Recovery Method for Hair Loss

This example is aimed at those losing hair who also want to combat hair loss already incurred, to regain as much hair as possible. Similar to the Hair Defence Regimen, you will need to create a longer and more intense regimen to keep DHT at its lowest levels while promoting as much blood flow to the hair follicles.

It incorporates most of the better evidenced aspects of hair maintenance into a single daily routine.

Your regimen will include the following:

Shampoo

Various shampoos claim to prevent hair loss from DHT blocking substances (which are what?) to caffeine and other amazingly effective (so-called) remedies. In our experience, the only effective substance has been Nizoral dandruff shampoo because it contains ketoconazole, which is an antiandrogen.

Apply and lather on wet hair. Leave on the scalp for at least 5 minutes. Absorption rates slow significantly as 15 minutes approaches.

Your Topical

Your topical is not an anti-androgen and it does not block DHT. Minoxidil, the active in most topicals, works primarily as a vasodilator: it widens the blood vessels in the scalp, increasing blood flow and the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the follicle. It also extends the anagen (growth) phase of the hair cycle and shortens the telogen (resting) phase, giving the follicle more time to produce thicker, longer hair. Lowering DHT is a separate job, handled by the anti-androgens further down this page.

Studies have consistently shown that applying a topical 2x per day has a significantly greater impact on hair loss reduction than applying once a day. As it is a topical, it isn't the most convenient form of hair defence, because it takes a minute to apply and then about 5 to 10 minutes before it dries. It can leave the hair looking oily and your pillow will start to stain yellow fairly within a few days and if not, within a week.

That's why some people prefer to only use their topical at night when they are about to sleep. The reason twice daily is the studied regimen is that minoxidil's effect on the follicle is short lived rather than lasting a full day, so a single application leaves a long stretch with no active working. A topical has been found to be effective when applied 2x per day.

To improve its impact, studies show a topical and dermarolling or at least one other hair defence therapy to result in far more effective outcomes. Monotherapy, e.g. your topical on its own, once a day, is fairly ineffective. Applied 2x per day, it has been shown to reduce hair loss and in some cases enable hair regrowth. However, combining your topical with other therapies, as you will be doing when following this regimen, will have significantly better outcomes (for most people).

Morning

• After rinsing hair off (either from the Nizoral or another shampoo), towel dry your hair.
• Apply your topical generously to temples, crown and vertex, covering all areas likely to be impacted by DHT.
• Leave to dry for 5 to 10 minutes.
• Comb hair as required.

Evening

• Apply your topical to your hair ideally 15 to 20 mins before going to sleep.
• In this example the evening routine starts by applying the topical, before brushing your teeth or any other evening ritual.

If your hair gets wet during the day, or you do intensive sport and sweat, ideally after rinsing your hair off and towel drying, re-apply your topical. The aim is simply to keep the active on the scalp for as much of the day as possible, since washing it off cuts the exposure short.

Microneedling / Dermarolling

Microneedling and Dermarolling combined with a topical appear to have had good results according to several studies and has caught on in the hair loss community. Unlike PRP, which requires a professional clinic and £300-£500 per session each month, dermarolling or Microneedling can be done at home.

If you are serious at regrowing and preventing hair loss, then you will be as strict and discipline as an athlete training for the olympics by sticking to hygiene protocol. The biggest risks are poor hygiene, poor apparatus, poor technique, and poor post-recovery.

Dermarolling
This is typically a little shaver looking handle with a rolling pin style cylinder with little needles protruding from it. Think of it as a hedgehog that will roll around on your scalp causing tiny pin pricks in the epidermis. The needles range from 0.25mm to 1.5mm, and obviously the longer the needle, the deeper the wound it will make. The thickness of the epidermis varies across your scalp, and it has been found that in areas of thinning hair that the epidermis is actually thinner. This means that you ought to use a shorter needle as the aim is not to cause bleeding but to puncture the top layer of skin but not as deep as affecting a capillary. Needless to say, dermarolling will cause erythema (redness) and may also lead to small punctures on your head, leaving pinhole type blood marks.

Steps

• Wash your hair.
• Sterilise equipment using surgical spirit or hydrogen peroxide.
• Apply surgical spirit to scalp and wait several minutes.
• Apply dermarolling, rolling from front to back, and then from side to side. This may take 10 minutes to cover your entire scalp. THIS WILL HURT, and some people may need numbing agent. In the UK, you can buy Emla, which contains 5% lidocaine. There is a whole procedure for to use this, and the instructions are usually with the tube. In short, it requires you to apply the cream to your head, ensuring it gets you on your scalp. To cover your head tightly with surgical dressing (to prevent the cream drying out), and then wait around 45-60mins until the lidocaine has been absorbed into your skin, and thereby numbing it.
• Rinse your scalp with clean water when finished dermarolling.
• Apply liquid antiseptic, such as Germolene, to scalp areas.
• Do not apply your topical but leave your head to recover for the rest of the day.

If your dermarolling is done in the morning, then you may be able to apply your topical before you sleep. Your scalp will need a minimum of 6 hours to 48 hours to recover. Many topicals contain alcohol, so yours may sting when applied if you have open wounds on your scalp.

Frequency of dermarolling in one study that achieved good results used 1.5mm on Norwood 3 subjects once a week combined with a twice daily topical application to achieve good results after a full 13 weeks. However, 1.5mm is relatively deep for at-home use, and it is encouraged to start at 0.25mm and move up if necessary. Dermarolling should not be done too frequently due to the potential build up of scar tissue (the exact opposite of what you want).

PRP

PRP has elicited effective results in many people but is costly due to the rapacious nature of cosmetic business model. The raw cost of goods is the blood you donate, and the rest of the costs the clinics have are the labour and their fixed costs. Similar to the cost of getting a plumber out to your home, which on an hourly basis, appears to be more expensive than it should be by a magnitude of multiples, PRP similarly commands such as figure in today's environment.

As you are intent on taking all maximum effective strategies, our research appears to indicate that PRP one a month has been the most effective but the data are subjective and there many different schedules proposed by the clinics themselves, possibly with an economic incentive.

Find a PRP clinic and have the determination of will to not be persuaded by someone without the original science to explain the regimen or any other quack treatments that are recommended.

Risks are very low since you are injecting your own plasma and the PRP is being done by a licensed professional. The downsides are that your head will hurt, the skin may take a few days to recover and it is generally a fairly painful procedure without any numbing agent.

Steps

• Ensure you are in great cardio health, with many HIIT and zone 2 heart training sessions under your belt.
• Take your finasteride / dutasteride 2 hours before your blood draw to maximise the DHT blocking agent in your blood plasma.
• Take multivitamins and other supplements as necessary.
• Turn up at your PRP clinic and have your blood drawn.
• PRP (done by the clinician)
• Leave your scalp to heal, do not apply your topical until the next day.

Post PRP

• Ideally it is better to avoid exercise and sweating in general.
• Don't go to the sauna or cardio training for a few days, there's no point in doing the PRP if you're going to sweat it out immediately.

Some do's and don'ts will be recommended by the PRP clinic. It is generally advisable not to take aspirin in the 24 hours before. Another recommendation is to avoid grapefruit as many as 72 hours before as it may prevent the absorption of some of the pre-PRP supplements you are taking to maximise your blood plasma.

Dutasteride / Finasteride

There are many upsides and downsides to taking a systemic intervention to DHT. Finasteride blocks Type 2 DHT, and Dutasteride blocks Type 1 & 2. Hence, dutasteride is the stronger medication. There have been studies that showed that some people did not respond well to finasteride but very well to dutasteride. As dutasteride affects both types of DHT, the DHT in the skin will also be affected meaning that with reduced DHT, your skin may suddenly dry up as the sebaceous glands stop producing excess sebum. This might be great if you have been prone to acne your whole life, and systemically reducing DHT could reduce oily skin in the face, back, and other DHT affected areas of the skin.

Please see the finasteride and dutasteride for more information and the pros and cons of starting a systemic DHT reduction regimen. Long term use can cause impotence and it is important to note Dutasteride can be in the system for more than 6 months after stopping and it is not advisable to attempt to have children whilst on these medications as sperm motility, sperm count, and other dangers have been reported.

Steps

• Take 1 pill of 0.5mg dutasteride or 1mg of finasteride daily at the same time.

It might be advisable to allow interim periods in between drug schedules such as 3 months on, followed by a slow withdrawal and then a gap before restarting slowly. The research indicates that long term androgen starvation can cause permanent effects to the male genitalia even after discontinuation of the drug.

Supplements

Supplements should be taken as part of a healthy diet that is loaded with antioxidants (polyphenols/catechins) etc. Please view the supplements section to learn more about some of the natural DHT reducing substances.

There is no specific guidance aside from ensuring your diet consists of healthy vegetables, enough proteins either from vegan sources or from white meats and fish without overdoing it as to consume too many heavy metals or other toxins now in our food system.

Steps - Core Supplements

• Green tea daily each morning (but not after 1pm due to its caffeine content*).
• Pumpkin seeds.
• Saw palmetto.
• Almonds.
• Peppermint tea in the evenings.
• No sugar.
• Avoid excessive dairy especially milk due to its IGF-1 content.
• Reduce intake of sugar spiking foods high on the glycaemic curve**.

Other Non-Core Supplements

• Blueberries.
• Non-dairy (vegan) protein powders due to IGF-1 in whey and casein proteins and its isolates.
• Resveratrol (studies using mouse models indicate improved cardio performance and some prevention of damage in the seminal vesicles - the data are inconclusive)

*Lifetime by Russell Foster recommends stopping caffeine intake after the morning, due to its half-life of 5 hours, to enable good sleep.

**There is some evidence that insulin regulation is impacted by dutasteride.

Exercise

The better health you are in, the better your cardiovascular system will be. Whilst the government recommends a paltry 30 mins of exercise per day, doing at least 1 hour of relatively intense cardio exercise combined with a reduced calorie diet full of vegetables and antioxidants will put you in a good position. Ever noticed how bodybuilders are bald or have hypermasculine features after gorging on androgens (steroids)? This is not ideal for someone who wants to keep his or her hair.

Some interesting findings

We are aware of a study that found starting your workout out with cardio exercise can influence the FSH levels in your system. Doing cardio at the end (which the conventional logic suggests to burn fat when your energy levels are depleted) appears to reduce FSH and LH in your system, which in term reduces testosterone.** We, however, are not convinced by the data, so have not linked the study to Original Science.

Steps

• Daily cardio of at least 20 minutes above your zone 2 heart rate.
• Resistance exercises with low to moderate weight and high repetitions.

While bodybuilding is not necessarily totally avoided, as a male, there is some realisation that it takes more testosterone to have the physique of an NFL player and as a man ages and his testosterone declines, the muscular physique is also usually lost. Maintaining a BMI below 25, a low resting heart rate, high VO2 max, and generally great cardio will be beneficial to your overall health.

There are what are now referred to as hybrid-athletes who are both ripped and train for long distance endurance sports so it is obvious that the versatile human body can adapt. In any case, dutasteride/finasteride increases body fat and in some cases cause men to grow 'bitch-tits' as the fatty deposits end up in the chest, keeping a high cardio regimen and low fat% 8-12% should hypothetically help.

Why are there fat men with hair?

Obviously these men do not have androgen sensitive hair follicles in their DNA. Hair loss is due to genetic programming, and is higher in countries such as France and Italy than it is in countries such as Norway and Sweden. Those who have non-androgen sensitive hair are unaffected by a poor diet, poor physical health, age and other factors that contribute to hair loss in others who are affected.

Conversely, women who show masculine features or suffer from PCOS can improve their hormone levels by reducing their fat %. Studies have shown that women with hirsutism can improve their condition without medication by undertaking the same regimen that men who are attempting to prevent hair loss are undertaking. This may, using deductive reasoning, suggest that the supplements, diet and exercise can impact hair loss in men.

Summary Steps

Daily

• 1. Nizoral shampoo wash (at least 5 minutes), your topical
• 2. Slow-brewed green tea
• 3. Pumpkin seeds, almonds, blueberries, flaxseeds, etc..
• 4. Vegan proteins and other supplements
• 5. Daily cardio exercise.
• 6. Topical evening routine.
• 7. Finasteride/Dutasteride (if on drug regimen)

Every week or every fortnight

• Dermarolling (following full procedure)

Every Month

• PRP at clinic

Every Quarter

• Staged reduction in Dutasteride/Finasteride
• 1 month gap with no medication
• Staged restart in Dutasteride/Finasteride