Hair Loss Cure 2020

I originally wrote this post in 2017, but have updated it with some new developments. Minoxidil (topical or foam) beard application for hair growth is becoming increasingly trendy. Many private brands on Amazon are even selling Minoxidil serums with dermarollers for facial hair growth purposes.

Some people are so desperate for more facial hair, that they even undergo beard hair transplants where they move scalp hair to the face. In 2024, a 24-year old French student tragically committed suicide after getting a botched beard transplant in Turkey. If only someone had convinced him to try Minoxidil first, or counseled him to avoid doing anything at all.

Minoxidil Beard Growth

We rarely get to see Minoxidil’s full impact upon scalp hair growth just from photos. This is due to our dense and long scalp hair making any changes difficult to gauge. Moreover, people often concurrently take other hair growth products such as Finasteride. In such cases, we do not know which of the treatments is causing the most hair growth.

However, the effect of Minoxidil (brand name Rogaine) is much more evident on sparse beard hair that turns dense upon application of Minoxidil. Does Minoxidil work to grow beard hair? Yes, according to some studies. Moreover, many of the online before and after photos are pretty amazing.

I first heard about this whole “Rogaine Beard Growth” concept over 20 years ago. On January 21, 2003, a 20 year old man with the online name “Curi0usGeorge” started a US based beard forum thread about growing his sparse beard via applying extra strength 5% Minoxidil onto his face rather onto his scalp. Two months later, he stopped his experiment. Largely because he started getting excess body hair as a side effect.

While “Curi0usGeorge” also got more facial hair from the Minoxidil, it was not in a pattern and density that satisfied him. But his “Rogaine Experiment” thread ended up reaching 612 pages in length before being closed in 2016. A huge number of people posted before and after photos in there of successfully growing their beard hair with Rogaine. If you have nothing to do, 612 pages await.

Facebook’s Minoxidil Beard group now has 62,000 members. Other popular avenues include the Minoxidil and beard growth subreddit. Some of the before and after photos on there are amazing. Also see the Minoxidil Beard Discord server. You can also find numerous popular videos on YouTube that show men growing much thicker beards after using Minoxidil on their faces.

Over the years, a number of news articles have covered the growing off-label use of topical Minoxidil by young men with sparse beards and facial hair. The before and after Minoxidil beard hair growth photos are quite astounding in articles such as this one and this one.

Make sure to also read my posts on how Minoxidil (Rogaine) works and on extra strength Minoxidil.

Facial Hair Growth with Minoxidil Foam: A Case Study with Identical Twins

A new February 2024 study compares the facial hair growth difference between identical male twins. One of them used topical 5% minoxidil foam once a day for 16 months on the beard and mustache area. The other did not use any medication. The twin who used Minoxidil clearly exhibited significantly increased beard and mustache hair growth. See the image below. The photos were all taken after 10 days of hair growth post a clean shave.

Minoxodil Facial Hair Growth. — Topical Minoxidil facial hair growth with off-label use. Source: SAGE Open Medical Case Reports, Feb 2024. (a) Minoxidil treated subject after 16 months of once daily 1.5 g 5% minoxidil foam application. (b) Non-minoxidil treated subject.

Men Wishing to Grow Thicker Beards

For those men who wish to grow thicker beards, it is clear that Minoxidil can clearly grow new beard hair where there was none before, and not just make existing hair thicker. Or, to be more precise, it can convert vellus (invisible-to-the-eye) unpigmented hair into terminal pigmented hair.

Ironically, myself and numerous other men losing scalp hair have the opposite problem. Excess body hair, and very rapid facial hair growth that requires daily shaving. Many of us would prefer a much less noticeable and thinner beard, along with much slower facial hair growth! Nevertheless, I still thoroughly enjoy seeing the before and after photos of those who manage to grow substantially thicker beards after using Rogaine.

People can use topical liquid Minoxidil on their faces or the foam version of Minoxidil. While I never enjoyed using topical liquid Minoxidil on my scalp, the foam was much better and easier to apply. Today, I just use oral Minoxidil.

Minoxidil Beard Growth Popularity in Asia

A few years ago, The Wall Street Journal published a very interesting article related to Minoxidil and beard growth on its front page.

Minoxidil (Rogaine) Beard Growth Popularity. — Increasing Minoxidil (Rogaine) beard growth popularity in Asia. Article from WSJ.

If you cannot access the WSJ online edition, I have pasted an image on the left side covering part of the story. Apparently, an entrepreneur in Indonesia by the name of Fariz Gamal has started a business to help men grow beards via just using Minoxidil.

Like most Asian men, Indonesian men on average have much less facial hair in comparison to Caucasian men. It is now becoming fashionable and trendy to grow at least modestly thick beards. Especially in Muslim majority countries such as Indonesia due to cultural and religious reasons.

When I did more research on Mr. Gamal, I came across this interesting article from April from a local Indonesian magazine. He mentions that he orders the Kirkland brand of Minoxidil from the US. He claims that:

“I grew the full beard of my dreams after four months of regularly applying minoxidil to my face”.

For social media fans, you can check out his Instagram page and his YouTube channel.

Side effects of using Minoxidil (Rogaine) on the Face

I am not sure if the long-term application of Rogaine to one’s face is a good idea. Most people’s online testimonials seem to suggest that there are almost never any major side effects in doing so. However, I would be cautious and start with the 2% dosage before moving to the 5% dosage.

Prolonged use of Minoxidil on the face and beard region can cause a number of side effects, including:

Skin irritation, itchiness, rashes, dryness and inflammation. Usually due to an adverse reaction to the propylene glycol and alcohol found in Minoxidil.
A greater quantity of new beard hair than desired, sometimes in uneven unsymmetrical patterns.
New hair growth in unwanted areas such as the forehead. And thicker eyelashes and eyebrows.
A decline in blood pressure due to systemic absorption of the drug. Especially if you are not careful with the amount you use daily.
Heart palpitation, dizziness and lightheadedness if overused.
Unwanted changes in facial skin, including acne in rare instances.
Facial flushing.

Moreover, if you stop using the Rogaine on your beard, the new hair will slowly fall out and not regrow.

Paradoxical Hypertrichosis — A moderate level of hypertrichosis in Wayne Rooney.

Many years ago I noticed that my decrease in scalp hair correlated with my increase in body hair. The men in my extended family who had the best scalp hair into old age also had the least amount of body hair. At the time, I also did some research into the two main methods of permanent body hair removal:

Electrolysis.
Laser Hair Removal.

I ended up getting some electrolysis to remove minor amounts of my ear hair, middle of eyebrows hair, and back of lower neck hair. It took years of once a month sessions, but was ultimately effective. Never trust an electrologist who promises speedy results. So many of them exaggerate the speed of permanent hair removal with electrolysis.

Paradoxical Hypertrichosis: Increased Body Hair after Laser Hair Removal

In any event, while doing research on laser hair removal, I came across something interesting (and disturbing). For some people who get laser body hair removal, they end up with even more body hair in the treated area(s). A phenomenon called “paradoxical hypertrichosis“.

After getting across the initial surprise, I then got excited. If lasers can grow “new” body hair in areas where there was none, perhaps they can also cause “new” head hair growth? So the claims of the manufacturers of low-level laser devices for hair growth were not lies after all? Of course these home use devices have much less power than the laser hair removal machines that you see in clinics. But the logic remains.

We also know that fractional lasers can promote hair growth according to some findings. As can scalp burns, intentional wounding, lightening injury, wearing a cast for a long time, sound waves, electricity, electromagnetic radiation and more. In some cases it is new hair, while in others it is just thickening of existing hair or reversal of recent miniaturization.

However, in the back of my mind, I know that most of these phenomena are rare and usually not verified by any large-scale reputable studies. Nevertheless, I do believe that some of the logic is trustworthy.

The following quote (credited to Dr. George Cotsarelis) from the old Follica website is perhaps my favorite when it comes to the hair loss world:

“Following skin disruption, cells that migrate to help healing are forced to make a decision: Should I make epidermis, or should I make a hair? There is a window of opportunity in which we can potentially push them to choose the latter, and we believe there are multiple biological pathways to target to enhance this outcome. This regenerative effect is called hair follicle neogenesis.”

Are the Number of Paradoxical Hypertrichosis Cases Exaggerated?

Getting back to paradoxical hypertrichosis, one 2005 study stated that it is “a real but rare event that is estimated with 95% confidence to occur in 0.01% to 1.9% of treated patients.”

A more recent 2024 study from Japan found that of the 7,381 patients who received laser hair removal:

“25 patients (0.34%) demonstrated an increase in hair growth compared to baseline. Of these 25 patients, 24 had been treated with the alexandrite laser (and 1 had been treated with the diode laser)”.

A 2018 case report from the US found that even 10 years after the initial side effect of paradoxical hypertrichosis, the new body hair did not entirely disappear.

One well known dermatologist recently told me that he thinks this phenomenon of paradoxical hypertrichosis is basically hogwash. In his opinion, many women who are just starting to grow excess hair (hirsutism) turn to laser hair removal right away.

But because they do not get on anti-androgens, their hormones are dictating new hair growth rather than any paradoxical reaction to the laser. This dermatologist told me that most spa workers have never even heard of anti-androgens. Women with hormonal conditions such as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) or Cushing’s syndrome can also see new body hair growth develop out of the blue.

In any event, I hope that paradoxical hypertrichosis is in fact a real phenomenon, and can even apply to the scalp. On Reddit, you can read about a number of cases where people grew more hair after laser hair removal. It seems like you can laser away this new hair in most cases, though it is expensive as well as more difficult if you have darker skin.

Minoxidil for Beard Growth