Hair is not Life but it's Pretty Damn Close; HRT and Pictorial Posts Prove it.

[JaneyElizabeth]

7 Ways Hormonal Birth Control Harms Women

Hormonal birth control is chemical castration. It shuts down women's hormones, and causes depression, weight gain, hair loss, and loss of libido.

www.larabriden.com

 

[JaneyElizabeth]

Reaction to My Proposal to Try to Induce Lactation:

Reader: Wow! That’s really interesting. The whole pregnancy thing. Will this be an experiment or something that you want to continue? Are you anticipating that you’ll get to the point of lactation?

Janey:

I don't see why it wouldn't work as the actual sucking of the device is supposed to increase prolactin. I have tried to "get" essentially everything, every experience related to HRT and transition out of it. If it works, then I don't know how long I will continue with it. I am also curious to see if it makes a difference in terms of increasing areola or breast size. My nipples are already huge. I have "let" myself put on about 30 pounds as well to mimic the experience. I had already a couple of hand pumps and the electric ones are on the way. I haven't really gone into the parameters of this experience because it just sort of came to me when I was researching Prolactin and its effect on HRT and hair loss. Anyone who knows anything about Prolactin, that would be helpful.

 

[JaneyElizabeth]

Reaction to New 2.5 mm Roller:

So my new roller finally arrived all the way from England. It looks like all of the others in purple and black. I have a 2.0 mm that is yellow and black. Of course, they don't put the gauge on the device or the plastic rest so my older ones are all mixed up and I will probably toss them. These rollers dull pretty easily.

So, how was it? It was the same experience more or less that the 2.0 mm was. I probably did it for about five minutes which means about that much time with the thing in my hand over 30 minutes. I don't usually do it past 30 minutes because I want the skin quickly into healing mode. So what this means for those who haven't done DR, is that you can only take the pain for a short burst of time, maybe ten to 20 seconds. Then I move to a different area or change directions.

Theoretically you want to go criss-cross, go diagonally and go from the crown to the hairline. I am doing all of my hair because if this improves hair, it is likely to improve hair in the areas that weren't susceptible to going bald but that did have a decline in hair quality, usually meaning frizz that looks crummy the longer it gets. I could never really get past my ears until it looked crappy and I cut it for court so as to be dapper and all.

Does micro-needling grow hair? The studies say that it can but I have no idea because estrogen and oral Min are already incredible hair growth generators. What I do know is that it works great on scar tissue to turn it into normal pink skin and I know that it does this because the skin actually scabs over. Depending upon the scar, it might take three to five sessions to eliminate this scabbing phase and then hopefully it's just up to the body to cross-talk and start regrowth. I just no longer see many scabs after rolling and now those areas appear to be integrated and no different from surrounding tissue. There are a few that are hair-bearing but still "slanted" that I continue to work on and the entire crown has largely filled in so hopefully these stubborn grafts will stop being a detriment to my hair recovery.

Except for the hairline where I have a ways to go, the transplant scarring is my issue. Anywhere that looks even a little thin is due to light reflecting off of the paler skin and to the former grafts continuing to integrate themselves.

Was the 2.5 mm roller painful? No, it wasn't. It appears to me that the higher gauges are less painful than some of the other gauges I have tried. How could it not be more painful than the 2.0 mm? I think that needles just go where you need them to go in terms of depth by themselves so I don't use anything but minimal pressure but I probably am at the right point pressure-wise. This is because I cut myself in two places both tiny. On my forehead and on my nose I see tiny wounds already healing. The other thing is that with the lower gauges, I often would get a bloody mess and I just don't any longer. Perhaps my skin is accustomed to the roller action now? Mostly, I think it was because you had to push too with the lower gauges. My scalp could hurt for up to 24 hours before when I would comb or brush it and last night I could brush in the minoxidil fine with very little pain.

I did both sides of my hands also plus forehead, neck and face. I always do at least forehead, neck and face. Between the Estrogel, progesterone cream, retin-A and the pumping and micro-needling of my face, my skin is just glowing.

I keep getting, no, not misgendered but people can't guess my age anymore. I went to re-new my cannabis license and the doctor got up because he had the wrong file, he said. I am used to this because the file has my former name on it so I was like "it's probably mine," and then he was like, no,no, this is for someone born in 1964. Again, I was like, "yep that's me, cannabis keeps me young".

I came into all of this actually expecting to be successful all along hair-wise but it's the ancillary treatments like Estrogel on the face, micro-needling and retin-A, plus beard removal, that have done so much to resurrect a version of me much more like the boy who peaked at 17. All but miraculous.

I often say that with my divorce, nothing worked. But with HRT, every single thing has worked and not just worked, but worked spectacularly. But then again, I worship Goddess who wants good things for all of us....

Goddess Bless

 

[JaneyElizabeth]

My order of ten more tubes of Estrogel with three more tubes of retin-A arrived today which is great because I was really jonsing. I am going to make this shipment last a bit longer but since I haven't peaked hair-wise, onwards and upwards I go....

 

[JaneyElizabeth]

Question and Answer Format:

I often get asked really good questions via PM which I try to answer no later than the next business day but unless they are private, I don't post them without excising all material that is personal to that person but I think that it helps me stay focused on the needs out there and I have had three different XX's in particular ask me questions about hair preservation and quality related to hormone. One is an FtM and the other two are cis-females and it has been quite rewarding. So either place, I will try to help those who might have stubborn issues that wont' resolve:

All I know you said this journey is 7 years worth. What are your bust and underbust measurements? How many inches did you grow over 7 years?

back to hair loss, I’m a little worried. I’m trying not to panic. I’m finding short hairs, less than 3 inches long, without bulbs falling out. These hairs are thick. I know losing shot hairs is not a good sign. I don’t know what these hairs signify. Any idea?

I haven't kept good records related to breast growth for a couple of reasons. First because my rib cage is somewhat wider than a cis-females, my breasts sit a bit apart. Now this is true for cis-gals as well but it took me forever to find something that sort of did the job. So, if I do that thing where you push them together, then at least a D but if I am bra-less and relaxed they might only look like B and a half's or something. They also seem to fluctuate a little in size. But ultimately, it's what's available for another person's hands and they just seem gigantic when cupped.

It's hard for me to know when I actively started trying to be a "girl" but I would say October of 2017 so four years after playing around with Biestro, I got a message from above that this was my path. It was a hopeful, caring message that revealed itself as being Goddess. I started formal HRT in April of 2018 and it was only August of 2018 where I started using prescribed meds almost exclusively and I lost hair ground the first year so I must have been pounding the Biestro those last nine months between "coming out" and starting HRT.

My breasts at this time were noticeable, maybe A and a half cups but they have always seemed voluptuous so part of this path for me was accepting breast growth as a thing along with restored hair. The other thing is that when you are given something that many, many MtF's would give anything for, it seems like looking a gift horse in the mouth for bad teeth not to start liking them. I think that it was similar for Bridgeburn in terms of acceptance. He had usually large ones too so if I had a breast formula besides using topical estrogen on your breasts every day, I would gladly share it and I am more than willing to provide all of my protocols but l am not sure, otherwise that I can necessarily pin-point it. Genetic luck?

Anyway, even though I preach that breast growth is largely unmanageable, I have tested on myself pretty much all of the things reputed to increase breast growth just to prove that they don't work which I then can't do because it might have worked for me. The machine arrived today so I will see if it seems silly or worthwhile.

Prenatal Androgen Exposure May Limit Breast Development in Transfeminine People

Prenatal Androgen Exposure May Limit Breast Development in Transfeminine People by Aly W.

transfemscience.org

Also, I have never looked at falling hair so I am not certain about whether it has bulbs or whether hair length of falling hair means anything. What I will say is that I glance at them to make sure that they are not deformed. Sometimes when hair transplants don't take entirely or we lose hair quality naturally, you can have hair that grows but is crinkled or roundish or whatever and I see mostly those. As a "male", I used to be like "at least it's coverage" but eh. I was even fine with vellus hair since it seemed to make my hair harder to "see through" but I never had much of that. This is the first time in my life that I have seen regrowth at the hairline where it's visible and real, not little vellus ones that never grow.

 

[JaneyElizabeth]

Breast Development in Transwomen After 1 Year of Cross-Sex Hormone Therapy: Results of a Prospective Multicenter Study​

The median age of the included transwomen was 28 years (range, 18 to 69). Mean breast-chest difference increased to 7.9 ± 3.1 cm after 1 year of CHT, mainly resulting in less than an AAA cup size (48.7%). Main breast development occurred in the first 6 months of therapy. Serum estradiol levels did not predict breast development after 1 year of CHT (first quartile, 3.6 cm [95% confidence interval (CI), 2.7 to 4.5], second quartile, 3.2 cm [95% CI, 2.3 to 4.2], third quartile, 4.4 cm [95% CI, 3.5 to 5.3], and fourth quartile, 3.6 cm [95% CI, 2.7 to 4.5]).

Conclusion
This study shows that, after 1 year of CHT, breast development is modest and occurs primarily in the first 6 months. No clinical or laboratory parameters were found that predict breast development.

Only 3.6 percent of the transgender females in the testing exceeded an A cup and an A cup is like nothing.

Hmm. Bald with no cups versus well-coiffed with an A cup. That not such a hard choice is it? It will make them more sensitive, though and that sounds like a positive so for running a four percent risk of significant breast growth you can have your self-esteem and attractiveness back again. I liked those odds.

So to all of these guys who are frantic about their hair and who want to go on HRT except for the breast risk, statistically you might be making a poor decision depending upon your individual risk v. reward measurements since any sort advanced breast development is highly unlikely. 50 percent have less than a cup size of AAA! So if anything, people might be taking the wrong point about Bridge and his breast growth which was substantially or mine, which was more substantially than that. I think that it might we be worth the risk to try to at least cycle HRT for anyone involved in suicide ideation or extreme hair dysphoria to the point where you cannot function happily in public.

Breast Development in Transwomen After 1 Year of Cross-Sex Hormone Therapy: Results of a Prospective Multicenter Study

This prospective multicenter study shows that the gained breast development after the first year of CHT in transwomen was modest and occurred primarily in

academic.oup.com

 

[marlonthoo]

Is the hair you grow on HRT dependent like minoxidil or would it technically be possible to be on that kind of regimen for sometime and then just be on finasteride or Dutasteride

 

[Pls_NW-1]

Is the hair you grow on HRT dependent like minoxidil or would it technically be possible to be on that kind of regimen for sometime and then just be on finasteride or Dutasteride

I'm pretty sure he/she (idk which pronouns to use, sorry) could drop the E and maintain on finasteride/duta + another AA (AR blocker).

But I am sure Janey wouldn't leave goddess bless lol

 

[JaneyElizabeth]

Is the hair you grow on HRT dependent like minoxidil or would it technically be possible to be on that kind of regimen for sometime and then just be on finasteride or Dutasteride

That's a great question and I will attempt to treat it in depth because the categorization of hair as "dependent" does not appear to square with the fibrosis theory of baldness which is probably the best one that we have currently. It also implies to young guys, "why bother with minoxidil since my hair is going to become dependent on it". That's simply not how it works. Minoxidil works in a way that we continue not to understand but I don't believe that anyone believes that it makes hair loss or male pattern baldness worse. It simply recognizes that untreated hair in a person susceptible to hair loss is likely to be at risk of falling. The same goes with finasteride.

The prevailing fibrosis theory is almost sort of spooky like Schrodinger's cat in that the falling hair appears to fail before the blood supply to it is completely diminished. So merely adding in increased blood supply doesn't appear to resolve the issue. Finasteride and dutasteride can all but halt the progression of baldness but at least in those whose baldness is say more than a couple of years running, reductase inhibitors cannot "regrow" hair, only estrogen accompanied by higher body estradiol levels appears able to "regrow" hair.

We don't even have a running definition to my knowledge as to what constitutes the terms "growth" or "regrowth" or "improvement". Are there actually dormant follicles that are now growing? Is a longer period of anagen "regrowth" or just "growth" and all of this makes a difference. The one thing that I strongly promote and believe in is that hair has to be looked at in a holistic fashion. What this means to me is that the goal is not simply growth or regrowth or increased anagen, although we want all three. The real issue is why do some people have "nicer" hair, whatever that means, compared to others. So a lot of us XY's are hankering just as much for our "nice" pubertal hair as we are for any sort of coverage in general. So in my view, the question as re-stated is not so much how do we cure baldness.

It is rather, why can't we do anything to improve the quality of scalp follicles from the inside? This would include hairs that no longer become terminal or curly or kinked hairs on the scalp of a person with straight hair. In essence, we can no more resolve frizziness in a hair follicle than we can resolve dormancy of the follicle itself. Yes, we have marginal salon treatments that coat hair but nothing that improves the niceness and smoothness and sheen and manageability in groups which have straight hair. So, virtually always we can see a period of decline of the quality of hair in general before actual baldness becomes apparent. I can see it in my old pics and this period of declining quality can proceed down to the point where there are no longer terminal hairs being produced.

This is a complicated topic and to me a fascinating one. A great place to start is here:

Scalp Tension and Hair Loss: A Scientific Breakdown

Does scalp tension cause hair loss? Sixty years ago, researchers abandoned the scalp tightness-Androgenetic Alopecia theory. Now they're reevaluating it. Here's why.

perfecthairhealth.com

 

[marlonthoo]

That's a great question and I will attempt to treat it in depth because the categorization of hair as "dependent" does not appear to square with the fibrosis theory of baldness which is probably the best one that we have currently. It also implies to young guys, "why bother with minoxidil since my hair is going to become dependent on it". That's simply not how it works. Minoxidil works in a way that we continue not to understand but I don't believe that anyone believes that it makes hair loss or male pattern baldness worse. It simply recognizes that untreated hair in a person susceptible to hair loss is likely to be at risk of falling. The same goes with finasteride.

The prevailing fibrosis theory is almost sort of spooky like Schrodinger's cat in that the falling hair appears to fail before the blood supply to it is completely diminished. So merely adding in increased blood supply doesn't appear to resolve the issue. Finasteride and dutasteride can all but halt the progression of baldness but at least in those whose baldness is say more than a couple of years running, reductase inhibitors cannot "regrow" hair, only estrogen accompanied by higher body estradiol levels appears able to "regrow" hair.

We don't even have a running definition to my knowledge as to what constitutes the terms "growth" or "regrowth" or "improvement". Are there actually dormant follicles that are now growing? Is a longer period of anagen "regrowth" or just "growth" and all of this makes a difference. The one thing that I strongly promote and believe in is that hair has to be looked at in a holistic fashion. What this means to me is that the goal is not simply growth or regrowth or increased anagen, although we want all three. The real issue is why do some people have "nicer" hair, whatever that means, compared to others. So a lot of us XY's are hankering just as much for our "nice" pubertal hair as we are for any sort of coverage in general. So in my view, the question as re-stated is not so much how do we cure baldness.

It is rather, why can't we do anything to improve the quality of scalp follicles from the inside? This would include hairs that no longer become terminal or curly or kinked hairs on the scalp of a person with straight hair. In essence, we can no more resolve frizziness in a hair follicle than we can resolve dormancy of the follicle itself. Yes, we have marginal salon treatments that coat hair but nothing that improves the niceness and smoothness and sheen and manageability in groups which have straight hair. So, virtually always we can see a period of decline of the quality of hair in general before actual baldness becomes apparent. I can see it in my old pics and this period of declining quality can proceed down to the point where there are no longer terminal hairs being produced.

This is a complicated topic and to me a fascinating one. A great place to start is here:

Scalp Tension and Hair Loss: A Scientific Breakdown

Does scalp tension cause hair loss? Sixty years ago, researchers abandoned the scalp tightness-Androgenetic Alopecia theory. Now they're reevaluating it. Here's why.

perfecthairhealth.com

Thank you so much for your answer! I’m fairly new to to this forum so it’s kinda hard for me to understand some of these things. (I’d appreciate it if you could check out my thread). I really try to educate myself on this but it’s a very complex topic. Do you have a regimen that you could say would work for a cis male besides finasteride/dutasteride and minoxidil that can regrow hair? You were mentioning estrogen.... let’s say I’m on a regimen with estrogen for six months and regrow hair by that time and then get off of that medication and just stay on finasteride... would that work?

 

[Norwoody]

Thank you so much for your answer! I’m fairly new to to this forum so it’s kinda hard for me to understand some of these things. (I’d appreciate it if you could check out my thread). I really try to educate myself on this but it’s a very complex topic. Do you have a regimen that you could say would work for a cis male besides finasteride/dutasteride and minoxidil that can regrow hair? You were mentioning estrogen.... let’s say I’m on a regimen with estrogen for six months and regrow hair by that time and then get off of that medication and just stay on finasteride... would that work?

Probably only topically which should be okay along with finasteride/dutasteride/min

 

[JaneyElizabeth]

I'm pretty sure he/she (idk which pronouns to use, sorry) could drop the E and maintain on finasteride/duta + another AA (AR blocker).

But I am sure Janey wouldn't leave goddess bless lol

Pronouns aren't a big deal to me and I appreciate your asking. With all of the manga avatars, I struggle sometimes with how to refer to folks. Since I am non-binary, either way is fine but officially with the state that I live in, I am female and I have formally changed my name to Jane Elizabeth.

I try to write often on the benefits of MtF HRT and @bridgeburn did too. For me, staying on HRT is as much of a health issue as a hair issue. One way that I encourage people to at least consider the situation is that male pattern baldness is a sort of hormonal imbalance in which some of us either produce too much T or DHT and not enough aromatase or estradiol or one can also phrase it as having follicles more susceptible to T or DHT.

Then folks can look into hormonal solutions "guilt-free" if you will without all of the baggage that I and many others have to go through.

So the goal of using HRT in this context is say, to preserve both hair and erectile capacity, libido and fertility while balancing that against the hair goals. I was dying under the reign of T both physically and psychological and after 50 years, I was like," enough. I am not suffering in silence any longer" and I pursued HRT to where it took me. But like Bridge, I expected all of this to work based upon the literature. There are for many people substantial psychological benefits of increasing estradiol levels in both XX's and XY's.

For me, T had a very driven feeling to it that I simply was sick of. Estrogen is much more relaxed and less stereotypically "hard charging" It might be controversial but we see this all over the mammalian kingdom, with sexual dimorphism, where the female of a species or a neutered male becomes more docile. So here the hope is to end the "rage" of T that so many guys have. Studies have shown that many males are subject essentially to sexual bombardment always. Many guys on here think that they are losing their hair because the masturbate five times a day, which is distinctly not true but the notion of "having to masturbate" five times a day is disquieting and what can be viewed as a sacred solitary act instead becomes compulsive.

I never mince words. One of the major benefits of estradiol provided we maintain fertility and capacity is precisely because it lowers the sex drive and often stereotypically. Having sex once a day is a choice; even twice when in isolation can be healthy but being in a compulsive sexual state is to me, a form of slavery. Estrogen greatly diminishes the satisfaction that comes from being ashamed or humiliated which is tied up in all of the rest. Somehow excessive T or an imbalance leads to a state in which bizarre fetishes become attachments. We know this because there are studies on sexual offenders indicating that large amounts of spironolactone cyproterone or provera can stop essentially all sexual ideation. Now we don't want to go that far but many, many males are in bondage to T and baldness is just another aspect of how this hormone, so necessary for life, can become something that needs to be balanced for both physical and psychological health.

So, I conceivably could "go back" if it were important to a partner but yeah, I would at least cycle and try to find some sort of intermediate balance. But before we can do that, we have to get past the shame of contemplating "using female hormones" cause we all know that except for wearing a dress in public, wanting to be "female" or even more "feminine" is a mind-f*** that goes against how virtually all of us were socialized from birth.

And yes, Goddess bless.

 

[Pls_NW-1]

"using female hormones"

I hate it when people say estradiol is female's hormone lol...

If all these men knew they have plenty of E circulating in their body... lol

 

[Norwoody]

I hate it when people say estradiol is female's hormone lol...

If all these men knew they have plenty of E circulating in their body... lol

Bluecyclone has female levels of it naturally

 

[Pls_NW-1]

Bluecyclone has female levels of it naturally

Wait what hahahahaha

 

[Norwoody]

Wait what hahahahaha

I think his were in the 80s pg/mL lol

 

[JaneyElizabeth]

Why Conjecturing About Hair Loss Often Leads to Nowhere:

We currently have a fairly well-detailed theory or theories about hair loss and male pattern baldness and most of them involve diminished blood flood. The only problem is that this is out of order in terms of cause and effect. The hair in essence fails before the blood flow does so apparently, simply restoring blood flow is not going to allow regrowth.

Low Blood Flow to Scalp and Hair Loss (AGA): What Everyone Gets Wrong

Balding scalps have 2.6 times less blood flow than hairy scalps... and 40% less oxygen. So why don't researchers agree that low blood flow causes hair loss?

perfecthairhealth.com

 

[Gergely]

I think his were in the 80s pg/mL lol

That would explain his hairline and general quality for his age

 

[Norwoody]

That would explain his hairline and general quality for his age

Oh yeah. Problem is he won't acknowledge it lol. He's complaining about shedding. Look, I get it. But at the same time, there are plenty of people, particularly women, who shed a lot and have brushes full of hair, but their growth rate can keep up with it. The net loss is important. You can see he's still got some NW0 hairs that haven't miniaturized. Hell, he doesn't have miniaturization at all, just shedding.

 

[Pls_NW-1]

Oh yeah. Problem is he won't acknowledge it lol. He's complaining about shedding. Look, I get it. But at the same time, there are plenty of people, particularly women, who shed a lot and have brushes full of hair, but their growth rate can keep up with it. The net loss is important. You can see he's still got some NW0 hairs that haven't miniaturized. Hell, he doesn't have miniaturization at all, just shedding.

I wish I had his hair...

I lost my NW0 hairline when I was 13/14 xD, and he is 40+ and still complains... world is fucked up. We need a cure pls