5000 Mcg's Biotin - My Experience Chronicled

[Massive]

Did minoxidil stop or slow your shedding?

I am doing minoxidil and topical spironolactone--my shedding has majorly decreased AND i have some regrowth starting..
Im going to continue both but not sure if the topical spironolactone is what is helping the shedding or the minoxidil.

Hard to say, I think that even back when I was using liquid minoxidil with good results, I could count like 25 hairs stuck to my hand after massaging minoxidil into my scalp. And still now I get a lot hairs. Perhaps shedding decreased slightly and it's still not even close to any of those "I barely get a single hair stuck to my hand" stories. If I were to comb my hair over a table then still many hairs will fall out, although less than before. I remember during my worst shedding I would see 100 hairs accumulated within a minute of brushing.

Btw since ur a female, cant u just take oral spironolactone or do women also get bad side effects ?

 

[hairblues]

Hard to say, I think that even back when I was using liquid minoxidil with good results, I could count like 25 hairs stuck to my hand after massaging minoxidil into my scalp. And still now I get a lot hairs. Perhaps shedding decreased slightly and it's still not even close to any of those "I barely get a single hair stuck to my hand" stories. If I were to comb my hair over a table then still many hairs will fall out, although less than before. I remember during my worst shedding I would see 100 hairs accumulated within a minute of brushing.

Btw since ur a female, cant u just take oral spironolactone or do women also get bad side effects ?

It really messed up my period so if i go back on it I would have to take anti androgen birth control pills--they are higher risk for blood clots and strokes...I mean i will if i have to but for now I trying the topical...I am having good results this week like really good results--im just not sure 'which' is working or if its both...If i think the topical spironolactone is ineffective i will go on oral in future if nothing better comes along...i would actually prefer to go on finasteride or dutasteride as I am not going to have children,,but i will cross that bridge..

 

[worm]

@hairblues I can understand how regrowing hair is pretty important to you. However, whenever I hear about trying these hormone altering treatments it reminds me of my experience.

I was messing around with minoxidil some years ago, adding some potent items that made it insanely effective - I saw photo evidence of a totaly bald guy regrowing a full head of hair, and I experienced similar results (wasnt bald though). That said, it came at the expense of my health, vision, heart palpitations, which I still feel 10 years later. I also believe that for the time I used finasteride, 1997-2005, that it had some long term cognitive effects on me. My friend used finasteride as well, and he can no longer get an erection without cialis.

Have you maybe considered Zix? It's rather inert as it's simply zinc and b6, I find this has worked wonders for me since 2006. I may step it up with minoxidil, which Ive read others have had very good success with.

Otherwise I see you on the Brotzu site, for our sakes, I would think that could be worth the wait as well.

I hope I dont sound like Im trying to undermine your recovery efforts, however from experience, extreme measures have resulted unwelcome consequences...

 

[Massive]

I hope I dont sound like Im trying to undermine your recovery efforts, however from experience, extreme measures have resulted unwelcome consequences...

This couldn't be further from the truth. By nature I always wanna jump on any treatment without thinking much of the consequences. When I was 5-6 months into finasteride, I couldn't take the shedding anymore, and felt like if I rode out finasteride for a full year things will get much worse, so in a haste I added dutasterde along with finasteride, used it for 3-4 more months, which during this time my hair got even worse than on solely finasteride, not to mention I experienced great physical and mental fatigue.

Later down the road after I took a 6 months break from all hair loss meds because I valued my cognitive ability and health more than my hair at the time, I eventually decided to restart Propecia and give it one full year before deciding on anything else. I later on added topical minoxidil, but I thought that it's not strong enough. I then came to the decision that I'm gonna start using oral minoxidil, I opted for 10mg a day. Needles to say oral minoxidil wiped me out, low doses even such as 1.25mg gave me strong fatigue and once I reached 10mg oral minoxidil I had to be taken to the ER room because my blood pressure was dangerously low, I nearly passed out and probably would have fainted if someone wasn't there to take care of me. I thought to myself, well I already have higish blood pressure and my nephrologist gave me blood pressure lowering meds which I didn't take at the time, so this way I'd be killing 2 birds with one stone, lower my blood pressure and get regrowth. Obviously I nearly killed myself with that crap.

I been toying with the idea of using 15% minoxidil once a day at night, so I ordered some PG free from minoxidilmax, but they messed up my order and send me 15% with pg. So meanwhile I waited for the correct shipment of pg free minoxidil to arrive, they let me keep the one with pg, so I thought why not try it on my beard, since I'm already using regular minoxidil on my beard 1-2 times a day. The 15% minoxidil knocked me out in a very similar way to the oral minoxidil, it's as if a lot of the minoxidil was absorbed systematically. So now that finally that the PG free 15% minoxidil arrived, I'm not even sure I want to try it on my scalp, there's some guy with a hair loss blog and he claims that even when he tried a mere 0.2ml of the 15% stuff, he felt extreme weakness and not being able to function, yet with the minoxidil foam he's completely fine and been using it for years.

Then lately, a lot of people jumped on the Alpicort F's bandwagon, due to whatevr's success thread. It's got corticosteroids which can cause skin thinning for long term use, and also got estradiol, which can cause gyno. Yet I started using a week ago, and now I'm having second thoughts if I should continue this treatment.
I was even once almost bought myself oral spironolactone. Luckily I didn't go that route.

So yes while some people might benefit from more extreme regimens, it seems like that for most people the more proven and safer long terms treatments are a safer bet.

P.S. I can't believe I still haven't gotten around to trying zix, I will definitely buy the stuff needed and using a redirect shipping company to send it over here.

 

[rclark]

Have you ever tried liquid Biotin?

 

[Massive]

@worm @hairblues
How's it going with your biotin guys ?

Since I quit everything I was taking a did a clean start, now only consuning minimal supplements, I now found that the Doctor's Best 5000mcg biotin itself is causing me a slight nausea, and I get excess saliva and foam forming at the mouth, which is really annoying when you're trying to sleep. Prior to that I was taking like 20 pills so I didn't know what's what...

IIRC worm said he's using the NOW Foods brand, so I might try that.

Also worm, I think that a few months you can try raking 5,000mcg twice daily.

 

[hairblues]

@worm @hairblues
How's it going with your biotin guys ?

Since I quit everything I was taking a did a clean start, now only consuning minimal supplements, I now found that the Doctor's Best 5000mcg biotin itself is causing me a slight nausea, and I get excess saliva and foam forming at the mouth, which is really annoying when you're trying to sleep. Prior to that I was taking like 20 pills so I didn't know what's what...

IIRC worm said he's using the NOW Foods brand, so I might try that.

Also worm, I think that a few months you can try raking 5,000mcg twice daily.

sticking to 5000 1x a day

I'm having early excellent results with minoxidil so i am keeping everything status quo for now.

i have not had any negative side effects on anything i am taking or applying.

Knock on wood

 

[Massive]

sticking to 5000 1x a day

I'm having early excellent results with minoxidil so i am keeping everything status quo for now.

i have not had any negative side effects on anything i am taking or applying.

Knock on wood

That's fantastic news, I'm glad to hear!
I thought you were gonna up to 10,000mcg by your doctor's recommendation. By the way which biotin brand are you taking?

 

[worm]

Hi, I was travelling the past week and a bit, thought id take the opportunity to not update daily.

I have been taking the biotin 6/7 days per week at the moment. I am taking a bit of magnesium citrate along with the biotin as I find im getting a little anxious and wanted to ease my worries. I have a baby on the way, my business is sputtering, and I didnt get a job I was pitching to a company I wanted to integrate into. Not to mention I was 3 hours off on the west coast, and woke up feeling like i was way behind at work. Anyhow, now im home and things are feeling a bit more calm and positivet.

That said, I am having some pretty crazy dreams these days. I find my mind is spinning with creativity and for the most part im a lot more on the ball, however Im generally more tired too and need to sleep earlier and longer than usual. This is either due to the biotin or magnesium, or a combination of both. It's kind of fun, because when Im falling asleep, im somewhere between awake and a dream state, and I have these vivid half dreams

While I wasnt too happy with my hair last week and was resolved to jump on minoxidil, I so far havent ordered it. Yesterday I got home and took a shower with my shampoo and the water Im used to in my city, and my hair look the best it's looked in a long time. It was darker and seems fuller. I didnt notice too many shed hairs, maybe 26 in the drain, and I generally felt much better about how it was looking. Today was a little more of the same, about 30 hairs (vs 37/38 pre biotin).

So, what to say, shedding is still down about 20% I think. I wish I was only losing 10 hairs in the shower, but still I think there is some improvement. The important thing is I havent started shedding more than usual, which is what I was worried about. So with some reduced shedding after 4 weeks, I think I just need to wait it out a few months to see if what i have grows in thicker. Cosmetically yesterday's good hair gave me that impression, so I "hope" im on the right track, time will tell though.

I'll of course keep updating weekly, unless something changes in between.

 

[hairblues]

That's fantastic news, I'm glad to hear!
I thought you were gonna up to 10,000mcg by your doctor's recommendation. By the way which biotin brand are you taking?

Think its called Solger or Solar..Dr had recommend this 10,000..I might still but for now I'm just seeing how much i sprout as is lol..I see him again in Spring I will see if he still thinks i need more.

My hair itself grows long fast with the 5000. My hair grows much faster than when i was young i think due to the supplements i take. I never took any supplements when i was young. Now i take a lot of vitamin D Iron and Biotin i used to take B complex but i had an allergy i had to stop everything and i never added B back in because my blood work it seems to be at good levels of most things..Just Iron and D were deficient.

 

[worm]

Some interesting links

https://www.baldtruthtaIk.com/threads/8981-Saw-Palmetto-and-Biotin-might-be-worth-a-try.

I haven't posted here in almost 6 months. To precede this post; I am 21 and headed towards NW3 baldness. My father has had the same NW3 hairline since he was 25. He's now 42.

Last time I posted, I was about to get propecia and get started on that regimen with Nizoral. After about a week and a half on Propecia, I quickly noticed cognitive changes ("mental fog") and depression/indifference of emotions. Needless to say, I quickly dropped the finasteride.

About a month ago, I decided to give the saw palmetto/biotin combination a try. Didn't seem like it could hurt, and hell, maybe it would do something for me.

I'm posting this message because I see a lot of negativity on this forum towards Saw Palmetto, with nobody ever seeming to actually give it a try. I think that it might be worth a shot, especially in combination with biotin. Why?

Although my hairline is continuing to slowly recede towards NW3, I (and my friends/family members) have seen a noticeable difference in the quality of my existing hair. Before adopting the SP/Biotin treatment, all the hair in the "male pattern baldness area" seemed to be a bit thinner or weaker than the hair in the donor areas. It almost seemed like I had what some people call "Diffuse male pattern baldness", where the entire area miniaturizes at once. It might be "jumping the gun" to say that, but in my mind, the hair on top of my head definitely seemed a bit thinner.

However, as I said.. After a month of SP/Biotin, my hair seems to be a lot thicker/dense, and it seems to be growing faster as well, probably as a result of the extra biotin. In fact, although my left temple has shed quite a bit of hair since starting the treatment (maybe a sign of it working, or maybe just my male pattern baldness progressing), the existing hair is so full that my hair looks better than it has in over a year. I've also grown my hair longer, maybe around 6-7 inches long. My friends and family have really started complimenting the appearance of my hair lately, and none of them know about my regimen.

It's also only been a month. If results seem this promising already, who knows? Maybe I'll see some slight regrowth in the next few months. It's just as possible that I won't, but I prefer to remain optimistic.

My point: Although SP isn't proved to stop or slow male pattern baldness, SP in combination with Biotin has definitely made a noticeable difference in the quality of my hair. I think it's worth a shot; it would be interesting if we could get several forum members to try it and see where they stand after a month or two. I think we need to stay positive and give it a try. If you're not taking Propecia, you certainly have nothing to lose by adopting a "natural" treatment plan. My hair is now thick enough to wear down or brushed back with hardly any signs of male pattern baldness. If you're not taking anything, and you have a reasonable amount of hair to work with, give it a shot! Who knows.. it might work for you, too.

My regimen:
Morning: Multivitamin (Centrum), 160 mg Saw Palmetto Extract, 2000 mcg Biotin.
Before Bed: 160 mg Saw Palmetto Extract, 2000 mcg Biotin.

Other things I've noticed since starting this regimen:
-Interestingly enough, and ironically, my libido has seemed to increase quite a bit since starting my regimen.
-Urinary flow seems stronger too, obviously because of the advertised treatment of BPH.

Hope this inspires a little bit of hope for everyone!

 

[worm]

https://www.hairlosstalk.com/interact/threads/how-effective-is-biotin.54360/

The effect of a daily oral dose of 2,5 mg biotin was studied in 93 patients with the symptoms hair-loss (mostly androgenetic alopecia) and reduced hair quality. The mean duration of treatment was 7,9 +/- 2,8 months. An obvious improvement of hair-loss was reported in 64%, and a slight improvement in 9%. Hair quality was clearly improved in 70% and slightly in 12%. Brittle finger nails as an additional complaint were improved in 80%. If alopecia, decreased hair quality and brittle finger nails occurred in combination, improvement was observed frequently collectively. The study allows - as already shown in a previous investigation concerning brittle finger nails - to suggest biotin as an effective and well tolerated therapy in cases of alopecia and decreased hair quality.

 

[worm]

This is with minoxidil/Biotin/SP

https://www.reddit.com/r/tressless/comments/2gtowo/saw_palmettobiotinminoxodilmy_experience/

Hey guys,

I've been balding since 2011, so it's been roughly three years now.

I apologize I don't have pictures to accompany my post, but please do bare with me and help me understand what exactly is going on.

Around June 2014, I went on a juicing cleanse in order to basically be healthier and lose weigh. Along with juicing, I took 1200mg of fish oil, 320mg of saw palmetto, 10,000mcg of biotin and applied Nizoral three times a week. I also started to apply minoxidil twice a day and buzzed my hair down completely.

I had a bit of a decrease in libido with the saw palmetto initially. I used to masturabte like 3-4 times a day and after SP, it got shortened to 1-2 times a day. My erections were fine and nothing else was affected.This soon disappeared.

In the past, I used to shed moderately. I had mild vertex balding but my hairline did not get affected. Anyway, around 2 months into this regiment, shedding completely stopped AND I started growing new hair! I could literally tug on my hair and it wouldn't come out, that's how good it was!

Eventually college started and my regiment became harder to maintain. Firstly my diet became just a sh*t storm; I started to eat junk food constantly. I also started to skip a few Saw palmetto doses here and there, I forgot to apply minoxidil some days. and my hair started to shed like a motherfucker again. . I realized how dumb of me it was to interrupt this regiment, because obviously it had such spectacular results so now I'm trying reintroduce it into my life.

I just had a few questions for you guys:

Do you think I'm one of those few people that has a good reaction to using saw palmetto to treat hairloss?

I'm almost 20 years old, if I've had such good results with SP, should I consider finasteride?

I realize diet really doesn't have a significant effect but does it really hurt to have a good diet and take supplements when trying to regrow/maintain hair?

Any other questions/comments are welcome!

 

[hairblues]

I do think the supplements i am taking is part of the reason why Minoxidil is working so quickly for me.

I have heard it takes up to 6 months to see results.

I saw results in first month--not sure if that is common or not

Keep in mind i am not on any oral medication.

this is just my thoughts i can be wrong. And if it is supplements most likely the iron and the D since i was deficient in both.
(Dr Costarellis did a study on women with low ferritin and androgenic alopecia==the women they treated the ferritin and also with hair loss medications responded better then the ones who did not treat the ferritin but took hair loss medicines alone) So this was my Dr plan from day one get my ferritin up to an optimal number

I don't know why this study was only done in women.

 

[SmoothSailing]

Some interesting links

https://www.baldtruthtaIk.com/threads/8981-Saw-Palmetto-and-Biotin-might-be-worth-a-try.

I haven't posted here in almost 6 months. To precede this post; I am 21 and headed towards NW3 baldness. My father has had the same NW3 hairline since he was 25. He's now 42.

Last time I posted, I was about to get propecia and get started on that regimen with Nizoral. After about a week and a half on Propecia, I quickly noticed cognitive changes ("mental fog") and depression/indifference of emotions. Needless to say, I quickly dropped the finasteride.

About a month ago, I decided to give the saw palmetto/biotin combination a try. Didn't seem like it could hurt, and hell, maybe it would do something for me.

I'm posting this message because I see a lot of negativity on this forum towards Saw Palmetto, with nobody ever seeming to actually give it a try. I think that it might be worth a shot, especially in combination with biotin. Why?

Although my hairline is continuing to slowly recede towards NW3, I (and my friends/family members) have seen a noticeable difference in the quality of my existing hair. Before adopting the SP/Biotin treatment, all the hair in the "male pattern baldness area" seemed to be a bit thinner or weaker than the hair in the donor areas. It almost seemed like I had what some people call "Diffuse male pattern baldness", where the entire area miniaturizes at once. It might be "jumping the gun" to say that, but in my mind, the hair on top of my head definitely seemed a bit thinner.

However, as I said.. After a month of SP/Biotin, my hair seems to be a lot thicker/dense, and it seems to be growing faster as well, probably as a result of the extra biotin. In fact, although my left temple has shed quite a bit of hair since starting the treatment (maybe a sign of it working, or maybe just my male pattern baldness progressing), the existing hair is so full that my hair looks better than it has in over a year. I've also grown my hair longer, maybe around 6-7 inches long. My friends and family have really started complimenting the appearance of my hair lately, and none of them know about my regimen.

It's also only been a month. If results seem this promising already, who knows? Maybe I'll see some slight regrowth in the next few months. It's just as possible that I won't, but I prefer to remain optimistic.

My point: Although SP isn't proved to stop or slow male pattern baldness, SP in combination with Biotin has definitely made a noticeable difference in the quality of my hair. I think it's worth a shot; it would be interesting if we could get several forum members to try it and see where they stand after a month or two. I think we need to stay positive and give it a try. If you're not taking Propecia, you certainly have nothing to lose by adopting a "natural" treatment plan. My hair is now thick enough to wear down or brushed back with hardly any signs of male pattern baldness. If you're not taking anything, and you have a reasonable amount of hair to work with, give it a shot! Who knows.. it might work for you, too.

My regimen:
Morning: Multivitamin (Centrum), 160 mg Saw Palmetto Extract, 2000 mcg Biotin.
Before Bed: 160 mg Saw Palmetto Extract, 2000 mcg Biotin.

Other things I've noticed since starting this regimen:
-Interestingly enough, and ironically, my libido has seemed to increase quite a bit since starting my regimen.
-Urinary flow seems stronger too, obviously because of the advertised treatment of BPH.

Hope this inspires a little bit of hope for everyone!

I also take Saw Palmetto and Pumpkin seed oil as I got sides from finasteride. I think if you're not going to take finasteride they are worth trying. If you look at all the studies you'll see that SP is about half as effective as finasteride for hair loss.

I've been taking them for about 6 months now, I also started minoxidil, nizoral, biotin and zinc at the same time so can't be sure what's working.

I went from NW2.5 with very thin temples/crown to NW2 with thick temples/crown. I attribute most of it to Minoxidil but overall my hair quality/growth rate is better than I ever remember so I believe it's doing something. Along with the Pumpkin Seed Oil. Less sure about the biotin though.

 

[hairblues]

I also take Saw Palmetto and Pumpkin seed oil as I got sides from finasteride. I think if you're not going to take finasteride they are worth trying. If you look at all the studies you'll see that SP is about half as effective as finasteride for hair loss.

I've been taking them for about 6 months now, I also started minoxidil, nizoral, biotin and zinc at the same time so can't be sure what's working.

I went from NW2.5 with very thin temples/crown to NW2 with thick temples/crown. I attribute most of it to Minoxidil but overall my hair quality/growth rate is better than I ever remember so I believe it's doing something. Along with the Pumpkin Seed Oil. Less sure about the biotin though.

Are you going to try the Hasson and Wong topical when its available?

 

[SmoothSailing]

Are you going to try the Hasson and Wong topical when its available?

My current plan is to stick to what I'm doing until either I start noticeably losing ground again or something which is almost guaranteed to be better comes along. The last thing I want to do is change routines multiple times. So probably won't try it unless I start losing ground again (which hopefully I won't for a year or so). Have a keen eye on Brotzus lotion though.

 

[worm]

So did some searching, amazingly i seem to come up with much except the above. Another problem is that no one person seems to persist with any tratment for very long before 1) giving up after 60 days or 2) using the kitchen sink approach adding many things which usually derails their experiment. The end result is the user ends off worse probably because of something they added, and there is nothing conclusive to take out of the experience.

Im kind of curious about the following:

1) how does biotin affects ones hair after 6/9/12 months? There is evidence it makes a difference by itself. Im on this path to find out, but am wavering and debating the addition of minoxidil or SP, or both (Is this kitchen sinking it?).

2) minoxidil + Saw Palmetto - While Biotin should have some good effects, maybe a mild anti dht could help.

3) minoxidil + Biotin - Could this create more better quality hair? Im guessing yes, but will it be sustained beyond the usual 24 months effectiveness window most believe minoxidil works for?

4) a combination of all 3 - the better quality hair with minoxidil and biotin as detailed in 3) and some SP to maintain the results.

+

For the moment Im only on Biotin - Zix. I'll stay the course, but think I may end up adding SP down the line....

 

[worm]

My current plan is to stick to what I'm doing until either I start noticeably losing ground again or something which is almost guaranteed to be better comes along. The last thing I want to do is change routines multiple times. So probably won't try it unless I start losing ground again (which hopefully I won't for a year or so). Have a keen eye on Brotzus lotion though.

@SmoothSailing Thanks for posting, you're basically doing #4 of my last post above. Im tempted to do that as well. Couple quick questions:

1) did you grow back any of your hairline?

2) you mentioned you got sides on finasteride, what were they? and did you not experience any on SP?

3) how old are you?

4) how's your shedding? Is it down? Did you go through an initial minoxidil shed?

Appreciate any additional feedback on your regimen?

Cheers!

 

[SmoothSailing]

@SmoothSailing Thanks for posting, you're basically doing #4 of my last post above. Im tempted to do that as well. Couple quick questions:

1) did you grow back any of your hairline?

2) you mentioned you got sides on finasteride, what were they? and did you not experience any on SP?

3) how old are you?

4) how's your shedding? Is it down? Did you go through an initial minoxidil shed?

Appreciate any additional feedback on your regimen?

Cheers!

1) Yes, all along my hairline (besides completely bald parts of temples) I saw new hairs after the first 6 weeks of treatment. These all grew to full sized hairs and I now see another layer of new small hairs although they've been small for a while and likely won't grow. Also the rest of my hair, even around my temples, has thickened up significantly. I've gone from having NW2.5 with very thin hair so couldn't style to NW2 with relatively thick hair (just normal by non balding standards). My barber was amazed.

2) I tend to overthink things. I've always had a huge libido. 3 weeks after starting finasteride I no longer got random boners, which would usually occur daily. I could still masturbate but it felt forced, my dick was only on a semi. Ball ache and watery semen also occurred. I hoped I was just anxious but then one day I realized I had being obsessively worrying about it for days, I feel it was making me extremely anxious. I stopped taking it and two weeks later I felt better.

When I started my regime of saw palmetto, zinc, pumpkin seed oil and minoxidil I initially got a huge libido increase for the first 2 to 3 months. I understand being skeptical on the net but for me I'm 100% sure I had a libido increase. It was actually distracting it was so bad. This calmed down and now I'd say I'm back to normal. This could have been the zinc or the SP, or likely a bit of both. (SP, like finasteride, will cause an increase in free testosterone). I've experienced no other sides besides acne from biotin and puffy eyes from minoxidil (which went away).

3) 23

4) Shedding increased to about double what it was at (which was bad) for the first month. Then it leveled off to normal levels for a few weeks and since then it's been lower than it's been since I started watching it. I find no hairs at my desk in work and whilst conditioning my hair there might be 3 or 4, there used to be 20+.


If I were to guess personally what's mostly working for me I'd put my treatments in this order. Minoxidil > Nizoral > Saw Palmetto > Pumpkin Seed Oil >>> MSM = Biotin > zinc.

Check out my thread on SP with studies, other people who are trying it and a note on what you should look out for when buying (90% fatty acids and sterols).

https://www.hairlosstalk.com/intera...finasteride-studies-and-my-experience.101402/