Growing beard with Minoxidil - report

[Username]

I'm soon to be 34 with almost no beard - only very sparse goatee. I also look quite young. I met my distant cousin, I've seen her when she was a child and she didn't remember me.  She is 19 and she thought that I'm 21 yo  Sometimes it's beneficial to look younger but in a work environment it's going to be problematic.

 

I decided that I will test Mindoxidil. I used it twice a day. I didn't take any photos before and after. You are also supposed to use the bottle up to month after opening it.

 

My results: after a month I noticed that my beard is getting thicker. After almost two months my beard is much more dense, like twice as much hair..? However I haven't noticed any changes in areas I did not have facial hair. I had zero side effects - no skin irritation at all. I also applied it once a day to maintain my hairline (some people may experience receding hairline while using Minoxidil). I suppose it would for hair regrowth but luckily I'm still 0 in the Norwood scale.

It works, however it seems to make beard more dense but it doesn't seem to be effective for beard growth if you don't have any. Not for females, sorry  I think that's the end of my experiment because I don't plan on buying another bottle. In my case it doesn't make me look any better. It's just more visible when I'm not shaved. I suppose it's time for me to dye my hair grey.

* Minoxidil may cause skin to produce less collagen, this is also the reason I'm not willing to continue experimentation that doesn't produce enough results

[King Merk]

Yea minoxidil is one of the big three of hair growth/minimalizing balding.

The other two being Finasteride and ketocortozal shampoo.

The suck think about minoxidil is when you stop using it then the added growth you gained from it will go away.

So if one plans to use minoxidil (as I currently do) then one must plan to use it consistently while they plan to have hair 

[King Merk]

Dermaneedling is also great for hair growth

Make sure to use the pins instead of the rollers though.

Theres actually a lot is men can do to reverse balding or at least slow down the process

I started balding at about 20 lol you win some and you lose some in the genetic lottery 

[Username]

Minoxidil doesn't cause hair regrowth, it's not going to recover hairline, it rather improves density in places you still have some hair left. That's why it probably wouldn't help me grow beard. Another issue is that it's not effective for many people - I don't know if it's true but I heard that spray/foam works for only about 30% of people. Oral form is supposed to be more effective.

I don't know how long hair will stay if you stop Minoxidil. Some people claim that you may be able to stop using it after one year because hair growth cycle lasts 2 to 6 years. It would make sense that you should be able to use Minoxidil for one year and than keep decent beard for another two years. However scalp hair growth cycle doesn't differ all that much.

8 hours ago, King Merk said:

I started balding at about 20 lol you win some and you lose some in the genetic lottery 

My father is in his late 60s and have better hair than my friends below that are below 25 yo. Maybe except for the crown region. 

I suspect that beard probably wouldn't work well with my face shape. I guess that guy that designed me knew what he was doing and it's better for me to shave less often.

[Devin]

8 hours ago, King Merk said:

Dermaneedling is also great for hair growth

Make sure to use the pins instead of the rollers though.

Theres actually a lot is men can do to reverse balding or at least slow down the process

I started balding at about 20 lol you win some and you lose some in the genetic lottery 

you have a dermaneedle you recommend? The stamp type looks most appealing to me. i love massaging my scalp, one thing OP mentioned was minoxidil inhibiting collagen, that's potentially a good thing in the scalp if you're thinning, they've found fibrosis to be a main cause, which is the overgrowth of tissue like collagen, that's part of why massage and needling could help, the tissue is too dense for the follicles, like the palms of your hands, the scalp doesn't get moved around much naturally.

[Username]

I considered using dermaroller on my face and to maintain hairline. It might not be entirely safe if you do it improperly - it's probably not worth for me at the moment. You should avoid cheap rollers that have steel plates instead of needles 

 

[Devin]

i think the roller would tangle your hair in it

[King Merk]

@Devin it depends how much you’re willing to spend.

The highest quality derma needling tool out there is the derminator 2.0 and it’s what I use. It’s 200$ but is professional grade micro needling

I’ve seen a lot of people online have success with the Dr Pen versions which can be as cheap as 20$ for the manual one.

The more expensive automatic ones save you a bunch of time and are way more consistent though

Look into the tressless reddit thread and there’s lots of good info

I also recommend the YT channel more plates more dates for information on hair loss 

Edited December 8, 2022 by King Merk

[King Merk]

5 minutes ago, Devin said:

i think the roller would tangle your hair in it

That’s one of the issues with the roller

The other issue is the way you’re piercing the skin. Consider the physics of it all.

With a rolling you’re piercing the skin at an angle and with a pen you’re piercing straight on

So a roller is going to cause more harm than good

 

[meta_male]

Minoxidil should help. Make sure you regularly work out too and then give it a decade.

[Leo Gura]

The only way to get hair where there ain't any, is to plant it there.

No chemical is gonna cause a plant to grow where there were no seeds planted in the ground.

Hair is not magic, it needs a root.

Edited January 12, 2023 by Leo Gura

[mmKay]

Could you theoretically transplant a$$ hair folicles on to your chin? Two birds with one stone

[Michal__]

That sounds about right. The reason minoxidil works well for a lot of people is because there's a lot more hardly visible hairs on your face than you'd think.

[NoN-RaTiOnAL]

dude
dont listen to anybody here 
this works like magic but you gotta do it for a LONG TIME 
i did this for 2 years straight. used foam. 
0 side effects.
100% full beard. and i had almost none to begin with. just a mustache. 
its been about 5 years since i did it last time and i never lost one hair. 
there is a group of men on this journey who are sharing results but i dont remember the name.. maybe look it up.. 
i did it a long time ago so i dont have any before/after pics but damn does this work.  

[Username]

13 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

The only way to get hair where there ain't any, is to plant it there.

(...)

Hair is not magic, it needs a root.

Funnily few days after writing this fist post I noticed facial hair in area I never had them. Maybe there were light colored, soft hair but nothing like a beard. I forgot to write an update 

5 hours ago, NoN-RaTiOnAL said:

dude
dont listen to anybody here 
this works like magic but you gotta do it for a LONG TIME

Now I think that it might work but there is a risk that it's not going to be enough density except on the bottom of my face. My face is rather narrow and anything like goatee would make me look horrible.

Maybe my business idea will work out and looking half my age isn't going to have any negative effects on my income 

[Egodeathrow]

bought a 3 month supply of minoxidil to thicken and increase volume and length of hairs I will let you guys know, I’m not really doing it for new hairs but I’m open to it