Yes, if you have androgenetic alopecia or male pattern baldness or hair thinning in case of women, you have to use minoxidil for the rest of your life or as long as you want to keep your hair.
Moreover, you should never stop using it even if your hair grows back because that would only mean that more of your hair will fall out again.
But, if you using minoxidil for beard, you can stop using it once you have your desired result, because beards hardly fall. Though even for beard uses of 12 months is necessary.
If you don’t have androgenetic alopecia or male pattern baldness, you can skip using it as soon as your hair stops falling and you see the desired regrowth. But make sure you using the minoxidil for at least 6 to 12 months in these cases.
Remember, minoxidil doesn’t work immediately, so leaving it after using 1 or 2 months would be very bad for your hair or beard treatment.
Can Minoxidil really grow back hair on your head?
Minoxidil is considered the best medication for hair growth. It works, but it is not a cure. It is also not a miracle product. You have to use it constantly to keep your hair from falling out.
It is like brushing your teeth: You must do it every day or else bad things will happen.
Is there any permanent cure for male pattern baldness?
Only a hair transplant surgery is considered permanent in case of male pattern baldness, but it is not the best treatment for your hair because you can only recover a limited number of hair using it. You will still need to use a medication like minoxidil or something else to help you regrow your hair back.
Besides that, the results are not always permanent (rare cases). Some patients have reported that after a few years their transplanted hairs began to fall out again. Though, it’s not very common, but you never know.
But what if I want to stop using minoxidil?
Too bad. It is not like quitting smoking or taking a drug. Once you start using this kind of medication, you must use it for the rest of your life or else your hair loss will just continue. Moreover, once you stop using minoxidil, your hair will begin to fall out again.
I will only recommend stopping using it if only you facing side effects of minoxidil. Otherwise, you should not stop using it until you want your hair to not start falling again.
If you are facing side effects of minoxidil, then I recommend a maintenance therapy. What is a maintenance therapy? Maintenance therapies are simply other ways of helping your body repair itself and preventing future problems before they happen. In case of hair loss, it means using another product like minoxidil to help your body regrow more hair.
There are many other medications are available for hair growth like Finasteride, Saw Palmetto, PRP, micro-needling, low-level laser therapy and many more.
I will recommend to start using any of the two above. And it’s better to choose the two who have almost no side effects. The best two could be micro-needling and saw palmetto topical solution.
But don’t stop minoxidil suddenly. First, keep using minoxidil once a day and the saw palmetto topical solution once a day. Let your body to get adjusted to the change.
Keep doing it for at least a month or two. If you are not seeing any excessive hair fall only then you should leave minoxidil and start using the saw palmetto solution twice a day.
Make sure you are also using another method with it, like microneedling. Both saw palmetto and microneedling have almost no side effects. So, you can use these two with confidence and still can see good result.
Can minoxidil be used life long?
Yes, minoxidil is safe for long time use. If required, you can use it for life long.
Final Verdict
Minoxidil is considered the best solution for hair growth besides finasteride and both of these are FDA approved.
But sadly, none of these medications are side-effect free as these are chemical based and not natural. Though minoxidil side effects are not serious at all and very rare as well. That means, if you are not using minoxidil because you are worried about the side effects, then you should try it first. Side effects are rare, so only leave it if you find any side effect.
References
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Will I have to use Minoxidil 5% and Finasteride for the rest of my life? – https://www.realself.com/question/kuala-lumpur-minoxidil-finasteride-month-after-fue-ht
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Minoxidil (Rogaine/Regaine): Do I really need to use forever? – https://donovanmedical.com/hair-blog/2017/8/21/minoxidil-rogaineregaine-do-i-really-need-to-use-forever#sthash.7GdaXI75.dpuf