Rogaine: Does This Hair Loss Product Really Work?

After it was accidentally discovered that minoxidil can induce hair growth, the product called Rogaine was born in 1988, which is essentially minoxidil in a lotion form that is applied directly to the scalp. At that time, Rogaine was only available by prescription and the active ingredient was at a low 2%.

Fast-forward to 1995: The food and drug administration deemed Rogaine to be safe enough to be sold without a prescription in most pharmacies as well as standard grocery stores. This spawned the creation of similar generic products that also contained the ingredient in minoxidil. The owners of such products eventually increased the active ingredient dosage from 2% to as high as 5%. and this was a smart move because the higher dosage actually created faster results so both the customer and the product owners were happy.

What causes Rogaine to work?

As stated above, Rogaine causes hair growth as a result of the drug minoxidil. Although we know that minoxidil works well, researchers are still unsure as to the exact reason why minoxidil can create strands of new hair to grow on areas of the scalp that have been bald for years.

One theory was that minoxidil had an impact on DHT levels better in the blood. If you are unfamiliar with DHT, it is simply a form of testosterone that affects sensitive hair follicles as a person ages. However, it became known that minoxidil had absolutely no effect on DHT levels.

The one characteristic that minoxidil has on the body is that it helps in large blood vessels, commonly referred to as a "vasodilator". But, again researchers are baffled because it is not proven that hair growth is caused by any vasodilators.

What we do know is that the minoxidil reduces the speed at which hair follicles shrink and it also causes hair follicles that have shrunk to start growing full-size hair strands again. This drug also keeps hair that is currently in a growth stage to remain that way for an extended period of time. In other words, minoxidil can help keep hair follicles in the "anagen phase" of hair regeneration longer than it normally would have. And of course, if your hair remains in this growth phase of the regeneration process for a longer period of time, the results are thicker and longer hair.

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