Saw Palmetto & other q's

minky

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Hi, this is my first post, so please pardon my inexperience with some of this stuff, though having said that I've been trawling some of these boards for a little while so I'm beginning to learn the lingo. I think!

I've been losing my hair very slowly from the front (no loss at the crown) for the last ten years or so, but I'd initially denied that it was happening, then accepted its continuation as an inevitability. Over the last few years it's been bothering me more and more, so I want to try and slow things down as best I can, before I really might as well just give up (I've got to be a good norwood 3 already).

I'm using Alpecin and Nizoral, the combination of which may or may not be helping to stop my frontal shedding (I think they may be, but it's really difficult to tell - I'm not in the habit of counting hairs/measuring my forehead in fractions of a mm). I've briefly tried minoxidil, but I'm definitely not touching that again as it gave me serious palpitations and dizziness, and I've heard too many reports of dubious sides that I don't like the sound of (my barber told me his arm went into a period of paralysis after using it!). I'm trying to avoid finasteride, if I can help it, for the same reasons - I'm troubled by my hair loss, but not to the extent that I want to risk my health (well not to any great extent!) to restore it.

So I'm thinking about trying Saw Palmetto - it seems cheap, it's widely available from healthfood stores, and whilst the fuller research isn't there to guarantee its being able to prevent hair loss, the general science seems to support it, and those that have used it, either for hair loss or other problems, don't seem to report the nasty sides that some finasteride users seem to experience.

So, I guess my questions are:

a) what do people think of this as a fairly low-risk regemin (Alpecin+Nizoral+Saw Palmetto), considering my reservations about some of the more popular choices and not wanting to spend a fortune either,

b) is there any advice or personal experiences people could share with me about taking Saw Palmetto, ie. what sort should I be getting, has it worked for anyone, etc, etc,

c) are there any other restorative but more natural treatments I should be looking at - fish oils, kelp, vitamins? Any other natural DHT blockers?

d) am I just kidding myself and is it just a case of finasteride or forget about it?

Thanks for your help guys, much appreciated! :)
 

Boondock

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I'm on saw palmetto right now. I've always had sides from finasteride, but never had problems with saw palmetto.

I've found it to be only moderately effective. I think it does slow down my loss, but it probably doesn't stop it and almost certainly doesn't regrow.
 

minky

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Boondock said:
I'm on saw palmetto right now. I've always had sides from finasteride, but never had problems with saw palmetto.

I've found it to be only moderately effective. I think it does slow down my loss, but it probably doesn't stop it and almost certainly doesn't regrow.

Thanks for the info Boondock, do you have any advice on which sort to go for (sure I read somewhere you should go for the standardized extract - whatever that means), how many mg, etc? ie:

http://www.hollandandbarrett.com/pages/ ... aw&rdcnt=1

You say the finasteride gave you sides - did it actually work better than saw palmetto, or were the results ("slow down my loss, but it probably doesn't stop it and almost certainly doesn't regrow") much the same?

Thanks!
 

Boondock

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I tried finasteride on two separate occasions. Even the longest of those only lasted for around 2 months.

While this isn't usually long enough to evaluate properly, I can say that I was losing next to no hair in the bath or when I ran my fingers through my hair. In that sense, I felt like it was working.

With SP, I tend to still lose hair in these situations, but not as much as I do without any supplements.

I've tried two brands. The first is Vitasunn 160mg. The second is Healthspan 320mg w/ zinc. I would say the second was more effective than the first, but probably only because of the higher dose.

I should emphasize that saw palmetto is not a hugely effective treatment, and is not for everyone side effect free. For me however it's cheap, side free, and buys me a bit more time.
 

Nashville Hairline

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Agree with the above..SP has been "just OK" results-wise for me. Its not snake oil but its not Finasteride in terms of effectiveness IMO.

Standardized is best to go for as it means the ingredients are consistent across the capsules.

320mg of 95% standardized SP is what turns up in the prostate studies so maybe start on that or similar. There is no recommended hair dosage, of course.
 
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