Shedding Has Stopped

Hello all, long time lurker here, first time poster.

So I have taken some measures for my hair a few months ago, finally, and can happily say I seemed to have stalled my shedding.

Shedding was greatly reduced about 2-3 months ago

some background info before I ask some questions....

Current hair status: Age: 27, shedding started at around age 20. Norwood Class III Vertex, and general thinning on top all around

What I have done:
-Eliminated wheat, pastas, most grains (except for rice here and there) for past 5 months. I don't feel much of a change really, but anything I can do to get rid of potential inflammation in the scalp.
-Gallon of Milk a day. I temporarily did this to get my weight up over the last 2 months. I used raw milk only. It has also benefited my complexion. I look less sickly and have more color. Still drink at least a liter a day. Not sure what it did for hair. Should I continue to use milk? I have heard some people say it's fine for hair, others whom say the casein content is bad for hair
-ACV supplementation, started about a 3 weeks ago
-Coconut oil supplementation, about 3 tbsp a day
-Lots of good fats introduced into my diet, mainly through fatty meat & coconut. also about 5 months ago
-Betaine HCL for low stomach acid. Started 5 months ago, stopped 3 months ago. I got very ill after 2 weeks of taking this, candida die off maybe?
-Celtic sea salt in water supplementation

My past:
-Played competitive soccer my entire life and still do. I used to not replenish my minerals as I should have done after exercise. I think this is a major cause for a lot of my problems regarding my hair.
-Ate a lot of bread with meals
-Junk food here and there from age 18 to 26
-Family has a history of MBP. Both grandparents bald, father bald, and older brother bald
-I am also a half a pack a day smoker, trying to quit, but ya know how that goes...also doesn't help the thyroid I imagine.

Questions I have and some theories regarding hairloss problems:
-I have a feeling my thyroid is not running at an optimal range. Thinning hair, underweight, easy loss of weight, slight self confidence issues (idk if that's related), achilles reflex is slow (and sometimes can "lock up" during halftime, or between breaks during soccer), lethargy, lack of motivation, reoccurring hamstring issues (even with rest & strengthening rehab), frequent cold feet, terrible memory, slow speech in mornings. Anybody with similar experiences regarding the thyroid? I have ordered some Lugol's iodine 7% and brazil nuts

-Sometimes I have itchy scalp while exercising. Is it the sweating or inflammation?

-Blood flow I feel isn't optimal, frequent asleep legs while laying on the couch. Heavy feet when running. So I'm assuming not great blood flow to the scalp either

-I have low stomach acid. Started supplementing with some betaine hcl. Funny thing happened with this, I grew a few hairs below my front hairline. I think the low stomach acid might be brought on by physical stress. I think this also was a major contributor to my hairloss

-My girlfriend is seeing a lot of small to medium length white hairs on my crown that I don't believe were there before. Is this a good sign, or will it stall at that stage?

Please excuse my long post. Any thoughts are welcome! I'm hoping some light can be shed on my theories and questions.

Best,
Milk

Milk - If it's unpasteurized (raw), grass-fed, and A2 (not A1-beta casein) it's going to be beneficial.
The "A1" variety is estimated to be significantly more toxic than gluten, 10 to 13 times more so).

I'm, lucky in that I can access the good stuff (A2, grass-fed and raw).

Regarding HCL:  If there is a presence of a overgrowth of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a microaerophilic Gram-negative bacterium that colonizes the gastric mucosa, it can suggest strongly, a deficiency of HCL, because it cannot over populate itself in healthy bath of hydrochloric acid.

Also, some of what effects the thyroid gland also compromises the production of HCL, so infections can be a side-effect.

CausticSymmetry wrote:Milk - If it's unpasteurized (raw), grass-fed, and A2 (not A1-beta casein) it's going to be beneficial.
The "A1" variety is estimated to be significantly more toxic than gluten, 10 to 13 times more so).

I'm, lucky in that I can access the good stuff (A2, grass-fed and raw).

Regarding HCL:  If there is a presence of a overgrowth of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a microaerophilic Gram-negative bacterium that colonizes the gastric mucosa, it can suggest strongly, a deficiency of HCL, because it cannot over populate itself in healthy bath of hydrochloric acid.

Also, some of what effects the thyroid gland also compromises the production of HCL, so infections can be a side-effect.

Thank you for your reply.

Good news about the milk. The milk I get is from my Uncle's farm. Since last year he has switched to a non-antibiotic method, feeds only grass and hay, cows get plenty of sun outside, added sea salt to their diet, and will begin feeding hemp soon (testing it out). He is part of the reason I got interested in my health more, and together we are researching more and more into it everyday.

That makes sense about the HCL (had to take about 8-9 at the beginning with high protein meals before I felt any sort of warmth or burn)

The low hcl research is what stumbled me into looking at the thyroid. Interesting how they are so closely linked. I will also add I have reoccurring athletes foot, maybe related to iodine deficiency as well?

I'm going to supplement soon with iodine and selenium. I will have the 7% lugols, thinking about starting out with 2-3 drops on empty stomach in the morning. What do you think? Higher maybe?

Milk-congrats on stopping the shedding. It's not easy to make those kinds of changes.

You could try Earthing to increase your circulation. It will also help with inflammation. Since I can't take regular blood thinners for atrial fibrillation, Earthing was recommended by my integrative cardiologist, as it also thins the blood.

You've already made some big changes--why not stop smoking?

mistyisland wrote:Milk-congrats on stopping the shedding.  It's not easy to make those kinds of changes.

You could try Earthing to increase your circulation.  It will also help with inflammation. Since I can't take regular blood thinners for atrial fibrillation, Earthing was recommended by my integrative cardiologist, as it also thins the blood.  

You've already made some big changes--why not stop smoking?

Thank you!

Earthing, interesting. So use more bare feet huh? Easy enough. Would it require meditation of any sort? I used to not believe at all in these "hidden energies", but the more I read about health and holistic medicine the more I read about people using these energies to their benefit. I've also stumbled across ORMUS, but that might require another topic someday.

You're absolutely right about the smoking. I guess I have never had the motivation. But, I'm starting a new season in a high division soon so I'm going to have to or else I'm not going to keep up, so there's the motivation!

Bed time for me (i'm in the netherlands), I'll have to check in again tomorrow. Thank you both for your comments so far

You might want to cut back on the milk as it is high in calcium; calcium apparently orchestrates apoptosis in tissues. According to one theory scalp tissue in balding men is more prone to calcification, so there may be a connection between high dietary calcium intake and premature hairloss.

Apoptosis and calcification.
Kim KM.
Author information
Abstract
"Calcification in necrosis has long been known. Of the tissue components, the cells are most vulnerable. Nevertheless, little attention has been paid to the role of cell death in calcification. This review attempts to update the mechanism of calcification with an emphasis on the role of apoptosis in calcification. A brief review on the basic sciences relevant to calcification is followed by a discussion of abnormal Ca2+ and Pi homeostasis in cell injury and apoptosis. Concomitant increases in Ca2+ and Pi in blebs (and matrix vesicles) formed by apoptotic and/or necrotic cells are apparently the primary mechanism of calcification. In addition, membranous cellular degradation products (CDP) resulting from cell disintegration in toto frequently serve as the nidus of calcification. Published data on physiological calcification are compared with findings in various dystrophic calcinoses. This led to the conclusion that apoptosis most likely underlies the mechanism of both physiological and pathological calcifications. It is concluded that calcification is an important function of apoptosis. The mechanism of calcification by CDP and morphology of the resultant calcific deposits are complex"

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8819895

Well, I tried the bare foot thing, but I was intimidated by all of the bugs running over my feet.  Since I need to do it for long periods, I chose to buy an earthing sheet from this website--    http://www.earthing.com

They have the whole book on audio there if you want to read about how the "inventor" (re)discovered it.  It's a  good story, and pretty interesting.  I'm also looking into shielding EMF's.

I had to google Ormus, never heard of it. My doctor also has me drinking a green smoothie every morning.

In my personal experience, any scalp itching is a bad sign. In my case, my itching was actually legitimately painful believe it or not. Remember that when you exercise, toxins are being released through your sweat so post workout you don't want that stuff to remain on your scalp. Think of it this way, would you apply a topical made up of the concoction of things contained in your sweat? Probably not. So, post workout rinse your hair, and if you don't have to be anywhere apply some Emu Oil to help with the inflammation. With that said, I have a PhD in broscience so none of this may help but it makes sense to me Also, cutting out gluten I believe definitely was key in your shedding stopping so keep that up if you can.

Xenon wrote:You might want to cut back on the milk as it is high in calcium; calcium apparently orchestrates apoptosis in tissues. According to one theory scalp tissue in balding men is more prone to calcification, so there may be a connection between high dietary calcium intake and premature hairloss.

Apoptosis and calcification.
Kim KM.
Author information
Abstract
"Calcification in necrosis has long been known. Of the tissue components, the cells are most vulnerable. Nevertheless, little attention has been paid to the role of cell death in calcification. This review attempts to update the mechanism of calcification with an emphasis on the role of apoptosis in calcification. A brief review on the basic sciences relevant to calcification is followed by a discussion of abnormal Ca2+ and Pi homeostasis in cell injury and apoptosis. Concomitant increases in Ca2+ and Pi in blebs (and matrix vesicles) formed by apoptotic and/or necrotic cells are apparently the primary mechanism of calcification. In addition, membranous cellular degradation products (CDP) resulting from cell disintegration in toto frequently serve as the nidus of calcification. Published data on physiological calcification are compared with findings in various dystrophic calcinoses. This led to the conclusion that apoptosis most likely underlies the mechanism of both physiological and pathological calcifications. It is concluded that calcification is an important function of apoptosis. The mechanism of calcification by CDP and morphology of the resultant calcific deposits are complex"

I was afraid of too much calcium. Is there a way to counteract the effects of calcium or have my body use it more appropriately?

mistyisland wrote:Well, I tried the bare foot thing, but I was intimidated by all of the bugs running over my feet.  Since I need to do it for long periods, I chose to buy an earthing sheet from this website--    .earthing.com

They have the whole book on audio there if you want to read about how the "inventor" (re)discovered it.  It's a  good story, and pretty interesting.  I'm also looking into shielding EMF's.

I had to google Ormus, never heard of it.  My doctor also has me drinking a green smoothie every morning.

Sounds like the sheet is a good solution for you. I'll make it a point to walk barefoot more often in my grass, or maybe just stand there and focus for a bit.

ORMUS is a strange product. A lot of what you'll find will sound wacky, but keep an open mind for the more science backed explanations. We are currently experimenting with it on plants and ourselves. What did happen with me is that my athlete's foot cleared up while I was taking the ORMUS (using homemade ormus btw), and flared up again when I stopped. Can't conclusively say this was it, but worth investigating further for me.

We are very interested in ORMUS concerning top soil for agriculture. Anyway to increase the nutrient density in top soil, which in turn we grow our crops on and then feed the cows. As a result the cows would be eating ORMUS rich foods... but not diving into this just yet until we have conclusive evidence that it works in our tests.

SonofOdin wrote:In my personal experience, any scalp itching is a bad sign. In my case, my itching was actually legitimately painful believe it or not. Remember that when you exercise, toxins are being released through your sweat so post workout you don't want that stuff to remain on your scalp. Think of it this way, would you apply a topical made up of the concoction of things contained in your sweat? Probably not. So, post workout rinse your hair, and if you don't have to be anywhere apply some Emu Oil to help with the inflammation. With that said, I have a PhD in broscience so none of this may help but it makes sense to me Also, cutting out gluten I believe definitely was key in your shedding stopping so keep that up if you can.

What you say makes sense to me. I do wash my head with cold water after I sweat so I should be ok. I also use ACV topically as a conditioner. I'll look more into Emu oil.

Thanks for the tip.

So I received my lugol's 7% today and have tried it. I took 6 drops spread throughout 2 glasses, along with 2 brazil nuts.

Can't say I notice much difference as of yet, but these things can differ between people I'm sure.

What I do feel is a slight headache towards the back of my head. It's been 3 hours since I took the last concoction, and the headache began about half an hour after and is currently still there.

I'm currently drinking a fair amount of celtic sea salt mixed with water.

CS, any thoughts on this?

milk wrote:

Xenon wrote:You might want to cut back on the milk as it is high in calcium; calcium apparently orchestrates apoptosis in tissues. According to one theory scalp tissue in balding men is more prone to calcification, so there may be a connection between high dietary calcium intake and premature hairloss.

Apoptosis and calcification.
Kim KM.
Author information
Abstract
"Calcification in necrosis has long been known. Of the tissue components, the cells are most vulnerable. Nevertheless, little attention has been paid to the role of cell death in calcification. This review attempts to update the mechanism of calcification with an emphasis on the role of apoptosis in calcification. A brief review on the basic sciences relevant to calcification is followed by a discussion of abnormal Ca2+ and Pi homeostasis in cell injury and apoptosis. Concomitant increases in Ca2+ and Pi in blebs (and matrix vesicles) formed by apoptotic and/or necrotic cells are apparently the primary mechanism of calcification. In addition, membranous cellular degradation products (CDP) resulting from cell disintegration in toto frequently serve as the nidus of calcification. Published data on physiological calcification are compared with findings in various dystrophic calcinoses. This led to the conclusion that apoptosis most likely underlies the mechanism of both physiological and pathological calcifications. It is concluded that calcification is an important function of apoptosis. The mechanism of calcification by CDP and morphology of the resultant calcific deposits are complex"

I was afraid of too much calcium. Is there a way to counteract the effects of calcium or have my body use it more appropriately?

Vitamin D and K2 are believed to help with calcium regulation and absorption, but I'd still limit calcium intake to recommended amounts. .

milk,

Good stuff. I'm on a somewhat similar protocol with similar results although I don't have access to raw milk.

As for the iodine, that's a huge dose to start out with. Make sure you're taking all the co-factors (Selenium, Magnesium, Vitamin C, Vitamin B) and keep doing the salt loading/flush and you should be fine. You might stir some stuff up starting that high though. Iodine can really displace a lot of toxins/metals and cause some havoc. Salt loading/flush is key. If you notice your stomach bloating from this (I did, I went up a pants size for a couple of weeks), that's bromide being released and salt loading will take care of it.

Also, Milk, I have also found that too much exercise seems to cause my hairline to recede, this is why I have limited my exercise sessions to three times per week. Cleansing your scalp after exercise will help to alleviate the inflammation, but this is only a buffer that will slow down the hair loss.

It is a very strange condition, and IDK why native galea follicles become so prone to inflammation, yet transplanted hair follicles (to my knowledge) are not. perhaps native galea follicles are genetically programmed to become sensitive to inflammation and MPB is simply a secondary sex characteristic in some men, in the same way some men have hairy chests but others don't? With that said, though, if you can reduce inflammation as much as possible, then there is a good chance that you will keep your hair for much longer (perhaps even regrow most of it), but it is an ongoing battle to actually stop inflammation, and thus preventing hair loss.

milk wrote:So I received my lugol's 7% today and have tried it. I took 6 drops spread throughout 2 glasses, along with 2 brazil nuts.

Can't say I notice much difference as of yet, but these things can differ between people I'm sure.

What I do feel is a slight headache towards the back of my head. It's been 3 hours since I took the last concoction, and the headache began about half an hour after and is currently still there.

I'm currently drinking a fair amount of celtic sea salt mixed with water.

CS, any thoughts on this?

Frontal sinus headaches are common within the first week using higher dose iodine. I remember it well. It will go away soon.

The thing about calcium, coming from food is not an issue. So far it in the sciencific literature, only in common does actually supplementation of calcium present any risk.....it's about the co-factors, not the calcium itself. If there is a shortage of vitamin K2 or magnesium, then there is a risk of calcification. Also, without these co-factors, an infection often brings about the calcification process. Also, iodine helps reduce infection which further augments protection.

An example of something that helps with this is Decalcify

hadrion wrote:milk,

Good stuff. I'm on a somewhat similar protocol with similar results although I don't have access to raw milk.

As for the iodine, that's a huge dose to start out with. Make sure you're taking all the co-factors (Selenium, Magnesium, Vitamin C, Vitamin B) and keep doing the salt loading/flush and you should be fine. You might stir some stuff up starting that high though. Iodine can really displace a lot of toxins/metals and cause some havoc. Salt loading/flush is key. If you notice your stomach bloating from this (I did, I went up a pants size for a couple of weeks), that's bromide being released and salt loading will take care of it.

Great info. Yeah, the headache moved all over the head eventually, but now it has subsided. I did a load of salt water drinking along with adding lots of lemon juice to my water as well. I'll keep an eye out for that bloat. I'm excited to feel crappy, odd as that sounds, as I don't react this instantly to any supplement or change of diet.

Xenon wrote:Also, Milk, I have also found that too much exercise seems to cause my hairline to recede, this is why I have limited my exercise sessions to three times per week. Cleansing your scalp after exercise will help to alleviate the inflammation, but this is only a buffer that will slow down the hair loss.

It is a very strange condition, and IDK why native galea follicles become so prone to inflammation, yet transplanted hair follicles (to my knowledge) are not.  perhaps native galea follicles are genetically programmed to become sensitive to inflammation and MPB is simply a secondary sex characteristic in some men, in the same way some men have hairy chests but others don't? With that said, though, if you can reduce inflammation as much as possible, then there is a good chance that you will keep your hair for much longer (perhaps even regrow most of it), but it is an ongoing battle to actually stop inflammation, and thus preventing hair loss.

Hmm, that could explain why my hairline receded early in my twenties. I played soccer 5, sometimes 6 days a week, obviously too much, but I couldn't help it :p. New season will start soon with 3 practices a week, and a game on Saturday, mixed in with cup games here and there, so exercising less is unfortunately not an option....although I do believe you.

I'll make it more of a point to keep that scalp clean of toxins

CausticSymmetry wrote:

milk wrote:So I received my lugol's 7% today and have tried it. I took 6 drops spread throughout 2 glasses, along with 2 brazil nuts.

Can't say I notice much difference as of yet, but these things can differ between people I'm sure.

What I do feel is a slight headache towards the back of my head. It's been 3 hours since I took the last concoction, and the headache began about half an hour after and is currently still there.

I'm currently drinking a fair amount of celtic sea salt mixed with water.

CS, any thoughts on this?

Frontal sinus headaches are common within the first week using higher dose iodine. I remember it well. It will go away soon.

The thing about calcium, coming from food is not an issue. So far it in the sciencific literature, only in common does actually supplementation of calcium present any risk.....it's about the co-factors, not the calcium itself. If there is a shortage of vitamin K2 or magnesium, then there is a risk of calcification. Also, without these co-factors, an infection often brings about the calcification process. Also, iodine helps reduce infection which further augments protection.

An example of something that helps with this is Decalcify

Good to know. It has gone away for now, but maybe I'll experience it tomorrow again when I take some more iodine.

Are there enough co-factors already present in the raw milk (magnesium & k2) to prevent calcification? I do think I have calcification since as far as I can remember as I can feel an unevenness on my scalp...low ridges like feeling.

Wouldn't blame the milk, since it's the proper kind.

One point that Xenon usually mentions with exercise is to cool your scalp with water following exercise.

This may reduce some inflammation after exertion.