Quercetin, melatonin, hyaluronic acid or ginkgo biloba

[JLL]

All of these are supposed to have hair-related benefits (among others). I'm going to be taking one of these for the next months, discuss the studies and post the results afterwards.

You can vote which one you'd like me to test on my blog, the Inhuman Experiment.

 

[CCS]

I've never heard of any of those helping with hair. Good luck.

 

[JLL]

Looks like it's going to be quercetin.

 

[JLL]

Since I only have a month's supply of hyaluronic acid and am thinking of combining quercetin with resveratrol, I'm going to try HA first.

The hyaluronic acid experiment begins

 

[Jonathan Strange]

Since I only have a month's supply of hyaluronic acid and am thinking of combining quercetin with resveratrol, I'm going to try HA first.

The hyaluronic acid experiment begins

JLL - are you aware of the study that found quercetin INCREASED DHT levels? It did so quite dramatically, and even simultaneous administration of finasteride could not counteract entirely the quercetin-induced increase of DHT. That said, the same study found that simultaneous administration of quercetin and finasteride had a synergistic effect on reducing rat prostate weight (or was it flank organ?). So go figure. Maybe quercetin's hair benefits (it downregulates expression of wt-AR) outweigh its negatives (increasing DHT).

... and isn't quercetin the main ingredient in rooibos tea, which in a 10% formulation was found to be helpful against Androgenetic Alopecia in a small study by a French cosmetics company? Perhaps there are other actives in the tea that compensate for quercetin's negative effects? Perhaps quercetin is good for scalp hair even though it increases DHT?

I'm confused about quercetin. Would be GREAT if it was a net positive treatment for Androgenetic Alopecia because it's one of the few things you can take to increase the bioavailability of resveratrol, which may be good for hair and the body generally.

 

[JLL]

Since I only have a month's supply of hyaluronic acid and am thinking of combining quercetin with resveratrol, I'm going to try HA first.

The hyaluronic acid experiment begins

JLL - are you aware of the study that found quercetin INCREASED DHT levels? It did so quite dramatically, and even simultaneous administration of finasteride could not counteract entirely the quercetin-induced increase of DHT. That said, the same study found that simultaneous administration of quercetin and finasteride had a synergistic effect on reducing rat prostate weight (or was it flank organ?). So go figure. Maybe quercetin's hair benefits (it downregulates expression of wt-AR) outweigh its negatives (increasing DHT).

No, I'm not, but thanks for pointing that out. I'll look into it.

 

[Jonathan Strange]

No, I'm not, but thanks for pointing that out. I'll look into it.

Here's a link to a PDF copy of the study re finasteride and quercetin:

http://joe.endocrinology-journals.org/cgi/reprint/181/3/493.pdf

 

[tchehov]

Hyaluronic Acid is used in the gum treatment mouthwash/gel Gengigel, recommended because it performs a healing function on damaged and near-dead cells.

I used it on a mouth ulcer and it worked a treat - at the time I was vaguely tempted to apply a little of the gel to my ever-widening crown bald spot but didn't want to get my hopes up again.

Might take another look at it.