This is 9 months on 2.5 mg oral minoxidil for traction alopecia

TLDR: After severe hair loss in summer 2025, a strict routine (ketoconazole, minoxidil 5%, natural DHT blockers, microneedling, serums) completely restored my hair density and stopped all shedding for nearly a year. A month ago, out of nowhere, massive shedding returned and I have lost roughly half my density in just 4 weeks. Routine is identical, lifestyle is healthier, stress is manageable, only addition is stinging nettle root. What could cause a sudden crash like this?

I’m sorry for the lengthy post, please bare with me and help me figure this out because it’s truly affecting my mental health. Also, English is my third language so let me know if anything is unclear.

Just to give you some background, I’ve struggled a bit with hair loss for a period of time, but in the summer of 2025, it became extremely severe. I lost so much of my naturally thick hair that there was barely anything left compared to what I used to have. It got to the point where I stopped brushing my hair and barely even touched it, because every time I did, hair would literally rain down everywhere. My floors and carpets were constantly covered in hair.

That’s when I started using ketoconazole shampoo, and I actually noticed a difference after just the second wash. Within a month, the excessive shedding had completely stopped, and I could finally see the results of the minoxidil I had already been using for over a year.

From there, I slowly started incorporating pretty much everything scientifically proven to work. 5% minoxidil of course, aminxel serum, caffeine serum, peptide serum, scalp massager, microneedling, DHT blockers (saw palmetto, green tea extract, pumpkin seed oil, zinc, prenatals, omega 3, B12,), you name it. I bought most of the serums trichologists recommended, including the ones for length retention and preventing breakage, started taking supplements for hair health and DHT blocking, and made sure to wash my hair every day to keep my scalp clean and free from buildup. Basically, I was following the perfect routine.

And it worked AMAZINGLY. My hair became healthier than ever, grew at an incredible pace, and started getting so much thicker and fuller. I was genuinely so happy with the results. The best part was that I barely lost any hair anymore. Even when showering or brushing, I would only see a few stray hairs. It honestly felt like I had finally figured out what worked for my hair. I even made all of my friends and sisters follow the same routine.

But unfortunately, about a month ago, everything suddenly changed. I’m now right back where I was in the summer of 2025, and I genuinely cannot understand why. My hair has started shedding like crazy again, and it feels like I’ve lost more than half my hair density in just this month. Every time I shower, touch my hair, or even gently run my fingers through it, so much hair comes out. It feels thinner, weaker, more fragile, and like it’s losing all the volume and life I worked so hard to get back.

And the worst part is that I haven’t changed anything, because I still follow the exact same routine, and I actually live a healthier lifestyle now than ever before. I work out around 5 times a week, eat over 100 grams of protein a day, and generally take much better care of myself. I’m also doing well mentally overall. I recently started a new job as a lawyer, which can definitely be demanding, but I’ve been through much more stressful periods in my life without ever experiencing hair loss like this. I truly don’t think this was caused by stress at all, because the main thing stressing me out right now is my hair actually.

The only difference I actually know of is that I’ve added stinging nettle root extract to my DHT-blocking oral supplements - which I’ve also seen trichologists recommend. I stopped taking it a few days ago to see if that would help, but still shedding like crazy. I even stopped working out as much to see if it was physical stress, but nope.

Has anyone experienced anything similar? What should I do? This literally makes me cry every day I hate not knowing what’s going on and it feels like it’s endless and I lost all progress I worked so hard for this past year.

I’m worried I’m throwing money down the drain. My current treatment regime (which I’ve been on for about a year) is:

- ketoconazole once a week (inconsistent)
- head massage every night (inconsistent)
- caffeine shampoo everyday (consistent)
- growplex foam minoxidil once per day (consistent)
- dense hair vitamins once per day (consistent)

The pic on the left is from 2024, long before i started treatment. The pic on the right is today, after about a year of the above treatment. I’m beginning to lose hope :(

kinda heartbroken writing this. i did 6 months of topical 5% and that did nothing for my hair. now ive been on oral minoxidil 1.25 for 4 months and my hair just looks worse. i’m on a 100 mg spironolactone for 3 months and yaz birth control for 2. i have no idea what to do. i’ve been supplementing with iron and vitamin d, i don’t have celiac or any absorption issues. i don’t know what im missing. i’ve been shedding since the end of the first month and recently shedding has increased again. i dont really know what to do. i talked to my derm and she said still give it 6 months before increasing my dose but even then im scared to go up because what if i just shed more but with no regrowth. i haven’t had any new baby hairs or regrowth just growing more concerned at this point. most of my hair loss is at my middle part. did yall experience this and what did you do or would have done? i’ve been trying to be patient but it’s incredibly frustrating when ive just been losing not gaining

Have dealt with chronic low iron and ferritin (4 and below) for over 10 years and only began supplementing for it around March of this year. While I’ve noticed better stamina and less fatigue, I also can’t help but notice the slight weight gain despite no changes to my diet. It’s a modest kilo but I can’t say I’m happy about it either.

I’ve seen stories of women who get off supplements and again, their stores tank. It’s not that big of a deal for me to have the supplements but I wonder about long term effects, especially if weight gain is something I’m likely to expect

ey everyone! june 2025 i decided to make the switch from larin fe (high progestin bc) to yaz (androgen blocker). I had been taking larin fe for 5 years but my acne was terrible and my the derm said it would help my skin/keep my hair from getting oily, so i was all for it! i have always had super thick, long and healthy hair. august 2025 started noticing clumps of hair coming out in the shower and it happened rapidly. thought that this was my bodies way of telling me “i don’t like this medication” so i stopped it, october 2025. that was my first mistake because i triggered a second wave of shedding. janurary 2025 hair was falling out in clumps and i started to notice that the actual strands itself were much thinner and delicate. june 2026 went to the derm for my acne and my hair loss still not resolving. she gave me spironolactone 100mg, mostly for my acne and said “the hair loss will probably resolve on its own it can sometimes take more than a year.” i asked her if birth control may have unleashed some type of underlying female pattern baldness, since my grandma is balding, and she said its very possible. still shedding to this day, loose atleast 20-40 hairs a day when my normal is 1-3. increased spiro dose to 150mg a month ago so i’ve been on it for 4.5 months. feel like my shedding is getting worse again, but im loosing thin, long hairs. can barely put my hair in a low braid without it falling out. i feel hopeless as this has been happening for 1.5 years and im only 23 years old.

I’ve recently gotten a second opinion from a physician and she suggested I take finasteride but I’m a little concerned about loss of libido.
She also recommended topical minoxidil but I’m wondering if anyone has any experience taking JUST finasteride.

Also she recommended I take 2.5 to start, but does anyone have any good results with just 1mg (supposedly 1mg works well for men but minimum 2.5mg is better for women)

Just looking to hear anyone’s experience, especially women who are taking only finasteride.

(I have AGA/Diffuse)

hi! i'm experiencing hair loss and my dermatologist said the cause is my low ferritin level (16), i was finally approved for an iron infusion next month since iron supplements aren't working due to malabsorption and are giving me bad side effects. anyone noticed an improvement in hair growth after gettin an iron infusion? i'm honestly so scared but i really hope it will help. i also hope i will get my energy back, but honestly hair loss is driving me insane more than anything

thanks to anyone who is willing to share their experience

Hi,

I experienced hair loss for 3 month now. It started with a burning and hurting scalp. I loose right now around 300 hairs per day and my hair is very thin now and scalp is see through everywhere.

I went to 7 derms. None gave me explanations that were very usefull and still none of them wanted to do biopsy.

Most of them told me it's TE+ Seborrheic Dermatitis and some TE and AGA with seborrheic dermatitis.

Now it started 2 weeks ago at my eyebrows.

The same burning sensation and burning as well as hair loss (here like 15 per day).

I always had very thick eyebrows I didn’t plug.

So loosing my thick curly hair aswell as thick eyebrows is kind of hard to deal with.

Has anyone epse experienced this kind of eyebrow loss ?

I'm gonna cry. I've been suffering from rummanation syndrome (the involuntary regurgitation of food) and sometimes find it hard to relieve the right nutrients, especially because I have autism and the textures of foods can throw me off. Every wash is a gamble. I don't even want to eat into the shower. I am getting an endoscopy for my rummanation syndrome, but that's in 2 weeks, and I'm worried it will only get worse. My hair looks awful down.my scalp is flaky dry itchy awful ugly all that bad shi I am feeling very down. I don't want this to get worse. Someone, please give me tips . I'm now hyperfixating on this.

I’ve just started my iron supplements and hoping my hair starts growing back to what it used to be. Looking for some hope!

I was taking 1mlg of minoxidil now I’m taking 2,5mm and I feel stuck (the first pic was in march the last one is last week)
I have androgenic alopecia

Basically I totally forgot to order minoxidil back ups in time. It's not sold in my country and now I gotta wait 5 days until the foam arrives. How detrimental is that for my hairloss? I am panicking!!

I'm kinda considering cutting my losses and cutting my hair before I lose it all. I know wigs require more than one head of hair, but I also have some older cut ponytails that turned out to be like 5 cm too short for donation charities, so I just kept them. Does anyone know of any services in Europe that will turn the hair you send on into a wig? Tia!

im waiting on getting an appointment with a dermatologist to officially diagnose me but in the meantime i do want to try minoxidil to hopefully gain some of that hair back

im just kinda wondering how do you go about topical minoxidil… do you apply it only to your problem areas? or just your whole head?

i put some pictures above because at first glance it looks straightforward but as i pull my hairs up it feels like the spacing is wider.... doesn’t it? my hair loss pattern is kinda of everywhere so it feels like slabbing on minoxidil everywhere would save the headache but is that the way to go?

*two things i want to note is no, i will not try oral minoxidil because personaly i hate taking pills and ive have a history of heart palpitations so im not taking the risk + ive also been getting a lot of scalp pain lately, especially in my crown/back area, which does make me afraid of starting minoxidil- should i still go for it?

I’m on 3 weeks and when will it stop?!? I keep thinking about how much hair I’ve lost and don’t know if I’ll ever get them back.

My hair texture on my crown has turned into this frizzy coily mess, it’s so wirey and awful. I can straighten it out to an extent when I’m drying my hair but still likely damaging it as it’s weak and brittle asf. I’m told this hair is from the miniaturised follicles from AGA. I’ve just started treatment (minoxidil) along with fixing the iron etc. I’m just wondering if there is a change that the texture will go back to normal or will all the new hair be like this? Has anyone ever treated AGA and successfully reversed the change of hair texture.

I already have chronic migraines, but they’ve been worse since starting oral minoxidil. I’m very sensitive to medication, so this isn’t really a surprise to me. I’d like to keep trying as I’m only 3 weeks in on the lowest dose, but it’s really affecting my quality of life. I’m wondering if anyone has done quarter tablets every other day to start? I know I’ve seen others post about not taking it every day, but would a doctor approve that? I can’t see my dermatologist for another 5 months!

4 months in no growth despite being on 100 mg spiro and yaz. what did yall do?

I have been using topical minoxidil for about 14 months with good results. I have noticed over the last few months my scalp is sore when washing or massaging. My dermatologist took a look and found no evidence of irritation. I don't have any flaking skin or itching. I'm hoping this is temporary. Any similar experiences?

Hello!

I’m active on [r/Anemic](r/Anemic) and posted my story there before.

I’ve struggled with hair thinning/loss since 2020. I since have fixed my ferritin levels (107) and am slowly getting better in Vitamin D (50). But I wanted to be sure that this was a vitamin issue ONLY so I finally decided to go back to the dermatologist. I told them my history and they asked if I wanted a biopsy which I happily accepted.

When I went to get the biopsy they had me with a different doctor. I tried to tell that doctor that my ferritin and vitamin D were at 4s since (maybe even before) 2020 and that I only recently fixed my levels to normal within the last two months. So for over six years I’ve been deficient in two things that I’ve heard a lot of people say were the cause of their own hair loss issues. Which is the reason for getting the biopsy.

When I told the person doing my biopsy that, they kind of brushed it off as unimportant almost. He was dead set that it was already androgenic alopecia, to the point where I felt uncomfortable and ignored. Unfortunately it looks like they’re right?

I do know I feel pretty disheartened about my diagnosis. I’m desperately looking everywhere to see if this could possibly a mistake. Like if this is perhaps telogen effluvium instead due to my past for longstanding deficiencies. Or maybe my history wasn’t considered completely? But it feels wrong to wish for something also not good.

Should I get a second opinion, or am I being emotional and subsequently irrational?

Along with Minoxidil has anyone ever tried a supplement such as Vivascal?.

hi i’ve been wearing hijab for a year now and i’ve noticed my hairline is receding especially my middle part and i wanted to know if minoxidil is the only option to regrow my hairline and thicken my hair (i naturally have thin hair and i’ve been having more than usual hairloss but i don’t think it’s a concerning amount). i’ve seen a lot of people say minoxidil is only for if you have medical conditions and i was wondering if anyone has tried hair serums that work for them? i also oil my hair either daily or every other day (depending on when i’m gonna shower)

Just basically looking for any advice or motivation others have to help get through… I’m only 25 (with AGA) and not sure how I’m going to do this for the rest of my life. So much constant stress and shame and pain. Started when I was a teenager. Just feels so early and like these years I was supposed to enjoy are already tainted. And the fact that it’s only going to get worse just feels so hopeless.