Any benefit of adding Saw Palmetto, Vitamin B3 and Biotin to my regime?

[Thespain]

Is there any benefit of adding these things to my regime? I currently take .5mg finasteride and 5mL 2x of Castor Oil (oral). I'm getting great results at the moment. I'm not particularly looking to decrease a super amount of DHT, at this point I'm just looking to promote a better environment for the healing that is currently taking place on my scalp.

 

[Thespain]

Just keep doing Finasteride, or a script for Dustasteride if that finasteride doesn't work for you. Combine it with Minoxidil.

You want to use a non proven method, you can. But I wouldn't stop taking scientifically backed medications. Because
the time window is only so long, before permanent hair loss.

minoxidil doesn't work for me. I don't plan on stopping finasteride, and I'm not ready to move to dutasteride. I'm just considering adding these because they're cheap and am wondering if they can help, even a bit, improve my scalp health.

 

[parisienne]

I would advise you to get on taurine to decrease your inflammation.

 

[lickawrist]

This is what I've found on wiki:
"After birth, the 5α-R1 is expressed in more locations, including the liver, skin, scalp and prostate. 5α-R2 is expressed in prostate, seminal vesicles, epididymis liver, and to a lesser extent the scalp and skin. Hepatic expression of both 5α-R1 and 2 is immediate, but disappears in the skin and scalp at month 18. Then, at puberty, only 5α-R1 is reexpressed in the skin and scalp."

https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/antibiotics1968/43/12/43_12_1615/_article

Among the inhibitors of 5α-R1 are zinc and linoleic-acid. You can find these supplements in any vitamin store. If you are on finasteride, I WOULD NOT REPLACE IT WITH SUPPLEMENTS. I'm not saying it wouldn't work, but there is enough research to gauge the efficacy of taking natural supplements to inhibit 5α-R1 expressions in hair follicles. It wouldnt hurt to incorporate these into your regimen though. I will add this though: I've suffered from moderate acne-breakouts and after taking zinc religiously for three weeks, my break-outs have considerably reduced. I only get a pimple or two every couple weeks now.

EDIT: finasteride has been clinically proven to treat male pattern baldness. This corresponds to male pattern baldness's physiology because finasteride also inhibits 5α-R1 albeit less effectively than 5α-R2. This may explain why some finasteride users continue to lose hair, or don't respond at all because the drug itself is not able to effectively inhibit 5α-R1 for that individual. In which case, hair loss progresses because the scalp contains more 5α-R1 expressions in the scalp than 5α-R2. I'm not an expert in this field, so take everything I said with a grain of salt.

EDIT2: You said you are taking castor oil orally and have been getting good results? How so? Did shedding decrease? Does castor oil reduce DHT? Also, how long have you been tking minoxidil? Some people don't see results until a year later.

 

[Thespain]

This is what I've found on wiki:
"After birth, the 5α-R1 is expressed in more locations, including the liver, skin, scalp and prostate. 5α-R2 is expressed in prostate, seminal vesicles, epididymis liver, and to a lesser extent the scalp and skin. Hepatic expression of both 5α-R1 and 2 is immediate, but disappears in the skin and scalp at month 18. Then, at puberty, only 5α-R1 is reexpressed in the skin and scalp."

https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/antibiotics1968/43/12/43_12_1615/_article

Among the inhibitors of 5α-R1 are zinc and linoleic-acid. You can find these supplements in any vitamin store. If you are on finasteride, I WOULD NOT REPLACE IT WITH SUPPLEMENTS. I'm not saying it wouldn't work, but there is enough research to gauge the efficacy of taking natural supplements to inhibit 5α-R1 expressions in hair follicles. It wouldnt hurt to incorporate these into your regimen though. I will add this though: I've suffered from moderate acne-breakouts and after taking zinc religiously for three weeks, my break-outs have considerably reduced. I only get a pimple or two every couple weeks now.

EDIT: finasteride has been clinically proven to treat male pattern baldness. This corresponds to male pattern baldness's physiology because finasteride also inhibits 5α-R1 albeit less effectively than 5α-R2. This may explain why some finasteride users continue to lose hair, or don't respond at all because the drug itself is not able to effectively inhibit 5α-R1 for that individual. In which case, hair loss progresses because the scalp contains more 5α-R1 expressions in the scalp than 5α-R2. I'm not an expert in this field, so take everything I said with a grain of salt.

EDIT2: You said you are taking castor oil orally and have been getting good results? How so? Did shedding decrease? Does castor oil reduce DHT? Also, how long have you been tking minoxidil? Some people don't see results until a year later.

Never plan on getting off finasteride, I'm just waiting until it stops working before switching to dutasteride. The castor oil pretty much halted my shedding completely, which is a good thing. Some hairs that are starting to regrow are becoming longer and darker, hopefully they will become thick as my normal hairs. I quit rogaine and am waiting for the hair to come back; they are starting to come back, but I'm worried that not all of them will come back, or that they will be thin, so I'm trying to do everything I can to make sure that there is a good enviornment for them to heal with finasteride and the pge2 from castor oil.

I'm thinking of upping my castor oil dose to 15ml a day, and if I still continue to have no side effects, 20ml.

- - - Updated - - -

I would advise you to get on taurine to decrease your inflammation.

Will do. I'm adding a few other things as well since they're cheap and can't hurt. I read that Alpha Lipoic Acid combined with vitamin E is also good for inflammation, albeit probably nothing major.

 

[Rockinlove]

How long have you been off minoxidil?

It's fairly interesting to learn that castor oil has stopped the shedding. What do you surmise is the reason behind this? Is it because it may act as a PGD2 inhibitor or that it promotes PGE2 expression in the scalp?

Never plan on getting off finasteride, I'm just waiting until it stops working before switching to dutasteride. The castor oil pretty much halted my shedding completely, which is a good thing. Some hairs that are starting to regrow are becoming longer and darker, hopefully they will become thick as my normal hairs. I quit rogaine and am waiting for the hair to come back; they are starting to come back, but I'm worried that not all of them will come back, or that they will be thin, so I'm trying to do everything I can to make sure that there is a good enviornment for them to heal with finasteride and the pge2 from castor oil.

I'm thinking of upping my castor oil dose to 15ml a day, and if I still continue to have no side effects, 20ml.

- - - Updated - - -



Will do. I'm adding a few other things as well since they're cheap and can't hurt. I read that Alpha Lipoic Acid combined with vitamin E is also good for inflammation, albeit probably nothing major.

 

[Thespain]

How long have you been off minoxidil?

It's fairly interesting to learn that castor oil has stopped the shedding. What do you surmise is the reason behind this? Is it because it may act as a PGD2 inhibitor or that it promotes PGE2 expression in the scalp?

I quit minoxidil seven months ago, but I've read from others who said it take 9-12 months to fully recover. I'm hopeful that it will return back to its normal state because I got on finasteride right after I got on minoxidil, and the hairs that have come back so far are pretty thick, others are getting there.

I'm not 100% sure if it was castor oil that stopped my shedding, because it could have been a coincidence. However, I went from pulling out maybe 6 or so hairs every time I ran my hair through my scalp, to maybe 1-3 every now and then, which is considered normal. It happened pretty much over night. I don't know if castor oil decreases PGD2, it would be awesome if it did, but for now I can only say it's probably the PGE2.

 

[lickawrist]

I quit minoxidil seven months ago, but I've read from others who said it take 9-12 months to fully recover. I'm hopeful that it will return back to its normal state because I got on finasteride right after I got on minoxidil, and the hairs that have come back so far are pretty thick, others are getting there.

I'm not 100% sure if it was castor oil that stopped my shedding, because it could have been a coincidence. However, I went from pulling out maybe 6 or so hairs every time I ran my hair through my scalp, to maybe 1-3 every now and then, which is considered normal. It happened pretty much over night. I don't know if castor oil decreases PGD2, it would be awesome if it did, but for now I can only say it's probably the PGE2.

According to swiss, castor oil may have a small effect in the inhibition of the enzyme responsible for PGD2, but it's not clincally significant enough to seriously consider as a PGD2 inhibitor. The only drug that I'm aware of that does this is sulfasalazine and that is used to treat arthritis.

 

[Susano]

I quit minoxidil seven months ago, but I've read from others who said it take 9-12 months to fully recover.

Is it a tecnique to actually quit one of the staples of hair loss prevention?

Can you please explain this, or post a link? I feel out of the loop.

Thanks