Peacemaker's DR log

[peacemaker]

Hi guys,

I will be probably starting DR'ing this week and wanted to keep a log. I have seen gains from scratching and massaging alone, but I want to hopefully speed up the process.

Here are my pics. These will be my baseline pics from now on:

This is the right side. This side has been the most resistant to scratching. But I can see some hairs emerging very close to the hairline as I continue to scratch.

This is the left side. There were bunch of hairs that popped up quickly when I started the treatment.

Hopefully, with derma rolling, I will be able to grow some hairs to regain 1-2cm of my hairline back. I will not be using minoxidil for now.


I have a question for the derma roller people. Should I roll over only the bald areas, all my whole scalp?

 

[2young2retire]

nice . you should roll all directions hardly all over thinning pattern. and ofcourse your baldning areas. though expect hair regrowth closer to existing hair. cell signals migrae from healthy hair mostly.

use a 2mm roller and a stamp . i see much hair mass there. or buzz

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also drop any anti inflamantory agent

 

[Thor9]

Good luck on your quest, bro!

I just started rolling too and my recession is about the same as yours...hopefully we can grow back some of that hairline!

 

[peacemaker]

Thanks for your comments! I am eager to start this treatment. I think I will tonight if everything goes according to plan. I am planning on taking pics every three weeks (from the same angle). Because the problem is on my temples, I don't think there will be any problems after my haircut tomorrow as I pull my hair back to take pics anyway. I will not buy a usb microscope or whatever as I am not interested in vellus hairs. If I see any that is not seen on my pics, I will report them. My pics are really good as you might have noticed from the baseline pics, so I don't think there will be any issues with pic quality. My expectations are not really high as I have witnessed this method working on some and not working on others. 2young has inspired me to attempt this.

My plan is to do ONLY derma rolling. I am not on any hairloss meds. I only take omega-3 and multivitamin tablets occasionally (not for hairloss, but for general health). Maybe, I will increase my omega-3 intake later on because it is a COX inhibitor, but for now it will only be derma rolling. I will start with a 2 mm as per 2young's suggestion and initially roll ONLY on the fully bald areas initially (maybe also the areas with vellus hairs). I will also derma roll my forehead. So my aim is to at least get better skin as my forehead has had a lot of acne problems : ). It will also hopefully increase the FGF-9 production overall so the process will be quicker. I will wait for 8-9 days between rolling sessions.

My plan is to do this for 4 months and then judge if I want to continue. 4 months of DR ing = about 14-15 derma rolls so you do the math. I might decide to add Minoxidil, some COX-1 inhibitors or some other stuff if new evidence surfaces or if I want to. I will let you now if it happens.

Please do not ask too many questions regarding my methodology or raise the tension in my log as I am no expert and I am learning stuff as I go too. It sucks that people like us are on our way to becoming dermatology professors, but can't complain. That's the way life is.

Thank you all and I am also open to suggestions regarding cleaning the used derma roller after each session.

 

[dvsk13]

@2young2retire - why do you say to drop anti-inflammatory agents duringderma rolling?

my apologies if you have previously answered this question elsewhere, i have not come across it however.

 

[peacemaker]

I am sorry guys, I have made a mistake. It seems I mixed COX-1 up with Dkk1. So everything I posted about COX-1 is in fact about Dkk1.

 

[2young2retire]

because it cancels the purpose. we need to benefit from accute inflamation from the wounding we cause.(accute inflamation and chronic micro inflamation is different things if you wonder why then nizoral works.)

@2young2retire - why do you say to drop anti-inflammatory agents duringderma rolling?

my apologies if you have previously answered this question elsewhere, i have not come across it however.

 

[Thor9]

Thank you all and I am also open to suggestions regarding cleaning the used derma roller after each session.

Chlorhexidine soap

http://www.walgreens.com/store/c/walgreens-antiseptic-skin-cleanser/ID=prod6051051-product

You can get it locally at Walgreens or its cheaper on Amazon under the brand name Hibiclens.

Its kills bacteria that causes staph infections and it also continues to kill bacteria for 6 hours after use. I use it in the shower to disinfect my scalp and my wash my hands with it before each roll. Obviously I use it to disinfect the roller itself as well.

 

[peacemaker]

First trial done.. it was not game though, as I was mostly concerned with losing too much blood, etc. DRing is a lot different than scratching. Although both produce redness, DR's redness stays for a while. I think it will go in 48 hrs as it says in the manual.

2 mm doesn't hurt as some people say. It will get painful in the first few rolls (even in the temples), but will get easier and easier throughout the session. I haven't felt the need for a numbing cream, which I also had. Instead, I put some rubbing alcohol after the first few rolls which made everything a lot easier. I rolled till I had blood all over and then some. In some places, I had to push the DR down for full impact. However, I stopped after 5-10 minutes because it was my first session and did not want to push it. Hence, I will stop after 4 months starting from my next session as I will start pushing it then.

Here's a picture after my session (high quality as usual):



After DR'ing I saw no blood clots, which is good news. It seems the wounds are too small to be seen.

This is all from me today. Till later guys...

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Chlorhexidine soap

http://www.walgreens.com/store/c/walgreens-antiseptic-skin-cleanser/ID=prod6051051-product

You can get it locally at Walgreens or its cheaper on Amazon under the brand name Hibiclens.

Its kills bacteria that causes staph infections and it also continues to kill bacteria for 6 hours after use. I use it in the shower to disinfect my scalp and my wash my hands with it before each roll. Obviously I use it to disinfect the roller itself as well.

Thanks for the advice! I bought a clorhexidine solution. I use both that and rubbing alcohol to disinfect. Hopefully, alcohol doesn't have any adverse effects on follicles as I used too much of it after my session lol.

 

[benjt]

Do you have any before/after photos showing your scratching and massaging success? I cant find any vellus hair on the photos in this thread, which would usually be expected as a sign of regrowth.

 

[peacemaker]

Do you have any before/after photos showing your scratching and massaging success? I cant find any vellus hair on the photos in this thread, which would usually be expected as a sign of regrowth.

No I don't have photos, but it did help because:
1- You can see on my left temple that there are a few hairs standing out outside of my hairline. There used to be only one. I know this because only 1 hair stood by itself for a long time. Now there are a couple more. They are half the length of the one surviving hair from before, which indicates they are new.
2- I have been losing very thin hairs in the shower every morning. Now, I am sure that the diameter of the hairs that I lose has become more normal. I am guessing that the increased blood flow helped the surviving hairs gain thickness.
3- My hairline got much more defined. Believe it or not, there were a lot of new thicker hairs along my hairline (like 30-40). My reasoning is that the somewhat affected hairs at the front went through a shedding and became stronger.

I also do have vellus hair all over my scalp (very small - not seen in the photos). But they were also there before I started scratching & massaging. That's what I hope DRing will deal with. If DRing helps to grow some of them, that would be great.

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Just wanted to let you guys following this log that I am considering adding Vit B12 to my treatment sometime. But I will wait first for at least 2 months and see if DRing alone has any impact. This was mentioned a while ago in the old DRing thread and a few members claimed to have increased results after integrating B12 to their regimen. The study showing that B12 helps activate the WNT pathway can be found here: http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?paperID=5312#.Uu6prPmSx8E.

I also want to let you know that although today's the day after my 1st treatment, it seems most probably that my skin will shed. It is so dry and I can see it slowly coming off as if I had sunburn. Has anybody experienced skin shedding this soon?

 

[2young2retire]

if you want to add sth to your study i higly suggest trial an area applyin ascorbic acid after heavy seassion. i believe it will cause enhanced remodeling elasticity added colagen etc.

 

[I.D WALKER]

No I don't have photos, but it did help because:
1- You can see on my left temple that there are a few hairs standing out outside of my hairline. There used to be only one. I know this because only 1 hair stood by itself for a long time. Now there are a couple more. They are half the length of the one surviving hair from before, which indicates they are new.
2- I have been losing very thin hairs in the shower every morning. Now, I am sure that the diameter of the hairs that I lose has become more normal. I am guessing that the increased blood flow helped the surviving hairs gain thickness.
3- My hairline got much more defined. Believe it or not, there were a lot of new thicker hairs along my hairline (like 30-40). My reasoning is that the somewhat affected hairs at the front went through a shedding and became stronger.

I also do have vellus hair all over my scalp (very small - not seen in the photos). But they were also there before I started scratching & massaging. That's what I hope DRing will deal with. If DRing helps to grow some of them, that would be great.

- - - Updated - - -

Just wanted to let you guys following this log that I am considering adding Vit B12 to my treatment sometime. But I will wait first for at least 2 months and see if DRing alone has any impact. This was mentioned a while ago in the old DRing thread and a few members claimed to have increased results after integrating B12 to their regimen. The study showing that B12 helps activate the WNT pathway can be found here: http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?paperID=5312#.Uu6prPmSx8E.

I also want to let you know that although today's the day after my 1st treatment, it seems most probably that my skin will shed. It is so dry and I can see it slowly coming off as if I had sunburn. Has anybody experienced skin shedding this soon?

Do you have a history of seb. dermatitis? Treating my own case of it my scalp has sometimes going into a hyperactive /heightened mode of symptomatic shedding . Of course I am only talking about past topical use at this point. Yours could be due to increased stimulation which can certainly aggravate sebaceous gland production. presently I don't DR buttill I noticed a similar response youre describing based off my own experience with seb. derm. that's why I ask. Anyway I hope you cant relate to my parallel because that would mean you have seb.derm.; it its really a ****ing b**ch. Hope the DRing and B12 work out for you. I will began trialing DR the first of next month. Best Wishes.

 

[peacemaker]

Do you have a history of seb. dermatitis? Treating my own case of it my scalp has sometimes going into a hyperactive /heightened mode of symptomatic shedding . Of course I am only talking about past topical use at this point. Yours could be due to increased stimulation which can certainly aggravate sebaceous gland production. presently I don't DR buttill I noticed a similar response youre describing based off my own experience with seb. derm. that's why I ask. Anyway I hope you cant relate to my parallel because that would mean you have seb.derm.; it its really a ****ing b**ch. Hope the DRing and B12 work out for you. I will began trialing DR the first of next month. Best Wishes.

I think I have seb. dematitis. I have looked it up and I can relate to it. It's not so bothersome and I think the head & shoulders shampoo helps with it a lot. The symptoms stop as long as I use their shampoo. They come back in a few days if I switch shampoos.

 

[peacemaker]

My second DR session was today. I could say that it was finally a regular session because of all the blood so I will do this for 4 months starting from today. I want to add Vit C and B12 as topicals, but do not know how to prepare them. Can anyone with experience help me? Also, here is a picture from today's session:



I do multiple sessions on each side of my head and after each session it bleeds like this. I do this 3-4 times.

 

[damien_p_watermelon]

Your hair is really thick and your hairline is totally clean (no whispy, fine hairs) so we're going to see the hairs so clearly as they come through. Very good.

 

[peacemaker]

It says you started DRing in September 2013. Any results?

 

[hairregrowth21]

I want to add Vit C and B12 as topicals, but do not know how to prepare them. Can anyone with experience help me?

Crush powder pills up with a toothbrush or if they're capsules you can just open them and filter the fillers out with a coffee filter. Another option would be to get them on PureBulk.

As far as loosening up your scalp- why don't you try steaming with a kettle or a steamer to loosen up prior to rolling?

 

[peacemaker]

Crush powder pills up with a toothbrush or if they're capsules you can just open them and filter the fillers out with a coffee filter. Another option would be to get them on PureBulk.

As far as loosening up your scalp- why don't you try steaming with a kettle or a steamer to loosen up prior to rolling?

Why would I need to loosen it up? I just go ahead and butcher it. To numb the pain, I put ethyl alcohol in mid-session and then butcher it some more. Alcohol dries my scalp intensely after every session so an hour after cleaning everything up, I put moisturizer on the butchered areas and voila!

 

[Kirby]

My second DR session was today. I could say that it was finally a regular session because of all the blood so I will do this for 4 months starting from today. I want to add Vit C and B12 as topicals, but do not know how to prepare them. Can anyone with experience help me? Also, here is a picture from today's session:

View attachment 23912

I do multiple sessions on each side of my head and after each session it bleeds like this. I do this 3-4 times.

FWIW, that's pretty much how bloody my scalp was after a rolling session when I was still in the dermarolling game.