I’m Seeing Hairs Sprouting With Propecia Use

Dr. Rassman,
After stopping propecia for about one year I lost a fair amount of hair all over my head including the forelock and frontal scalp area. I have started taking propecia again and I am now about 1.5 months into treatment. If I look in the forelock, I can see a few hairs popping up. I would guess that for every square inch, five to ten hairs that are about .25 to .5 inches long (which is quite different looking than the rest of my hair which is currently about two or three inches long) have appeared. My question is this. How excited should I get. If I’m seeing new hair pop up after only 1.5 months should I keep praying and expect to see even more of these lost soldiers sprouting? Also, another question. I’ve been using Rogain as well, but only at night, for the past few weeks. Will my hair become rogain dependent? I can’t see continuing to use rogaine for much longer, but I was hoping to slow the hairline loss while waiting for the propecia to kick in.

Whatever you are doing, it sounds like it is working — so stick to it. Minoxidil (Rogaine) does require twice a day treatment for it to be effective and if there is dependence, it usually takes months on a twice a day routine to develop.

Please get excited, because that will keep you interested in staying with the treatment. You should get your hair mapped out for miniaturization so that there is some science and numbers for you to track so that you understand what is happening on your head. That is why the mapping is so important and why I mention it quite frequently here.