Minoxidil, the Shedding Phase, and Why Reddit Isn't the Enemy (Just Loud)

I started using topical minoxidil 5% in February 2024. I'd been shedding at a rate that made it clear it was time, so I stopped stalling and started. First problem: where would I even buy this from. So, like we all do, I went online and typed "topical minoxidil Sri Lanka" — and that's how I was introduced to the name Kirkland, the unofficial "original" minoxidil of Sri Lanka (more on that particular piece of accidental branding later). I bought a 3-pack. Cost me around 7,000 rupees a bottle. I started religiously applying and massaging it onto my scalp, morning and night.

So, where should you actually buy minoxidil from? Well, the answer isn't complicated: every pharmacy stocks it now, at prices ranging anywhere from Rs. 3,500 to Rs. 15,000. They are all, chemically speaking, the same molecule. There might be marginal differences in formulation quality with the pricier variants, but the active ingredient doesn't change. Don't fall for the marketing — more money does not equal more hair in this case, however much a nicer bottle would like you to believe otherwise.

If you're chronically online, like the rest of us, you've probably come across resellers running Facebook ads for imported (some suspiciously "refilled") Kirkland minoxidil bottles. Kirkland, for anyone who hasn't shopped at Costco, is a US supermarket's in-house brand — not a Swiss laboratory, not a pharmaceutical dynasty, a warehouse club's version of "great value." And yet these resellers have collectively managed to convince an entire generation of Sri Lankan men that Kirkland is the one true, original source of pure minoxidil, and that any other branded generic is inferior — or worse, fake. It's a genuinely impressive piece of unpaid marketing, done entirely by people with no affiliation to Costco whatsoever. You'll also see nonsense "authenticity tests" doing the rounds — bleach tests and the like — which prove nothing about Kirkland's supposed purity and everything about how much diluted stock is quietly being resold in this market. Here's what you actually need to know: Kirkland is plain old generic minoxidil, repackaged by a supermarket, not smuggled out of a vault. Just don't pay a premium to buy it through Sri Lankan Facebook resellers. I did. I learned my lesson so you don't have to.

A month and a half in, I entered the phase everyone warns you about and nobody quite prepares you for: the shedding phase. Here's the science behind it. Minoxidil works partly by nudging follicles that are sitting in telogen — the resting phase of the hair cycle — into re-entering anagen, the active growth phase, ahead of schedule. To make room for that new growth, the old resting hairs get pushed out early, which is why you suddenly see more coming out in the shower and on your pillow. It's not new damage — it's your existing hair being evicted a little early so a fresh, hopefully thicker batch can move in. It typically settles within a few weeks. It was a genuinely bittersweet feeling: relief that the treatment was clearly doing something, mixed with the low-grade panic of watching more hair than usual end up in your palm.

So how does minoxidil actually work? TL;DR — it increases blood flow to your hair follicles, giving them a nutritional boost that helps them grow thicker, longer hair for longer. Mechanistically, minoxidil converts into its active form, minoxidil sulfate, which opens potassium channels in the smooth muscle around your scalp's blood vessels. This relaxes those vessels and improves circulation, delivering more oxygen and nutrients to the follicle. On top of the blood flow effect, it also directly shortens the telogen phase and prolongs anagen, which is the other half of the shedding-then-growth story above. Scientists will happily tell you minoxidil has been used for this for over three decades and still isn't 100% sure why it works this well — which is either humbling or slightly concerning, depending on your relationship with uncertainty.

A quick word on side effects, since you should know what you're signing up for. Topical minoxidil is generally well tolerated, but scalp irritation, dryness, and flaking are common, usually from the alcohol or propylene glycol in the formula rather than the minoxidil itself — worth knowing before you blame the drug for what's actually the delivery vehicle. Some people get unwanted fine hair growth on the forehead or face if it spreads beyond the scalp, so apply carefully and wash your hands after. Initial shedding, as covered above, is expected and not a reason to panic or quit. Oral minoxidil, which some people move to later, carries more systemic considerations — fluid retention, increased heart rate — and needs medical supervision, which is a different conversation for a different article.

However, seven months in, I hit a plateau. My hair started shedding again — every gentle pull left hair on my palm. This is when I had to come to terms with the science I'd been conveniently ignoring: minoxidil alone is not a great way to treat genetic baldness. It's excellent if the hair fall is stress-induced, or from an acute illness — reversible causes. But if it's genetic, which in my case it was, you have to treat the root cause, which is a pesky little hormone called DHT. Sounds scary. Kind of is. The only way to stop DHT from pulling a Johnny on your head is by blocking its production with a medicine called finasteride.

But if you've ever read Reddit threads about fin, you'd rightfully be hesitant to even consider it. I certainly was. Here's the funny thing — even men of science, myself included, get spooked by Reddit horror stories about finasteride. But it turns out those stories are genuinely rare in the bigger picture. Millions of men worldwide are on it without issue. What's actually scaring us is availability bias — the tendency to treat a handful of vivid, memorable stories as if they represent the average outcome, when they're really just the loudest ones, not the most common ones. Reddit isn't lying, technically. It's just where the unluckiest 1% go to be heard, and they get heard a lot louder than the other 99% who took the pill and quietly moved on with their evening.

More on what finasteride actually is, and does, in the next article.

Scientific Citations

1. Minoxidil. StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf (2023). Reference-standard summary of minoxidil's mechanism (ATP-sensitive potassium channel opening, vasodilation, VEGF induction) and its indications and adverse effect profile. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK482378/
2. Messenger AG, Rundegren J. Minoxidil: mechanisms of action on hair growth. British Journal of Dermatology (via PubMed). Establishes that topical minoxidil shortens the telogen phase, causing premature entry of resting follicles into anagen — the mechanism behind the initial shedding phase — and prolongs anagen while increasing follicle size. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14996087/
3. Applications and efficacy of minoxidil in dermatology. Skin Health and Disease, Oxford Academic (2026). Describes minoxidil's potassium-channel-opening, vasodilatory mechanism and its role in improving nutrient and oxygen delivery to hair follicles to support the anagen phase. https://academic.oup.com/skinhd/article-pdf/4/6/ski2.472/61412258/skinhd_4_6_e472.pdf

(Citations on finasteride's mechanism and the actual reported incidence of sexual side effects will be covered in full in the next article, dedicated to finasteride specifically.)