Hair loss is probably of the most serious problem we may face in our life since there is no cure for the one caused by hormone or also called male or female pattern baldness. Yet, there are several medications or solutions available to prevent the issue from becoming worse and affect all of your hair such as Rogaine vs Keeps. Both of them are similar but also have some different parts so check our article below first before deciding which the most suitable for you.
In this article, we are going to give you information about:
– What causing Hair Loss
– What are Rogaine and Keeps
– What Rogaine and Keeps are used for
– How many variants do Rogaine and Keeps have
– How Rogaine and Keeps Work
– How to use Rogaine and Keeps
– Rogaine vs Keeps
Androgenetic Alopecia
While seeing other people can enjoy having a healthy and thick hair out there, we with hair problem often envy those people since they seem to get those beautiful hair almost effortlessly while here we are still trying to find a way to prevent them from leaving our scalp. Balding is not an uncommon case and they are widely suffered by so many people, millions of us in the world and unfortunately, there is still no cure for this condition to eliminate them completely.
Hair problem is common and mostly can be dealt with the proper hair treatment to give back their health and make the appearance more beautiful but they are only applied for those with hair issue like dry or damaged hair and not for us with hair loss problem or balding since we have different underlying core issues. For us with thinning or balding, the most common cause is DHT which is affected by testosterone and our sensitivity toward this hormone that cause hair to fall and stop to grow.
Hair loss due to DHT or male and female pattern baldness is also called as androgenetic alopecia and are only able to be treated yet not to be cured even with our advanced medication today since this is genetic. However, there are several ways to help the condition to stop or prevent them from getting worse by either addressing the core problem or by stimulating new hair growth that we can get easily in nearby pharmacies without doctor’s prescription needed.
While the name may differ from one another, androgenetic alopecia usually treated with Finasteride or Minoxidil or both combined. They are two active ingredients in so many hair loss treatment products and work differently depend on the ingredient itself but they are not mixed into one and used separately. Both are proven to work in so many people with the same issue but since they work differently, you may consider which one matching your preference better or more promising depend on how severe your problem is.
About Rogaine
Among those many hair loss products in the market, we are sure most readers are already familiar with Rogaine since this is among the few popular names we often heard when it comes to issue like hair loss. This brand is also known as Regaine in the UK but the product is actually the same and if you wonder what their active ingredient, they are a Minoxidil treatment for those with balding or hair loss problem. We can get them at pharmacies and professional also recommend them for the treatment for their patients.
Rogaine Purpose
Since Rogaine is a Minoxidil treatment, they are only used when you are in the early stage of balding or currently realize that your pillow or shower somehow have more hair strands than they used to be thus, they are not going to help gaining more hair in people with complete baldness or more severe hair loss issues. This is because when the condition is too late, the ingredient is not capable of growing more hair, moreover, this solution is said to be more effective on those with vertex balding.
Rogaine Product Options
What’s making Rogaine popular is not only because of the affectivity of its active ingredient or Minoxidil but also because they are useful for women as well means this brand offer both medication for male and female who suffer from androgenetic alopecia. The male version have liquid and foam variants with 5% active ingredient while at the other hand the female version also have both liquid and foam variants but the liquid use less active ingredient at 2% and the foam at 5%.
Rogaine Science
As it has been mentioned above, Rogaine with their active ingredient called Minoxidil is not able to fix or address the problem from its core issue but can only help growing more hair in our scalp. This active ingredient was actually used to treat high blood pressure but then scientist found and interesting effect of this medication that report to grow hair in unexpected places when taken by those patient such as on their cheek or on the back of their hands.
With this finding, some enterprising researches had the notion that applying Minoxidil topically directly on the balding area will help people grow more hair and it did work to different level depend on how severe the condition. Taken from everydayhealth Minoxidil is working by prolonging the growth phase of the hair follicles, thus they are able to keep hair longer in our scalp. The exact mechanism is still not clearly understood but there is a chance that vasodilator like minoxidil will help increase follicular size.
This effect is seen to also allow blood to flow better in our follicles and this process will carry more nutrients which in the end help hair grow faster and stay in our head before the next shedding phase.
The usage of minoxidil like Rogaine commonly have very low side effects such as dry scalp and itchiness or irritation but what we need to keep in mind is they may cause more hair loss at first since the old hair is being pushed by the new ones. In addition, they are not an instant treatment and we need months to see the result which will take our discipline in applying everyday. Read also: Rogaine vs Hims here.
Using Rogaine
As it has been mentioned above, Rogaine is a topical medication and they are applied directly into your scalp, twice a day. If you are using the foam variant, make sure to wash your hand with cold water and dry them properly first to prevent the foam melting in your hand rather on your scalp. Put half a capful on each application and give massage if needed for better absorption.
About Keeps
Another treatment we can get in the market to help us prevent the hair loss or thinning issue from continue to happen and getting worse each day is Keeps. This is also one of the most popular brand that offer the treatment for people who need to handle their androgenetic alopecia and we don’t need a prescription to get them since we can order them through their home site and wait for the product to be delivered to our house.
Keeps Purpose
Just like with other brands, Keeps is used by people who are suffering from hair loss due to hormone or androgenetic alopecia since the medication they have are meant to be used in such issues. However, the level of hair loss they can handle may differ since the medication is also different in two levels, thus it is better to decide in which level your problem currently is.
Keeps Product Options
What’s unique from this brand is they also offers doctor’s consultation right in your device by just signing up in their service that will take $20 per visit thereafter. This feature is useful since not all of us are willing to visit professional in real life due to various issues such as doesn’t have much time or afraid and shy which is understandable if your hair problem is already severe. With this consultation we will know which medication we need for our problem Keeps has to offer.
Beside this doctor’s consultation, Keeps actual product for hair loss treatment is only two; Finasteride and Minoxidil just like what you already know. As for Finasteride, this medication is only used by men and women are not even allowed to touch them in case the tablet broken or crushed. As for Minoxidil, they are safe for both men and women.
Finasteride Science
We have talked about Minoxidil above so we will only talk about Finasteride here. This medication, similar to Minoxidil was originally used to deal with other problem and it is for enlarged prostate glands. When they are given to patients, researches notice hair growth and then pursue the possibility of developing them to treat male pattern baldness. They are working since Finasteride is inhibitor of 5α reductase which is the enzyme that converts testosterone into DHT.
This DHT is the culprit of hair loss since they can miniaturized hair follicles, making them stop producing hair and finally balding the entire scalp. Finasteride in general will help reduce the level of DHT by as much as 60% when taken daily in 1 mg dose and proven to work on many patients with hair loss problem due to DHT.
Using Finasteride
Keeps especially their Finasteride is taken following those aforementioned dose since one pill contain 1 mg of Finasteride and taken only once a day; with or without food. They recommend us to take them at the same time everyday to maximize the effect and make sure to routinely consume them so when you forget, do quickly take them.
Comparison
Now, let’s compare Rogaine with Keeps. Both of them are solution we can choose to help preventing our hair loss problem from becoming worse but Rogaine is only offering a Minoxidil which is topical treatment and won’t address the hormone itself while Keeps offers both Minoxidil and Finasteride for oral that will reduce the amount of DHT produced and deal the problem from the inside.
Rogaine vs Keeps
| Rogaine | Keeps |
|---|---|
| - Only minoxidil | - Minoxidil and Finasteride |
| - 2% and 5% treatment for women (minoxidil) | - 2% treatment for women (minoxidil) |
| - Topical only | - Topical and oral |
| - Promote hair growth | - Reduce DHT and promote hair growth |
Conclusion
All in all, the decision is all yours to make since each person may have their own preferences. However, in our opinion if you are still in the beginning of hair loss phase, Minoxidil may still be helpful but if you notice that they are getting worse each day, we will recommend you to take Finasteride like those from Keeps as well to deal with the DHT.