Jeff Donovan, MD, PhD says:Ideally minoxidil should be left on the scalp for 8 hours but the 'minimum' time I advise is 4-6 hours. After 4 hours, a high proportion (ie nearly 3/4) of the minoxidil is absorbed.This advice comes from a study done nearly 30 years ago. In that study, 22 men. The researchers examined how muc...