Please advise on TRT and hairloss

Hey guys,


I have been on TRT for the past 9 months thanks to an eight month stint with Propecia four years ago which completely killed my endocrine system. It was a difficult three years dealing with the aftermath of that drug, but I finally have found sollace in Testostorone replacement therapy. I can't be grateful enough for how it has increased the quality of my life and normalized my body. However, I am back to square one with hair loss and am seeing an increase in thinning that is especially noticable at my temples.

So, I started using the Ferox method about 3 months ago and have noticed some new vellum hairs cropping up. However, I just experienced a massive shed that lasted for a week which left a noticeable impact on the appearance of my thinning. I am a solid Norwood 2 now with some dramatic thinning at my widow’s peak.

Will I be able to combat the DHT increase from the Testosterone supplementation via diet, manual methods, and supplements? Or should I just accept my fate? I have been lurking about the forums for the last six months, but have only encountered a little information on Testosterone replacement therapy.

I am also considering applying Rogaine on my widow's peak at this time. I know that its affects are seen greatest with the vertex, but I maybe I could get some mild benefit from it? Are the sides anywhere near those of finasteride?

Thanks for your input

Im just turning 42 yrs old.

Im considering TRT and HGH.

I hear great things but im not sure how it affects hair.

I know guys on it and their hair looks great!

Please message me with any info. would be great to discuss this with you....

You are really getting down to why hair loss occurs in the first place. I mean, androgens are a ubiquitous hormone and hair loss is androgen mediated, meaning there is an indirect path through which androgens produce hair loss. You can't argue that aspect.

But not every man loses hair. Obviously there is some predisposing factor/s that might relate to expression of the androgen receptor, number and distribution of those receptors, amount of steroid conversion enzymes locally, etc. So there is a whole host of factors that contribute to the environment for hair loss, the actual amount of androgen hormone being only one of them. So influencing that variable may or may not have negative consequences for hair. This is why for some, TRT won't have hair loss effects, for others it will.

Factors that are going to predispose you to having those negative effects would be inflammation/infection/autoimmune conditions which upregulate androgen receptors, a high amount of 5AR in the scalp, a low amount of aromatase in the scalp, a high distribution of androgen receptors in the scalp.

Another important factor would be your SHBG levels. Obviously DHT is much more active in the scalp follicles that testosterone is, so the level to which you are converting T to DHT is important. If your SHBG is normal to high, this will be less of a problem. If you are experiencing problems, get your SHBG levels checked. Low SHBG tends to correlate with insulin resistance or chronically high insulin levels, hypothyroidism, and liver conditions like fatty liver. Attacking those issues would probably help.

Ultimately, like CS has pointed out many times, DHT tends to be more of a problem in an inflammatory state. Lower the level of oxidative products and DHT isn't as much of a monster: balance your blood sugar, keep insulin regulated, eliminate infection, heal the gut, get your thyroid where it needs to be, clean up your diet and environment so your toxic load isn't a burden on the body's detox pathways.

Identify why your T is low in the first place. If your low testosterone is a product of some physical defect in the testicle or the pituitary gland, identify it and see if you can correct it first. If it is a problem with aromatase, identify it. If it looks like normal male andropause, identify it. Try to boost your T naturally before using TRT. There are some potent ways of boosting your natural T output and ensuring more balance in your androgen levels (check out Tim Ferris). Ultimately if TRT is the only option, control for those factors I mentioned. If all else fails and hair loss is still a problem, then it becomes a matter of prioritizing what's more important: your dick or your hair. Unfortunately, being what it is, there is no such thing as friendly or unfriendly TRT, if you're prone to androgenic hair loss, you're going to aggravate it with TRT.