Where to Buy Growplex in Europe

A 60ml can of Growplex weighs less than a phone. That is the last simple thing about getting one to a European address. Click one listing and it turns up in a few days at the price shown on the page. Click another and it turns up three weeks later with a bill from the courier attached.

Two routes actually work. A third one wastes a Saturday. Here is what each of them costs you.

On this page

• What Growplex VitaFoam is
• Buying from a seller who holds EU stock
• Importing it yourself
• Why your pharmacy cannot order it in
• What to check before you pay
• What it costs per month
• One can is a one month trial
• Questions people ask

What Growplex VitaFoam is

Growplex VitaFoam is a 5% minoxidil foam in a 60ml can, with 5% biotin in the formula and no propylene glycol. One can covers a month. There is a version for men and a version for women, and the price here is EUR 34.99 for the one month supply.

The missing propylene glycol is why most people go looking for this one. Propylene glycol is the solvent that carries minoxidil in the standard liquid, and it sits behind a large share of the itching, flaking and redness that makes people quit in month two. Foams leave it out. The full trade off is in our piece on foam versus lotion. The active ingredient behaves the same way in either format and is thought to work by holding follicles in their growth phase for longer, which DermNet's page on topical minoxidil sets out in plain language.

Nothing in the formula is exotic. The difficulty is distribution. Growplex is carried by a small number of sellers, and where your parcel physically starts decides both what you pay and when it lands.

Buying from a seller who holds EU stock

When a shop has already imported the stock, the import has already happened. Duty and tax were settled when the pallet cleared. The price on the page is the price you pay, and the parcel that reaches you travels inside the customs union or, for UK buyers, on a route the seller has already set up. Delivery is measured in days. Returns go to a European address.

Hairdealz ships across the UK and EU from EU stock. A can of Growplex VitaFoam is EUR 34.99, delivery is free over EUR 100, and there is a 120 day guarantee. The men's and the women's version are both held in stock, so neither is a special order that appears on your doorstep six weeks later.

This is the dull option and it is the one most people should take.

Importing it yourself

You can buy from a seller outside the EU and the UK and have the can flown over. Plenty of people do. The listed price usually looks fine, and then three separate things happen to it.

Shipping is the first. A single can weighs almost nothing, but courier pricing on a small parcel crossing a border rarely reflects that, and the cheaper postal options are the slow ones.

Import charges are the second. Goods arriving from outside the EU, or from outside the UK if you are British, are normally assessed for import tax, and the carrier tends to pay it at the border and then bill you with a handling fee on top. That fee is often a flat amount rather than a percentage, which is what makes it bite on a EUR 35 item. Rates and thresholds differ by country and they change, so check what applies where you live before you order rather than after.

The border itself is the third. Minoxidil is a medicine, its classification varies from country to country, and in several markets it sits behind a pharmacy counter rather than on an open shelf. A parcel holding a medicine does not get handled like a parcel holding a t-shirt. It can be opened, held pending paperwork, or refused entry, and the carrier will not always tell you which of those happened. Pressurised cans are restricted goods on some air freight routes as well, which adds days.

Then there is the part nobody plans for. If the parcel never arrives you are opening a claim across two postal systems. If the can arrives dented, or your scalp objects to it in week one, the return address is in another country and return postage on a pressurised can is not cheap. We went through the same border mechanics in more detail for Kirkland in our guide to shipping and customs in Europe, and none of it softens because the brand on the can is different.

	Imported yourself	Bought from EU stock
Delivery	Commonly a few weeks, longer if the parcel is held	A few working days to most addresses
Import tax	Charged on arrival	Already inside the shelf price
Carrier handling fee	Usual, and often a flat charge	None
If it never turns up	A claim across two postal systems	Reship or refund from the seller
Returns	Postage back out of Europe	European return address

Why your pharmacy cannot order it in

This route does not exist, and saying so plainly beats sending you on a walk into town. Growplex is not a European pharmacy brand. Pharmacies stock the products licensed in their own country plus the local generics, and their wholesalers carry what those licences cover, so a request to order it in hits the same wall from the other side of the counter.

What a pharmacist can do is tell you which licensed minoxidil products are sold where you live and whether any of them need a prescription. That conversation is worth having, particularly if you take medication for blood pressure or you are not certain your hair loss is pattern hair loss at all. It is just not a way to get hold of this particular brand.

What to check before you pay

Comparing sellers comes down to four questions.

• Does the price already include the tax due in your country. A price quoted without it is an incomplete number, and the rest of it arrives by email a fortnight later.
• Where does the parcel physically ship from. "Ships to Europe" and "ships from Europe" are different promises, and only the second one keeps customs out of your order.
• What happens if it does not arrive. A seller who reships or refunds is carrying that risk themselves. A seller who tells you to file a claim with the postal service has handed it to you.
• How long the return window runs. Minoxidil is judged over months, so fourteen or thirty days closes long before you know anything useful. The 120 day guarantee here exists for that reason.

What it costs per month

Buying a foam one can at a time is the most expensive way to use minoxidil. That is worth seeing in numbers rather than being told.

Product	Pack	Price	Per month
Growplex VitaFoam 5%	60ml, one month	EUR 34.99	EUR 34.99
Rogaine 5% foam or solution	3 months	EUR 79.99	EUR 26.66
Kirkland 5% lotion	1 month	EUR 24.99	EUR 24.99
Kirkland 5% lotion	3 months	EUR 64.99	EUR 21.66
Kirkland 5% lotion	6 months	EUR 89.99	EUR 15.00
Kirkland 5% lotion	12 months	EUR 159.99	EUR 13.33

The gap is wide and you should look at it with your eyes open. If your scalp is comfortable with the standard liquid, the twelve month Kirkland pack is the cheapest way to stay on treatment, at roughly EUR 0.22 per ml. In the Netherlands that is the lowest price per ml we can find among Dutch sellers. Prices for plain minoxidil solutions vary a lot between countries, so look at what is sold near you before you commit to a year of anything.

What the extra buys with a foam is a formula without propylene glycol, a drying time of about a minute, and the freedom to stop after four weeks. Rogaine's 5% foam sits between the two at EUR 79.99 for three months and is on pre-order for mid September despatch, so if you want a foam this week, Growplex is the can on the shelf.

One can is a one month trial

One can is one month, and one month is not long enough to judge minoxidil. Pattern hair loss moves slowly and its treatments move slowly too, which is why the honest answer is to plan for three to six months before you decide anything. DermNet's overview of male pattern hair loss makes the same point about timescales.

The first few weeks can look like the treatment is making things worse. Some people shed noticeably after starting, as resting hairs are pushed out ahead of new growth. It settles. Knowing it is coming is the difference between carrying on and binning the can in week five.

Treat the first can as a tolerance test. It tells you whether your scalp is comfortable with the foam and whether the routine survives contact with your actual mornings, which is useful on its own. If the answer after four weeks is yes, you then need a plan for the following five months, whether that is repeat cans or a move to a larger lotion pack. The 120 day guarantee happens to cover about the same window you need in order to form an opinion.

Follow the leaflet in your own box rather than something you read on a forum. Licensed foams do not all share one routine. The UK patient information for a 5% foam for men and the leaflet for a 5% foam for women set out different schedules, so the pack in your hand is the one to read.

Questions people ask

Can I buy Growplex at a pharmacy in Europe?

No. Growplex is not a European pharmacy brand, so it does not sit in the catalogues your pharmacist orders from and it cannot be ordered in for you. Your options are a seller holding EU stock or importing a can yourself.

Will I pay customs charges on a Growplex order?

It depends on where the parcel starts. Anything posted from outside the EU or the UK can attract import tax plus a carrier handling fee on arrival, and the amounts differ by country. An order shipped from EU stock has already been through that, so the price at checkout is the whole cost.

Is Growplex the same thing as Rogaine or Regaine?

No, they are separate brands. All three sell a 5% foam and the active ingredient is the same, but the inactive ingredients, the can size and the pricing differ. Growplex leaves out propylene glycol and adds 5% biotin.

How long does one 60ml can last?

One month, at the amount printed on the packaging. Using more than the stated dose does not speed anything up and raises the chance of side effects, so treat the can size as the schedule.

Is a foam better than a lotion?

For some scalps, yes. The foam leaves out propylene glycol, the ingredient most often responsible for irritation, and it dries in about a minute. The liquid delivers the same active ingredient for less money per month. If you have used a liquid for months without any trouble, there is no strong reason to switch.

Minoxidil is a medicine. Read the patient information leaflet in the pack before you start, and speak to a doctor or pharmacist if you are unsure whether it suits you. Stop using it and seek medical advice if you get chest pain, a rapid heartbeat, dizziness, fainting or sudden unexplained weight gain. If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, or you have a heart condition or concerns about your blood pressure, talk to a doctor before using minoxidil at all.