Rogaine homepage provides online "Forum" for user discussion, testimonials.

ROGAINE HOMEPAGE PROVIDES INTERACTIVE ONLINE "COMMUNITY," including a "Forum" for "discussing Rogaine [minoxidil 2% solution] and the issues surrounding hair loss with others on the Internet" and sharing user testimonials. Visitors also can "drop...a line" to Pharmacia & Upjohn via e-mail with questions or "problems" or sign on to a "Users Only Area" by entering the lot number on their Rogaine bottle, giving them access to private discussion groups about Rogaine and "exclusive offers."

The "Forum" page allows users to participate in open discussions of selected topics and suggest new topics. "Dealing with Hair Loss" and "Hairstyling with Thinning Hair" are two discussion topics running on the nascent homepage, which went online Feb. 4.

The launch of the Web site for the hair regrowth OTC treatment was accompanied by a panel of "experts" during a daily forum regarding hair loss issues held Feb. 7-10. Experts included: Lorna Thomas, MD, a "board certified dermatologist and hair loss expert"; Tracy Pattin, a Rogaine for Women user and founder of a support group for women suffering from hair loss; Tom Cash, PhD, "appearance psychologist"; and Jacob Neal, a "hair stylist to the stars."

The homepage for Rogaine (www.rogaineonline.com) provides separate routes for users of the Rogaine for Men and Rogaine for Women products to follow. Upon arrival at "Rogaine Online," users find an image of double glass doors leading into the site -- one marked for men and one for women. "Rogaine is medically proven to regrow hair," users are told. "Click on a door to learn more."

Users are welcomed to their respective rooms, peppered with faces of young, attractive "users" and introductory information: "Approximately 40 mil. American men [20 mil. American women] report hair loss [to varying degrees as they mature]. Depending on the cause, you don't have to sit back and let it happen," the site proclaims. "Rogaine hair regrowth treatment -- now available without prescription -- has been shown to help stop hair loss and even regrow hair in many cases," users are told. The homepage "is the place to learn more about hair loss and what you can do about it."

Three options follow the intro in both the men's and women's pathways: "What is Rogaine and How Does It Work?"; "Your Online Rogaine Community"; and "Rogaine Users Only Area." The first option includes subsections on "Men and Hair Loss [Women and Thinning Hair]"; "Frequently Asked Questions"; and "Using Rogaine."

Men experiencing hair loss or women with thinning hair are "not alone," users are reassured in their respective first subsection. While the most common type of hair loss in men is male pattern baldness, women "will often notice a gradual thinning of the hair all over the scalp starting on the top of the head." Rogaine works best, the homepage says, in users whose hair loss is hereditary. The page also notes causes of hair loss for which Rogaine is not effective: medication-induced hair loss, or that which is due to nutritional or thyroid problems, chemotherapy, scarring of the scalp, pregnancy, grooming methods that pull hair tightly and recently discontinued use of birth control pills.

The "Frequently Asked Questions" pages include issues such as: "How soon can I expect results from using Rogaine," "Can I use hair sprays, mousses, gels, conditioners and such," "Does Rogaine work on frontal baldness," does it work in non hereditary-related hair loss, "Can I have my hair colored or permed while using Rogaine," "What happens if I get new hair regrowth and I stop using Rogaine," and "Are there special instructions for washing my hair?" Users are told to use "a mild shampoo like Progaine," also marketed by P&U, and "at least towel dry" hair before application of Rogaine to keep the solution from running off the scalp.

"Some new users may notice an increase in hair loss immediately after starting use of Rogaine," the company says in the section on using Rogaine. "This is not cause for worry," it continues. "Rogaine helps users regrow their hair by first discarding older weaker hairs."

"At first...new hair may be soft, downy and colorless." However, as users "continue using Rogaine, this new hair will eventually become the same color and thickness" as the rest of their hair. Hair regrowth typically will begin after four months of usage, but "eight months of twice-daily applications may be necessary to determine your best response to Rogaine." The product "works gradually" and must be used consistently "to achieve...desired results," the homepage states.

The launch of the homepage follows closely the introduction of a "Real Users, Real Results" ad campaign for Rogaine for Men projecting the image of a "real user" through the testimonial of a "regular guy" ("The Tan Sheet" Feb. 3, p. 12).

A similar testimonial from a male user is featured online under the heading "Testimonials from Real Rogaine Users." The user says: "I was a twenty-nine-year-old guy and I was going bald; I'd had enough." However, he had "heard that [Rogaine] was one of the few genuine hair treatments available" so he "bought it with high hopes." His dreams of hair regrowth were realized "four or five months" later, he says, when his "wife and friends" noticed that his "bald spot had really started filling in."

Likewise, a woman giving testimony of her experience says that, at 55, she has been losing her hair "for years." Although her hair always has been "fine and thin," now she says she notices a lot of hair on her towel every time she washes her hair. After her doctor tells her that it is hereditary, she tries Rogaine. Though dubious at times, she says she saw results after using the product for only two months. "It's not like five or six new hairs," she says, "it's a whole crop." It is a "miracle," she states, "incredible." She wants to "tell everyone at work" about using Rogaine, she says, and advise other women to try it.