I have been on minoxidil since December 2018 and I started this diary on 30 November 2019. For six and a half years the bottle was Morr F 5%, which is 5% minoxidil with 0.1% topical finasteride. In mid 2026 I moved to a plain minoxidil solution. This post is one photo from every year, in order, with what was happening in each one. Every photo is mine and dated. I have not picked only the good angles.
The short version
- Minoxidil stopped my hair fall and gave me back most of my density. On day 320 I called it about 70% of what I had lost.
- My hair was fullest while I was also on finasteride tablets. I stopped the tablets in 2022 because of side effects and lost some of that fullness.
- The topical finasteride in Morr F did not give me pain, but it still lowered my libido, so in 2026 I switched to a plain minoxidil solution.
- Six years in, my hair is still thinning at the top. Minoxidil saved me from going bald, but I can still see where it is heading. I am not going to pretend otherwise.
- If I stop for a week or two, the shedding starts. This is for life.
What I used, start to finish
| When | What I was on |
|---|---|
| December 2018 | Minoxidil solution plus finasteride 1mg tablets. The tablets gave me sexual side effects and I stopped them. About 8 months later the hair fall came back hard. |
| 30 November 2019 | Restarted, and started this diary from day 1. Morr F 5%, 1ml on the scalp twice a day, plus a low dose of finasteride tablets that I kept changing (0.25mg on alternate days, then 0.5mg a day, then 0.25mg a day from day 54). |
| 2022 | Stopped the finasteride tablets. Testicular pain, low libido and no drive to work. The full story is here. |
| 2022 to mid 2026 | Morr F 5% only, 1ml twice a day. No tablets. |
| Mid 2026 | Switched to a plain minoxidil generic, alcohol base, 2% for now. No finasteride in any form. Not on oral minoxidil. |
2019: day 1
This is where the diary starts. I had already tried onion juice, castor oil, egg masks and six months of biotin on their own. None of it stopped the fall. The first month on minoxidil was the hardest, because the shedding gets worse before it gets better. I wrote it down day by day in the month 1 post.
2020: day 320
By the end of the first year the thin patches had filled in and I had stopped thinking about my hair every day. The first new growth showed around day 63, the hair fall was near zero by day 108, and this photo is almost a year in. Read the one-year post for the full before and after.
2021: two years in, the fullest it got
This was the best my hair looked in six years. I was on Morr F twice a day and 0.25mg of finasteride a day. With the tablets the hair was clearly fuller and thicker than it has been since. I did not keep the daily diary this year, so the photo has to speak for itself.
2022: three years in, the year I stopped the tablets
In 2022 the finasteride side effects caught up with me: a dull pain in the testicles, lower libido, and a strange loss of drive to do anything. I had told myself I would be one of the people who do not get them. I was not. I stopped the tablets and kept the Morr F. There was a shedding phase after stopping, then it settled, with less fullness than before. The whole story is in I stopped finasteride tablets in 2022.
2023: four years in, Morr F only
No tablets, just Morr F twice a day. Hair fall was steady at a handful of hairs a day, five to ten on a normal day. The crown is thinner than in 2021 and I can see it in this photo. I did not notice it much in the mirror, which is the problem with the mirror.
2024: five years in
Same routine. Looking back, this is the year I should have asked why my libido was still lower than it was before I ever started finasteride, even though I had stopped the tablets two years earlier. The answer was in the bottle: Morr F has 0.1% topical finasteride in it.
2025: six years in
Still on Morr F. By my own estimate the topical finasteride was costing me 30 to 40 percent of my libido, with none of the pain I had from the tablets. That is a trade I was no longer willing to make for hair. More on that in minoxidil side effects after six years.
2026: today, on plain minoxidil
Around June 2026 I moved from Morr F to a plain minoxidil generic, alcohol base, 2% for now. The shedding after that switch was the biggest I have had since the first month, bigger than when I stopped the tablets. I have also not been regular with it in the last six or seven months, and every time I miss a week or two the shedding comes back. I wrote about that in what happens when you skip minoxidil. My hair today is still thinning at the top. Minoxidil saved me, but I am still making up for lost ground.
Was it worth it
Yes. In 2019 I was scared of going bald and it was eating my head. Minoxidil stopped the fall and gave me a few years where I did not think about my hair at all. It did not give me my 2021 hair for keeps, and it comes with a condition: once you are on it, you are on it for life. Stop, and the shedding comes back within weeks. I have tested that more times than I would like.
What six years taught me
- If hair loss runs in your family, minoxidil is the thing that works. Supplements did nothing for me on their own. If it does not run in your family, I would try multivitamins and biotin first, because once you are on minoxidil you are on it for life.
- Finasteride tablets gave me the fullest hair and the worst side effects. Topical finasteride gave me milder versions of the same side effects. Read the finasteride post before you decide, and talk to a dermatologist. I never did, and I would do that differently.
- Dandruff from the alcohol base and some extra facial hair are the only things minoxidil itself ever did to me.
- The dermaroller in 2020 and 2021 gave me no extra result that I could see, and it was a pain to keep up.
- Take a photo of the top of your head every few months, looking down. The mirror lies. The photo does not.
Questions people ask me
Does Morr F 5% contain finasteride?
Yes. Morr F 5% is 5% minoxidil with 0.1% finasteride in the same solution. If you want minoxidil without finasteride, you need a plain minoxidil product.
Did minoxidil stop working after a few years?
Not for me. It kept my hair fall down for six years. What changed was that I stopped the finasteride tablets in 2022 and the topical finasteride in 2026, and I lost some fullness each time.
What happens if you stop minoxidil?
In my case, shedding within a week or two, every time. The hair that minoxidil is holding on to lets go. Starting again brings it back, but not all of it.
Is six years on minoxidil safe?
I am not a doctor and this is one person. In six years I had dandruff and some extra facial hair, and nothing else that I could feel. Talk to a dermatologist about your own case.
Your turn
If you are on minoxidil, how long have you been on it and what happened when you missed it? Tell me in the comments. I read all of them, and your answer helps the next person who lands here.
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