good news for most men, but it means that others probably won’t get the results that they expect from minoxidil for men.

For example, if you have a receding hairline, minoxidil won’t do much for you. The drug works best for men with thinning hair on top of their heads.

If you have receding hair or bald spots along your hairline, don’t turn to minoxidil. You’re wasting your money and giving yourself false hope.

Other Limitations of Minoxidil for Men

Your age affects how well minoxidil will work for you. If you’re under 40 years old, then you have a higher chance of regrowing hair with minoxidil. The older you get, the less you can expect from minoxidil treatments.

This might be the one time that you wish you had started losing your hair earlier in life!

Minoxidil’s effectiveness also declines the longer you wait to use it. For the best results, you need to start applications as soon as you notice thinning hair. If you wait until you have a noticeable bald spot on your crown, you may find it impossible to regrow much hair with minoxidil.

There are also a few other limitations that you should know before you start using minoxidil for men.

Minoxidil Only Works as Long as You Use It

Minoxidil is not a cure for thinning hair or baldness. It’s a treatment that you need to use twice a day. If you stop using minoxidil for men, you will start to lose your hair, again.

A lot of men find that this is a huge pain in the ass. Do you want to commit to putting minoxidil on your head twice a day for the rest of your life?

What if you spend the night at someone’s house? Are you willing to use the minoxidil in front of a girlfriend or casual encounter?

Even if you don’t feel embarrassed about letting your partner know that you use a hair loss treatment, you need to consider the smell. Minoxidil has an alcohol smell that isn’t very pleasant. Some brands use fragrances to cover the scent. If you go with the cheaper options, though, you will smell funky when you get into bed.

That’s going to put a serious damper on your sex life.

Minoxidil Can Get Expensive Over Time

A one-month supply of Men’s Rogaine, the most popular minoxidil brand, costs about $25. Even when you buy in bulk, you can expect to spend at least $45 for a three-month supply.

Assuming that you buy in bulk, you will spend about $180 per year on minoxidil. If you start using the hair loss drug at 25, you’ll spend well over $8,000 by the time you retire.

Actually, that’s less money than you will spend. Inflation will push the price of all products up over time. When you choose a treatment instead of a cure, you have no idea how much money you will spend over your lifetime. That sucks!

Possible Side Effects of Using Minoxidil for Men

Like any drug, minoxidil can cause side effects. Most of the side effects that men experience don’t disrupt their lives. They’re just annoying. Other side effects can be severe enough to put your health at risk.

Luckily, the worst side effects are rare. Knowing potential problems, however, will make it easier for you to decide whether minoxidil for men is a good option for preventing your hair loss.

Some bothersome side effects that men report after applying minoxidil include:

• Inflamed skin.
• Face swelling.
• Increase in facial hair.
• Red skin.
• Scalp acne.

Some men even say that using minoxidil increases their hair loss.

You spend money on a product to regrow hair, and you end up going bald faster. How’s that for irony?

Even if you regrow hair, it could come in with an unnatural texture that makes it look and feel weird.

One man’s fiancee told him that his hair makes it look like he’s wearing a toilet seat made of hair. Believe it or not, that guy still takes minoxidil. Dude, your fiancee would probably prefer a balding husband over a hairy toilet seat.

Risky Side Effects of Minoxidil for Men

If you experience any of the following rare side effects, stop using minoxidil immediately and contact your doctor. Some of the worst rare side effects include:

• Blurred vision.
• Dizziness, lightheartedness, or fainting.
• Rapid or irregular heartbeat.
• Swollen feet, hands, lower legs, or face.
• Numbness or tingling in the face, feet, or hands.
• Chest pains.
• Headaches.
• Rapid weight gain.

Seriously, don’t fuck around if you have these side effects. Call your doctor!

Alternatives to Minoxidil for Men

As you can see, minoxidil for men has its pros and cons. If it doesn’t sound like a great option for you, check out some alternatives from Barber Surgeons Guild. You might decide that one of them works better for you than minoxidil does.

Clinical Hair PRP Maintenance

Clinical Hair PRP Maintenance from Barber Surgeons Guild combines your blood platelets with adenosine triphosphate (ATP), an organic chemical that fuels your body’s cells.

After drawing a small amount of your blood, Dr. Rome spins it with growth factors to make Platelet Rich Plasma. Most hair-restoration doctors stop at this point in the procedure. Dr. Roma goes further by adding ATP to create a super-healing serum.

Dr. Rome then numbs your scalp and injects the serum to encourage hair growth and healing.

Unlike some hair restoration techniques, Clinical Hair PRP Maintenance doesn’t require any cutting or scarring.

For the best results, you should get PRP maintenance once per month. Each visit only takes a few minutes. That makes PRP maintenance much more convenient than minoxidil for men, which requires two applications a day.

BSG also keeps Clinical Hair PRP Maintenance affordable by charging a flat fee. It doesn’t matter how many injections you get during your visit, you always pay the same price.

Advanced Robotic Hair Restoration

You’ve probably heard about the horrors of hair plugs, also known as strip excision harvesting aka Follicular Unit Transplant (FUT). While this procedure can provide good results, it is an involved surgery often associated with a painful recovery. Plus, the surgery will leave a long linear scar that prevents you from wearing a short hairstyle. Today’s technology gives you a much better option than FUT.

Advanced Robotic Hair Restoration makes it possible for the team at Barber Surgeons Guild to identify the best hair follicles to transplant. Unlike the old methods, the ARTAS Hair Restoration Robotic System used at BSG doesn’t require any cutting. That means you get to avoid the linear scarring that plague so many men getting FUT/Strip Procedure to this very day.

Robotic Hair Restoration usually takes about half a day to complete. The doctor will numb your injection sites to prevent pain. At most, you might feel slight discomfort. BSG also gives you access to nitrous oxide to calm any jittery nerves. Most men use the time to relax and watch their favorite shows on Netflix and HBO. You can also bring an iPad, book, or magazine for entertainment.

BSG helps ensure terrific results by including PRP injections and ATP with your procedure. These protocols improve the implants’ effectiveness and help your follicles recover.

Best of all, you don’t have to keep applying chemicals to your scalp. The implanted follicles will continue growing hair without constant attention.

Scalp Camo

Maybe you don’t have enough hair loss to need Robotic Hair Restoration yet, but you want a nice way to improve the look of your early thinning, especially when bright lights or dampness make it most apparent.. No worries! Barber Surgeons Guild can improve your looks with scalp camo.

BSG’s scalp camo uses high-definition vegan pigments to make tiny hair sized dots between your hair, matched to your hair color. It’s kind of like getting a scalp tattoo, but scalp camo typically lasts between 5 to 7 years, at which time it can be touched up as needed. 

The scalp camo procedure usually takes about an hour, so you can come in and get treated during a long lunch break.

When you get scalp camo, BSG includes a consultation and Signature Haircut from one of our master barbers. The barber will help you choose a hairstyle that hides your hair loss and makes scalp camo even more convincing.

The results of scalp camo last about 6 years. We guarantee that the results will last at least 12 months. If you need any touch ups within the first year, come back and we’ll help free of charge.

Keep in mind that scalp camo doesn’t actually regrow hair. It’s not a life-long solution to male pattern baldness or thinning hair. It does, however, give you several years to decide how you want to treat your hair loss.

Schedule an Appointment at BSG to Find the Right Hair Loss Solution for You

The hair loss solution that fits one man’s needs isn’t necessarily right for you. Some men get the results they want from minoxidil for men. Others find that they want the benefits that they can only get from techniques like scalp camo, Advanced Robotic Hair Restoration, or Clinical Hair PRP Maintenance.

Contact Barber Surgeons Guild today to learn more about hair loss solutions that match your needs. Our experts can give you personalized recommendations that help you choose the perfect option for your hair.