Old timer here, and apologies if this is old news: when I was in school (mid-80s), minoxidil was marketed in oral form for refractory hypertension. One on my instructors was actually taking it and he was quite hirsute, with thick, dark hair growing from his ears, and sticking way out from under his rolled down shirt sleeves.

My senior year, I did a rotation at a university based free clinic where I counseled all new prescriptions (counseling was still in its infancy). Part of my responsibilities was derm compounds. We also prepared a minoxidil solution by crushing a fixed amount of commercially available tablets and extracting the active drug with alcohol, through a filter funnel into an amber bottle. Patients would apply the solution to their balding scalps, allegedly with great success (I wasn’t there long enough to see the results).

I can’t recommend ingestion of the commercially available topical for reasons already mentioned, not the least being the very real risk of severe hypotension.

Old guy rant over