WGAF?! Journal: In Praise of Minoxidil : A Hair-Raising Tale.

Thanks to the miracle of Google Search...I recently found a friend that I hadn't talked to for over 30 years.

Delighted at the discovery, I called her...and we caught-up on our lives. Our first conversation lasted 2.5 hours.

A couple of her questions took me totally by surprize.

Did I still have hair?

Oh yes, hair.

Of course, I do.

And, did I still wear black bikini underwear?

What! She remembered that!.

I was so young then.

Sorry, but that has to be another story.

Anyway, I really hadn't thought much about my hair...for over a decade.

The reason--minoxidil.

Thinning and receding hairlines are the ego's achilles heel for most men. Scars are OK. Love handles...not a problem. Erectile dysfunction? Hey!...there's a easy and immediate solution for that. But going bald...Oh, no!

If in doubt about men's hair obsession...just look at Joe Biden and his pitiful plugs...or why Donald Trump puts up with the barrage of jokes about his comb-over companion.

Of course, some men don't care.

There are always "outliers," the new MSM word...for exceptions.

Before bald was truly hip...there were a few notables...like Yul Brynner and Telly Savalas.

Now, Bruce Willis is one of many who flaunts his baldness. Also very visible is TV musician Kevin Eubanks. The cue ball look seems to especially appeal to the overly tattooed and ultra-nationalistic crowd. The Italians also seem to like smooth heads.

Not me. I may have baby fine hair on my head but I have always wanted to keep it!

OK...perhaps there's not as much hair on the top as before...but enough to make it look like I'm in full mane.

Besides, my girlfriends and wives have always enjoyed running their hands thru this fine hair.

"Oh, so soft," they'd coo. "Just like a baby's!"

In truth, this hair mangling and mussing has always annoyed me...but I tolerated it. For love. Ok, for sex.

My hair equanimity wasn't always that way.

Around 1995, I was alarmed to find the crown hairs...thinning. Rapidly.
That's when my BIGGEST FEAR emerged. That I was genetically destined to be...BALD!!!

I had read that it was normal for a human to lose about 50 hairs daily. But my loss seemed to be MORE!

I only needed to look at my mother's brother...Uncle Wally...and her father...both with heads as smooth as bowling balls. I had also read...countless times...to my horror...theories that the mother's lineage determined the child's hairline. Apparently...I was DOOMED!

So I started on Rogaine. What did I have to lose...except money?

Back then, Rogaine was just a 2% solution...and a very expensive solution. About $25 per month.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minoxidil

Though I was outside the effective target demographic for Rogaine effectiveness...ages 19-41...and my area of loss was on the front of my skull, not the usual male pattern balding, I started it...out of desperation to stop the loss.

It would take less than a year before the first tiny shoots of new growth...lonely fine hairs...appeared where none had gone before. Sort of like...the Starship Enterprise.

Lovely!

The big financial break came in February 1996...when minoxidil went generic...and I could buy it for around $9 month at Walgreen's.

But the real breakthrough was the unveiling of a stronger concentration...the 5% solution!

Now, I buy a three-month supply at WalMart for about $19.00 and I apply only one dropper-full nightly.

The happy result is that I brush a pretty full head of graying hair every morning.

And sometimes at night, I remember to thank minoxidil...and that maybe I got my father's genes.