Would you not say that another reason for difficulty in getting regrowth from just androgen/androgen receptor blockers is also that your body needs encouragement to begin supplying nutrients+stem cell/beginning stem cell activation again though (e.g. through wounding)? Or do you think it would be an inevitability that your body reactivate dormant follicles if you (theoretically) removed all androgens from the scalp?
Im drunk right now but ill try to answer lol.
castration is known to stop hairloss most of the time amd maybe regrow recently lost hair too. but it doesnt reverse balding just stops it progressing. but the combination of reducing or blocking androgens to stop further loss and then adding additional stimulants can give regrowth. thats why finasteride and min combo is synergestic and known part of "the big 3". hostorically eunuchs castrated before puberty are known to not have male pattern baldness, it was observed by Aristotle. but when you give testosterone injections to eunuchs they experience hairloss. they did this in the 1950's, you can search for the "hamilton studies if you want learn more, its interesting.
but chemical castration is actual considered to be more effective than physical. thats because while women and eunuchs have low levels of androgens they dont have blocked receptors. if you cut off your balls there is still small amounts of T production from your adrenal glands. Something like cyproterone for exampke reduces T And blocks the receptor so even the low amoubts of T in the system can not make much effect. and some regrowth is possible with antiandrogens alone even without minoxidil becaise of the low levels of estrogen become more powerful without any androgenic activity to antagonize its effects. although many people would not be so lucky and still require to add a stimulant or more estrogen to achieve reversal there are some who regrow with just antiandrogens.
However with an antiandrogeb although E is technically reduced because T is reduced and E is actually made from T. the Overall androgen to Estrogen ratio becomes more to the estrogenic side. this is evident in the fact that some estrogenic side effects such as mild gyno are common.
also something like minoxidil can continue to keep working as long as theres no androgens to antagonize it.
ib my oponion the best recipe for regrowth is
a powerful antiandrogen+ estrogen+ dutasteride+ minoxidil
all of these things work in a different way and benefit hair synergestically
of course most men are not trying to feminize themselves. and so prostaglandin based protocols are tempting
personally i have tried before; castor oil oral and topical mixed with Dmso, dermarolling , lithium chloride, stemoxydine, sulfasalazine, sunlight exposure, miconazle nitrate,
and I didnt see results.
when i switched to hardcore anti androgen approach thats when i began to see results.
Westconli has a thread on here and he has been taking high doses of oral seti and only minor success. from what ive seen basically just maintaince or maybe slightly above baseline.
he is not on finasteride or dutasteride or minoxidil though and PGD2 is not the only negative growth factor in hairloss.
lets keep in mind here, Swiss Temples was actually taking dutasteride at the same time as the prostaglandin protocol. and possibly this led to a greater synergistic effect.
also,
@HairCook has an interesting theory that Swiss's success was also because of the previous "skin eating chemicals" he experimented with before switching to prostaglandin protocol. necause this broke up some of the fibrotic tissue first. one of the documented differences between bald and hairy scalp is that there ismuch more fibrotic elastic fibers in bald scalp.
now what ive never seen anyine do yet is to try dutasteride+prostaglandin protocol+ minoxidil
possibly this could yield more results at a multiangular approach. Im going go ahead and warn though that apparantly Prostaglandins, including Pge2 are shitty for your skin... https://www.hairlosstalk.com/intera...ol-will-make-your-face-look-like-sh*t.109593/
Does T also cause hair loss down the same pathway as DHT?
i believe so, they are both responsible for the development of masculine traits. and male pattern baldness is a male trait. but Dht is stronger. Think of it like this, T can make a smooth face grow peach fuzz but Dht will make it grow a full beard. Dht activates the androgen receptor approximately 2 to 3 times stronger than T and stays attached to the receptor 5 times as long.
Ask yourself, would you rather go 1 day without food or 10days!? your hair is much more likely to be able to survive T than Dht but of course depends on genetic and indicidual sensitivity. Like skinny people with a high metabolism might have a more difficult time going 10 days without food compared to average people!
the only key differences as far as I'm aware besides the strength between the 2 is that Dht cannot be converted to estrogen and that Testosterone is actually better for muscle development because an enzyme in our muscles deactivates Dht.
i have also read that Dht actually does not cause negative feedback on the HPG axis unlike estrogen and testosterone. this is because its actually Estrogen which causes the negative feedback but the brain has a bunch of aromatase in it, so whenever T or E reaches the brain it readjusts gonadal hormone production based on the levels sensed.
