The DHT hair loss myth

[Appassionato]

I would like to use this thread to post some interesting researches and studies that completely debunked the DHT myth about hair loss. This would be the first well documented video to start from:

Bullet points:

- Hypothyroidism is one of the main culprit, signaling the testis to produce less testosterone, the pituitary gland to produce more prolactin and the adrenals to produce more DHEA-S and cortisol.

- Several studies found out that men affected by AGA has higher prolactin.

- Some studies found out that DHEA-S was higher in rapidly balding men.

- Several studies has shown that the level of DHT in balding and non balding men are similar, and that hair loss is unrelated to serum DHT.

- And, believe it or not, a topical solution of testosterone on the scalp, regrew 10-15% of the hairs in 75% of participants in one study.

How did the myth build up then? They usually come up with the "genetics" card, claiming that some people has more androgen receptors in the scalp.
This doesn't explain why vast majority of teens and young men with high T and DHT don't experience AGA in their young age, but only later.

 

[fifty]

This also doesn’t explain why no treatments work that well. If someone understood hairloss myths that well then people wouldn’t be paying $200/mo for treatments that barely work.

Only thing that actually worked well with minimal sides was Dr. Richard Lee’s Xandrox products from the early 2000s. FDA shut him down.

Personally I have very low dhea and dht and still have hairloss. That being said, dhea increases my shedding noticeably within weeks.

 

[Appassionato]

This also doesn’t explain why no treatments work that well. If someone understood hairloss myths that well then people wouldn’t be paying $200/mo for treatments that barely work.

Only thing that actually worked well with minimal sides was Dr. Richard Lee’s Xandrox products from the early 2000s. FDA shut him down.

Personally I have very low dhea and dht and still have hairloss. That being said, dhea increases my shedding noticeably within weeks.

Problem is hair loss is a multi-faceted issue and one of the first symptoms something is going wrong within the body. Reason why most of the treatments fail is that they tend to cure one of the consequences, not the root of the problem, which is hormonal.
The best example is the DHT accumulation in the scalp, which is a defensive mechanism the body has in order to provide relief to inflamed tissues. Same process has been observed in inflamed prostrates, which were having an accumulation of local DHT. So everyone went down on demonizing DHT, that has an anti-inflammatory property, but at the same time contribute to the calcification of tissues in the scalp.

That's why finasteride works at stopping hair loss, but doesn't provide any regrowth. You castrate yourself with it, taking down 80% of your serum DHT that won't be able to contribute to calcification in the scalp anymore, but the inflammation and the calcification are still there, hence no re-growth.

And this is when the DHT myth started, despite the fact everyone in the hair loss business is omitting the fact that there's no difference in DHT serum levels between balding and non-balding people.

That's an interesting article which explains why hair loss is a complete reversible phenomenon:

Exactly How Trans Hormone Replacement Therapy Regrows Hair (Photos)

Transgender people have been able to regrow their hairs completely, going from an unhealthy male hormonal profile (low T/ high E2 and prolactin) to a healthy woman hormonal profile.
Obviously there are a cascade of bad emotional and physical consequences to that, but it's interesting in terms of hair loss.

By the way, what are your E2, prolactin, cortisol and aldosterone values?

 

[Appassionato]

I'll leave this here as well in case someone is interested:

"The widespread assumption that androgen levels are in general elevated in bald-trait men must therefore be rejected" —Knussman et, al. (1992)

"It is well-known that the androgenic alopecia (AGA) patients’ blood concentration levels of male hormones are not different from those people without alopecia." —(2014) Androgenic alopecia: an evaluation of the thyroid hormones and male hormones as prognostic factors.

 

[captain]

I have had hair growth on TRT it's just is not on my head.

 

[Appassionato]

I have had hair growth on TRT it's just is not on my head.

That's because you had a spike of serum DHT, which is responsible for masculinization

 

[Mr S]

This also doesn’t explain why no treatments work that well. If someone understood hairloss myths that well then people wouldn’t be paying $200/mo for treatments that barely work.

Only thing that actually worked well with minimal sides was Dr. Richard Lee’s Xandrox products from the early 2000s. FDA shut him down.

Personally I have very low dhea and dht and still have hairloss. That being said, dhea increases my shedding noticeably within weeks.

Is shedding reversible whereas alopecia is not?

 

[fifty]

You could say that.