Rob English is an interesting character. On one hand, he has a head full of hair, a sexier smile than Tom Cruise, and a membership website offering subscription-based anti-hairloss treatments. I.e all the traits of a snake oil salesman. On the other hand, he has published in peer-reviewed journals, his summaries of the science seem legit, and, despite their best efforts, none of his detractors have been able to convincingly debunk him. I really don't know what to think... If massaging your scalp is all it takes to keep your hair, sign me up.
This article and website is very interesting. As far as laid out here, the DHT theory of hair loss doesn't actually say why DHT is overexpressed, it usually is explained with "genetics". If the scalp-tension theory is fundamental for hair loss, it might just be a level deeper: many men (and women) have a genetic disposition for scalp tension. But apparently this is something you can combat manually to a degree.
i mean understanding the endocrine system is hard. theres a lot of reasons why diff ppl got diff levels of hormones. so everybody's like "genetics" but really it can also be lifestyle factors (diet sleep exercise alcohol whatever) with also genetics.
btw antiandrogens also are good evidence against tension theory, they can legit restore some hair in places where it was lost, see ru58841.
I take finasteride, have been for two years. I now have a very full beard, and I've never had hair on my chest before, despite being almost thirty. Only on 1mg per day. No sides.
DHT can‘t be "overexpressed", what you mean are the 5AR enzymes that convert Testosterone to DHT, their creation can theoretically be overexpressed, so can be the amount of androgen receptors.
But androgenetic alopecia is less about abnormally high amounts of DHT and more about the hair follicles sensitivity to it and/or dysfunctional repairing/compensation mechanisms. Practically it makes no difference though: Nuke 5ar = keep the hair.
If it‘s scalp tension, why doesn‘t it impact transplanted hair and why do fin and dut work wonders? It‘s a crackpot theory that doesn‘t need debunking.
The model explains DHT in the scalp. It is something like:
Scalp tension>inflammation>DHT accumulation in scalp.
I learned reading Rob work that you can find DHT accumulation in any inflamationn you have in your body (I.e. you receive a blow in the arm), and it includes scalp inflammation as well.
there was something about mice growing their hair back with something, https://archive.nytimes.com/well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/1...
also some facebook groups with keto and zero carb report that they're less stressed when eating that way. Some also reported that they lost all their hair first, but then it came back healthier and stronger over the course of 1-2 years.
It‘s a running gag in the hair loss community, that even pissing on mice probably makes their hair grow. Most "x causes hair growth" studies are worthless and lead to nothing.
theres a lotta bullshit but also theres some interesting studies that get posted sometimes. like any other place it aint all good but kinda a good meta feed.
Meh. Scalp advancement works pretty well. That is removing a strip of skin on the forehead and then pulling the rest down. It's adding a massive amount of tension in a very short period of time. If this resulted in more hair loss, nobody would be doing this procedure.
More evidence in favor of androgens being the cause is the ridiculous recovery that some transgender women experience in hair regrowth after starting HRT. Sometimes it's slick bald to nearly a full head of hair. There was also a guy who isn't trans on some hair loss forum who decided to take the strongest antiandrogens he could order plus some estrogen and had incredible regrowth.
Utimately it's probably multifactorial. Minoxidil helps, and that seems to be more about blood flow than androgens, though it's not totally clear why it works.
> Minoxidil helps, and that seems to be more about blood flow than androgens, though it's not totally clear why it works.
Isn't one of the causes of hair loss a build-up of dihydrotestosterone in the scalp? Improving blood flow possibly allows for more to be carried away instead of deposited.
Could be part of it. Minoxdil is just one kind of vasodilator. There hasn't been regrowth noticed with other classes like ACE inhibitors. And in general cardio training hasn't been shown to improve hair loss. Minoxidil might induce vascular endothelial growth factor as well. Maybe you need both? It also seems to work much better in combination with finasteride or dutasteride.
All medicine is a little human experimentation. We don't even understand the complete mechanism of action of acetaminophen and that drug has been around for over 130 years. Generally if something works, we're happy.
Over the years I've heard people swear that microneedling helps regrow hair. If scalp tension really is a cause (doubt it is the only cause), perhaps the punctures created by microneedling alleviate the tension. For those who are losing hair due to other causes, microneedling wouldn't help and would lead those researching microneedling to get inconclusive results on effectiveness as the root cause wasn't accounted for.
Yeah, no, none of those are a cure for baldness. They might make you more attractive, and if that's your primary concern about being bald, then great, you've found a way to compensate. But you'll still be super bald regardless of your personality, career and physical shape. And also you won't be as attractive as you could be with better hair.
The point is to figure out what parts you can/want to improve and to accept the ones you can't, not to pretend that advancing your career fixes your baldness.
tbh i think there's a special element on baldness but i dont know why. but we haven't elected a bald president since TV (when we rly started seeing them lots) even tho we've elected ppl who aren't otherwise as handsome so that says smth.
Pedantically, it’s more that we haven’t elected a bald president since hair transplants (it’s widely speculated that both Trump and Biden had them).
Also, depending on your definition of bald: The Bush’s had pretty severe receding hairlines but styled it well (poorer people might shave in the same situation).
I’m not sure Trump had a hair transplant. His hair doesn’t seem to behave at all the way that normal hair (transplanted or not) does. I suppose he might just use a lot of hair spray
Look at his temples. He has a very unnatural line and way more than he used to have.
Interestingly, before the change, he was only really balding in the temples (the form most people don’t find ugly) but he hated it and became somewhat cartoonish in his attempts to hide it.
Sure, but what if you have a good personality, fit body, stable career, _and_ good hair. I don’t think it’s particularly shallow to do a hair transplant.
Of course it is shallow. But it can be OK anyway. A bit of vanity is present in most of us. You don't need to fight it, it is fine to embrace vanity as a hobby or profession.
If the baldness goes beyond being a minor nag in your vanity though, and you start believing that regrowing your hair is truly essential to your happiness and wellbeing, you should perhaps seek professional help for your mind rather than your scalp.
Sure but it’s healthier to try and accept things you can’t control. I think a lot of people who obsess over losing their hair see it as a reason their life isn’t going the way they want. You would do yourself a favor by accepting reality and moving on in healthier and more productive ways.
You can control being a fat slob. You can’t control being bald in the vast majority of cases.
I tend to agree when talking about men, in general. But for women the meaning of hair can be much deeper. So it's good this is being researched.
For balding men, it's a great idea to accept it and work on yourself in other ways. It's also a great idea not to judge people based on their hair. I sort of agree that if you want to get a transplant you're probably making up for insecurities.
But if it makes you feel better, go ahead. No pun intended!
