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Rogaine vs. Propecia

C

CyberSax

Banned
Not that I have *cough* early signs of hair thinning *cough* or anything like that... Uhhh... Just wondering for the hell of it I guess... Yeah that's it... 😉

Seriously though, which one is more effective and has less side effects?
 
If I were a vain, balding man intent upon drug therapy, I would choose Propecia. Rogaine is available over-the-counter now, however, so that may be a factor. Keep in mind that almost no one regrows a full head of hair with either of these nostrums, and whatever hair you may regrow will be lost when you stop the treatment.
 
If your insurance company will help with propecia, do both!

Rogaine doesn't really have any 'side-effects', but it really isn't a drug. It's oily, smelly, flaky, and itchy.

dunno, about propecia. I think it can lead to impotence (uf!). And pregant or expecting women shouldn't handle the tablets. Scary, eh?

Well, if you become impotent, at least you'll have hair, and there's still Viagra.
 
dunno about Rogaine. I've heard it was only temorary. I do know that if you ahve a female in the house, and "she is or may become pregnant and handles broken tablets, Propecia causes certain types of birth defects." What kind, I'm not gonna touch any tablets and find out.
 
I would say go with the pregnant goat treatment.

Keep the goat ( has to be pregnant to work ) in a pen & collect the urine. Extract the active stuff from the urine with DMSO. You get the DMSO at your friendly seed & feed store.

Then massage your scalp with the DMSO once or twice a day.

This will grow hair on a billard ball.
 
I'm shocked no one has mentioned that favorite low-tech alternative from the 70's: the hair piece! Damn, why pay through the nose for a drug that may or may not work when you can slap on a rug? Sure the tape is uncomfortable and the thing will start to smell after a while but you pay for it once, get to rest it on a nice styrofoam head, and the chicks absolutely adore it!
 
I'd recommend being proud of your baldness. Not like I am or ever will be, but I don't think hair is that important (I have sucky jew-hair, so I never really had good looking hair).
 
There's a far more enjoyable treatment, if you don't mind the hair being on your hands, instead of your head. :Q 😉
 

A story:

About fifteen years ago there was a nurse in Sweden, who was disturbed by the pain several patients had to go through when being washed by caustic soaps, especially burned children. She remembered her mother made her own soap in the "old days" from a formula of simple materials. She mixed up some batches at home and brought them to the hospital to try. The soap, as expected, worked quite well, and was very effective at cleansing, with no irritation. It was soon noted, that wherever the soap was applied, hair grew luxuriously - in places where hair normally occured. One of the main reasons for hair loss (other than testosterone) is hair follicles clogged with gunk, unable to "breathe". The organic soap had the unique ability to "lift out" the crud embedded in the scalp (or whatever) and revive "tired" hair follicles. She soon became engaged in trying the soap on several aquaintances for hair growth purposes, and it proved to be quite effective. To make a long story short - circumstances caused her to come to US, where word got around about the soap, and she was put into contact with someone who could "help out" with the marketing, something she knew nothing about. After a few ads, and good word of mouth, the money started rolling in. All you had to do is wash your hair with this soap, thats all. After a few months, the marketing guy got greedy, tried to get a bigger cut, then went off on his own, selling an "improved" formula. The nurse sold hers as the "original". Lawsuits flew back and forth, injunctions against sales etc. The soap is now history, long gone.
 
It's true that Rogaine must be taken for life, and that any hair you grow will fall out once you end the treatment.

Propecia is described in the commericals as having "certain sexual side effects."

Maybe it's me, but I don't see the point in having a full head of hair with which to attract women if the equipment that really counts no longer functions properly.

I'm 24, and while I am by no means bald, I am seeing obvious signs of male pattern baldness (thinning of the crown and the V-shaped hairline, which is unfortunately accentuated by a prominent widow's peak). I've already decided that my attitude will be "to hell with it," and that I'll have to rely on my charm and wit, rather than my bushy hair, in order to attract women.

Dear God, please help me.
 
Any man who thinks baldness will ruin his chances with the ladies should consider Patrick Stewart, Sean Connery, and Mitch Pileggi. Those guys probably have to hire bodyguards to keep women from tearing their clothes off.

It is not what's on top of the head that attracts women. It's what's inside.
 
Um, Wombatwoman.. Don't you think their celebrity status plays just a wee bit of an important part in that? I certainly think so.
 
I'm not "balding" per se. Right now, my hair is about where the average 18 year old's hair is at... But, 2-3 years ago, I used to have really "full" hair, like the kind you see guys on shampoo commercials having. It's thinned out quite a bit, and it's got me a little concerned about premature hairloss. My dermatologist seems unusually keen on propecia, but that has some dangerous side effects. I've been using Extra Strength Rogaine for a few days, but it's making me itchy all over (even on my hands and feet, where not even applying Rogaine).
 
Congratulations to your dermatologist! He/she is right. Propecia is going to have a better chance of maintaining or re-growing your hair. It works best the sooner you start to notice loss. The hair follicles are starting to atrophy (get smaller and eventually shrivel up). Once they are shriveled up, they are history. But if you catch them when just atrophying, they can recover. You don't become "addicted" to it. But when you discontinue it, your genetics are still your genetics and the process will start up again.

Regarding the side effects, that is WAY over-blown. They have to do that if they are going to advertise a prescription drug to the general public. Any sexual side-effects (i.e. trouble with erection, libido, etc.) are not common and if they DO happen usually disappear in a couple of weeks. If they don't resolve while taking the drug, just stop it and the side-effects go away.

The idea of a pregnant lady just touching the tablets is WAY on the side of caution to make the lawyers happy. But why have a pregnant lady handling them anyway, so hence the stern warning. I guess if they say don't even touch them, then there is NO WAY a pregnant lady would take one, although again, why would she?

The major side effect is cost. I think it runs about $45 to $50 a month. So if you have the money...hey, it's your choice. Odds are roughly 50% you will be thrilled, 20% you will think it's doing ok, and 30% that you thought it was a waste. If you are going to give it a fair trial, you should just plan on taking a picture of yourself before you start, take it for 3 months even if it doesn't seem to be doing anything, then take another picture and compare. Now for some MAJOR fun, you should post the before and after pictures on this forum!!!! Anyone else want to see that???

By the way, Propecia is 1mg of finasteride. The drug finasteride originally came out as a 5mg tablet to shrink men's prostates so they could urinate more easily. So, so much for Propecia being dangerous at 1/5th the original dose.

Regarding Rogaine, that was originally a high-blood pressure tablet named minoxidil (brand name Loniten). They noticed people taking it grew a lot of hair, not always where desired. Isn't it a cruel irony that as one ages, hair STOPS growing where we want and STARTS growing where we don't? (nostrils, between eyebrows, ears, etc.) So they started using it as a lotion on the scalp. I have had one person use it and absorbed enough to drop his blood pressure and get dizzy, but that isn't common.

There's the long-winded but complete and serious story from someone who knows. I was first a pharmacist and now am a doctor so I would know. I don't have any interest in Merck (Propecia) or Rogaine (Parke-Davis I think). I do have an interest in you just knowing the correct information in the right context and then you making your own voluntary decision.

P.S. I agree that personality wins out over a head of hair, but this summer,personality hasn't kept my scalp from getting TORCHED. I'm starting to have to wear sunscreen ON MY HEAD!

Good luck.
 
Welcome, lobe! This board can always use another M.D. to help deal with threads like this one! There is a steady stream of weight-loss and bodybuilding questions, and we also have lots of rashes, tummyaches, heat exhaustion, pimples, muscle aches, and sunburns, and at least one recreational drug thread a day that could use some medical attention.
If you came here as a break from your regular line of work, you may be in for a surprise. 😉
 
I've been gray since about age 25. I still have most of my hair, but it is now about 75% gray. I'm still waiting to hear about the pill to change my hair color! Since I've been only dark brown and gray, and have blue eyes, I think I'm ready, at 57, to try blonde. Also, while were at the wishing well, I have a very long list....😛
 
Thanks for the welcome, WombatWoman. Curious, what is the "den mother" designation?

He doesn't HAVE to use the drugs. There are a lot of "lifestyle" medicines now--ones that don't make you live longer but enhance the quality of your life. Fortunately these are not "hard" drugs. Potential side effects fall into the annoying but reversible and not harmful category.

That said, I'm not advocating he use either one. It's his choice. Lets see, if he's 18 and uses it until he's 58 at which point he no longer cares how he looks, that's 40 years times about $600/year. $24,000! Of course, within the 40 years there will be generics of it.
 
Curious, what is the "den mother" designation?

It is an honorary title bestowed upon me by The Powers That Be, possibly in recognition of my tendency to nip the cubs in order to keep them in line. 😉

 
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