An old inexpensive medication can help you grow new hair safely.

For many men and some women, the loss of hair is inevitable due to genetics.

While drugs like Rogaine have been around for years, they are costly and not very effective at creating new hair growth.

On the other hand, Minoxidil, prescribed for years under the name Rogaine, rubbed into the scalp and was not very effective.  On the other hand, low-dose minoxidil taken orally is far more effective in low doses according to the NY Times. Apparently, this off-label use which is not FDA approved works because when taken orally, it is turned into sulfotransferase enzyme which makes it active on dormant hair roots.

The drug is likely not to be effective on severe hair loss though.

Check out the NY Times article on Minoxidil.

An Old Medicine Grows New Hair for Pennies a Day, Doctors Say

Dermatologists who specialize in hair loss say that the key ingredient in a topical treatment worked even better when taken orally at a low dose.

By Gina Kolata Aug. 18, 2022

The ads are everywhere — and so are the inflated claims: Special shampoos and treatments, sometimes costing thousands of dollars, will make hair grow. But many dermatologists who specialize in hair loss say that most of these products don’t work.

“There is an endless array of useless hair growth remedies,” often at “significant cost,” said Dr. Brett King, a dermatologist at Yale School of Medicine. Yet, he added, “because people are desperate, such hair growth remedies continue to abound.”

But there is a cheap treatment, he and other dermatologists say, costing pennies a day, that restores hair in many patients. It is minoxidil, an old and well-known hair-loss treatment drug used in a very different way. Rather than being applied directly to the scalp, it is being prescribed in very low-dose pills.

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