From wiki
Preventing and reversing hair loss
For more information, see the main article on Baldness
treatments
It is easier to prevent the aging and falling out of healthy hairs
than to regrow hair in follicles that are already dormant. However,
there are products that have good success rates with maintenance
and regrowth, including the scientifically proven finasteride
(marketed in the U.S. as Propecia) and minoxidil (marketed in the
U.S. as Rogaine, and some places as Regaine). The prospective
treatment of hair multiplication/hair cloning, which extracts
self-replenishing follicle stem cells, multiplies them many times
over in the lab, and microinjects them into the scalp, has been
shown to work in mice, and is currently under development, expected
by some scientists to be available to the public in 2009-2015.
Subsequent versions of the treatment are expected by some
scientists to be able to cause these follicle stem cells to simply
signal the surrounding hair follicles to rejuvenate.*
Topical application of ketoconazole, which is both an anti-fungal
and a potent 5-alpha reductase inhibitor, is often used as a
suppliment to other approaches.
Interestingly, placebo treatments in studies often have reasonable
success rates, though not as high as the products being tested, and
even similar side-effects as the products. For example, in
Finasteride (propecia) studies, the percent of patients with any
drug-related sexual adverse experience was 3.8% compared with 2.0%
in the placebo group.[4] Proponents of alternative therapies
believe that the majority of cases of hair loss that progress
despite treatments do so because the people believe no such cure
can occur. In this view, this belief, which is prevailing in the
modern civilised world and continuously reinforced by medical
science, is the main obstacle for effectively finding and applying
a cure.
Regular aerobic exercise can help keep androgen levels naturally
lower while maintaining overall health and lowering stress, though
weight training may have a detrimental effect on hair by increasing
testosterone levels. (There is some evidence that irregular, short
bursts of exercise can be worse for health than no exercise at
all)
Stress reduction can be helpful in slowing hair loss.
Immunosuppresants applied to the scalp have been shown to
temporarily reverse hair loss, though the possibly lethal side
effects of this treatment make it untennable.
Saw Palmetto a.k.a. Serenoa repens is an herbal DHT inhibitor often
claimed to be cheaper and have fewer side effects than finesteride
and dutasteride.
Polygonum Multiflorum is a traditional Chinese cure for hair loss.
Whether the plant itself is useful, the general safety and quality
control of herbs imported from China can be questionable.
Beta Sitosterol, which is a constituent in many seed oils, can help
to treat BHP by lowering cholesterol. If used for this purpose, an
extract is best. Consuming large amounts of oil to get at small
quantities of beta sitosterol is likely to exacerbate male pattern
baldness.
Resveratrol, from grape skins, is a lipase inhibitor. By decreasing
the body's ability to absorb fat through the intestine walls, it
reduces the total fat and calorie content of a person's diet.
While drastic, broad spectrum anti-androgens such as flutamide are
sometimes used topically. Flutamide is potent enough to have a
feminizing effect in men, casually refered to as 'bitch
tits.'
There are many misconceptions about what can help prevent hairloss,
one of these being that frequent ejaculation may have an influence
on MPB. While ejaculation significantly lowers levels of relaxin (a
5-alpha reductase inhibitor) in a male's body and does cause
testosterone levels to temporarily elevate the claim that frequent
ejaculations can cause baldness is often viewed with skepticism.
Higher testosterone levels may correlate with both hairloss and
increased sex drive in predisposed individuals. Another false
reason is "blood-flow" theory which led men to stand on their heads
in the 1980's, and can be found in the advertising for many of the
fake hair-loss treatments for sale on the internet. While Minoxidil
is a vasodialtor and is speculated to work, in part, by increasing
blood flow to hair follices, there is no evidence that standing on
one's head can alleviate baldness.
