By Richard Mitchell
Herbs hold an obvious appeal for many people because they support the body's natural healing mechanisms to target the cause of the problem, as opposed to merely tackling the symptoms. It would be wrong to present herbal hair loss remedies as a miracle solution for all sufferers - there is however growing evidence to support the view that some herbal remedies offer real hope to many people.
Let's examine the case for some of the more popular remedies to determine if they're worth trying.
Ginkyo biloba - this popular herb is thought to improve blood circulation to the brain and skin. Herbalists believe that the increased flow of blood to the brain area delivers more nutrients to the hair follicle thus promoting hair regrowth. The recommended dose is 120-160mg of dry extract each day spread over three doses.
Green tea (Camellia sinesis) - it is thought that catechins found in green tea may inhibit the enzyme 5-alpha-reductase that converts testosterone into hair-unfriendly DHT. It is therefore believed to be effective in preventing and treating male pattern type baldness. You should drink several cups of green tea each day or take it in capsule form as instructed by the manufacturer.
He Shou Wu (Polygonum multiflorum) - also known as Fo-Ti, this Chinese herb has traditionally been used to reduce hair loss. It is found in many commercial preparations, or in tea and capsule form.
Pygeum (Pygeum africanum) - derived from the bark of an evergreen, it works in a similar way to green tea. It is widely used to treat prostate problems and male pattern baldness. Users should take 60-500mg per day in pill or capsule form.
Saw palmetto (Seranoa repens) - this is the current treatment of choice for many men due to its ability to protect the prostate, slow hair loss and encourage hair regrowth. It forms the core element of many commercially prepared hair loss treatments but can easily be obtained in its pure form. The recommended dose is a 160mg capsule twice each day, but make sure the ingredients are made from the berry extract not the dried berries themselves.
Stinging nettle (Urtica diocia) - this has long been favored as a means of preventing hair loss due to its ability to block the conversion of testosterone into DHT. It can be taken in pill or capsule form with an optimum dose of 50-100mg per day. It is particularly effective when combined with pygeum and saw palmetto.
You can learn more about these and other promising hair loss treatments by visiting the site listed below.
Richard Mitchell is the creator of the http://www.myhairlossadvisor.com website that provides information and guidance to those suffering from premature hair loss. Please go to Herbal Hair Loss Remedies to find out more about the issues covered in this article.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Friday, January 19, 2007
Hair Loss, Regrowth and Propecia
by: Mark Brassia
Four years ago I would go out to a night club and wear one of my favorite shirts and nicely pressed slacks and I would be told that I looked forty years old. It was very hard to take as I had just turned 36. I would go on to hear this kind of talk a lot around this time. I moved to a new area and when I would go out, I would always get funny looks and reactions. I've always been an independent person so I didn't mind going out to a local establishment alone but I was always friendly and had some kind of magnetism that seemed to always attract people. Now don't get me wrong. I'm just an average looking guy. I am tall and have always stayed in good shape and have always had a friendly and good sense of humor. Because I'm a bigger guy, people seem to make friends with me as I may make them feel comfortable. This is how it had always been since I was twenty years old. However, it wasn't happening anymore. Inside I was still the same sarcastic, humorous and friendly person but on the outside I must have appeared to look like a loner or a psycho-serial killer. I have never went out of my way to make new friends. However, occasionally when you would just come across people I was getting negative reactions. I knew that there was nothing at all different about me except for one thing. I was still big and had a good body, I was still tan, I still had nice, clean white teeth. I still wore brand new expensive shirts. The only thing that had changed was my hair. It was thinning and looked miniaturized and it was very apparent. I knew that this was my only draw back but I really didn't know what to do about it. I always made a good living and the thought of hair transplants was totally out of the question. I thought about just shaving it as it seemed "that look" was becoming more common. But I could just never come to do it as I always had this thought in my mind that there was a solution. I bought a bottle of Propecia and for some reason I kept it in my medicine cabinet for about 6 months. I think that I was scared to take it. Everything that I had read seemed to imply that there were too many side effects. At the time, I hadn't began to do any real research. So I just hung in there and decided to start scouring the internet and do as much research as possible. I went to the discussion forums and I started to listen to a radio talk show about hair loss. The more that I researched, I started to realize that I must take the Propecia right away or my hair is going to start looking worse. Even though I was still a little nervous I finally made a decision and I just went for it. I went to a Dermatologist and requested a prescription and he agreed that my hair was miniaturized and he felt that I would be a perfect candidate for Propecia. I had read in these forums that others were experimenting with this "big three" regimen and when I decided to get the prescription for the propecia, I would also start on the other two products as well. My plan was to give myself one full year of taking the three products and I would pray that the routine would work. After ninety days I was starting to see progress. As each month went by I would tell myself that I'm at 15% and now I'm at 20% and so on. Now that I look back, I see that I was being way too conservative. When I thought that I was at 50% of the way there and on the road to recovery, I was probably really only at 20%. I still had another 80% of improvement to go. As some people would say, I hadn't even "scratched the surface" After almost three years of this regimen I must say that I am very happy and that my results are definitely better then expected. I was a guy who had obvious hair loss to anybody that knew me or not. Now I'm a guy that still has a little frontal recession and still a little thinning in the crown and for the most part has a significant amount of hair. I went out to a local establishment recently and a 27 year old guy talked to me for about an hour and he told me that he was 27 and that I'm "what 32,33?" I said try 39. He said "really, wow you actually look about 32 and you seem like a 32 year old" Of course the first thing that comes to your mind is that he was just trying to be nice and just complementing me. But I really believe that he was sincere as I have been getting a lot of this kind of treatment for the past year. I can go out now and I have that magnetism again where people want to know me or talk to me instead of looking at me like I'm some crazy man. I still wear the nice shirts, I still work out and my body still looks as good as it did when I was 36, my teeth are still nice and white and I still look tan. The only thing that is different is my hair. It doesn't look thin and miniaturized anymore. It looks like a normal full head of hair. I truly believe that the way your hair looks tells a lot about a person's age. The hair is the frame for your face and I must say I know that my hair looks 10 times better today then it did back when I was 36. You would think that since I have androgenic alopecia that my hair would look thinner and worse each year. Actually the reverse has happened for me and time is actually on my side instead of against me because I have reversed the progression of my hair loss. Instead of having a higher level of DHT in my scalp miniaturizing my existing hair follicles, I take finasteride, better known as Propecia. Finasteride has been proven to block Type II 5 alpha reductace, the enzhyme that converts testosterone to DHT. Although Propecia is the main player of The Big Three, there are still two other products that I feel must be taken. The three products taken together seem to work in a synergistic manner. Propecia does its thing, minoxidil has its role and nizoral also plays a key part. However, one plus one plus one equals four as far as the overall effect of the treatments. Nizoral makes Minoxidil more effective and Mixoxidil works better when taking propecia. I have been taking the Big Three now for almost three years and I must say the regimen has really changed my life.
About The Author
Mark Brassia is a consumer advocate who has been researching the hair loss industry for about four years. He handles many calls and emails from consumers who have been ripped off by scams and bad hair loss products. He is a hair loss sufferer himself and has spent thousands of dollars on many products that din not work and he has good advice if you are dealing with hair androgenic alopecia. The web site is http://www.ReGrowNow.com and it is set up to educate the hair loss sufferer with real facts, articles and information.
Four years ago I would go out to a night club and wear one of my favorite shirts and nicely pressed slacks and I would be told that I looked forty years old. It was very hard to take as I had just turned 36. I would go on to hear this kind of talk a lot around this time. I moved to a new area and when I would go out, I would always get funny looks and reactions. I've always been an independent person so I didn't mind going out to a local establishment alone but I was always friendly and had some kind of magnetism that seemed to always attract people. Now don't get me wrong. I'm just an average looking guy. I am tall and have always stayed in good shape and have always had a friendly and good sense of humor. Because I'm a bigger guy, people seem to make friends with me as I may make them feel comfortable. This is how it had always been since I was twenty years old. However, it wasn't happening anymore. Inside I was still the same sarcastic, humorous and friendly person but on the outside I must have appeared to look like a loner or a psycho-serial killer. I have never went out of my way to make new friends. However, occasionally when you would just come across people I was getting negative reactions. I knew that there was nothing at all different about me except for one thing. I was still big and had a good body, I was still tan, I still had nice, clean white teeth. I still wore brand new expensive shirts. The only thing that had changed was my hair. It was thinning and looked miniaturized and it was very apparent. I knew that this was my only draw back but I really didn't know what to do about it. I always made a good living and the thought of hair transplants was totally out of the question. I thought about just shaving it as it seemed "that look" was becoming more common. But I could just never come to do it as I always had this thought in my mind that there was a solution. I bought a bottle of Propecia and for some reason I kept it in my medicine cabinet for about 6 months. I think that I was scared to take it. Everything that I had read seemed to imply that there were too many side effects. At the time, I hadn't began to do any real research. So I just hung in there and decided to start scouring the internet and do as much research as possible. I went to the discussion forums and I started to listen to a radio talk show about hair loss. The more that I researched, I started to realize that I must take the Propecia right away or my hair is going to start looking worse. Even though I was still a little nervous I finally made a decision and I just went for it. I went to a Dermatologist and requested a prescription and he agreed that my hair was miniaturized and he felt that I would be a perfect candidate for Propecia. I had read in these forums that others were experimenting with this "big three" regimen and when I decided to get the prescription for the propecia, I would also start on the other two products as well. My plan was to give myself one full year of taking the three products and I would pray that the routine would work. After ninety days I was starting to see progress. As each month went by I would tell myself that I'm at 15% and now I'm at 20% and so on. Now that I look back, I see that I was being way too conservative. When I thought that I was at 50% of the way there and on the road to recovery, I was probably really only at 20%. I still had another 80% of improvement to go. As some people would say, I hadn't even "scratched the surface" After almost three years of this regimen I must say that I am very happy and that my results are definitely better then expected. I was a guy who had obvious hair loss to anybody that knew me or not. Now I'm a guy that still has a little frontal recession and still a little thinning in the crown and for the most part has a significant amount of hair. I went out to a local establishment recently and a 27 year old guy talked to me for about an hour and he told me that he was 27 and that I'm "what 32,33?" I said try 39. He said "really, wow you actually look about 32 and you seem like a 32 year old" Of course the first thing that comes to your mind is that he was just trying to be nice and just complementing me. But I really believe that he was sincere as I have been getting a lot of this kind of treatment for the past year. I can go out now and I have that magnetism again where people want to know me or talk to me instead of looking at me like I'm some crazy man. I still wear the nice shirts, I still work out and my body still looks as good as it did when I was 36, my teeth are still nice and white and I still look tan. The only thing that is different is my hair. It doesn't look thin and miniaturized anymore. It looks like a normal full head of hair. I truly believe that the way your hair looks tells a lot about a person's age. The hair is the frame for your face and I must say I know that my hair looks 10 times better today then it did back when I was 36. You would think that since I have androgenic alopecia that my hair would look thinner and worse each year. Actually the reverse has happened for me and time is actually on my side instead of against me because I have reversed the progression of my hair loss. Instead of having a higher level of DHT in my scalp miniaturizing my existing hair follicles, I take finasteride, better known as Propecia. Finasteride has been proven to block Type II 5 alpha reductace, the enzhyme that converts testosterone to DHT. Although Propecia is the main player of The Big Three, there are still two other products that I feel must be taken. The three products taken together seem to work in a synergistic manner. Propecia does its thing, minoxidil has its role and nizoral also plays a key part. However, one plus one plus one equals four as far as the overall effect of the treatments. Nizoral makes Minoxidil more effective and Mixoxidil works better when taking propecia. I have been taking the Big Three now for almost three years and I must say the regimen has really changed my life.
About The Author
Mark Brassia is a consumer advocate who has been researching the hair loss industry for about four years. He handles many calls and emails from consumers who have been ripped off by scams and bad hair loss products. He is a hair loss sufferer himself and has spent thousands of dollars on many products that din not work and he has good advice if you are dealing with hair androgenic alopecia. The web site is http://www.ReGrowNow.com and it is set up to educate the hair loss sufferer with real facts, articles and information.
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