How to taper off minoxidil

Topical minoxidil

Topical minoxidil does not require tapering off, since there are no withdrawal symptoms.

It’s not addictive. Which means there is no need for a progressive and systematically lowering of the dose to give your mind and your body the needed time to adjust to living without the medication in your system.

Some medication however is highly addictive for your psyche and body. Quitting “cold turkey”, which means suddenly quitting without tapering off, has multiple risks for certain medication such as:

• More likely to experience withdrawal symptoms
• Dangerous for your physical health
• Dangerous for your mental health.
• Previous mental health problems might worsen, addiction relapse might happen

But again, you shouldn’t worry about this since topical minoxidil is not addictive.

However, if we’re talking about tapering off minoxidil because you want to quit eventually, then it is important to note that you will lose all hair gains on your scalp eventually.

Minoxidil must be continued indefinitely, or progressive hair loss will start occurring again.

Oral minoxidil withdrawal

Oral minoxidil withdrawal symptoms are a possibility, although certainly not always the case.

The higher the dosage, the more chance you have to experience withdrawal like symptoms.

One study noted the use of minoxidil as an antihypertensive drugs for severe hypertension in three children for 47 to 158 weeks at the dosage of 40 to 50 mg/day.

Rebound hypertension manifesting as hypertensive encephalopathy occurred in all when minoxidil was withdrawn rapidly^[1]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7359290/

It should be noted that this physical withdrawal phenomena was due to oral minoxidil use. Most people use topical minoxidil for hair growth because of the reduced amount of systematic absorption when applied topically.

A second thing to add is that dosages of 40 to 50 mg taken orally are extremely high. Topical dosages typically range between 0.5-5 mg. And there’s even much less systematic absorption of these already smaller dosages.

This makes topical minoxidil safer and less likely to induce withdrawal symptoms compared to oral minoxidil. Especially if one takes high doses of oral minoxidil.

That doesn’t mean that oral minoxidil is unsafe, however. Low dosages of oral minoxidil are usually safe, and science confirms that belief.

But, taking oral minoxidil for hair loss should only be considered if topical minoxidil isn’t effective, or if topical minoxidil irritates the skin of the user. In my opinion, topical minoxidil is always preferable and should always be attempted as a first line treatment to combat hair loss. 

Oral dosages should be kept as low as possible while simultaneously being effective at promoting hair growth and halting further hair loss.

Nevertheless, it should be noted that oral minoxidil has a higher chance at inducing side effects and withdrawal like symptoms due to the higher dosages and larger systematic absorption of the drug.

How to taper off minoxidil safely?

Let me explain how to taper off minoxidil safely in order to reduce possible withdrawal symptoms. This is especially important in regard to oral minoxidil, since the dosages are much higher than topical minoxidil doses.

There is no set way to taper off minoxidil before stopping. But what it ultimately comes down to, is slowly, consistently, and systematically lowering the doses before quitting entirely.

An example of a tapering off program could look like this:

My recommendation would be to lower the number of times you apply daily. If you usually apply topical minoxidil twice a day, then you can start with applying just one time a day.

Next, you can alter the days you decide to apply minoxidil. So, for example, apply minoxidil just one time on Monday, Tuesday no minoxidil appliance, Wednesday again applying one time, and so on.

As a final step, you could apply once on Monday, nothing on Tuesday and Wednesday, apply again on Thursday, and so on before finally quitting the medication.

Oral minoxidil would follow the same principle, but the difference would be lowering the amount of tablets you’re taking to reduce the dosages instead of applying minoxidil to your skin.

Again, the key is to slowly reduce the amount of medication you take before quitting entirely to prevent withdrawal symptoms.

If you have any doubts or questions about how to taper off minoxidil safely, then please consult your general practitioner.