The link between chronic caffeine intake an increased androgenic sensitivity

Nebula74

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Hi, I am an 18 year old, who has noticed that my left temple has receding for about a year, as well as a slight thinning of my crown. I am aware that this is mild balding, but for reference, I have maternal and paternal relatives who have gone bald, but none who started this early.

Therefore, I believe it's obvious that I carry the potential genetics to express androgenetic alopecia, but not at an early age. Therefore, I believe that the cause of the early onset of balding for me was caused by environmental factors. I also do not express characteristics that are indicative of me having high DHT, as I cannot grow any facial hair, my body hair is limited and my voice is not deep.

Though I am aware that genetics play the largest role in determining hair loss, I believe that the role of environmental factors which help to express those genes have been undermined

In my case, I have put this down to two factors which are specific to me which my relatives didn't indulge in.
1) Chronic Caffeine usage since 16
2) Lack of sleep


I first noticed some mild hair loss at 17, 6 months after beginning my chronic caffeine usage.
2 months ago, I stopped using caffeine , as I began to show symptoms of an enlarged prostate. I was drinking 3/4 cups a day for two years .

I was researching about the role which these environmental factors play in androgenetic alopecia, and found out about this study


This found that chronic caffeine usage in rats from puberty increased the androgenic sensitivity in the prostate gland, thus increasing the risk of BPH. Though it did not research the impact on hair follicles, both tissues are controlled by DHT, and therefore through slight extrapolation, I believe that chronic caffeine usage can bring about an earlier onset of androgenetic alopecia, if one has the potential genetics to express it.

It'd be interesting to hear your thoughts
 

FilthyFrancis

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I am in the same boat: my father started balding at 35, while I did at 20. Apart from him, everyone is super hairy in the family (my older brother included).

I have been in denial for 5 years and have just accepted it. Newer generations are balding sooner than their parents. This is a curse.

If you have a clear pattern (i.e crown thinning), I would suggest not spending too much time on searching diet (or lifestyle) culprits unless you adopt the wise scientific approach - basically, test everything (deficiencies, heavy metals poisoning, food allergies, extensive thyroid testing, gut bacteria etc.).

You could also stop caffeine and push things back for 3 months but I am telling you it won't stop your hair loss. Eventually, you will get back to point 0.

Believe me, I have done several cycles such as this one (gluten, diary, meat, wheat, alcohol, coffee/tea). Most of the time, this happens:
I) you suspect a diet cause;
II) you remove it from your diet and wait 3 months to look for potential improvements. Meanwhile, you feel temporarily relieved as it gives you the feeling you are proactive about hair loss
III) when realizing the situation isn't improving, you find another culprit and the cycle goes on until you are ready to accept the fact your hair loss is mainly due to genes.
 

Nebula74

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I am in the same boat: my father started balding at 35, while I did at 20. Apart from him, everyone is super hairy in the family (my older brother included).

I have been in denial for 5 years and have just accepted it. Newer generations are balding sooner than their parents. This is a curse.

If you have a clear pattern (i.e crown thinning), I would suggest not spending too much time on searching diet (or lifestyle) culprits unless you adopt the wise scientific approach - basically, test everything (deficiencies, heavy metals poisoning, food allergies, extensive thyroid testing, gut bacteria etc.).

You could also stop caffeine and push things back for 3 months but I am telling you it won't stop your hair loss. Eventually, you will get back to point 0.

Believe me, I have done several cycles such as this one (gluten, diary, meat, wheat, alcohol, coffee/tea). Most of the time, this happens:
I) you suspect a diet cause;
II) you remove it from your diet and wait 3 months to look for potential improvements. Meanwhile, you feel temporarily relieved as it gives you the feeling you are proactive about hair loss
III) when realizing the situation isn't improving, you find another culprit and the cycle goes on until you are ready to accept the fact your hair loss is mainly due to genes.
Thanks for this, but I'm not in denial about balding at all lol, I know that I am, and am hopefully gonna start using minoxidil next week, and if that works, I'm gonna use it for the next year to sustain my hair until I'm developed enough to start using finasteride.

I'm just geniunely interested as to what made it start so early in me, and wanted to explore the significance of environmental factors on hairloss.
 

jamesbooker1975

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Thanks for this, but I'm not in denial about balding at all lol, I know that I am, and am hopefully gonna start using minoxidil next week, and if that works, I'm gonna use it for the next year to sustain my hair until I'm developed enough to start using finasteride.

I'm just geniunely interested as to what made it start so early in me, and wanted to explore the significance of environmental factors on hairloss.
There is not a single prove on what you said, not a single study. All the opositive, there are many studies showing that topical caffeine works on male pattern baldness .
 

Nebula74

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Poppyburner

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Imho if you want to halt/prevent balding, keep your heart rate generally low as a way of life :p


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Shush

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I have always een sure about it. In the periods during which I drank lot of coffe I would shed a lot more.than usual, I think everyone is different but I have always associated coffes as something that would damage my hair.
Also when i eat a lot ofsugars and fat stuff my sebhorreic dermatitis gets soo much worse man I can actually feel it without even touching my scalp, and when I remove scabs those things come.away with hair. I have no scientific proof for this, it's just my personal experience
 

JaneyElizabeth

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Yeah. I have seen people bald before 20 with no chest hair or beard (in my frat house). You have better chances if the hair loss is restricted to the temples. Caffeine and lack of sleep and don't forget college all-nighters and grade stress and people breaking up with one and even in my case, my parents getting divorced. It all sucks but eliminating such noise rarely brings hair back. Good luck but every guy starts off by exercising more and trying to lose weight and get more sleep and and taking vitamins and the special biotin shampoo and it just almost never works. If it is purely due to stress, it might grow back but then again stress-induced hair loss might simply combine with DHT hair loss making a recovery less likely. In my view, any sort of hair loss for cis-males might be permanent regardless of initial cause. So unfortunately, environment factors seem to be a one-way street. They make hair loss worse but elimination of them does little to restore the lost hair. Being weaker and due to cross-talk among follicles, we don't often see pics of full hair recoveries from sheds for cis-guys although such recoveries are common for people using estrogen, anti-androgens and dutasteride and now especially with oral minoxidil being a promising therapy.
 

1knox1

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You can always count on this place to churn out the same anecdotes from years gone by.
 

JaneyElizabeth

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I have don't know exactly what that means but I think that I do. Many of the meds discussed either were not used or hadn't been released until recently and using them in combos can be hit or miss. I do agree that "traditional" palliatives like Castor Oil are often over-touted by people using several other meds, I mean, how do you even know what is doing what and then many of us derma-roll further confusing the notion regarding what is doing what and what about synergy? Using multiple meds is fine especially when added piecemeal. Castor Oil seems healthful and except for the gastric issues, side-effect free. But I am generally wary of things that "might" work without studies behind them that are substantial. I am already juggling several meds and derma-rolling.

But when we are talking about "solutions" that have little basis in terms of studies, or new approaches, often anecdotes are highly valuable and all that we have. For instance for hormonal folks, if almost all guys using 4mg or estradiol see at least partial recoveries and none of the guys using .5mg to 2 mg of estradiol see any results, that is valuable information although subject to all of the subjective principles relating to how we view any sort of medication results. Merely knowing that we are taking an estrogen might color how it works.

So anyway, with Castor Oil, a couple of folks whom I respect mentioned it increasing growth rate, more than regrowth I believe and increasing growth rate is another part of the puzzle for those of us growing our hair out to female lengths and some allege increases from the standard one centimeter a month to even two or three centimeters which adds up and if hair quality improves, too, this is something difficult to measure. Women in general among whites have hair of better quality in terms of sebum, growth rate, memory, sheen and on and on. It's not clear often with meds slated towards males, what they are doing even.

I mean does minoxidil promote anagen or just regrowth and does it improve hair quality? It might a little but generally minoxidil is simply called a growth agent whatever that means. These issues pertain mostly to whites but also to others. Some groups struggle more with hair breaking off than baldness. Some might argue that everyone looks alike in Inuit cultures, male and female alike but that might be a bit boring.
 

Nebula74

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such recoveries are common for people using estrogen, anti-androgens and dutasteride and now especially with oral minoxidil being a promising therapy.
What is your opinion on hair systems instead of using more extreme treatments?
 

JaneyElizabeth

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Well, I am higher on wigs but I last considered a hair system in 1984 and then I was further informed by Seinfeld in a couple of famous episodes where George bought one.

Here's what sucks about hair systems and it is similar to toupees but more expensive. If the piece doesn't cover the whole head then it never blends in well and can be spotted easily. I sometimes used to see this among older men on the subway where their hair was ruddier than that of the toupee. Toupees don't move like real hair but hair systems might. The downside here is that hair systems have to be attached somehow and if they are easily removable via clips and not sutures, then that's a wig basically. Most of the cost of hair systems will be in the frequent adjustments and cutting of the underlying real hair. I don't know costs but just a regular haircut goes for $20 now and these adjustments have to be made pretty much for life. I cut my own hair so I obviously don't like things that have to be paid for over a life-time. So I might think that adjustments and hair cuts might be $50 say every three weeks or however long but the fake hair is going to fray at some point although the might have better fibers now.

Toupees and hair systems are pretty eh in my opinion. I support them for everyone but it's a hassle and if you can remove it, then it's a wig all but in name and if you can't remove it, it gets hot and sticky at some point. It might harm remaining follicles via friction although that is only my conjecture. Someone else would have to estimate costs but at least in the 80's, hair systems were a major ordeal and yes, they generally can be spotted easily. Any actor or newsman whose hair is styled so that you can't see the hairline is using one. The hairline is hardest to get right plus none of these guys are smart enough to intentionally level temple recession in their system or toupee. Nope. They always have what appear to be hairlines that are unnatural and too low. Both Mad About You and Seinfeld had characters who either used one or temporarily used one on certain episodes and they did not look very good to me but some of that is subjective.

So, I recommend wigs to everyone even though few males will take me up on this. Wigs actually move a lot like real hair and they have somewhat, a memory, so the blowing wind isn't like what it is for a comb-over, where the hair no longer has any memory in terms of where it parts. Wigs are very brushable and brushable in the sense, that a few minutes is both required and makes them look better. I enjoyed brushing and combing my wig, which I put in the past tense since I am not wearing really much anymore. I still loved the look and I looked prettier and more female with the wig. It sort of highlighted some features that I liked having highlighted. Plus, and this is important, the framing of the face by hair is very important both look-wise and in terms of passing for MtF's and younger males who prefer longer hair. The wig only cost $60 bucks and required very little upkeep. It did get hot in the summer so I prefer it during the other season. Wigs cover the entire scalp and this is key since you don't have to integrate them or worry about matching your own hair color completely.

But with wigs and removable hair systems, there is that unpleasant psychological effect when you take them off if balding. The hair systems that used sutures at least didn't give a person that option and that might make them more popular plus you can swim with them but not a wig or toupee.

Paradoxically,looks-wise, toupees might work best when only covering either the crown or the front in terms of being spotted (I like the MtF terms being clocked better). Bing Crosby covered just the front and not the frontal hairline which usually gives someone away. In my opinion for anyone thinning or balding who wants rock and roll hair below his shoulders, a wig is much less clockable and more likely to recall our youth when we could grow our hair out just like the females. For me, that ended too early at 17.

Goddess bless
 
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