How To Keep Your Natural Hair Stretched

Recently, multi-talented superstar Jennifer Lopez (Hustlers, Selena) appeared in a commercial for For Hers. Although Lopez appeared on the small screen in the ad, her impact was huge, and has had millions of people beyond the country taking a fresh wait at Rogaine and the embarrassment some feel surrounding hair loss and treatments.

Rogaine, which is known by the scientific name minoxidil, is a common hair growth treatment that'due south been effectually for quite some fourth dimension, only information technology'southward certainly worth a second expect. So, what makes minoxidil work? While some get swell results, others written report less optimal side effects. Here, we'll dig into whether or not the treatments are as beneficial as the commercials claim.

What Is Minoxidil?

Minoxidil, ofttimes appearing in the Usa under the commercial proper name Rogaine, is bachelor as a topical foam or solution. This treatment helps to restore balding or thinning pilus. It comes in 2%, 3%, and 5% strength solutions, and it is prophylactic to apply as a long-term method of combatting thinning hair.

Photo Courtesy: Pedrag Popovski/Getty Images

Minoxidil was originally brought to the market as an oral vasodilator used to treat loftier blood pressure. The drug was granted emergency use status by the Nutrient & Drug Administration (FDA) considering it was one of the beginning drugs that could treat high blood pressure, and there were thousands of patients in life-or-death situations. Many doctors were eager to prescribe the new medicine to patients. One of the about widely reported side effects was hypertrichosis, an overgrowth of hair all over the body. Normally, this occurred on the patient's confront and the arms. Thankfully, stopping the treatment curbed the overgrowth of hair.

As apropos as this may have been for some of the first patients, information technology was also exciting for many professionals in the medical customs. Soon, experts fabricated a topical minoxidil solution, which, when applied to the scalp, helped restore hair growth in thinning or balding areas.

How to Use Minoxidil

Minoxidil comes in a variety of concentrations, so it'due south important to consult a dr., trichologist, or dermatologist to determine the best concentration for yous. There are negligible differences between the foam and liquid versions of the treatment, and then each you lot can employ whichever method y'all prefer.

Before treating your hair with minoxidil, inspect your scalp for cuts, irritation, inflammation, or sunburn. If your skin is non intact, minoxidil tin be absorbed into the bloodstream; since information technology'southward a very effective antihypertensive medicine, accidental exposure could crusade dangerously low blood force per unit area if you don't take hypertension.

Photo Courtesy: Diego Cervo/Eye Em/Getty Images

Next, thoroughly clean your entire head by washing your hair with shampoo. After rinsing and drying your pilus, part it to betrayal the bald or thin spots. Apply twenty drops of the liquid minoxidil solution and rub it into the scalp. When using foam, 20 drops is usually equivalent to about half a cap.

After awarding, minoxidil needs to dry out completely. Do not stack any other hair products on pinnacle of minoxidil until it has dried completely. Moreover, don't go to sleep before the treatment dries; getting minoxidil on your pillowcase has little benefit for your hair, but it does heighten your chances of getting the medicine on other parts of your trunk.

Be sure to wash your hands thoroughly after using minoxidil, and take special care to only apply it to the scalp. Be diligent about thoroughly washing any other areas of your trunk that are accidentally exposed to minoxidil considering hypertrichosis can occur. Always read the instructions of the specific minoxidil solution you have purchased.

When to Use Minoxidil

Minoxidil is not a one-size-fits-all pilus growth treatment. The treatment works for very specific types of pilus loss, many of which are associated with aging. Minoxidil first found fame every bit a treatment for then-chosen "male pattern baldness," which is also known as androgenetic baldness. Although balding or thinning hair can occur in people of all genders, it'south most common in cisgender men. For people of other genders, this blazon of alopecia might cause more thinning than balding.

Oft, this type of alopecia starts every bit a receding hairline, progresses to thinning or total alopecia effectually the crown, and spreads slowly until the person is completely baldheaded. This is the specific blazon of hair loss — often appearing in eye-aged adults — that minoxidil is nearly effective at treating.

Minoxidil will non help people who are experiencing a receding hairline that's not associated with androgenetic baldness. For instance, minoxidil can not effectively care for postpartum hair loss or whatever other causes associated with sudden alopecia. Fifty-fifty in cases of androgenetic alopecia, minoxidil cannot be used in anyone younger than 18 years of age.

Is Minoxidil Effective?

Unfortunately, minoxidil does non work for some people. Sometimes, information technology helps hair to grow where a person previously had a thin or bald spot. In other patients, minoxidil merely stops pilus loss from continuing. In near one-third of people, minoxidil is neither effective in growing hair or stopping hair loss.

However, at the fourth dimension information technology was discovered, a hair-growth treatment that'due south effective in roughly 60% of people was considered revolutionary. Even though there are more advanced surgical treatments bachelor today, simply minoxidil remains one of the most constructive, at-abode pilus-loss treatments.

For cisgender women, the results are less spectacular with the topical solution simply being institute effective in 19% of users who were studied. Scientists are still unsure why, exactly, minoxidil encourages hair growth, but some speculate that the effect is a consequence of increased blood menstruum effectually the hair follicles. It'due south besides of import to notation that minoxidil doesn't work overnight for anyone. Rather, y'all'll most often meet results, if whatever, after four months of regular handling.

Side Effects Associated with Minoxidil

The most mutual reaction to minoxidil is irritation at the application site. Although allergies are rare, people who are allergic to minoxidil can experience anaphylactic shock. Moreover, if used improperly, minoxidil can cause low blood pressure level, which tin can result in fainting, dizziness, or tachycardia.

Photograph Courtesy: Morsa Images/Getty Images

Although various brands may have their own slight differences, some minoxidil users have reported an unpleasant, alcohol-like odor from the treatment. This is non a mutual complaint, so information technology'due south likely due to other ingredients in some brands of minoxidil-based treatments. In brusk, for people experiencing thinning pilus or bald spots, long-term apply of minoxidil is oftentimes one of the almost effective, accessible treatments.

Resource Links:

"Androgenetic alopecia" via MedlinePlus
"Infantile generalized hypertrichosis acquired by topical minoxidil" via Brazilian Lodge of Dermatology | U.Due south. National Library of Medicine
"A i-year observational study with minoxidil five% solution in Germany" via Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology (JAAD)
"Pilus Loss: Handling" via American Hair Loss Clan
"Hypertrichosis" via StatPearls | National Center for Biotechnology Data (NCBI)