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Most of the time, women are best served by hair loss products that are specifically made for women. The same goes for men with hair loss. However, sometimes women are better served by products made for men or vice versa.
To know which Rogaine’s Minoxidil treatment is best for you, it is necessary to know the differences between their products for men and women.
What Rogaine Says
Rogaine’s website says the difference between Women’s ROGAINE® Foam and Men’s ROGAINE® Foam. Their long explanation can be summed up as follows: The women’s hair loss foam is used once daily, while the men’s foam is used twice daily.
That is the only difference that can be gleaned from their website, but let’s look closer. In the tab where they explain how Rogaine works, there is a section called Experience Proven Results which compares the products for men and women.
It notes that Rogaine has been a leader in hair loss treatments for more than 20 years. Then, it says that 9 out of 10 men noticed results using their men’s Rogaine foam twice daily for 16 weeks in a 4-month clinical study they did.
For comparison, they share that more than 80% of women using their women’s foam once daily increased their hair count in a 6-month placebo-controlled clinical study.
Since the percentage of men who are helped (90%) is larger than the percentage of women who are helped (80%), it seems that Rogaine is more likely to help men than women.
Though the men’s version does say near the top that it is for use by men only, further down, it also says that it may be harmful if used when pregnant or breastfeeding. So, it is clear that women can and do use the men’s products.
What Is The Same Between Rogaine For Men And Women?
The short answer to this is: the ingredients. In the unscented foam, both the men’s and women’s Rogaine have the top ingredient as Minoxidil 5% w/w (without propellant). That is the only active ingredient.
In the inactive ingredients, both have butane, butylated hydroxytoluene, cetyl alcohol, citric acid, isobutane, lactic acid, polysorbate 60, propane, purified water, SD alcohol 40-B, and stearyl alcohol.
These are all listed in the same order on both product labels, so it is highly likely that these ingredients are in the foams in the same amount.
The ingredients for the liquid Rogaine are almost identical as well. The inactive ingredients of both are: alcohol, propylene glycol, and purified water. Again, these are in the same order. The only difference between the two liquid options is the men’s liquid Rogaine has Minoxidil 5% while the women’s has Minoxidil 2%.
Both liquid Rogaine’s are 60ml, while the foam options are 60g. Though Rogaine wants men to apply their foam twice daily and women only once, they direct both men and women to use 2 ml of the liquid Rogaine twice daily.
Ultimately, the Rogaine minoxidil hair loss treatments they offer for men and women have more similarities than differences.
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So Are They Different?
To sum it up, since the ingredients for both Rogaine foams are identical, these two Rogaine products are identical. They are simply labeled differently so that they can be marketed for specific people.
Men are slightly more likely to suffer from pattern baldness, which is the only thing Rogaine is formulated to help with. Therefore, it makes logical sense that Rogaine would be more likely to help men than women, and it doesn’t mean those two products are different.
Offering essentially the same product to men and women but under different labelling is, unfortunately, a well-known method companies use to make as much money as possible from their products. There is nothing preventing women from using the men’s Rogaine foam once daily or men using the women’s twice daily.
In fact, women might prefer getting the men’s Rogaine foam, as three dispensers are sold for almost the same price as two foam dispensers of the women’s foam. This makes the men’s Rogaine cheaper even though the products are the same.
The men’s liquid Rogaine is also a few dollars cheaper on most sites than the women’s. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anything that explained why the men’s products were cheaper.
Final Thoughts
These two Rogaine products being the same may not be a marketing tactic you approve of, but at least it means you should have no difficulty choosing between them.
Using the women’s Minoxidil 2% product is advisable for anyone with a sensitive scalp that might react to Minoxidil. Otherwise, simply use whichever of the two forms you prefer and then the one of those two that is cheaper.
If you know of any differences between Rogaine’s men and women minoxidil products for hair loss, please let me know!
