130 replies to this topic

[hamishm00]

Yeah, that's a new one (topical finasteride), but certainly makes sense.

One other solution that seems to work (in clinical trials) as well is flax lignan supplementation.

Nisim shampoo is all I use now, together with the Nisim extract. I now have normal hair thickness in 99% of my scalp (still resisting slightly near the sweat gland areas on the temple, but still making progress) - it's better than it was when I was 18 years old.

[nowayout]

Nisim shampoo is all I use now, together with the Nisim extract. I now have normal hair thickness in 99% of my scalp (still resisting slightly near the sweat gland areas on the temple, but still making progress) - it's better than it was when I was 18 years old.

Interesting. I looked at their site. They claim that their herbal extract formula reduces DHT, but I did not see any further explanation of this statement. Do you happen to have any more information on this issue?

People don't seem to think much of it on hairlosshelp.com, but I guess everyone responds differently.

Edited by andre, 22 March 2009 - 04:06 PM.

[JLL]

Nisim shampoo is all I use now, together with the Nisim extract. I now have normal hair thickness in 99% of my scalp (still resisting slightly near the sweat gland areas on the temple, but still making progress) - it's better than it was when I was 18 years old.

Interesting. I looked at their site. They claim that their herbal extract formula reduces DHT, but I did not see any further explanation of this statement. Do you happen to have any more information on this issue?

People don't seem to think much of it on hairlosshelp.com, but I guess everyone responds differently.

It seems to have saw palmetto and rosemary, which are said to reduce DHT.

[hamishm00]

Interesting. I looked at their site. They claim that their herbal extract formula reduces DHT, but I did not see any further explanation of this statement. Do you happen to have any more information on this issue?

Yeah, their "extract" includes saw palmetto and other things which they keep secret. Who knows.

They have a clinical study on their website. click on the lick on the left on the main page that says "clinical study".

[zorba990]

Interesting. I looked at their site. They claim that their herbal extract formula reduces DHT, but I did not see any further explanation of this statement. Do you happen to have any more information on this issue?

Yeah, their "extract" includes saw palmetto and other things which they keep secret. Who knows.

They have a clinical study on their website. click on the lick on the left on the main page that says "clinical study".

I've stopped taking Saw Palmetto (LEFs prostate forumula). I noticed after several years of use that it seems to be numbing
my orgasms. A little searching around the net and I found some reports of the same. Hopefully things
will be back to normal in a few months. I wasn't taking it for prostate issues but for preventing hair loss.
I'm hoping that the large TRes doses I am now taking will work as effectively.

[GoodFellas]

Looking for Rogain in pill form, is that available? I searched ebay and all I found was powder Rogain.

Other than that these supplements are beneficial to prevent hair loss:

MSM
Bioisil
CoQ10
MultiVitamin
Vitamin K2
Saw palmetto

Rogaine is probably the one that works best.

[renwosing]

RU58841 is still the best, without any sides.

Renwosing

[nowayout]

Looking for Rogain in pill form, is that available? I searched ebay and all I found was powder Rogain.

No, Minoxidial (Rogaine) is a blood pressure medication. You don't want to take that internally.

[zorba990]

Looking for Rogain in pill form, is that available? I searched ebay and all I found was powder Rogain.

No, Minoxidial (Rogaine) is a blood pressure medication. You don't want to take that internally.

What do you guys think about needling in conjunction with Minox (or even without)?

Using something like this:

http://stores.ebay.c...-hair-loss.html

[zocco]

AMINEXIL, a patented hair loss innovation, fights against collagen stiffening to keep the tissues surrounding the root supple and elastic, which gives it a more solid hold to the scalp. Captured by the root, SP 94 transforms itself there into hair rebuilding elements to build a dense, thick and strong fibre from inside.

This is in some Vichy's hairloss products. Here it's pretty expensive, 37€ for 12 or 18 ampules. Anyone tried it for longer time?

[nowayout]

AMINEXIL, a patented hair loss innovation, fights against collagen stiffening to keep the tissues surrounding the root supple and elastic, which gives it a more solid hold to the scalp. Captured by the root, SP 94 transforms itself there into hair rebuilding elements to build a dense, thick and strong fibre from inside.

This is in some Vichy's hairloss products. Here it's pretty expensive, 37€ for 12 or 18 ampules. Anyone tried it for longer time?

One of my friends used Aminexil for a couple of years. He says it didn't do anything for him - waste of money.

Edited by andre, 15 April 2009 - 01:53 PM.

[saxiephon]

Vitamin E may reverse male pattern baldness!

www.nutraingredients-usa.com/Research/Vitamin-E-may-reverse-male-pattern-baldness-Study

[JLL]

Vitamin E may reverse male pattern baldness!

www.nutraingredients-usa.com/Research/Vitamin-E-may-reverse-male-pattern-baldness-Study

I wrote about the patent study on tocotrienols and hair growth on my blog. Here's what the authors say:

At the end of the supplementation period, all volunteers in the tocotrienol formulation group had positive results, recording an increase in the number of hairs in the evaluation area. Seven volunteers (64%) showed regrowth of between 10-35% while 3 volunteers (27%) had 50% or greater regrowth. One volunteer had regrowth of more than 100%. The mean percentage of increase in the number of hairs is 42.4.+-.40.9% (mean.+-.SD).

I tried it for two months in the form of Toco-Sorb, which is similar to Toco-8, which was the product formulated based on the patent study. Didn't see any effect, though. In any case, if you're considering taking tocotrienols, it might be a good idea to take sesame seeds with them to increase absorption. Also note that if you want to try to duplicate the results in the study, you should take a supplement instead of eating gallons of palm oil. There's just not enough tocotrienols in natural foods to reach the same levels.

[tintinet]

Might take a while (6 months to a year) to see perceptible results, no?

[GhostBuster]

I bumped into these below mentioned studies and started wondering...

Studies suggest that sun induced premature skin aging is at least partly caused by inadequate nutrition. Since the hair is made of collagen could the cause of the hair loss be the same? In that case collagen ingestion might alleviate hair loss. It is known that for example silicon supplements increase both collagen and hair growth.

Quote:

"Individuals who do not suffer from hair loss possess supple collagen and people who start demonstrating signs of hair loss have toughened collagen. Collagen hardening interferes with the sound performance of the hair roots. The critical interchange operation of the hair follicle cycle is interrupted and the hair becomes smothered."

I suppose collagen deficiency could be quite common nowadays, since the skin and the bones of the animals are no longer eaten unlike earlier in human evolutionary history?

Effects of collagen peptide ingestion on UV-B-induced skin damage.

The effect of daily ingestion of collagen peptide on the skin damage induced by repeated UV-B irradiation was examined. Ingestion of collagen peptide (0.2 g/kg/d) suppressed UV-B-induced decreases in skin hydration, hyperplasia of the epidermis, and decreases in soluble type I collagen. These results suggest that collagen peptide is beneficial as a dietary supplement to suppress UV-B-induced skin damage and photoaging.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19352014

Importance of amino acid composition to improve skin collagen protein synthesis rates in UV-irradiated mice.

Skin collagen metabolism abnormalities induced by ultraviolet (UV) radiation are the major causes of skin photoaging. It has been shown that the one-time exposure of UV irradiation decreases procollagen mRNA expression in dermis and that chronic UV irradiation decreases collagen amounts and induces wrinkle formation. Amino acids are generally known to regulate protein metabolism. Therefore, we investigated the effects of UV irradiation and various orally administered amino acids on skin collagen synthesis rates. Groups of 4-5 male, 8-week-old HR-1 hairless mice were irradiated with UVB (66 mJ/cm(2)) twice every other day, then fasted for 16 h. The fractional synthesis rate (FSR; %/h) of skin tropocollagen was evaluated by incorporating L: -[ring-(2)H(5)]-phenylalanine. We confirmed that the FSR of dermal tropocollagen decreased after UVB irradiation. The FSR of dermal tropocollagen was measured 30 min after a single oral administration of amino acids (1 g/kg) to groups of 5-16 UVB-irradiated mice. Branched-chain amino acids (BCAA, 1.34 ± 0.32), arginine (Arg, 1.66 ± 0.39), glutamine (Gln, 1.75 ± 0.60), and proline (Pro, 1.48 ± 0.26) did not increase the FSR of skin tropocollagen compared with distilled water, which was used as a control (1.56 ± 0.30). However, essential amino acids mixtures (BCAA + Arg + Gln, BCAA + Gln, and BCAA + Pro) significantly increased the FSR (2.07 ± 0.58, 2.04 ± 0.54, 2.01 ± 0.50 and 2.07 ± 0.59, respectively). This result suggests that combinations of BCAA and glutamine or proline are important for restoring dermal collagen protein synthesis impaired by UV irradiation.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21861170

[John2009]

It follows from the above that adding 2 level teaspoons of instant coffee to a 444ml Johnson baby shampoo bottle, will give you a 0.005 % cafeine solution.

Did you just add the actual coffee grains to the shampoo ? How did you get it to mix well throughout the bottle ? I wonder how using a blender would work to make a larger quantity.

I think Alpecin is the name of the shampoo being sold by the people behind the study sited. They claim it uses a special "carrier base" that delivers the caffeine to the hair follicle, so just adding caffeine to a shampoo may not do as well. I just wonder what the carrier base is and if that could be replicated as well ?

http://www.hairlossa...cin-c1-shampoo/

http://www.alpecin.c...howitworks.html

[John2009]

The shampoo below seems to be hugely popular at iherb. I just wonder if the saw palmetto in it is safe to use long term ?

http://www.iherb.com...00-ml/3477?at=0

[Denjin]

The shampoo below seems to be hugely popular at iherb. I just wonder if the saw palmetto in it is safe to use long term ?

http://www.iherb.com...00-ml/3477?at=0

Granted this was related to Saw Palmetto and prostate, but it doesn't seem to do anything:

http://www.reuters.c...E78Q5O620110927

[tintinet]

As a topical, it ought to have minimal systemic effects (if it really has any effects at all).

[hamishm00]

Saw palmetto ingested (even assuming it does reduce systemic DHT) might not affect the size of an enlarged prostate because an enlarged prostate is likely to be caused by factors other than just high systemic DHT levels.

[revenant]

A welcome side effect gained from my anti-aging efforts. I'm pretty sure Ganoderma licidum (aka ling zhi/aka reishi) -which blocks DHT-, and the prepared root of Polygonum multiflourm: he shou wu (which contains a resveratrol analogue that I believe is a better stilbene), have cured my balding and greying.. at least for now. I am positive I am less grey (weird that my hair color is darker), and am pretty sure I actually have thicker hair after 2 years of using these herbs. I consume 4 oz of he shou wu per week, and 2oz of reishi per week. I boil both together for 5 hours then strain. My facial wrinkles are almost all gone now too. I don't think it's the carnosine doing it. I have been taking carnosine for almost 9 years and am certain it did not impart these kinds of results.

[ViolettVol]

Would the treatments described here also work on a woman? I have hairloss caused by androgens, basically male pattern balding in a female, have been using minoxidil for three months and there is SOME regrowth in my forehead area, but only small so far. How can I boost regrowth?

[hamishm00]

Minoxidil won't reduce DHT buildup in the scalp, so I would target that. Right now I am using Nisim Shampoo, Nisim Extract (with some extra Saw Palmetto extract added to it) and ketaconozole cream (Nizoral).

Other suggestions are set out above (flax lignans, topical finasteride etc).

[ViolettVol]

A welcome side effect gained from my anti-aging efforts. I'm pretty sure Ganoderma licidum (aka ling zhi/aka reishi) -which blocks DHT-, and the prepared root of Polygonum multiflourm: he shou wu (which contains a resveratrol analogue that I believe is a better stilbene), have cured my balding and greying.. at least for now. I am positive I am less grey (weird that my hair color is darker), and am pretty sure I actually have thicker hair after 2 years of using these herbs. I consume 4 oz of he shou wu per week, and 2oz of reishi per week. I boil both together for 5 hours then strain. My facial wrinkles are almost all gone now too. I don't think it's the carnosine doing it. I have been taking carnosine for almost 9 years and am certain it did not impart these kinds of results.

how about the reishi sold in pill form? do you think it would yield the same/similar results?

[niner]

Would the treatments described here also work on a woman? I have hairloss caused by androgens, basically male pattern balding in a female, have been using minoxidil for three months and there is SOME regrowth in my forehead area, but only small so far. How can I boost regrowth?

Minoxidil won't reduce DHT buildup in the scalp, so I would target that. Right now I am using Nisim Shampoo, Nisim Extract (with some extra Saw Palmetto extract added to it) and ketaconozole cream (Nizoral).

Other suggestions are set out above (flax lignans, topical finasteride etc).

Violett, I just wanted to add a couple comments to what hamishm00 has set out. If you have an androgenic type of alopecia, then targeting DHT is a good thing to do. I would continue with the Minoxidil though. I use Nizoral shampoo myself, which is 1% ketoconazole. There is a prescription version of it that is 2% which would probably give better results. I leave it on for a few minutes. If DHT is really the problem, then in men at least, finasteride is the bomb. Here is a small review article on the use of finasteride and a few other drugs in women. It also touches on the use of topical finasteride, which sounds like a great way to use it and avoid sexual side effects. Finasteride appears to have some value in treating female hairloss, though it doesn't seem to be as consistent as in males. However, finasteride is contraindicated in women of reproductive age because it can cause problems with a male fetus. It has been used in young women though, presumably with effective birth control.

[scottknl]

A welcome side effect gained from my anti-aging efforts. I'm pretty sure Ganoderma licidum (aka ling zhi/aka reishi) -which blocks DHT-, and the prepared root of Polygonum multiflourm: he shou wu (which contains a resveratrol analogue that I believe is a better stilbene), have cured my balding and greying.. at least for now. I am positive I am less grey (weird that my hair color is darker), and am pretty sure I actually have thicker hair after 2 years of using these herbs. I consume 4 oz of he shou wu per week, and 2oz of reishi per week. I boil both together for 5 hours then strain. My facial wrinkles are almost all gone now too. I don't think it's the carnosine doing it. I have been taking carnosine for almost 9 years and am certain it did not impart these kinds of results.

I've also used he shou wu 15 g/d, huang qi (Astragalus) 5 g/d and goji berries, along with biotin and ginko bilboa daily for the last 2.5 yrs. I use resveratrol at a low dose (10 - 20 mg/d) too, but it doesn't seem to really affect hair growth or color that much. It has stopped by graying and balding too, but the thickness hasn't really changed. I've yet to really dig in on the reishi, but I've just started beta-glucan 1,3 and it's a component of shitake, maitake and reishi mushrooms. Glad to see someone else getting good results with it too, revenant!

[Lufega]

Would the treatments described here also work on a woman? I have hairloss caused by androgens, basically male pattern balding in a female, have been using minoxidil for three months and there is SOME regrowth in my forehead area, but only small so far. How can I boost regrowth?

If your problem is androgens then just drink a couple of cups of peppermint tea a day. In fact, you could even add spearmint or peppermint oil to your shampoo and it's the same thing. You can find peppermint soaps, lotions, even nasal sprays. It work on body hair too. I tried this and I can attest to how anti-androgenic it is even when used topically. Obviously, this is a no-no for guys. I can also attest to this. It affected my libido and I started feeling emotional.

[hamishm00]

In addition to topical saw palmett, rosemary and ketaconozole which I'm already using, from today I'm now dissolving finasteride (propecia) + a small amount of dutasteride (avodart) into minoxidil solution and applying that over a 30 day period, and will see how that goes for 6 months.

[JvA]

Three weeks ago, I added PQQ to my stack. On the same time I started using Life Extensions shampoo against hair loss. My stack also includes 100 mg ubiquinol, 100 mg pycnogenol and some more stuff, but they have never done anything for me regarding my hair loss.

The results have shocked me. My hair is starting to grow back! Even people around me have noticed this!

Could the PQQ or the shampoo be lowering DHT?

[scottknl]

Ingredients
Deionized water, sodium laureth sulfate, disodium cocoamphodiacetate, sodium C14-16 olefin sulfonate, cocamidopropyl betaine, lauramide DEA, polysorbate 80, sodium PCA, niacin, biotin, methylparaben, propylparaben, diazolidinyl urea, citric acid, FD&C blue #1, FD&C yellow #5, fragrance.

Very Interesting... Could it be the niacin providing mitochondrial stimulation to the hair follicles/stem cells? With the Biotin providing the nutrition for hair growth? Anyone else see anything in the ingredients for the shampoo?