Bryan Johnson Profile picture
Oct 22, 2024 12 tweets 6 min read Read on X
Genetically, I should be bald.

I started to lose my hair and go gray in my late 20s.

Now, at 47, I’ve got a full head of hair and ~70% of my gray is gone.

Here how I did it.. 🧵 Image
Contrary to popular belief, you can maintain your hair well into your 40s and beyond.

In 12 months, I went from a Norwood 3 to a Norwood 2. Norwood is a hair loss scale, as indicated in the image.

Here’s how I achieved these results:
Image
1. Start early:

Don’t wait for visible loss.

Many lose up to 50% of their hair before they even realize it.

The best time to work on your hair is before you start losing it. Sources (1) (2)
2. Nutrition:

Make sure you're getting adequate:

+ Protein: including collagen peptides and sufficient methionine, cyteine, and lysine in addition to taurine, to support collagen, keratin, and elastin synthesis. Ref (3)

+ Omega-3 fatty acids: for antioxidant effects and improving scalp circulation. Ref (4)

+ Key vitamins & minerals: including iron, selenium, and biotin. Ref (3)

The Blueprint stack has all of these. ↓Image
3. Customized topicals:

I use a personalized Rx formula based on my genetics to prevent and reverse hair loss. Roots byGA (5)

Here are the ingredients in my formulation: Minoxidil (7%), Cetirizine HCl (1%), Latanoprost (0.004%), Dutasteride (0.25%), Melatonin (0.1%), Caffeine (0.2%), Tretinoin (0.0125%), Vitamin D3 (1,000IU/ML), Vitamin E (10 IU/ML).

5% minoxidil is a solid budget alternative. Apply 1 mL to scalp at night or in the morning (or both), massage thoroughly.

Note that some people experience side effects with a topical such as itchy skin, headaches etc. so monitor for those.
4. Red light therapy:

Six minutes a day and you can be doing your morning routine as you wear it. A study on 44 males (age 18-49) showed that treatment with 655nm laser cap for 25 min every other day for a duration of 16 weeks resulted in a 39% increase in hair growth compared to placebo. Ref (6)

An affordable Blueprint red light cap coming soon.
5. Oral minoxidil:

I take 3.75 mg a day. I started with 2.5 mg and evaluated for side effects.

In a double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial involving 90 men with androgenetic alopecia AGA, oral minoxidil (5 mg daily) was found to have similar efficacy to topical minoxidil (5% solution applied twice daily) after 24 weeks.Ref (7)

Oral minoxidil is generally considered safe at low doses, but it can have side effects such as hypertrichosis (excessive hair growth) and headaches.Image
When starting any new hair regimen:

+ Start slow
+ Introduce 1 product at a time
+ Monitor closely for side effects
+ Give each addition 3 months to show results
+ 5% minoxidil alone is sufficient for many
+ Consider personalization based on your genetic profile, health, diet type and nutritional condition to reverse any deficiencies (e.g. omega3, protein...) revealed by blood testing.
In December, I'll have a hair growth serum for you. I've been experimenting and refining the formulation for two years.
A final note that I’m in touch with several companies that are building novel hair regrowth therapies. They are promising and exciting.

They’re still years out but it’s cool to think that hair loss may no longer be a thing we have to think about. Just one reason why the future is going to be amazing. #dontdie
For my full protocols and guides visit Project Blueprint here:

blueprint.bryanjohnson.com/pages/blueprin…

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More from @bryan_johnson

Jun 24
Glass had 5 – 50× higher plastic than plastic or cans

The French tested water, soda, beer, iced tea, lemonade, and wine sold nationwide and found that glass-bottled beverages carried far more plastic shrapnel than plastic bottles or cans.
🧵Image
0/ What the study found

“Around a hundred microplastic particles per litre” in cola, lemonade, iced tea and beer packed in glass — 5 – 50 × higher than their plastic-bottled or canned twins.

For still or sparkling water the counts were lower but still lopsided: 4.5 µplastics /L in glass vs. 1.6 µplastics /L in plastic.

Wine (with a cork, not a crown cap) stayed almost micro-plastic-free.
1/ Why is glass worse?

Paint flakes from the metal crown caps are almost identical in colour and polymer chemistry to the particles in the drink, pinning them as the culprit — not the glass itself.

Corked wine being microplastic free gives another strong clue

Cleaning matters: bottles capped with untreated crowns shed 287 particles /L, but a simple air-blast plus alcohol rinse cut that to 87 particles /L.
Read 8 tweets
Jun 18
15 sessions of sauna dramatically reduced toxins in my body.

+ 65% drop in 2,4-D
+ 100% drop in MEP
+ 15% drop in MBP
+ 100% drop in MEHP (undetectable post sauna)
+ 56% drop in NAPR
+ 56% drop in HEMA
+ 100% drop in Perchlorate (undetectable post sauna)

After completing fifteen sauna sessions, each lasting 20 minutes at 200°F, led to a significant reduction in my environmental toxins, three went from being abnormally high to undetectable post sauna.
0/ Baseline: toxin levels showed one high exposure and six moderate exposures. Approximately one month prior to starting the sauna regimen, urine tests indicated one high exposure (levels exceeding the 95th percentile), and six moderate exposures ( levels between the 75th and 95th percentiles).

Post-sauna: high exposures completely eliminated, only one medium exposure remained, and three previous moderate exposures became undetectable.
Here are toxins that sauna helped me eliminate from my body, and why it matters

1/ 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid (2,4-D)

High exposure → lower medium exposure

2,4-D is a herbicide, so it is probably leaking into my food via some fresh produce, which is very hard to monitor due to batch variation. I have been testing periodically and will continue to do so.
Read 7 tweets
May 22
Allulose is perhaps the most longevity-friendly sweetener. 🧵

Here's why:
+ it's safe
+ multiple health benefits
+ reduced blood glucose
+ metabolic benefits including fat loss, increased GLP1 secretion, liver health, teeth protection. Image
0/ What is Allulose?
Allulose is a rare sugar found naturally in fruits like figs and raisins. It is nearly calorie-free (0.2-0.4 kcal/g) because it is absorbed and excreted through urine without being metabolized by the human body. The minimal calorie contribution is attributed to limited metabolism by gut bacteria.
1/ Safety of allulose

Concerns regarding allulose mainly revolve around potential gastrointestinal issues, including severe diarrhea. However, a clinical study involving 30 adults (15 women and 15 men aged 21-30) determined that allulose was well-tolerated without digestive problems at single doses up to 0.4 g/kg and daily intakes of 0.9 g/kg of body weight. For a 70 kg adult, this equates to a single dose of 28 grams and a daily intake of 63 grams. Ref

The FDA also recognizes allulose as a low-calorie sweetener and excludes it from the definition of added sugars due to its non-metabolizable nature in the human body. RefImage
Read 7 tweets
May 20
First, I shocked my Johnson and performance improved.
Then I shocked my sprained ankle and recovered faster.
Now, I’m shocking my entire body…
🧵
0/ This technology (@SoftwaveTRT) delivers unfocused electro-hydraulic shock waves dispersed over a broad tissue volume. The acoustic pulse passes non-invasively through skin, generating shear forces and micro-cavitation that set off mechanotransduction. Cells release ATP, open stretch-activated ion channels and trigger ERK/Akt signaling.

Within 30 minutes to 24 hours, endothelial-NO synthase and VEGF rise, micro-perfusion improves, and mesenchymal stem cells migrate to the site over subsequent days. End result: increased blood flow, pro-healing growth-factor signaling and activated resident stem-cell repair machinery.

Clinical trials show strong pain relief and faster healing for plantar-fasciitis heels, calcified shoulder tendons and improved blood flow for erectile dysfunction; decent evidence for tennis elbow,Achilles issues and chronic wounds; early data for nerve pain and chronic wounds.
1/ My team and I found this technology when we were working on Rejuvenating Johnson’s Johnson. We all want youthful brains and hearts and sexual function.

There are multiple randomized controlled trials showing shockwave therapy improves erectile dysfunction. Given that my sexual function was normal, we wanted to test whether it could further enhance it as measured by total time nighttime erections, subjective sexual performance, sexual satisfaction, and medical imaging-based penile markers.

x.com/bryan_johnson/…
Read 5 tweets
May 7
Is sauna worth the hype?

There's evidence that sauna is a potential detox and longevity intervention with benefits to heart, metabolism, brain health, and skin. We’re going to put it to the test.

Here’s what you need to know…🧵 Image
0/ How it works…

Heat exposure in a sauna puts your body under mild stress, triggering natural repair processes that improve overall health. Finnish dry saunas specifically use controlled heat to stimulate these beneficial responses, including:

+ Repairing and maintaining proteins (heat shock proteins)
+ Improving blood flow and relaxing blood vessels
+ Boosting antioxidant activity
+ Optimizing metabolism
+ Enhancing fitness
+ Reducing inflammation
+ Strengthening immunity
+ Recycling and repairing cells (autophagy)

All these processes combine to give whole-body health benefits.Image
1/ It protects your heart…

Regular sauna use (4–7 times a week, sessions lasting at least 19 minutes) can significantly improve heart health and lower blood pressure. Research shows the more often you sauna, the greater your protection from heart disease:

Heart disease risk:
2–3 times/week → 23% lower risk
4–7 times/week → 48% lower risk

High blood pressure risk (in healthy men aged 42–60):
2–3 times/week → 17% lower risk
4–7 times/week → 47% lower risk

In patients with existing heart failure, using a sauna 5 times a week for 3 weeks improved heart function by nearly 7%, lowered stress hormones by 25%, and reduced heart failure markers by over 20%. Longer and more frequent sauna sessions offer the strongest protection.Image
Read 11 tweets
Apr 30
This marker reveals how fast you’re aging.

+ New science just emerged to support it
+ It’s based on DNA methylation
+ It allows me to know what is and isn’t working

Here’s an overview of how:
+ it works
+ you can find out your result
+ you can compare your results to others Image
0/ Speed of aging (PACE) is one of the most clinically validated aging markers.

My team and I use it extensively to measure the efficacy of health protocols.

This thread explains how biological aging clocks gained a bad reputation and how two new pre-prints take a new approach to restore confidence to the field.
1/ Addressing Skepticism:

There's been some skepticism surrounding biological age clocks. I'm going to address the arguments around epigenetic age measurements, explain why these concerns don't apply to PACE (the clock my team and I use), and discuss the new standards emerging in the field to ensure the reliable validation of these tools.

Key Takeaways:

+ Early studies often lacked rigorous methodologies in their application of biological aging clocks.

+ The field is now developing new, robust benchmarks for validating and utilizing biological aging clocks effectively.

+ Strong clinical evidence shows that PACE meets the stringent criteria for accuracy, reliability, and sensitivity.
Read 10 tweets

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