- Reaction score
- 340
I'm very new to this, 30 years old, noticed hair loss 6-12 months ago (although quite a bit before that my sister commented on hair getting sparser while cutting my hair), I've been doing a lot of reading in the past few days and want to give you guys the regimen I plan on following partly as just journaling on my part, but more importantly for the sake of getting any suggestions as to what I might want to change or add in.
The hair loss I see is frontal, there's been recession on the sides and the middle patch has gotten sparser. There is thinning on the crown as well. Frankly, I've stopped looking at my hair because it causes me too much stress, so I can't even give you a good assessment of how things are now, I literally don't look at myself in the mirror.
The following is a provisional regimen. I still have a lot of research to do and I'm sure I'll be tweaking it and adding stuff, but here it is as it stands now:
Minoxidil %5?
I haven't decided yet whether to go with M. This thread spooked me
Microneedling
1,5 mm, because that's what they used in that one study where they combined it with Minoxidil to good effect. Don't know yet how often, I'll look at how often they did it.
Tea tree oil
For it's antimicrobial activity.
This study used a mixture of Minoxidil, TTO and an antiinflammatory and achieved better results than control group using Minoxidil alone.
Some antiinflammatory
Haven't decided which one yet, maybe the one mentioned in the above study, but I suspect it might be expensive. Will try to find something natural, side-effects free and affordable.
Massages
According to method described in this video.
Evidence for massages helping is kind of limited, I think, but what the heck, unlikely to hurt. Although one study that followed people using massages at 4 points in time (various # of weeks later) found some hair loss at the third point in the massage group (no in control), but it normalized by the fourth point.
The supposed mechanism by which it may be beneficial is improving blood flow, breaking up fibrosis (and calcification?) and stimulating some beneficial genes.
Caffeine shampoo
Caffeine has been shown to stimulate hair growth in vitro. Studies showed it gets absorbed within 2 minutes into hair follicles if applied to scalp.
Topical caffeine?
I want to look into whether it's available and how expensive. If I can find it maybe I'll forego the shampoo and just use this every day.
Oral caffeine (coffee/black tea)?
I don't know whether caffeine taken orally has beneficial effects, will try to research that, but I suspect that might be something that was never investigated, but I'll research the health effects of caffeine and if there aren't any negative ones then I'll just start drinking lots of coffee/black tea just for the possibility it might help.
Oral marine protein supplements (Viviscal?)
This is something I would like to use, but suspect will turn out to be too expensive.
Got the idea from here.
"Oral marine protein supplements (MPS) have been used for more than 15 years as nutritional enhancers of hair growth in Androgenetic Alopecia."
"Several studies, including randomized, controlled trials have demonstrated the efficacy of Viviscal in the treatment of Androgenetic Alopecia in men [55,57,58]. Significant improvements, in terms of the physicianassessed terminal hair counts as well as patient-perceived benefits in hair volume, scalp coverage, and thickness of hair shafts have also been reported in multiple double-blind, placebo-controlled studies evaluating the efficacy of Viviscal supplement (given orally twice-a-day for 3 months to 6 months) in women with self-perceived thinning hair [56,59,60]."
Diet supplements
I haven't made my mind up on this yet, I suspect if I start buying every supplement that's been connected to promoting hair growth I'll go bust, so I'm hoping to maybe read up on what the relevant nutrients are and try to up my intake through food.
Laser
This is something that I haven't researched yet sufficiently, but it seems there's some evidence for it and it SHOULD be side effects-free (although one study mentioned some health concerns, withotu specifying further), so I figure why not.
I'd like to get something like the cap in this video, assuming it's affordable.
That's it. I don't want to go for Finasteride, because the side effects scare me. I'm hoping that the fact that I'll be using all these things in combo, plus the fact that my hair loss is not dramatic yet will be sufficient without F.
As I mentioned earlier, I never look at my hair any more, because it causes a lot of stress. Sounds ridiculous, but when I have to look at myself in the mirror, I put a towel over my head. This is a problem, because I should be able to see how any intervention I make is affecting the situation up top and I'm currently debating with myself whether I should start looking at my hair so I can track changes or keep up what I'm doing and hope that at some point I'll notice my regimen restored my hair.
By burying my head in the sand I avoid a lot of stress and aggravation, but knowing how changes in my regiment are affecting things would be very important and also maybe what I'm doing is a little cowardly, I don't know.
I would very much appreciate any comments, criticisms or suggestions.
The hair loss I see is frontal, there's been recession on the sides and the middle patch has gotten sparser. There is thinning on the crown as well. Frankly, I've stopped looking at my hair because it causes me too much stress, so I can't even give you a good assessment of how things are now, I literally don't look at myself in the mirror.
The following is a provisional regimen. I still have a lot of research to do and I'm sure I'll be tweaking it and adding stuff, but here it is as it stands now:
Minoxidil %5?
I haven't decided yet whether to go with M. This thread spooked me
Microneedling
1,5 mm, because that's what they used in that one study where they combined it with Minoxidil to good effect. Don't know yet how often, I'll look at how often they did it.
Tea tree oil
For it's antimicrobial activity.
This study used a mixture of Minoxidil, TTO and an antiinflammatory and achieved better results than control group using Minoxidil alone.
Some antiinflammatory
Haven't decided which one yet, maybe the one mentioned in the above study, but I suspect it might be expensive. Will try to find something natural, side-effects free and affordable.
Massages
According to method described in this video.
Evidence for massages helping is kind of limited, I think, but what the heck, unlikely to hurt. Although one study that followed people using massages at 4 points in time (various # of weeks later) found some hair loss at the third point in the massage group (no in control), but it normalized by the fourth point.
The supposed mechanism by which it may be beneficial is improving blood flow, breaking up fibrosis (and calcification?) and stimulating some beneficial genes.
Caffeine shampoo
Caffeine has been shown to stimulate hair growth in vitro. Studies showed it gets absorbed within 2 minutes into hair follicles if applied to scalp.
Topical caffeine?
I want to look into whether it's available and how expensive. If I can find it maybe I'll forego the shampoo and just use this every day.
Oral caffeine (coffee/black tea)?
I don't know whether caffeine taken orally has beneficial effects, will try to research that, but I suspect that might be something that was never investigated, but I'll research the health effects of caffeine and if there aren't any negative ones then I'll just start drinking lots of coffee/black tea just for the possibility it might help.
Oral marine protein supplements (Viviscal?)
This is something I would like to use, but suspect will turn out to be too expensive.
Got the idea from here.
"Oral marine protein supplements (MPS) have been used for more than 15 years as nutritional enhancers of hair growth in Androgenetic Alopecia."
"Several studies, including randomized, controlled trials have demonstrated the efficacy of Viviscal in the treatment of Androgenetic Alopecia in men [55,57,58]. Significant improvements, in terms of the physicianassessed terminal hair counts as well as patient-perceived benefits in hair volume, scalp coverage, and thickness of hair shafts have also been reported in multiple double-blind, placebo-controlled studies evaluating the efficacy of Viviscal supplement (given orally twice-a-day for 3 months to 6 months) in women with self-perceived thinning hair [56,59,60]."
Diet supplements
I haven't made my mind up on this yet, I suspect if I start buying every supplement that's been connected to promoting hair growth I'll go bust, so I'm hoping to maybe read up on what the relevant nutrients are and try to up my intake through food.
Laser
This is something that I haven't researched yet sufficiently, but it seems there's some evidence for it and it SHOULD be side effects-free (although one study mentioned some health concerns, withotu specifying further), so I figure why not.
I'd like to get something like the cap in this video, assuming it's affordable.
That's it. I don't want to go for Finasteride, because the side effects scare me. I'm hoping that the fact that I'll be using all these things in combo, plus the fact that my hair loss is not dramatic yet will be sufficient without F.
As I mentioned earlier, I never look at my hair any more, because it causes a lot of stress. Sounds ridiculous, but when I have to look at myself in the mirror, I put a towel over my head. This is a problem, because I should be able to see how any intervention I make is affecting the situation up top and I'm currently debating with myself whether I should start looking at my hair so I can track changes or keep up what I'm doing and hope that at some point I'll notice my regimen restored my hair.
By burying my head in the sand I avoid a lot of stress and aggravation, but knowing how changes in my regiment are affecting things would be very important and also maybe what I'm doing is a little cowardly, I don't know.
I would very much appreciate any comments, criticisms or suggestions.
Last edited:
