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Also me.
the bald truth book
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Yes, imo it is the second step in this process, but what is it causing inflammation, chronic inflammation? I bet that oxidiced sebum is a key, also is involucrated DHT, but we must know that scalp hairs are identical in both sexes
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Iv thought about local DHT in females before, to simplify females have approx 20 percent blood DHT compared to men. I agree with your theory inflammation = DHT (due to DHT increasing on any part of body which is 'injured') women also on average have far less deep neck tension so less occipitalis tension (occupatalis directly affects galea 'pull')
So all things considered women have far less scalp inflammation AND far less available DHT, hence far less hairloss.
Balding men have more DHT in scalp than non balding, not sure how men with good hair compare to females in this regard though.
That's my simplified way of understanding things anyway.
Also I'm surprised Botox studies haven't gained more traction in this forum. I assume it's because they state blood flow helps (and any blood flow theory gets shot down on here all the time maybe for good reason) however imo the main reason the botox studies worked was due to this anti inflammatory effect on galea.
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It's easy to Google what causes chronic inflammation everywhere on body -
Repetitive strain injuries = thickened fascia/tendons over time.
chronic tension influences inflammation and collagen remodeling.
Or in other world chronic tight deep neck muscles and surrounding head muscles (oocupitslis, temporal and frontalis) cause chronic scalp inflammation and hardening (This specific point is harder to Google due to a multi billion pounds hairloss industry but why would scalp be any different to anywhere else on the body??)
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It is good think in biology terms, but main androgens are make in the same hair (pilosebaceous unit), blood DHT is not important for scalp hairs, please see
Hormones and the pilosebaceous unit - PubMed
Hormones can exert their actions through endocrine, paracrine, juxtacrine, autocrine and intracrine pathways. The skin, especially the pilosebaceous unit, can be regarded as an endocrine organ meanwhile a target of hormones, because it synthesizes miscellaneous hormones and expresses diverse...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23435015/
Dr. Ebling in 70' last century : "
That some hair follicles, notably those of the beard, axilla, pubic region and to a lesser
extent on the chest, abdomen and limbs, are under androgenic control is obvious.
The sexual hair starts to grow at puberty. Hirsutism is seen in conditions associated with
excessive androgen production, for example, Stein-Leventhal syndrome and adrenal
tumour; conversely, hair growth is sparse when androgen is insufficient. What is
paradoxical is why pattern alopecia in men, and the somewhat more diffuse, but never-
theless probable counterpart in women, is similarly androgen-dependent. Why should
male hormones strengthen hair growth in some regions of the body, where it is often
unwelcome, and decrease it to futility on the scalp, where it is highly desired"
Ok, this the start of the degenerative process of common baldness, but muscles are at first irrelevant, sebum ozidized is more pausible,
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Also more from F. JOHN EBLING
"The question of pattern alopecia evades answer. That it is related to androgen meta-
bolism is suggested by the finding that bald skin is more capable than non-bald skin of
converting testosterone into Sa-dihydrotestosterone in vitro (Bingham & Shaw,
1973a,b). However, it has been pointed out that formation of dihydrotestosterone is an
ubiquitous property of hair follicles irrespective of whether they are responsive to andro-
gens, and that hair roots given labelled testosterone in vitro produce androstene-
dione as their major metabolite (Schweikert &Wilson, 1974). The high rate of dihydro-
testosterone formation in balding might thus be its consequence rather than its cause."
"The question of pattern alopecia evades answer. That it is related to androgen meta-
bolism is suggested by the finding that bald skin is more capable than non-bald skin of
converting testosterone into Sa-dihydrotestosterone in vitro (Bingham & Shaw,
1973a,b). However, it has been pointed out that formation of dihydrotestosterone is an
ubiquitous property of hair follicles irrespective of whether they are responsive to andro-
gens, and that hair roots given labelled testosterone in vitro produce androstene-
dione as their major metabolite (Schweikert &Wilson, 1974). The high rate of dihydro-
testosterone formation in balding might thus be its consequence rather than its cause."
The industry likes to keep it simple as they know they have nothing now (except a hair transplant which usually sidesteps the issue for some years by importing a new environment) to deal with the results of inflammation and parked DHT and what it does to the skin and follicles etc after some time. For a true cure for more severe balding they would need restore all that fibrotic tissue that developed and be able to prod the stem cells to create a new hair follicle where the follicles have totally been destroyed by fibrotic tissue.
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"the formation of 5alphareduced metabolites in anagen scalp hairs taken from women and nonbalding men
did not differ in any region of the head."
Regulation of Human Hair Growth by Steroid Hormones.
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The hairloss industry as in meds and hair transplants have nothing to gain from proving tension theory.
Is there any evidence that even on clean bald heads, follicles have been totally destroyed? I'm sure even on the baldest shiny head there are still microscopic follicles?
I don't doubt any of the above, but the fact Botox injections around surrounding scalp muscles has been proved to regrow hair once galea is loosened negates most if not all of it.
I don't think it's as complicated a process as most people think. The real issue imo is it takes many years for miniaturisation to occur sometimes decades for it to be visible. So reversing and recovery will also take a long time and it's not an easy task to reverse the tension and fibrosis.
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I don't doubt this and honestly don't fully understand the detail. However what I do know is scalp tension theory is a relatively new theory after the 1974 study mainly 80s and 90s, then only from 2010 onwards we started seeing more papers on fibrosis and calcification causing scalp stiffness.
I'm of the belief this will be far better understood in 20 years or so time, and in meantime we will see a rise in male pattern baldness due to knock on effect from technology and even more people working at a desk and on phone (tech neck), as well as poor posture/form with weight lifting and the ever growing 'muscle' industry. Chiropractors will also benefit hugely from this in next few decades!
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I do think you are playing with fire once you get past maybe a 5 year point of not seeing a visible hair as far as the follicle goes. The real little area on my spot I know there has been no visible hair for at least 10 years has not produced any with me cleaning the fibrotic mess out of there and applying the fatty acid mix to stimulate the stem cells. That 2 year mess they like to throw around about the follicle disappearing is definitely off though unless someone was forming scar tissue very rapidly. I agree reversing bad fibrosis is tough and most people aren't going to put in the work and time it requires to do it. I think they show some very bad balding cases that scar tissue replaced the follicle.
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Imagine how many years the hairs took to eventually miniaturise, then in theory the reverse - if they are recoverable how long it would take to build up again, were talking several years of persistence to see visible differences. Think how long it takes a new borns follicles to mature from almost invisible. Different mechanism but sensible comparison.
These follicles I saved in the last 3 months went from new velus hair to terminal in a pretty quick time frame considering some of them shrunk below the skin surface around 5 years ago. I am going to keep monitoring that real small area to see if any hair sprouts out of it while I back off to applying this stuff once a week instead of every other day.
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Be good to hear on future progress, it's good to use a phone camera on macro mode with flash to monitor very small hairs.
I honestly think the hardest part to any hairloss regime not involving simply taking meds, is consistency. I remember reading about people swearing that rubbing finger nails together for 20 mins a day for 18 months regrows hair. I didn't believe for a second however how many people have actually tried this, not many I reckon!
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If I was a betting man, and I say this with confidence I believe Vitamin D Receptors / dysfunction holds the awnser and or reason to androgenetic alopecia as it's the receptor / vitamin that's responsible for 1,000 plus genes and cells expression and the immune system and hormones. And it's also responsible for the growth phases of the hair cycle.
" The Vitamin D Receptor (VDR) is essential for maintaining a healthy gut microbiome, acting as a crucial mediator between vitamin D signaling and gut homeostasis. VDR activation by active Vitamin D (\(\text{1,25(OH)}_2\text{D}_3\)) maintains the intestinal barrier, regulates immune responses, and promotes a balanced, diverse microbial ecosystem. [1, 2]"
*There's the gut connection *
The scary thing about The Vitamin D Receptor dysfunction is this. Yes you can take a blood test and you can have ideal levels of Vitamin D levels but it's deeper than that. The issue is that it's not activating / binding to the receptor at all and for whatever reason US (I say us as in men because we are for the most part prone to this androgenetic alopecia phenomenon. Shout out to the ladies here going thru this too) men for the most part it seems as if our bodies loses the ability to activate/bind to vitamin d receptor something our body did naturally when we were kids with a full head of hair not even thinking about balding & honestly I speculate that puberty for whatever reason caused this ability to start going away.
Vitamin D dysfunction can manifest in many different ways and can cause issues with the body such as asthma (something I had as a young child and kinda still have a bit now but grew out of it for the most part. I was at a disadvantage regardless), eczema ( which was something my father had as a kid so I suspect I inherited the dysfunction trait from him), skeletal issues (scoliosis, osteoporosis, arthistis etc) balding, insulin resistance, calcium absorption issues (calcification is prevalent in bald areas of the had and it's prevalent in organs too), Magnesium dysfunction (WE NEED MAGNESIUM IN ORDER FOR the receptors to be activated and if you notice there's people me included who use magnesium topically and orally and has been mentioned time and time again to help reverse hairloss), VDR normally regulates potassium channels in tissues such as renal, intestinal, and vascular smooth muscle cells, helping to maintain electrolyte homeostasis ( this ties into minoxidils mechanisms it widens the potassium channel, and by no means am I taking credit for making the connection because it's been suspected that it works because of that for decades!), prostate cancer / enlargement, (as the receptor fails to properly mediate the protective, anti-proliferative effects of vitamin D). I can go on in on but imma switch gears!
Testosterone/androgens promotes calcification. Thats it this why us as men are so susceptible to this and same goes for women dealing with pcos I suspect they are having vitamin d receptor binding issues as well. Women aren't as susceptible because they aren't androgen dominant they have very little dht / testosterone levels and if they did have vitamin d receptor dysfunction it wouldn't manifest ATLEAST until they start blasting test/androgens. I believe this is why estrogen or the hormonal therapy way works (in a good amount of people) to regrow hair- it works because you're basically mimicking a woman's hormonal profile, and before drugs like finasteride and dutasteride came around estrogen therapy was used to treat / reverse prostate issues.
So here's what I suspect in regards to androgenetic alopecia basically...
Vitamin d receptor mutation 》inflammation (gut issues *leaky gut, skeletal issues, etc* prostate, free radicals, hair follicles, skin, oxidative stress etc), 》Organ dysfunction/over working ( due to the vitamin d receptor not functioning the way it should other organs start over working to compensate for it and also because vitamin d is responsible for the protection of the immune system free radicals start and gut bacteria start leaking into other key organs (kidneys, adrenal gland, prostate, uterine, intestines/gut etc) and cycles thru the body, 》Anti-Inflammation-Inflammation / calcification/free radical dumping/immune response (Inflammation and its metabolites start making its rounds to signal the body to repair itself - dht unpregulates to counter inflammation as it's a anti-inflammatory, the body starts moving the calcium and the gut bacteria to other parts of the body preferably the head but it can calcify the heart, lungs, kidney, pineal gland, and again the scalp / follicles which are technically "mini organs" but once the moving of free radicals, gut bacteria and what not happens "androgenetic alopecia " and other scalp issues manifest [alopecia Areata, scarring alopecia, serb /dermatitis, shedding, itching, scalp tension, "skull expansion " receeding of hairline etc and of course dht comes in to try to counter act what's happening up there as it's anti inflammatory but the price is hair loss].
I found a theory in regards to the vitamin d receptor malfunctioning a week and a half ago and researched and thought thus would be the excellent thread to reveal it here. It ties into "the homeless" theory somewhat in regards to " they do drugs eat junk food etc but have a full head of hair" and I kinda agree there's a good amount of homeless people I see with hair just like these men in the picture but of course there's bald homeless men but I suspect the ones with a full head of hair have excellent vitamin d receptor binding / function or it's the fact that yes they might have a dysfunction of the receptor but it hasn't manifested due to them constantly being outside. The ones who are bald I can say without a doubt have poor vitamin d receptor binding. And we can tie it with us men here as well.
Does diet play a role? Yes and No let me explain, if you have a faulty vitamin d receptor you can eat healthy all you want to but regardless your hair will fall short, now can avoiding foods that trigger inflammation help I'd say yes but only a little bit. Now someone with a well operating receptor can virtually eat terribly and still have amazing hair I highly believe that's why.
Why does dht grow beard and body hair but you lose hair on your head? This is a fun one. This is the infamous Paradox. Dht yes can make you lose hair but I don't believe the whole dht sensitivity thing, I think it's due to some sort of underlying cause of either scalp inflammation and or vitamin d receptor dysfunction. There's literally men who have have and a big beard with virtually no hairloss I know people like that and yall have seen people like that as well. "5ar dysfunctional people though Strictly" to that yes I understand you guys are right to bring those people up my awnser to that is simple. Again dht can cause hairloss due to another underlying cause but if you were born with 5ar dysfunction which basically means you don't have ONE of the enzymes to basically make scalp dht you definitely won't get the whole balding thing going on its that simple.
If A cure is made it has to address The Vitamin D receptor and it's dysfunction. All in all this ties all theories / causes of balding together. Vitamin D Receptor Dysfunction.
Sorry for the long read in advance I felt I had to get this off my heart.
I need to take some walks to get some real Vitamin D myself. The homeless guys with a bunch of hair does drive people crazy. Maybe I am just focused on the ones with a lot of hair but in my area its almost unheard of to see Norwood 6 or 7. Most losing hair its diffuse thinning usually and they usually have a malnourished look from being an alcoholic etc. One guy claimed you dont see many homeless 6s and 7s because those people tend to be more serious intellectual types that rarely end up homeless and of course the they dont care argument of lower stress levels. It does seem like its that way just to drive people crazy.
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So if your theories true surely the manifestation from malfunctioning vit D receptors would overlap and there would be a trend whereby people losing their hair also have other issues you mentioned diabetes etc etc? At least some study would surely show some correlation?
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I mean it's said that men with diabetes can sometimes be bald and have a significant increase of having a heart attack, quite a bit of men with prostate issues are indeed at bald times. And there's been a link to Alarin levels in the body being significantly high the higher on the Norwood scale you go to, so the higher the Norwood the higher the alarin levels.
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Vitamin d receptors is basically a hormone damn near- id go as far as saying that.
First time hearing about Alarin. Never heard of it before.
Androgenetic Alopecia and Metabolic Syndrome: Is Alarin a Missing Link? - PMC
The field of research into the probable link between androgenetic alopecia (Androgenetic Alopecia) and metabolic syndrome (MetS) is rapidly expanding. The exact underlying pathogenesis yet to be identified. Alarin, a galanin neuropeptide, found to be elevated in ...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov