👴hairless.dave.maisonAn n=1 experiment into hair loss
PrefaceWho I am, what I'm doing, and why I'm doing it
I am David Maison. As I write this, I am a 30 year old, Bostonian, web developer, aspiring strongman, casual alcoholic, and USAF veteran.
In 2013, I was "deployed" to İncirlik AB, Turkey. This is when I began to lift weights and when I began to lose my hair. I noticed one day while getting a hair cut that my hair whorl was starting to look thin, but hadn't really cared, because it wasn't that bad. What little I knew of geneology, lead me to my rationale of, "since my mother's father died with a full head of hair, I really have nothing to worry about."
Fast forward to today, there is more skin than hair. It is embarassing and occassionally I will still be made fun of. Needless to say, it sucks. Now that I enter the colder months in the twilight of my scalp, I face the harsh reality of shaving my head. Since that is my inevitable fate, I decided to perform an experiment on myself with the little I know about hair growth and states and see what the outcome is.
Who knows? Maybe I can grow the hair back!
HypothesisWhat I'm going to do and what I want to happen
🤔Since my geneology suggests that my hair loss is not hereditary, I believe the cause is most likely due to an intolerance or over abundance of Dihydrotestosterone (DHT). In a nutshell, DHT is a bi-product from when your body creates testosterone, and has been confirmed, in legitimate studies, to be directly linked to hairloss. I think that it's resonable to assume that DHT is the culprit because lifting weights has be proven to increase a person's testosterone production.
It is also believed that whey protein isolate (WPI) causes an increased amount of DHT in the person who consumes it. WPI is the unfortunate best friend of weighlifters (i.e. me).
To counteract this, for 30 days, I will consume saw palmetto and biotin daily, while applying peppermint oil to my scalp daily for 30 minutes. Every other day, I will wash my hair with a biotin and collagen based shampoo. The desired result is that this regimen will result in hair regrowth.
Reasoning
Biotin
Your body uses biotin (vitamin B7) in the production of the amino acids used to create the protein, keratin, the protein hair is made of. The idea here is that if you pump enough biotin into your body, you will have more available biotin to produce hair. Makes sense right?
We're unfortunately met with insufficient evidence to suggest that this is factual, but there is still evidence that it helps none the less. That being said, I put it in my body.
Collagen
The basis for including collagen is essentially the same reasoning as for including biotin. Collagen, among other things, is an amino acid that directly contributes to your body's growth and maintenance of hair.
Peppermint Oil
Peppermint oil is markedly the most promising ingredient in my cocktail. The Toxicological Research journal published a study in which they compared peppermint oil to minoxidil (Rogaine), and some other concoction no one cares about.
The important part of this study is that it showed minoxidil causing a hairgrowth rate of 55%, compared to peppermint oil's regrowth rate of 92%.
Because peppermint oil's irritating nature to the skin, I will be using a carrier oil (almond oil) to apply it to my scalp.
Saw Palmetto
While primarily believed to treat prostate and urinary tract issues, there is a single study (only one) that suggests saw palmetto blocks the enzyme 5-alpha-reductase blocker, an enzyme partially responsible for the creation of DHT. The results of the study appear to be comparable to Finasteride, the generic name for Propecia.
Unfortunately, for me and all other balding men, the study was deemed inconclusive due to its limited sample size and therefore, not taken seriously.
DosagesWhat I'm taking/using and how much of it
ResultsThe reason why you're here
This is a picture of the day before I began my experiment. You can probably tell, the need for hair is evident.
As you can see, my hair loss is heavy around the whorl and light to medium at the hairline.
Started with a tolerance assessment for saw palmetto, and glad I did. The first day I experienced very heavy diziness and minor headache, however, these symptoms subsided after approximately 9 hours. Did not begin peppermint oil applications until the 3rd day, due to poor planning of the experiment.
Got a canker sore on my frenulum (the one in my mouth) the day after beginning application of peppermint oil.
From my photo, it looks as though some hair was lost. I believe this is the expected result of applying peppermint oil.
Happy Jul, Christmas, Chanukkah, etc. — which ever holiday excuses posting a day late.
This is a tricky one.
I am definitely losing hair from this, which I expected. The shedding of "weak" follicles has definitely spread to what was remaining of my thick hair.
It also appears as though, the "V" shape of hair pointing toward my whorl (the bald spot), seems to have filled out somewhat. Very little, but it does actually appear to be progress, compared to week 0. If you're having a hard time seeing it, I will point out that on week 0, there was hardly even a "V" shape.
First off, happy new year!
Second off — holy shit.
There actually appears to have been visible growth. This was unexpected. Slowly but surely, the once single bald spot is separating into two separate spots. It also appears as though the thin hairs are becomming thicker.
If this trend continues, there will be an immediately visible difference between scalps at the end of this treatment cycle.
Interesting side note, my finger nails appear to be growing much quicker than usual.
So... back to square one?
I appear to have regrown all the hair that fell out from doing this, and then some.
It is hard to say, incomparison to the previous week, what difference there is. This is probably due to the fact that I had missed a haircut. That being said, the fact they are visibly similar, despite the hairs being shorter, is definitely encouraging.
Or maybe I'm just being optimistic.
ConclusionWhat I've taken away from this experiment
To save you time, I'll say right now — Its basically inconclusive, but i'm going to continue for another month to see if it makes a difference. Now, keep reading.
Week 0
Week 4
If you compare week 0 with week 4, they don't appear to be that far off from eachother, or at least, not to me.
Week 2
Week 4
However, if you were to compare week 2 with week 4, there is a visible difference. The "W" shape is definitely deeper, more well defined, and farther reaching into my scalp.
What I believe to have happened, is that the treatment killed off the dying hairs and they are now in the process of regrowing. So, that 2 week regrowth process has essentially returned me to a state only slightly better than week 0, if at all.
I did receive a compliment that my hair appeared to be thicker over this last weekend, without having mentioned this experiment, or drawing attention to my scalp. So, to me, that's enough encouragement to continue.
What I intend to do, is continue treatment for another month. If this method is actually yielding results, I will have an immediately visibly fuller head of hair.