How I’m keeping my hair from balding
Male Pattern Baldness runs deep as a hereditary trait in my family, my older brothers lost their hair by their young twenties; yet I stand out amongst my family with a full head of hair.
Before I tell you what I got right, let me tell you what I got wrong.
- I thought balding was the root problem.
- I didn’t think about causes and that it was purely genetic.
- I focused on singular solutions; rather than a holistic approach.
What I got right is that I didn’t give up, I never accepted it as an inevitability. Thankfully, being the youngest in my family I was able to see what was in store for me and prepared.
Why we bald
Balding is caused by a multitude of reasons, but those of us prone to male-pattern-baldness have a primary cause, dihydrotestosterone.
Commonly abbreviated as DHT, it’s the hormone responsible for us developing masculine traits as a teen. Now as an adult it’s causing us to lose our hair by blocking blood and nutrients from getting to our hair follicles.
DHT is naturally created in your body, but more can created due to inflammation. Stress and nutrition are primary causes of inflammation in our bodies.
All of this, combined with genetics that may produce too much DHT or make our hair more sensitive to DHT, are the causes of male pattern baldness.
Should we care that we bald?
If balding is affecting your confidence, then tackling your confidence may be more effective than tackling your hair.
There are many handsome chaps without their hair, such as Dwayne Johnson and Bruce Willis.
Both people are highly masculine. When a panel of 1,000 women were asked “what do you think of a bald or shaved head”, close to 90% gave a positive response and highlighted that the person being respectable, smart and having a good personality were far more important; which are all things we can work on.
Some of the tips provided by the women were; improve self confidence, work out, and grow a beard.
Why keep our hair?
If confidence fixes everything then why write an article on “How I’m keeping my hair from balding”?
Well, if I can keep something I feel makes me more attractive, why not try and keep it? Being self-confident is so important, but I don’t need to lose my hair to feel sure of myself and my decisions. So I researched how to keep my hair because I wanted to keep my hair.
The process I use to keep my hair.
Disclaimer: It’s worth noting that there a lot of products on the market for hair loss, many that require prescriptions, and as such, I recommend you consult with a doctor for the best treatment for you.
I am not a doctor, I am a dude on the internet.
Omega Fatty Acids and Anti-Inflammatories
I currently take Evening Primrose Oil for it’s high amount of GLA omega-6 fatty acids, these work by inhibiting the creation of DHT.
I also take resveratrol for anti-aging, it’s evidence is far more lacking than fatty acids in regards to hair-loss, but some initial studies show that it can increase the lifespan of follicles by reducing inflammation, perhaps also reducing the amount of DHT created.
Both of these work by improving the health of our cells and their defenses against inflammation. This is important as inflammation increases the amount DHT (dihydrotestosterone), the primary reason behind male-pattern-baldness.
Low-level laser therapy
These are products that use lasers to stimulate the hair follicle, increasing blood flow to the area and causing the creation of stem cells. Both of this keeps the follicles healthy and alive for longer.
I currently use iRestore and have for a couple of years. It’s backed up by studies so I plan to continue with this as a treatment for my hair-loss until proven otherwise.
In iRestore’s most recent study with 40 women and 40 men, 100% of the participants taking their non-placebo device saw a mean average hair count increase of 37.52%; with the highest increase of an individual being a 115% increase in hair count.
Exercise & Minoxidil
I currently exercise using HIIT workouts, it’s great for your longevity and it improves your cardiovascular health. This improves the blood flow to your hair follicles.
It’s also worth noting that exercising is likely to increase your testosterone, therefore increasing your DHT, so this approach may not work for those that are more sensitive to DHT.
If you are one of these people, or you don’t want to exercise, or you’d just like another option, there is Minoxidil (a.k.a. Rogaine). This increases blood flow from your scalp to the hair follicle.
Vitamins and Biotin
Vitamins are essential for our general good health, Biotin is a nutrient that’s important for our skin and hair. Our hair uses Biotin to create our nails and hair.
Biotin has mixed results for hair-loss, especially when related to male pattern hair-loss. Regardless, I take vitamin supplements that also contain high amounts of Biotin, to ensure my body has everything it needs to maintain healthy hair.
My Experience with this Process
My Initial Horrors
As mentioned previously, I’ve used iRestore on it’s own for a couple of years. When this pandemic hit I wasn’t able to access a barber and for a few months and I stopped using my iRestore out of laziness. Due to my hair length, I couldn’t see my hairline and scalp.
A few months later and I got it trimmed back, to my horror, I could easily see my crown and my hair had receded further.
Taking it Seriously
I took this as a confirmation that iRestore had been working well those two years. I made plans take it seriously again, and do it better.
For the past four months I’ve been doing the process mentioned above, exercising, using my iRestore helmet and taking Resveratrol and Evening Primrose Oil.
The results have been great, with my hair becoming generally thicker, my scalp being less itchy, dry and flaky; and best of all, I have quite a few new hairs along my frontal hairline. All a 2–4cm long and getting thicker and thicker towards their base.
If you’re interested in how this develops further in the future, drop me a comment and a wave and I’ll write an update :)
