Thread by @AlpacaAurelius

THE TRUTH ABOUT HAIR LOSS

Do you wanna keep your locks flowin' & your gonads buzzin? If so, this thread is very important for you.

Hair loss is not caused by DHT. And drugs that lower your DHT are an attack on masculinity.

Here's what really causes hair loss.

Hair is an extension of your overall health...and if you are losing it prematurely it is a sign that you need to change your diet & lifestyle.

This is why hair loss in men was called a harbinger of the morbidities to come.

Instead, in typical allopathic medicine fashion today we’ve reduced a very complex issue down to one main factor: DHT.

This has created BILLIONS in revenue and disempowered people from addressing the real root cause.

On top of that, lowering DHT is an attack on masculinity.

DHT is 10x stronger than testosterone and this is why men on finasteride get severe symptoms:

loss of libido
erectile dysfunction
Reduced penile sensation
Gynecomastia
muscle atrophy
cognitive impairment
severely dry skin
depression

Lowering DHT chemically is a terrible idea

Not only this, the entire hypothesis is based on just two studies that were never corroborated by randomized controlled trials

The first study is from 1942. Dr Hamilton found a group of 104 men who failed to mature sexually & didn’t bald.

He injected them with testosterone and upon receiving it, those with a family history of baldness started to lose their hair.

Strike one for “testosterone” (as many of you will note, injected testosterone is very different than endogenously produced testosterone)

But the amount of testosterone he injected them with didn’t exceed the amount that young healthy men with hair excrete so something else had to be at play.

This is where the second study comes in.

In 1974 Dr Julianne Mcginley found a group of male psuedohermaphrodites in the Dominican republic. None of them were bald.

They had normal testosterone levels but were deficient in DHT.

Without any more rigorous randomized controlled trials on DHT, the pharma industry pounced on this research and produced the DHT blocking drugs.

Stepping back...there’s clearly some hormonal component here…

And these hair loss drugs do indeed work for some men...

But shakes have emerged in this foundation

For instance, why do young men with the thickest heads of hair also have high DHT and testosterone? And why do men tend to lose their hair as they age, when DHT levels fall?

Doctors will claim that it just has to do with genetic sensitivity to DHT, but there’s something more going on

If it was just genetic, why is hair loss approaching 100% of men?

Other more recent studies call this entire hypothesis into question

This, for instance, found no difference in DHT levels in patients with androgenic alopecia.

This in vitro study on the human hair follicle showed that topical DHT improved hair growth -- which if DHT were really hair poison you would never think is the case.

Lastly, this study in mice showed that topical DHT increased hair growth.

It’s clear that testosterone and DHT alone cannot be causing this issue.

So what is really causing this issue and how does it also reconcile with the two groups of people without hair loss?

The best way to think about hair is like a mini organ: A composite of cells that require energy to function, without which it breaks down.

Things that promote energy production lead to structure and things that lower energy production lead to mitochondrial dysfunction and decay.

The hair is a metabolic luxury of sorts, not being necessary for survival.

Thus when experiencing stressors or declines in energy (unfortunately for aesthetic) our body shunts that energy to more vital processes.

(Danny Roddy does a tremendous job explaining this.)

If you’re seriously damaging the mitochondria in your hair, you’re most likely damaging other mitochondria too.

This is why hair loss is correlated and predictive of many other health issues like cancers, diabetes and obesity.

SO WHAT REALLY CAUSES HAIR LOSS.

#1. THYROID ISSUES

The thyroid is the main conductor of energy metabolism. The most underrated organ.

Anything that interferes with thyroid function will interfere with hair growth

This study found unrecognized presence of hypothyroidism in males over 30 with pattern baldness.

Additionally, some of broda Barnes patients completely regrew their hair when taking thyroid.

Thyroid hormone is this mitochondrial hair medicine that helps ensure it is generating energy efficiently.

There are also other downstrea consequences when thyroid hormone falls.

#2 Fibrosis and calcification

When thyroid hormone falls, this leads to the accumulation of mucopolysaccharides.

Additionally, thyroid is critical for the complete oxidation of glucose which produces Co2. Co2 is vital for directing calcium into bones.

One of the main theories on hair loss is from Frederick Hoelzel called the “ivory dome theory of baldness”

He studied the brains of cadavers and found that many of the men who were bald had calcified blood vessels, pinching off the nutrition supply

One cause may be low co2

#3. STRESS & ADRENAL ACTIVATION

Stress is one of the biggest players in hair loss.

Stress lowers thyroid, and low thyroid tends to increase stress, causing quite the vicious feedback loop.

One of the main commonalities of men with hair loss is elevated cortisol levels.

This study on mice showed that cortisol put the hair follicle into a resting phase. When they removed the stress hormone the mice were able to regenerate hair.

#4 ESTROGEN

Estrogen, along with stress, is the biggest player in hair loss in my opinion.

This is where we come full circle to the two studies that support the entire DHT myth.

Estrogen is way more than the female hormone...until the 1950s it was knwon as the shock hormone.

It has very specific roles to control estrus, but this is only 2-3 days out of the month.

Unopposed by progesterone, can be extremely damaging and its effects are not just exerted on the uterine lining.

Estrogen works by shifting the cell to a more inefficient metabolism, leading to dedifferentiation.

If hair loss is a product of a decline in energy, estrogen is one of the biggest nemesis.

One of the things that cortisol does is increase aromatase, which converts testosterone to estrogen.

This is one of the main reasons why, in my opinion, men with “high testosterone lose their hair”.

It’s really because they’re stressed and the T is converting to estrogen.

Men with “androgenic hair loss” tend to have elevated estrogen.

So maybe it’s not androgenic after all.

Estrogen clearly plays a major role in the generation of energy: Administering estrogen to rodents caused hair loss .

In this study an estrogen receptor antagonist applied topically twice weekly caused ALL bald mice to grow their hair back.

Back to the castrates: turns out they also have low estrogen and prolactin.

Danny Roddy also believes that these individuals produce more progesterone which antagonizes estrogen

Sure, they had low DHT...but they also had a vastly different hormonal picture than men today.

So what's the real story with DHT?

One of the reasons why DHT may have been high is because it was there counteract the high estrogen levels.

The body is way smarter than we give it credit for and may simply be trying to protect itself from high estrogen by raising DHT.

What's likely happening is men with high testosterone are also stressed, up-regulating aromatase and converting that testosterone into estrogen in the scalp.

One of the reasons the hair loss drugs may work is because they tend to lower estrogen too.

The other major hormonal component is prolactin, which estrogen increases.

Prolactin terminates the growth cycle of the hair. Cortisol and prolactin both rise during stress.

If you're losing your hair, test for your prolactin levels.

#6 SEED OILS

WTF don’t seed oils do is a better question than what they do. Seed oils are one of the primary sources of energy disruption.

They've been shown to remodel the mitochondrial membrane, disrupt the electron transport chain and down-regulate thyroid.

Additionally, one of the main breakdown products of seed oils -- prostaglandin d2 -- tends to be elevated in the scalp of balding patients.

#7 NUTRIENT & GLUCOSE DEFICIENCIES

Saving the most controversial for last.

Looking at the overall energy picture, the hormonal profile is the spark and glucose is fuel.

A growing hair follicle requires 2x glucose. According to these researchers ketones are a poor substitute

Like the brain, hair follicles are strongly dependent on glucose to fulfill their high-energy requirements.

While the hair follicles can oxidize fatty acids and ketones, they appear to inhibit the pentose phosphate pathway

This may be why the internet is littered with examples of people losing their hair on keto

Some other nutrient deficiencies that can lead to hair loss:

Zinc
b6
K2
Vitamin a and e
copper
B3
Vit d
calcium

Energy is fundamental to your health. Do not fall for simplistic explanations pharma peddles.

In the next part of the thread I will share some ways to help prevent hair loss.

If you're interested in a deeper dive on this, check out the book Hair Like a Fox by Danny Roddy.