Finasteride and Minoxidil: The Facts
Thanks to extensive research, there are a variety of hair loss treatments available on the market today, both affordable and not. These can include surgical, medicinal and even natural remedy treatments. However, it’s important to do your research first to find one that’s right for you.
Finasteride and Minoxidil are two widely accepted treatments for Male Pattern Baldness. What’s even better is that they’re affordable too. Finasteride and Minoxidil have been used to make up Unthin’s daily spray treatment.
Here, we’ll take a look into the role they both play and how effective they are as treatments for hair loss.
What role does Finasteride play?
Finasteride can be ingested orally in a tablet form or applied directly to the source of hair loss in a topical solution.
Finasteride works to block DHT, or Dihydrotestosterone, a hormone hugely responsible for causing Male Pattern Baldness depending on someone’s genetic predisposition to experiencing hair loss. As one of the most common types of hair loss in men, Male Pattern Baldness is a condition that sees men lose hair in a type of pattern, around the crown of the head and/or at the hairline.
DHT is made as a byproduct of testosterone and is known to shrink the hair follicles that lie beneath the scalp’s surface. This eventually stops them from producing new and healthy hairs. Finasteride works to protect these hair follicles by stopping the conversion of Testosterone into DHT.
When treating hair loss, it’s important to know that hair regrowth isn’t always guaranteed, especially the longer you leave it. Some treatments may simply prevent any further hair loss, which is still a positive outcome.
A study conducted in 1999 found that after being treated with Finasteride, 83% of men with vertex (top of the head) hair loss experienced no further loss after two years, with 66% of men experiencing improvement in actual hair growth.
Over the years, oral Finasteride has become a subject of concern. It has caused some side effects in men, including issues with sex drive and erections. Topical Finasteride has therefore become a more popular alternative, with a much lower chance of side effects and equally positive results. That’s why Unthin’s treatment uses topical Finasteride, rather than oral.
What role does Minoxidil play?
Minoxidil is another well-known treatment for hair loss. It is a topical solution that is applied directly to the source of hair loss and has been proven to produce successful results for those with Male Pattern Baldness.
Minoxidil works to deliver nutrients to hair follicles, increasing the size of the hairs and causing them to thicken.
In fact, in exploring the effects of Minoxidil on hair loss researchers found that 97.1% of patients experienced positive effects, with signs of regrowth or no further hair loss.
The Unthin Treatment
Here at Unthin, we know that Minoxidil and Finasteride make for a great team. This is why we’ve combined them both into one grease-free and odourless topical daily head spray.
In fact, in 2018, researchers set out to explore the effects of both topical Finasteride and Minoxidil on hair loss. Researchers found that combining the two into one treatment proved to be more successful in increasing hair density and hair diameter compared to the patients who were treated with Minoxidil alone. Additionally “90% of patients treated with the combined solution experienced moderate to marked improvement”. That’s a big difference!
Unthin’s treatment is not ingested and is directly applied to the source of hair loss. This means that the potential side effects are minimal and the treatment has an increased success rate.
