I am a 21 yo living in Egypt, and I have tried topical minox (oil not foam) for a month, and noticed how much of a responder I was. The problem is I stopped it because I have a cat, and despite I always applied it with one hand only and washed it thoroughly with soap and my cat was still safe, I decided that I won’t take the risk anymore. So I decided to look up oral minox in egypt and went on a tour in almost all pharmacies near me, and realized that oral minox is banned in egypt for 2 years now (it does not even get imported). What the heck should I do now? Any substitutes for oral minox that should do the same? Or at least any safer option than oil topical minox? I saw someone on another subreddit saying they were spraying the same amount of topical minox in a cup of water and they’d drink it, but I do not know how safe this approach is.
in theory if you can extract the ML amount of topical minoxidil equivalent to 1.25-2.5mg minoxidil and mix it with a cup of water and drink it, it will yield the same effectiveness as oral minoxidil if it does not get sublingually absorbed first, so you have to drink it full immediatly after mixing with a cup and not let it sit. active ingredients are same. but the real question is the precise dosing, ingredients inside the topical minoxidil spray that may not be safe for consumption and whether the mix is homogenous or not. the crucial part is whether the mix is fully homogenous or not, even slight imbalance in homogeneity can mean that you can get overdosed in minoxidil, which may translate to things like pericardial effusion or even death. this is quite a bold risk to take, though in theory it would work. personally I would not. you may obtain raw minoxidil powder, use an extremely precise balance with minimum weight measurement of 1mg or less, obtain empty capsules and fill the capsules with the powder equivalent to 1.25-2.5mg of minoxidil but again that is like a gray area. I canNOT and will not legally recommend you to do it. These are just like the potential solutions, if possible consult with a doctor and talk with him about these. maybe there is an institution in your country whom you could contact to import minoxidil for strict personal use with a prescription. you can alternatively make your own minoxidil tablets if you have you know precise balances and tablet press machines (but again this is not something I would recommend, just potential solutions. potential does not mean safe or legal. also if you want to go through the route of tablet press, while i don’t recommend, please don’t press more than 1 tablet at a given time or you can risk overdose if the mix of minoxidil+excipient (excipients are ingredients required for the structure of tablets) is not homogenous enough. you can say, just to give an example not to recommend, press 2.5mg oral minoxidil tablet with suppose 95mg of lactose monohydrate as its excipient, though this is just an example and you may need additional materials. You may also use a syringe, you could weigh the excipients+active ingredient of minoxidil (say 2.5mg), mix them well, put them into a syringe and create a paste, though this is likely going to be a worse option than using a tablet press. keep in mind only a handful if any pharmacies would do it in an entire country, that is egypt with a prescription. your regular pharmacy down the street has likely nowhere near the equipment but above all interest to make it where they can just hand you a package of say finasteride and make a buck. they may know how to make it or not, either way they don’t likely have any interest or any practical way to do it. compunding pharmacies are rare enough, the number of pharmacies that compound oral tablets/pills is likely vanishingly small if they do even exist.
This text is not a medical advice. For all medicines listed here, compounding them on your own is fully at your own risk.
Keep also in mind that I do NOT know what the precise laws there in egypt are. So, if compounding your own medicine is not legal, again the burden is on you if you break any law..
Will it work if you get to dose right? Absolutely. Will it be safe, probably again if dose is right for oral compound and if other ingredients inside the topical (if you want to drink topical) is safe but I am not sure and I would not take the risk nor would recommend it. Will it be legal, I have no damn idea. Would I recommend it even if you have all the PPE, a proper working area eg a chem lab, maybe even a fumehood tho unnecessary for the use case here, materials etc.? Hell fucking no.
Most compounders and manufacturers of medications can and often do use far less sensitive balances, prepare large batches with excipients (for oral compounds), mix-weight etc. then divide them to dose per tablet. But keep in mind the issue of homogeneity (which may lead to overdose) of topical formulations also persist with oral versions/forms of this kind. Pressing once or making one pill at a given time albeit slower is usually safer, even if the powder of excipient and active ingredient is mixed well.
Explicit legal disclaimer: The author provides no guarantee of accuracy for any information presented here. This I suppose is the riskiest text that I had written and whatever damage/benefit you take from here is on you. By reading this text, you accept that the risk and beneft is fully on you. I provide this text for entertainment purposes only.
-baldbutnotbold 
Take dutasteride so you get the best treatment apart from oral minoxidil. Then as you cannot take minoxidil you can maybe get tretinoin that also works on the same way as minoxidil. You’ll have to ask your dermatologist for it so you get it in foam form. I think tretinoin shouldn’t be toxic to cats, It’s a bit less effective than minoxidil but it still works https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38629345/
Please don’t listen to the crazy guy that recommends drinking minoxidil
It has been a time since I left tressless. But accidentally stumbled upon this answer of yours while giving a re-visit to the forum. I no longer have access to nor use my old account, so will write a final answer here as you accuse me of promoting drinking topical minoxidil. I want warn that 1) I did not recommend it, 2) You should return your claim as it does not reflect the reality.
I have not recommended drinking topical minoxidil. In theory, it would work. In practice it is dangerous, read it the text above properly and you would see. You seem to be also new to fighting hair loss, tretinoin on its own is not powerful.
I had also LITERALLY warned people to NOT drink the topical minoxidil back when I used this place, check this thread of mine out:
I am not going to stay here for long this time too. Medications should only be prescribed by doctors, any mention of x or y is better even if you state explicitly to see a doctor first, it can lead to people getting complications without referring to a doctor and you may have problems. You explicitly mention that dutasteride is better multiple times in your other posts, so be careful. It is true that dutasteride is indeed a better performer in suppressing DHT but calling it “better” is not suitable.
You’re saying you’re not recommending it when literally the only suggestion you had in your comment was drinking topical minoxidil!!! Why did you even put that question then??
If you had given more than 5 seconds reading my answer you’d have noticed that I posted a study in which it’s demonstrated that standalone tretinoin is effective in hair growth via Wnt/β-catenin, just like minoxidil, it’s just that it’s less effective than topical minoxidil, but it still has effectiveness.
Literally the study I mentioned has a comparison between only tretinoin and only minoxidil, you can see it here
No I did not recommend drinking topical minoxidil. Read it properly. I said it would work but it is dangerous. I explicitly state that I don’t recommend it at the end. It would work but is dangerous undoubtedly. I state multiple times that, while this and that may be done and work I would not recommend them and just discuss/evaluate them for legality/safety with a doctor and perhaps a lawyer
Tret alone is also not powerful on its own.
You didn’t say it wasn’t powerful, you literally said it doesn’t work on it’s own which is false. Stop spreading misinformation
crab. I am not gonna get into a drama with you. do whatever is safe and works. I sincerely wanna leave this chat. The original guy who posted this is not even probably aware of the drama going on here. You seem immature, while I respect your ability to research. Bye.
Again tret is not powerful.
Also don’t waste your time here man, it is a dead forum. I know you are trying to reply
You didn’t say it wasn’t powerful, you literally said it doesn’t work on it’s own which is false. Stop spreading misinformation.
My original text is there man. I said it is not powerful and it may also not work. Knowledge is one thing but respect is another, you need both.
Your original test is edited lol
I edited it before you made this thread
To be honest, I don’t think tret would work on its own at all. Thanks for the research, very interesting that it slightly works.
I’m talking about the text in which you said that tretinoin doesn’t work standalone after replying to my comment, the comment in which you lied
**ok, show me the precise comment I will edit it and apologize. quote it. I often mentioned tret as boosting sult1a1 myself. i am not an enemy of tret, relax. but it does not work well on its own~~, very likely~~. even if it works, i don’t think it is great. **
Again that’s not what you said, you lied and said that it doesn’t work on its own and then you edited it after.
I’m not replying anymore to you though as you clearly not deserve my help with that attitude, I hope if other people read this pay attention and don’t listen to any other reckless advice you give. Hopefully you’ll mature at some point my man, best of luck
Who are you to help me with this attitude? You could have mentioned look tret works, but slightly and I would say oh yeah. You cannot show me the precise comment and then now making an excuse
Show me the comment where I mention tret does not work on its own. I just said that it is not powerful after reading that research which I am right for. TBH, I could not have known tret did something to begin with without that research.
It is fine, I don’t even know who you are. You are not a researcher, you just interpret it like I do. I can do it myself and had done it myself. Check this thread of mine out.
Also where is the tret comment? There is none 
. Show me the evidence, but there is none. You are wrong and accusing me of lying, something you have to prove yet you don’t. It seems you are the one who is lying, if you cannot prove a claim that you make 
You mentioned that I edited my post and had mentioned tret does not work there. I just said it is not powerful on its own, I hold that claim to this date. If you accuse me of doing this either prove it or just leave.
I left this place precisely because of these attitudes, it is useless to argue, a waste of time for me and people misunderstand that you recommend something when you don’t. No need for drama.
bye. also remove 20char limit.