Today we’re talking about some of the root things that you can do to help improve that. Uh, before we do. Uh, put your comments down below. Really excited to read your top, read your comments on what you think about the topic as well.

Hair Thickness Basics and Androgens

Some of these things are going to differ with men and women. Men tend to have more androgens in their body, five to 10 times or so more with higher levels of androgens. Some of that testosterone is going to go downstream to DHT. And DHT is proven dozens and dozens and dozens of studies on this, maybe even hundreds.

Effect of DHT on Hair Follicles

Um, DHT over time will miniaturaturize and shrink the hair follicle and eventually that hair follicle will start to become translucent and then fall out and not grow back. So, DHT does impact blood flow and cause a miniaturization of that hair follicle, does start to shorten um the growth phase. I think the antigen intelligen fl the antigen intelligent phase of hair growth. Um, the staging phase is the resting phase, the antigen is the growth phase and the catagen is the breakdown phase. And so typically that growth phase is going to shorten and the resting phase is also going to shorten and you’re going to have that hair shrinking.

Testosterone, Steroids, and DHT Levels

So, DHT will be a thing. So high levels of testosterone, too high. So if you’re doing steroids or HRT and it’s too high, there’s a higher chance that that could go downstream and increase DHT. Again, you can look at DHT on in your blood test. Like you can get an extra DHT serum. The problem is DHT systemically in the body may be different than the scalp. So I think you’d have to go to like a research lab or university. They would take like little miniature scalp samples and they would test it.

Blood Serum DHT and Hair Loss

But you know if you have DHT elevated in the serum then or on the top part of you know top 10 20% of the reference range you probably have uh DHT impact in the follicle if you’re noticing hair loss. And so out of the gate if you’re seeing DHT on the higher side or you know you’re a little sensitive the easiest thing out of the gate there’s some data on this saw palmetto can be helpful. Again, it’s not going to be as effective as a topical finasteride, something like that, but um topical saw palmetto and or saw palmetto from a cold extract, 85% 90% um extract is going to be good.

Dosage and Effectiveness of Saw Pometto

Right around 300 to 400 milligrams is what some of the meta analyses show to be very effective. And by blocking DHT, you actually can increase testosterone. I’ve seen 15 20% increases in testosterone by blocking that DHT flow downstream. And so that can be helpful. Saw palmetto can be helpful to help with the DHT. You can do a topical finasteride. If you do a topical finasteride, try a homeopathic lower dose. So about 0.1 milligrams per 1 mill I’m sorry.1 milligrams per 1 milliliter dropper.

Lower Dose Finasteride and Liposomal Formulation

That’s about one-tenth the normal dose. And if you do it in a liposomal form, it’s more likely to stay in the follicle. You’re already dealing with one-tenth the dose and you are doing a liposomal formula. So you have an 80 to 90% chance of keeping it all in the scalp.

Starting Finasteride Safely

So if you are going to do a finasteride, you want to do a lower dose out of the gates before you dose up. And you want to do a liposomal formula starting off. That’s a better way to do it just to avoid any side effects because that medication does have a binding effect of four to five days. Halfife’s like 6 to8 hours. But the binding of that aromatase enzyme, the aromatase enzyme is what I’m sorry, the five alpha reductase enzyme is what causes the testosterone to DHT formation.

Enzyme Blocking and DHT Conversion

So blocks the enzyme that five alpha reductase aromatase is the enzyme that takes testosterone back to estrogen by the way. But five alpha reductase gets blocked by blocks that DHT um from getting converted from testosterone to DHT and it has about a fiveday binding effect. And so topical lower dose is good. Saw palmetto can be helpful as well. There’s a bunch of different mechanisms that you can plug in here.

Natural Extracts for Hair Growth

There’s some data in the scientific literature and empirically. You can take a onion juice extract. There’s some really interesting ones on where they’ll make it organically or Etsy if you will. A nice olive oil based onion kind of extract, onion juice extract, and you can topically rub that on your hair. It’s going to have more of a to gain type of effect, right?

Effects of Stopping Minoxidil and Finasteride

Again, it’s golden handcuffs. So, you come off that 2 three months later, you’re going to be start to lose that hair. Same with finasteride. A little bit lower and slower. About 6 months on finasteride, about two three months on Rogain Minoxidil. Minoxidil is the active ingredient. Rogain to the name, brand name, and that will start to you’ll lose that hair.

Additional Topicals and Dermapen Use

Again, you can use things like onion juice extract and olive oil. You can also use some of these topicals and you can use a dermipen is an excellent option to kind of create little channels in the hair follicle and that gets a lot of these nutrients deeper in. If there’s alcohol in some of these things, you want to wait probably 12 hours before you put it on your scalp. If it’s just an oil, you’re probably okay because if your channels are open here into the scalp, that can create some inflammation.

Copper Peptides and C60 for Hair Growth

See here next. Um, so we talked about the program and oxidil. That’s helpful, but you got to look at the root. Copper peptides are also helpful, too. You know, I’ll put a link down um below. A company that I like, their customs, that’s Jay Campbell’s company. Copper peptides is excellent.

Jay combines that carbopeptides with the C60 essential fatty acid. C60 is a basketball shaped molecule. It’s like a master antioxidant scavenger and that’s kind of working on the oxidative stress model uh oxidative stress mechanism or model that there’s oxidative stress at the hair follicle and that oxidative stress is impacting the hair growth.

Importance of Blood Flow and Nutrients

Anytime you improve blood flow and you improve nutrients and antioxidants, that’s going to help provide thicker hair.what’s your hair made out of? Hair is made out of keratin. Keratin is a protein. So, if you have indigestion, poor digestion with protein, that’s going to affect your building blocks to make good healthy hair. Again, I’ve seen it anecdotally many, many times.

Collagen and Hair Growth

Collagen does help improve hair. So, I like collagen, collagen gelatin. I like collagen peptides because it’s already broken down. It’s already well absorbed. I’ve seen collagen be helpful with hair growth. So, I love collagen. Again, I’ll put some links down below to products that I personally use so you guys can see that.

Stress and Types of Hair Loss

Next, I would say um overall stress. If you’ve had a postviral illness or you’re under a lot of adrenal stress, uh anxious sleep, you can develop teligenlovium, which is a systemic hair loss.

So male pattern baldness is more androgenic alopecia. That’s more like in the Norwood area. And then Norwood 3, you start to have the little circle in the back at the vertex of the crown. so again getting the stress under control is really important sometimes with a postviral illness they can take 3 6 months plus.

Anti-inflammatory Supplements for Hair

I like doing things like NAC and curcumin those are very anti-inflammatory curcumin does have some DHT modulating effects too so does reishi so I like it because if there is any DHT issue there it can help modulate it but it is going to help with inflammation and the immune system as well.

I like collagen.If you look at Neutrifol, it’s one of those hair supplements that are out there. Ashwagandha is one of the prime ingredients in there and so is curcumin because I think they’re working on a cortisol model as well as an inflammation model as well.

Approaches Hair Loss and Thickening

 When I look at hair loss or hair thickening, I’m looking at protein and nutrients. I’m looking at increasing blood flow. I’m looking at reducing DHT, especially if you’re a guy. I’m looking at uh natural ways to increase blood flow and stem cells. Think micro needling.

And then also um another modality you can add in is a laser cap. There’s a lot that are out there. Again, the better brands are going to be more expensive. They’re going to have more lasers. They’re going to have more illegal energy in there, so it stimulates blood flow. Again, the brand I like is going to be Capillis, and they have different lines in there. I hope that helps.

Biotin and Hair Health

Biotin I think is B7 by the way. So it’s like a kind of a pseudo B vitamin. So you can take it at higher levels and again like there was one study on menopausal women showing to be a little bit of improvement.So you got to just it may not be the thing but it’s cheap enough. It can’t hurt to try it for a few months. Again, when you have hair loss issues, you probably don’t want to done things at a time because it’s just a lot of guessing and waiting and it takes three to four months to even see hair loss issues.

Recommendations for Treatment Approach

So, my general recommendation is to use natural things if your hair loss is slow and stable. Um, use a potential pharmaceutical low dose micro dose with micro needling if it’s faster faster hit the brakes on it and then you can always add in more natural stuff as you go.

If you’re doing a topical liposomal finasteride and you start at a micro dose of 0.1 milligrams per serving and work your way up, you’re probably going to be fine with that. And you can even go every other day on that, too.

Again, when you start doing a much higher dose, then you have potential issues.

Massage Techniques for Scalp Health

Outside of that, I think we hit all the major Oh, one of one last things would be massage. Massage for your hair is great.

Again, when you’re doing a massage, you’re just taking the folds and you’re just pushing them up. So, if this is my hair, my scalp, right? I’m just pinching it. I’m just doing this and I’m holding it and letting it go. Holding it and letting it go. Holding it and letting it go. And then just pinch and hold, pinch and hold, pinch and hold. They have some good scalp massagers on Amazon, too. Take a peek at those. But just enough to basically lift the scalp off the skull and then let it go. So, it’s all about the scalp. Hope that makes sense. 

Support and Consultation Availability

Let me just go hit some questions, guys. And if you want more support on hair health, hormone health, of course, thyroid could be a problem, uh there’ll be links down below. You can reach out and schedule with myself and colleagues. We’re happy to help you and really dive in deep. Again, these aren’t things that I theoretically do. These are things I actually do with patients and myself. All right, let me hit you up, guys.

Addressing Side Effects and Reactions

Dr. J currently on a SIBO and leaky gut protocol. I’ve noticed that when we put oregano on my food, I start getting brain fog, lightheaded, and anxiety symptoms. Any ideas? It could be you’re having some gut killing. There could be enough oregano in there where you’re killing some gut bugs and you’re having some die-off. It’s very possible. That’s the only variable. So, you may want to get the diet and everything else going through my first three hours and then get everything going after that.

Vitamin E and Supplement Quality

Is it true that tools are a better form of vitamin E than tocopherols? I’ve heard things about that. I mean, I’ve heard good things about tocotatryols. You know, just make sure if you’re getting vitamin E, make sure you’re getting the whole mix form of tocopherols. Again, unless you have some kind of heart issue or see serious vascular inflammation, you’re probably good with just a good quality brand. Vitamin E mixed topherols is fine. Just make sure it’s a good company.In the supplement world, people don’t know, but when you buy raw material, you can buy the McDonald’s quality meat or you can buy the grass-fed organic farming meat.

Oxidative Stress and Hair Graying

What if graying and thinning hair?” Yeah. So graying that’s going to be oxidative stress. So NAC will be super helpful for graying. And then you can also get some of the C60 oil on there because that’s excellent for oxidative stress. It’s a super antioxidant. So you could easily get some C60 oil. Um and you can also do the NAC. That’s great. And then a little bit of curcumin is helpful because curcumin also helps with um DHT and it’s anti-inflammatory and it’s blood thinning as well. Excellent.

Mold Exposure and Hair Loss

I got sick with mold and color made my hair fall out. The doctor I see is Dr. Barnard. Okay, got it. Um, I don’t want to give any shade to any doctors here, guys. Um, but in general, MSH went lower and had a leaky gut. Yeah. So, like I said, this question was asked to me last time. Just don’t go after mold and do significant detoxification if you have not gotten your gut cleaned up and working better. That’s a mistake I see a lot of patients make. You’re much better off working on your house, getting the mole cleaned out of your home, getting an air filter, doing some sinus flushing, maybe a little bit of natural binders like beetroot powder, activated charcoal, um, bentonite clay, zeolite.

Final Tips and Product Links

Yeah, John, you’re welcome for the NAC tip. That’s a good one. Just type in there. There’s a couple of clinical trials on NAC right now on hair loss. There’s some good things going on there. Plus you get this um hydrogen peroxide that forms at the hair follicle and um that can be oxidizing that can create a lot of oxidation and then the pseudocatalase enzyme that helps neutralize that um hydrogen peroxide you can help make more of it by getting that NAC and glutathione up. So hope that helps guys. All right, have a good one y’all have a great day.