Struggling here... help me! :(

Heya peeps

Ok erm... yaaaahhhh...

here's my story at the moment. sorry it's a little long - I tried to summarize it with the bold bits!

I've been brushing for like... I dunno like a year? 1-2 times a day for a looooong period, but even during long (as I recall) periods of a lot of brushing twice a day, I still had lots and lots of dandruff like usual (I get awful dandruff since MPB started) and lots of hair lost. It felt nice and stuff I just didn't feel I got that much out of it.. maybe a tiny bit of regrowth at the front but it's hard to tell.

Basically erm, right now I have all theory and very little in the way of actual success.

My note on MPB is in my forum signature (and here).

I do think it's correct, and that the causes of MPB are a DHT-caused oil increase, poor bloodflow in the Galea and subsequent infection of that oil by something like Candida. I also THINK that low progesterone is the reason all this happens, due to free T binding with the androgen receptors as opposed to the progesterone that should be diluting it.

I also think that the reason many treatments like say topical grapefruit seed extract, topical witch hazel or topical nicotinic acid don't work (at least I don't think any of them do) is because they are not in active on the scalp for long enough. Minoxidil, finasteride, ketoconazole and brushing for example all have more success as they have mechanisms that allow them to act for longer (potassium channel opening, androgen receptor binding, androgen receptor binding again and wounding, respectively).

So yeah... I've hit something of a... not dead end, but point of confusion and despair where I just don't know what is powerful enough and has a long enough effect to work.

I am frying food with lots of coconut oil at the moment to combat Candida (which I think is the cause of all of this) and will soon try to switch back to hydrogen peroxide (which seems to give me more visible die-off than CO and actually significantly reduced my dandruff I think) and work up to 3x 25 drops of 35% food grade HP.

Anywho erm... thanks guys, peace

Hoppi


EDIT -- Oh, on a positive note, I have learned to control my Candida bloating by eating less starch like bread and "fibrous sugar" like dates. So that's good. I feel like I have made lots of progress but it's frustrating not being successful yet

Hoppi, what are you eating nowadays? Diet rids me of dandruff everytime it acts up. Just have to give it time. Som short fasting, grass fed meats, cooked veggies and fresh veggie juices works every time.

Yanks wrote:Hoppi, what are you eating nowadays? Diet rids me of dandruff everytime it acts up. Just have to give it time. Som short fasting, grass fed meats, cooked veggies and fresh veggie juices works every time.

Yeah erm, my diet is mostly meat and veg (fried in coconut oil) but I do eat a lot of sugar (just not starch, and not with a lot of fibre like in dates). Otherwise my carbohydrate cravings are pretty mad.

Have you stopped your hair loss?

I can temporarily kill off my dandruff with things like grapefruit seed extract or boiled pomegranate peels (a recent experiment) but it doesn't seem to yield any hair loss benefits that I've been able to discern, I believe because the antifungal and/or astringent agents have only a short, localized effect.

I say diet is the first thing to hit as well. I get it if I eat bad and had it since I was an early teen.

Grass fed meats, RAW VEGGIES (why cook them?), some fruit but not too much and cut the sugar out! Why're you doing that to yourself? It's useless, pointless and detrimental imo unless you're going to go get some exercise, or just worked out and want the insulin spike.

if that isn't under control I don't see much point in trying anything else out first. If I eat mostly veg, some seeds and nuts and a little grass fed meat my head is itcha dn dandruff free and my hair becomes INSANELY soft. Eat too much of ANYTHING and it starts to go to shit. I recently realized this with fats. It was all healthy fats but I guess it was too much. I got super tired and my head felt like shit and hair became kind of dry. Was eating too much healthy fat (seeds, nuts, hemp, hemp oil, coconut oil, avocadeos etc) and didn't realize it until I tracked everything with a calorie counting app.

The other thing I find helps with me scalp itch is finishing with EXTREMELY COLD WATER in the shower. I usually take these after the gym. Do you get exercise regularly btw?
IMO that's another factor that is a MUST. it does so much for your bodies ability to regulate itself that if these basic things aren't being done IMO you're kind of wasting your time and money throwing supps at your body and experimenting with everything that comes along. That being said I'm mostly into mobility exercise atm ranging from yoga, yamuna body rolling, gymnastics and Ido Portal's stuff. All of which I also find to be great for overall health and state a mind (another powerful factor).

In a lot of ways I feel the fight against hairloss begins as an internal journey. IMO/IME getting the foundational things (what I mentioned above) in order should be the first steps and allow the other things a person may try to have much better odds of success.

Also...

you seem pre-occupied with gut health and Candida sometimes but have you tried making your own single strain yoghurts? Taking probiotics? making and eating lots of prebiotics (fermenting and pickling veg, asparagus is a really good one). Do you drink lots of clean water? Eat at appropriate times as much as you can and not too close to bedtime?

Maybe you do all this stuff but if not I would start with it. Not only does it give you better odds of success but there are many other benefits as well.

I completely agree with Duke on this one. Diet is probably the biggest factor you can throw into the mix. Did you know that the atoms in our bodies replace themselves every five years? Do research, know your science, your numbers, your odds, and your food.

Duke, the reason I do more cooked vegetables than raw is because of a few things... 1. when you're subsiding on almost all meat and veggies, the amount of raw veggies one has to consume carries a very high fiber content that can impede comfortable digestion and can start to cause problems with gas, constipation, hemmerhoids etc. I do still eat raw veggies, but nor necessarily everyday and not in the quantity I did in the past. This change has been monumental in my health progress. If you're familiar with the Specific Carbohydrate Diet and GAPS diet they promote the same in the early stages. There is also the idea of plant toxins like goitogens that are not as abundant after cooking. Ray Peat and HLAF who disagree with consumption of veggies in general suggest cooking them if you will be consuming them. Of course there is the idea that nutrients are lost when cooking your veggies, but some are also made more absorbable. I'm not sure how heat sensitive most nutrients are, but you surely will lose enzyme activity. All in all, I do way better eating mostly cooked than raw.

Also, nuts/seeds seem to be fine for some, but they don't generally agree with me. If I start eating them, boom, dandruff starts up again, skin starts breaking out. I wonder how much of it is possibly mycotoxins, how much is an allergic reaction to components of them, how much is the PUFAs and how much can be chalked up to just not chewing them throughly enough. I have seemed to do better on raw nut butter in the past.

It's true, there is more to it than just eating lots of raw, for example I always steam my kale, chard etc to get rid of goitrogenic factors and certain things like carrots aren't easily assimilated raw, but that's why I juice them. It more complex than JUST eating lots of raw and everyone will have to find what works for them but at it's most basic it is good imo to start/strive for as much as possible. I steam and cook some things and sometimes just make a decadent meal (was a chef for ten years) for me and my girlfriend but overall (as a grand generalization) the raw veg is where it's at IMO. I eat a lot of mixed salad greens with baby herbs and home made sprouts personally, then juice and green smoothie and eat organic freerange eggs, grassfed beef etc. but the salads are a staple for me. There's always the juicing option if you don't want the fiber too.
I also soak organic beans, make humous, eat fruit, make my own beef and vegetable stocks etc.. etc... It takes some time but I've been slowly moving in this direction for years so its part of my lifestyle now.
I agree that nuts can be dubious and need to be from trusted sources for freshness. My staple in that department is soaking raw unpasteurized almonds and eating those or making a coconut almond yoghurt with them if I have the time.

We all gotta find out what works for us in the end, but as much raw as you can handle the better imo, and slightly steaming is good too. So many factors, I just want to make sure Hoppi is still working on this angle too I guess.

Hoppi,

Long time no see. I have to agree, I think you might be a bit too preoccupied with candida as the culprit in your hairloss. Of course, I could be wrong. Yeasts are an issue for some, but often the hairloss typified by yeasts is easy to spot. There is often some kind of scaling or lesion or nasty buildup in the skin, or at least some form of blatant discoloration. It usually presents with some signs of dermatitis. With pattern hair loss you often don't have any outright skin symptoms. You might see a heightened sensitivity to touch or abrasion where the skin becomes pink and inflamed quite easily, but this also often applies to other areas of the skin too. With MPB, you might also notice a difference in skin texture on affected areas too, usually a smoothness or shine from the scar tissue.

So if you don't have any of these, I wouldn't try to focus on tossing a bunch of antibiotic substances at yourself. If you are really concerned about pathogens in the gut, get yourself a broad spectrum antibiotic and take it for 3-4 weeks. Take it with a probiotic twice daily and of course, other pro-gut substances (glutamine, aloe, NAG, MSM). I was having some gut issues for a while, took amoxicillin for 4 weeks, it completely cleared up. No intestinal pain, no gas or bloating, no diarrhea, normal consistent stools. My stools used to be very fatty and discolored, now they're back to normal, a sign of proper bile metabolism. Short term, antibiotics won't kill you. I would agree that using them too often and for too long is a problem.

Other than that, I think you would completely benefit your metabolism by trying out intermittent fasting, or some modified form of it. Get into a solid workout program with heavy resistance training, consume 80% of your calories in the 1-3 hours after working out. Fast for the remainder of the day, except for a pre-workout meal (1.5 hrs prior) consisting of the other 20% of your calories. If a candida overgrowth is what you are worried about, controlling blood sugar balance is the only true way to ecologically control their levels, and intermitent fasting combined with the right workout program will do this in a big way.

Hoppi - Have you considered that maybe you're running east looking for a sunset?

Candida is there for a reason. Killing it is not always the answer. In any event, hitting on the cultured food
is not going to hurt.

Symmetry... didn't realize that was your website. Very impressive regrowth.

Xenon wrote:Symmetry... didn't realize that was your website. Very impressive regrowth.

what are you referring to here?

@hoppi, I always noticed I had an increase in inflammation when I used coconut oil to cook food. I just opt for using the grill at a low temperature outside.

"DHT Oil" sounds like sebum? check out xenon's post here on sebum:
https://immortalhair.forumotion.com/t8923-my-temples-are-producing-new-hair

the gist is wash your hair 2x/day with bar soap to truly get the sebum out. ive been doing it with success.

if candida is your main problem, have you considered using iodine? or perhaps taking advantage of clarckia for this purpose?

i know you were on finasteride for a little bit and experienced side effects. i've been having a breakthrough with this lately, but i'm pretty sure finasterside side effects are a result of a poorly functioning adrenal/thyroid gland. you should take up iodine, but make sure to use adrenal miracle mix at the same time to elminate bromide esque effects. salt loading by itself never worked for me. also making sure to have selenium, magnesium and vitamin C in there, while using immune boost 77 to pull any gunk out that iodine will make run loose. also brewers yeast.

what about top 6? i found a lot of success with decalcify, vitamin A/D (to kill sebum), krill oil? others not so much.. CS made the conenction that v a/d and krill help with sebum which could be potent for you?

if DHT is an issue, i think iodine/adrenals will really help you. also, if if DHT is an issue, masturbation could be an issue? have you looked into lowering prolactin? i'm trying to lower prolactin temperarily until i manage to get all the bromide out of me using chaste berry.

maybe worth it to add in tom hagerty's scalp exercises as well throughout the day to complement your brushing? http://www.hairloss-reversible.com/my_approach.htm

also, my metabolsim has been royally screwed up, so i'm not sure if this is only me, but have you considered your carb cravings are simply your missing something from your diet? i noticed when i got enough calcium/potassium from dietary sources, most cravings of anything went down. i used http://caloriecount.about.com/

sanderson wrote:

Xenon wrote:Symmetry... didn't realize that was your website. Very impressive regrowth.

what are you referring to here?

@hoppi, I always noticed I had an increase in inflammation when I used coconut oil to cook food. I just opt for using the grill at a low temperature outside.

"DHT Oil" sounds like sebum? check out xenon's post here on sebum:
https://immortalhair.forumotion.com/t8923-my-temples-are-producing-new-hair

the gist is wash your hair 2x/day with bar soap to truly get the sebum out. ive been doing it with success.

if candida is your main problem, have you considered using iodine? or perhaps taking advantage of clarckia for this purpose?

i know you were on finasteride for a little bit and experienced side effects. i've been having a breakthrough with this lately, but i'm pretty sure finasterside side effects are a result of a poorly functioning adrenal/thyroid gland. you should take up iodine, but make sure to use adrenal miracle mix at the same time to elminate bromide esque effects. salt loading by itself never worked for me. also making sure to have selenium, magnesium and vitamin C in there, while using immune boost 77 to pull any gunk out that iodine will make run loose. also brewers yeast.

what about top 6? i found a lot of success with decalcify, vitamin A/D (to kill sebum), krill oil? others not so much.. CS made the conenction that v a/d and krill help with sebum which could be potent for you?

if DHT is an issue, i think iodine/adrenals will really help you. also, if if DHT is an issue, masturbation could be an issue? have you looked into lowering prolactin? i'm trying to lower prolactin temperarily until i manage to get all the bromide out of me using chaste berry.

maybe worth it to add in tom hagerty's scalp exercises as well throughout the day to complement your brushing? http://www.hairloss-reversible.com/my_approach.htm

also, my metabolsim has been royally screwed up, so i'm not sure if this is only me, but have you considered your carb cravings are simply your missing something from your diet? i noticed when i got enough calcium/potassium from dietary sources, most cravings of anything went down. i used http://caloriecount.about.com/

I always thought carb cravings were due to glucose and fructose being really efficient fuel sources for the body... plus we evolved from African, frugivorous monkeys! ^_^

But yeah erm, the soap thing sounds VERY interesting, and yes by oil I meant sebum ^^

I believe that DHT increases scalp sebum which then gets infected by stuff like Candida. I may try the soap thing. Hell I could rinse with freezing cold water and get a bloodflow boost out of the deal too lol

And maybe mix an antifungal with the soap and get an antifungal effect too!! xD

Eating about 150g of calves liver 3-4 times in a week usually stops dandruff dead in its tracks for me along with applying coconut oil. Avoidance of PUFAs is a given.

Calves liver is expensive but is totally worth it over lambs/chickens liver which a) don't taste as good and b) are not half as effective (less vitamin a among others).