Hair is not Life but it's Pretty Damn Close; HRT and Pictorial Posts Prove it.

How far are you willing to go to restore a full head of hair?

  • Full-blown Feminization

    Votes: 39 15.0%
  • Slight Gyno

    Votes: 45 17.3%
  • Slight Breast Growth

    Votes: 27 10.4%
  • Only "Male" Treatments

    Votes: 90 34.6%
  • Dude, I won't even touch finasteride

    Votes: 59 22.7%

  • Total voters
    260

JaneyElizabeth

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I use ground flax seeds daily as flax lignans might be beneficial for hair. As for oral castor oil, it does improve hair thickness and quality for me, but at the cost of PGE-mediated skin effects. I seem to be hyper sensitive to skin effects so others likely won't have this issue. Definitely one of the easiest and most overlooked components of a pro-hair protocol. Also, there is no way topical castor oil penetrates the scalp-you need ricinoleic acid in a solvent for any chance of skin permeation.
It's on its way. I can only hope it increases monthly hair growth from 1 cm to 3 cm but it's unlikely to hurt while providing non-carb nutrition. Thank you guys.
 

Norwoody

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How often do you guys shampoo your hair? Seems like most people go with 2-4 times a week, with some high sebum people on here doing it every day.
 

JaneyElizabeth

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How often do you guys shampoo your hair? Seems like most people go with 2-4 times a week, with some high sebum people on here doing it every day.
Before beard removal on any day where I went out, I had to shampoo my hair. When I was younger and more active, any sort of sweating activity mandated twice a day shampooing, which I guess is a bit more precise than merely washing as I think about it now and as I phrased it yesterday.
 

DarkHairHair

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Hello everyone, I am 23 years old and I have been losing my hair since I was 18 years old. Unfortunately, I have the worst baldness possible: DUPA. To sum up, I am losing my hair all over my skull even in donor area which makes hair transplant impossible.
I tried finasteride, dutasteride, RU, but nothing works on this baldness because it is not linked by DHT. I am currently in depression and I don't know what to do.
 

maballack

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Guys,

Any insight on this subject

Would you list any natural way to block 5AR type I enzyme Thus reducing the Oil Sebum production.

Do you have any experience with Corticosteroids been a down regulator for Sebasous glands and Androgen receptor.

Thanks
 

Gergely

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Guys,

Any insight on this subject

Would you list any natural way to block 5AR type I enzyme Thus reducing the Oil Sebum production.

Do you have any experience with Corticosteroids been a down regulator for Sebasous glands and Androgen receptor.

Thanks
I don't think there's a "natural" way but you can always take zinc and saw palmetto. For 5AR type 1 dutasteride is your best bet.
 

JaneyElizabeth

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Hello everyone, I am 23 years old and I have been losing my hair since I was 18 years old. Unfortunately, I have the worst baldness possible: DUPA. To sum up, I am losing my hair all over my skull even in donor area which makes hair transplant impossible.
I tried finasteride, dutasteride, RU, but nothing works on this baldness because it is not linked by DHT. I am currently in depression and I don't know what to do.
Two things: Oral minoxidil and derma-rolling. Are you willing to use estrogens? They might play a reparative type role in healing blood supply. Could this be alopecia areata? It resolves itself at times.
 
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JaneyElizabeth

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I don't think there's a "natural" way but you can always take zinc and saw palmetto. For 5AR type 1 dutasteride is your best bet.
Yes, a couple of guys have been mentioning beta sitosterol which is the active ingredient in saw palmetto/serenoa. One of the hardest things about DHT is not just its strength @ ~3 X T or its binding ability which might be five times stronger, but also it seems to manufacture itself out of various tissues.
 

JaneyElizabeth

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Guys,

Any insight on this subject

Would you list any natural way to block 5AR type I enzyme Thus reducing the Oil Sebum production.

Do you have any experience with Corticosteroids been a down regulator for Sebasous glands and Androgen receptor.

Thanks
Wash twice a day and leave the shampoo in for ten minutes. Among shampoos, Keto might help mop up excess sebum. Sulfur-type shampoos or aspirin-based or tar-based ones might help. Some claim that massage helps break up sebum deposits trapped beneath the scalp although I can't verify that that is actually a thing that happens. Polysorbates might help but these are all palliatives rather than things that lower sebum production per se. Estrogen is probably best and it is natural, the estrogen, I mean, and usually well-tolerated. Any further details you can give will help as often there is someone suffering from or who has suffered from similar circumstances.
 

DarkHairHair

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Two things: Oral minoxidil and derma-rolling. Are you willing to use estrogens? They might play a reparative type role in healing blood supply. Could this be alopecia areata? It resolves itself at times.
No , it's definitively not alopecia areata. It's DUPA hair loss.

Oral minoxidil is safe in long term ? And for estrogens i can try.

I have a question for you : you have to take estrogen for life to keep your hair ?
 

JaneyElizabeth

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No , it's definitively not alopecia areata. It's DUPA hair loss.

Oral minoxidil is safe in long term ? And for estrogens i can try.

I have a question for you : you have to take estrogen for life to keep your hair ?
Well, it's not clear yet. I would never go off dutasteride. There's a guy who posts, Noah, who is testing whether one can cross back, i.e., go off HRT and keep his hair.

I can't say what the long-term is. I have been on oral minoxidil since mid-October of this year. I have derma-rolled since approximately 6-30-19.
 

JaneyElizabeth

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Cut my hair anyway. I just couldn't take how unruly the hair was in back. I thought that something looked different and the new hair is coming in blonde. Apparently white women are more likely to be blonde than white men.

So my new hairstyle is known as a pageboy haircut or even a bowl haircut but I did it myself as always. Since the day that I noticed an incipient bald spot, I have been cutting it myself. No one is allowed to approach me from behind or look down on my crown area so I have to cut it myself and it's really not that hard.

Anyway, now all of my hair is the same length which will make wearing it down easy and that's the look I am going for. Henceforth no more haircuts sayeth the fine lady Jane.
 

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DogoDiLaurentiis

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It does indeed seem like it plays a role in aggravating Androgenetic Alopecia: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31240449/

Probably because metabolic syndrome/insulin resistance/excess insulin are related to the skin environment (oily skin) and immunological environment (poor immune function) that allows it to proliferate.

Insulin excess potentiates androgens, androgens in turn increase a proliferation of oil on the skin, which in turn also provides a good environment for such pathogens to survive.

 

JaneyElizabeth

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Castor Oil

I Can Use Your Help:

I am in receipt of my castor oil and I swallowed one tablespoon worth. Is that enough? It didn't taste bad. The taste was really bland, like no taste at all. It also recommends leaving it in the hair overnight, I am not sure when but maybe every once in a while. What's castor oil supposed to do now? Triple the growth speed in centimeters? Anything else?

Second, I have been experimenting with no pressure derma-rolling and I might do this every other day. It doesn't hurt at all but maybe once in a while, a person needs to use more pressure. I definitely need help with scar tissue and it works great to integrate and heal scars. They actually scab over several times until they fit in with the other hair or whatever.

Goddess bless
 

JaneyElizabeth

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Hi Janey. Can I ask you a question? Do you think that taking 12.5 mg bicalutamide orally each day and estrogel (1.5 mg estradiol) topically on my head will be effective? People say that I need 50 mg bica and also dutasteride. I don't realize why I need dutasteride if I already use aa like bica.

TL/DR We just don't have firm answers related to dosages and even the necessity of bica or duta. We know that estradiol is needed for both health reasons, to avoid bone loss and other issues, and because estradiol appears to have a healing effect on follicles that AA's don't have. So AA's might halt hair loss and some of the hair still in cycle might remain viable, spoofing a regrowth of sorts but I don't think that full recoveries are possible without estradiol. MtF's need full recoveries because white female hair balds differently and they don't get receding hairlines. I would venture that 95% of the non-MtF's would be satisfied with my current hairline for life if it were in reach. For a guy, the recession still filling in is only in the corners of the temples and this type of recession impacts far less on looks. Look at Sting. He had significant recession on the temples but the rest of his hair was unaffected by baldness and he could grow it to female lengths easily. I think that is where I am now.


Those are good questions. I have gone back and forth on the dutasteride but I continue to take it because the actions of DHT are so unpredictable. Unlike regular testosterone, DHT can be fabricated in the face and scalp. My face issues only went away after beard removal removed the active follicles. Before that, even with HRT, I had constant dermatitis. Even some folks after castration, continue to have issues with DHT from the adrenals and possibly scalp assuming the beard is gone. I continue to take .5 mg. I would recommend it because it will usually at least keep you where you are even if you don't see much of a recovery. I have been planning to go through the DHT entry on wikipedia and essentially comment on the key points in a future post because DHT, and its back-door pathway are so mysterious and unpredictable. Maybe I can get to it this weekend.

Now I am a non-binary MtF. Looking at your proposed protocol, I am not sure if you are trans or cis because your estrogen intake is a little low for the cis-guys that I have seen have the best results but you aren't far off. All I do is scan the various boards and see what folks say on here and the reddit forums and differentiate mentally between cis-folks and transfolks but generally 12.5 mg bicalutamide, even every other day, and 2-4 mg of estradiol work for hair restoration and feminization. However, I have used Estrogel off and on during my several years of very slow incremental transition and I think Estrogel might work at lower dosages on the scalp where it might be more efficient and less feminizing and also provide slight improvement, i.e. marginal effects on regrowth or hair quality.

For folks who take a lot of estrogen and reach adult female levels of 200 to 300 pg/ml, or pico-grams per milliliter, they don't or shouldn't need an AA theoretically because there is no T any longer for reductase to act upon. Yet, I see questions from MtF's alleging re-masculinization even after regular or chemical castration. But you aren't there yet so your question is more complicated because bica isn't straightforward as an AA. It doesn't actually lower testosterone; it increases it but it spoofs lower T and higher E by occupying androgen receptors so you still have T but a large part of it has nowhere to go essentially, no receptors to attach to. For MtF's, I strongly advise against AA's because they are on meds for life and there's usually no hurry but for cis-guys, things are less straightforward and use of an AA might get you to the hair recovery stage quicker before you get discouraged and give up as often seems to happen. For cis-guys, it's important to do this for six months to a year before evaluating because hair cycles are slow and most meds take that long when new growth is the goal.

I know that none of this is very clear and that's one of the main reasons I started the thread. On a similar thread in the past, guys using AA's would keep switching because either they didn't see results in three months or less or because of the heavy sides. AA's are side-ladened and often more stereotypically feminizing than estrogen alone and they seem to cause sheds if not used carefully. I had a massive shed to baldness on spironolactone early last fall or rather the fall of 2019, followed by an all-but-complete hair recovery. It's taken 16 months but the spironolactone was working for my hair. It just put it all into catagen in three weeks. I call it a benevolent shed but for many cis-guys, it coud be cataclysmic if they don't stay on meds long-term. I quit spironolactone because long-term use of AA's especially by MtF's who stay on meds for life are problematic. spironolactone is pretty safe in the long-run but it has so many pernicious and stereotypical feminizing sides on things like strength, endurance, libido and potency that I quit using it and spironolactone is by far the number one complaint on MtF boards among Americans. It isn't used elsewhere for the most part.

I have been using medroxyprogesterone acetate, which is a type of AA, like reductaste inhibitors but not one of the "Big Three" AA's. For me, MPA has no sides or even has good ones. I noticed I was sleeping much less when I started MPA which gives me more time to devote to my labor of love, here. MPA, for short, also reduces T levels in a straightforward way. They just go down by somewhere between five percent and 20 percent at normal dosages of 2mg and 10mg. I had been taking 10 mg but my P.A. had a conniption upon receiving my very recent testing results (posted a couple of pages back) because I was at estrogen levels of the very highest encountered by cis-females during the first trimester of pregnancy, i.e. I was at ten times the levels needed for effective feminization. So, she stopped my MPA dosage temporarily. I will have to check the half-life because some meds like dutasteride and bica, I think, stay in the system for 40 to 60 days. I continue on one patch and she doesn't know about the Estrogel which I continue to use copious, unmeasured amounts of but I don't want my levels to plummet overnight because that can cause depression and it might negatively impact my incredible hair progress.

Even though cyproterone acetate and medroxy are similar chemically, cyproterone or CPA is one of the three AA's generally referenced, meaning it impacts on receptor binding not on general T levels like MPA. I recommend MPA before the three main AA's as it is very inexpensive compared to bica and for me, it seemed to lack jarring sides. AA's, for lack of a better term, can be jarring to the system by working too quickly perhaps and trigger hair sides If you pick one, barring sides, you really want to give it six months to a year. Also strangely enough, cis-guys probably want to test more than MtF's. We can just look in the mirror to evaluate because we have a life-time but you will want information on the precise E2 and T levels that either work or don't work for you, followed by titration, upwards or downwards.

There was an influential fellow, @bridgeburn who did this for a couple of years without testing, purportedly to see what works for cis-guys but it didn't really work out for his cis-guy followers because he used essentially strong MtF dosing and there was no way for the cis-guys to do that in emulation without feminizing completely. He was influential still though because he provided two years of pics of an all but full hair recovery that allowed him to grow his hair to female lengths and that was rare and still is rare. That's why I try to emphasize incremental picture taking and posting for those confident enough. And when I say this about @bridgeburn, I mean that his hair looked really good long, not just letting ragged male hair grow on the sides and back where it is mullety (my term) and in my case with my dermatitis made me look sort of like a hobo. I have five years of recovery pics and transition pics here, if anyone wants to see what the whole process from balding to bald to recovery can look like, together with beard removal here: https://inpursuitoffeminity.blogspot.com/

Finally, we aren't sure necessarily if these meds work incrementally or if you have to get your estrogen levels up to adult female levels first, almost like a light switch where high levels of estrogen turn hair recovery on meaning that you have to reach those adult female levels first before any substantial recovery. For me, I saw both types of meager improvement as my estrogen levels stayed middling but the hair really started coming in copiously when I pushed my estrogen levels above 200 pg/ml. Clear as mud? That's one of goals here to anecdotally compare among ourselves to see what is working. If you don't mind, I will paste your question on the main thread without identifying information because this is to me, the key question on the site, or three questions if you split it into a dutasteride, estradiol and an an AA question.

But the protocol that you mention sounds excellent and I think that it has plenty of bica. If you need more estradiol at some point, you can titrate upwards to somewhere between 2mg and 4mg. 2 mg is enough to reach target levels of E2 and T if used consistently although it might take you a year to get there. MtF's who don't care about breast growth can sort of flood their systems and throw the kitchen sink at it like @bridgeburn did. (although pretty much completely feminized, he maintained male pronouns). In my opinion, most cis-guys are willing to accept some gyno for a full head of hair but they don't want full-blown breasts that can be noticed through clothes. The guys on here who have used bica, please chime in because I haven't used this med and am more familiar with spironolactone dosaging.
 
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Almas

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I want to use Bicalutamide 50mg + Finasteride. What do you think about this? I am ready to remove gynecomastia with surgery. Such a regime must be a balance between efficiency and feminization: I want to remain a man. Should I expect a thickening of the temples, or without estrogen, I will only get a stop to the progression of baldness? @Ein uses it successfully
 

JaneyElizabeth

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I want to use Bicalutamide 50mg + Finasteride. What do you think about this? I am ready to remove gynecomastia with surgery. Such a regime must be a balance between efficiency and feminization: I want to remain a man. Should I expect a thickening of the temples, or without estrogen, I will only get a stop to the progression of baldness? @Ein uses it successfully
We have a few people who post using bica and if you look two posts up, I do an extended analysis of what we do known and what we don't know. Although this seems like an easy concept, many of us, even me, forget about titration of medications. 50 mg of bica daily seems like a lot to me. The finasteride is fine since very few seem to experience sides from that. Some allege that bica acts less on strength and acts less on libido/potency and is to be preferred for that reason but if I were you, I would start at 12.5 mg daily or every other day for at least three to six months because AA's can be jarring to the system. They are good for hair but they might link catagen for essentially all follicles very quickly which few people, even MtF''s want, although such sheds are probably benevolent in the long-run for folks using estradiol and AA's and having most of one's hair in the anagen stage for longer seems to be an end result from AA-induced sheds. Estrogen seems to be gentler and not jar the system or the hair the way that the three main AA's do with their highly complicated modes of acting.

So I had a complete shed to baldness about 16 months ago and it has taken this long for me to get my initial hairline back (kind of eh but mostly complete coverage with poor hair quality) with the improvements now in coverage and hair quality which we know when we experience it. This is why some folks with full heads of hair still aren't attractive and they cannot grow it long because it ends up being a rat's nest. Examples might include John Belushi and Robin Williams, rest in peace and also Son of Sam who I suppose is still with us. Very little can be done with his example of full Mediterranean-type coverage.

Ein used to be involved on the @bridgeburn thread and I think that they is female. That usage sounds just horrible to my ears, MtF or not, by the way and I usually avoid it. I don't see his or her medications listed anymore but the hair in the pic is very nice. Folks from India seem to be a combination of Mediterranean, Dravidic and Indo-European so characterizing hair loss in India can be difficult but for the most part they seem to bald similarly to Europeans with a Mediterranean aspect. I wish that I knew more about Dravidic culture but it is often overshadowed by the Indo-European history and the period of the Islamic, well either conquest or immigration into India depending upon one's point of view.

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maballack

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Wash twice a day and leave the shampoo in for ten minutes. Among shampoos, Keto might help mop up excess sebum. Sulfur-type shampoos or aspirin-based or tar-based ones might help. Some claim that massage helps break up sebum deposits trapped beneath the scalp although I can't verify that that is actually a thing that happens. Polysorbates might help but these are all palliatives rather than things that lower sebum production per se. Estrogen is probably best and it is natural, the estrogen, I mean, and usually well-tolerated. Any further details you can give will help as often there is someone suffering from or who has suffered from similar circumstances.
Thanks for all your feedbacks,

Seriously, I have tried everything, I think the problem is an upregulation of the AR at the scalp.

I think my bet would be BI Estro or corticosteroids creams since they are shown to reduce the AR

Do you know, how safe the Bi estro cream is for a man. Do you think it should be applied everyday for the whole life ?

Regards
 

JaneyElizabeth

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Thanks for all your feedbacks,

Seriously, I have tried everything, I think the problem is an upregulation of the AR at the scalp.

I think my bet would be BI Estro or corticosteroids creams since they are shown to reduce the AR

Do you know, how safe the Bi estro cream is for a man. Do you think it should be applied everyday for the whole life ?

Regards
Ha. One reason why I devote myself to this is because I have been at trying to reverse baldness since I was 20 and I have tried so many different things. Prior to my meeting a lot of MtF's, I wasn't able to easily get Estrogel which is always preferred by me. My main staples were estriol cream, biestro cream and estradiol cream. I have bought these nominal menopausal meds over 100 times on Amazon since 2013.

My opinion of those three is that estriol is too weak to do much of anything at anything close to a reasonable dose. The estradiol cream comes in a container half the size by volume and I went through that too quickly. I used Biestro cream for hair improvement and later feminization and it works for both but it often takes lots. It might be good particularly for breast growth for MtF's because they want lower estrogen levels initially to mimic female puberty.

So my observations are that when used at ~ 2 bottles per month, Bi-estro can be highly feminizing and it also can have hair effects which might be marginal in terms of increasing hair count and more so in terms of quality and a general thickening of all hair. Full recoveries might require much more Biestro and this applies more so to MtF's because female pattern loss looks different from male pattern baldness and recovery in the temple areas, which is often not cosmetically significant among males, can be something that clocks MtF's fairly easily. I think that for maintenance they are especially all three indicated. I was was using unmeasured amounts although I could figure it out by the Amazon purchases, so my feminization is not something anecdotally valuable except with reference to breast growth and hair improvement in general. They all work, though, to some extent but paradoxically, using lower amounts might actually cause more breast growth, not less, which is the main goal of most guys using female hormonal medications.
 
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