Hair loss and B12

[randomness]

I have recently seen my hair thinning from the front - actually I only noticed my hair thinning when someone in the street pointed it out - and did a blood test.

My blood test showed that I have a low level of B12. Is hair loss and lack of B12 minerals related???

 

[s.a.f]

See diet and lifestyle thread.

 

[let-it-grow]

If you lose hair in your entire head then it could be caused because the deficiency in B12, if you lose hair in the male pattern baldness areas then it's male pattern baldness. Take B12 for 3 months, if you have a vitamin problem then give it 4 months and see if it gets better, if not - get on Finasteride. Your B12 deficiency could be the cause of earlier male pattern baldness, a deficiency can activate the male pattern baldness gene.

 

[Hoppi]

If you lose hair in your entire head then it could be caused because the deficiency in B12, if you lose hair in the male pattern baldness areas then it's male pattern baldness. Take B12 for 3 months, if you have a vitamin problem then give it 4 months and see if it gets better, if not - get on Finasteride. Your B12 deficiency could be the cause of earlier male pattern baldness, a deficiency can activate the male pattern baldness gene.

anything seems to be able to activate that damn gene... lol ..

oh well

but yeah take b12, as deficiency can cause hairloss. If you want just do what I do and take a multivitamin as then you'll get a ton of other stuff that's good for your hair in there too (as well as the rest of you!)

otherwise yeah if it's pattern baldness then more specific treatments may be in order ._.

 

[s.a.f]

But we all know that in 99.9% of cases its plain old m.p.b. Anyone who has a diet that is even fairly average will not be suffering from a vitamin deficiency, and certainly not to the extent that it would cause severe hairloss.

In this country there are women who have barely eaten a fruit or vegatable or anything near to a healthy meal in years and still manage to concieve children. And people who live getting their meals from vending machines for years without any significant ill effects. Of course a healthy diet is beneficial in general but in the case of m.p.b it wont do sh*t to alter what nature has already dictated for you. So if you think your hairloss is caused by not getting the full RDI of vitimins think again.
We are adult men, this sh*t is happening to us naturaly if you want to fight it put your hope in finasteride dont try and look for other excuses, its nothing that you have done its just in your genetics!

 

[Hoppi]

But we all know that in 99.9% of cases its plain old m.p.b. Anyone who has a diet that is even fairly average will not be suffering from a vitamin deficiency, and certainly not to the extent that it would cause severe hairloss.

In this country there are women who have barely eaten a fruit or vegatable or anything near to a healthy meal in years and still manage to concieve children. And people who live getting their meals from vending machines for years without any significant ill effects. Of course a healthy diet is beneficial in general but in the case of m.p.b it wont do sh*t to alter what nature has already dictated for you. So if you think your hairloss is caused by not getting the full RDI of vitimins think again.
We are adult men, this sh*t is happening to us naturaly if you want to fight it put your hope in finasteride dont try and look for other excuses, its nothing that you have done its just in your genetics!

Come on man I am getting a little bit tired of this argument ._.

Can't you understand the POSSIBILITY at least that this gene can be TRIGGERED by things, be that stress, poor diet, vitamin deficiency, hormonal imbalance etc?

And surely you also understand that such things can also cause NON-male pattern baldness hair loss? It may well be male pattern baldness, but I think to just jump to that conclusion straight away is I feel a little bit sloppy.

 

[baller234]

Look ultimately male pattern baldness is caused by genes that cause androgens to exert negative growth factors on scalp hair follicles. No one is denying this... But these genes are activated by HORMONES and it's HORMONES that are used to carry out the "instructions" that are transcribed on those genes. HORMONES can be manipulated by diet, lifestyle, and drugs.

 

[Hecfield]

Can we please stop forgetting that male pattern baldness has been shown to be polygenically controlled, and that different transcription factors need to be present for different genes to be activated. Its not just one gene thats turned on and abracadabra you're balding. Its far more complex.

 

[Hoppi]

Can we please stop forgetting that male pattern baldness has been shown to be polygenically controlled, and that different transcription factors need to be present for different genes to be activated. Its not just one gene thats turned on and abracadabra you're balding. Its far more complex.

True.

Man though, can you imagine how wonderful it will be when they come up with a cure? I know it sounds silly but, even if I wasn't suffering from it myself, I can't wait to see it cured

Can you imagine like, seeing NO guys with thinning hair, everyone with a full head of hair until they die? that would be crazy!

 

[s.a.f]

But we all know that in 99.9% of cases its plain old m.p.b. Anyone who has a diet that is even fairly average will not be suffering from a vitamin deficiency, and certainly not to the extent that it would cause severe hairloss.

In this country there are women who have barely eaten a fruit or vegatable or anything near to a healthy meal in years and still manage to concieve children. And people who live getting their meals from vending machines for years without any significant ill effects. Of course a healthy diet is beneficial in general but in the case of m.p.b it wont do sh*t to alter what nature has already dictated for you. So if you think your hairloss is caused by not getting the full RDI of vitimins think again.
We are adult men, this sh*t is happening to us naturaly if you want to fight it put your hope in finasteride dont try and look for other excuses, its nothing that you have done its just in your genetics!

Come on man I am getting a little bit tired of this argument ._.

Can't you understand the POSSIBILITY at least that this gene can be TRIGGERED by things, be that stress, poor diet, vitamin deficiency, hormonal imbalance etc?

And surely you also understand that such things can also cause NON-male pattern baldness hair loss? It may well be male pattern baldness, but I think to just jump to that conclusion straight away is I feel a little bit sloppy.

I'm too tired to continue arguing with you, but you might aswell ask cant ageing be turned off.
This is a natural process that effects some men its not an illness your body is doing to your hair what its DNA has programmed it to do. I dont believe any one thing just triggers it off its just something that happens at a certain point in life like puberty.
If you think that some magic perfect diet/lifestyle is going to change it thats up to you, but I think you are heading for disapointment.
Back when I started losing hair everyone believed that it was caused by poor blood circulation and simple head massages could cure it, obviously we now realise thats bollocks and all those guys who wasted their time believing that massages ect could work were wrong, its just a natural thing and the tiny amount that diet or lifestyle can do to alter the bodies hormonal balance is not going to have any effect on something as obvious as m.p.b.
If its ever going to be 'cured' it will take very powerful drugs to do so, or more likely some form of advanced gene therapy that science has yet to discover.

Like I've said before you are just going through the process the same one that we all go through:
Step one - Looking for answers, why is it happening, what caused it, what did I do / what can I do?
Just accept it for what it is and my advice to you is take finasteride hope for the best and try to get on with life.

 

[let-it-grow]

Come on man I am getting a little bit tired of this argument ._.

Can't you understand the POSSIBILITY at least that this gene can be TRIGGERED by things, be that stress, poor diet, vitamin deficiency, hormonal imbalance etc?

And surely you also understand that such things can also cause NON-male pattern baldness hair loss? It may well be male pattern baldness, but I think to just jump to that conclusion straight away is I feel a little bit sloppy.

Let me clarify something. Even if bad nutrition and vitamin deficiency activated this male pattern baldness gene then the male pattern baldness gene is activated right now and after activating it with having a vitamins deficiency it doesn't matter if you'll start to eat healthy now and fix this deficiency - the male pattern baldness has already started and nutrition won't fix it.

Deficiency could make you lose hair sooner, instead of losing it in 40 you start at 20 because you had a vitamin deficiency in the past who made you bald prematurely and not because of the deficiency - because it triggered male pattern baldness. If you'll fix your vitamin deficiency now after you are balding because of male pattern baldness it will not help you AT ALL.


You hair follicles are sensitive to DHT so your either get down you DHT levels in your scalp using RU58841 or you'll get down the DHT levels in your entire body using Finasteride or your hair would keep falling.


I also had enough arguing with you, you can try your natural treatment and soon you will be bald, instead you can fight it in the normal way and keep your hair for 10 more years and even regrow and I'm pretty sure that after 2015 there would be some miracle cure.

 

[baller234]

Come on man I am getting a little bit tired of this argument ._.

Can't you understand the POSSIBILITY at least that this gene can be TRIGGERED by things, be that stress, poor diet, vitamin deficiency, hormonal imbalance etc?

And surely you also understand that such things can also cause NON-male pattern baldness hair loss? It may well be male pattern baldness, but I think to just jump to that conclusion straight away is I feel a little bit sloppy.

Let me clarify something. Even if bad nutrition and vitamin deficiency activated this male pattern baldness gene then the male pattern baldness gene is activated right now and after activating it with having a vitamins deficiency it doesn't matter if you'll start to eat healthy now and fix this deficiency - the male pattern baldness has already started and nutrition won't fix it.

Deficiency could make you lose hair sooner, instead of losing it in 40 you start at 20 because you had a vitamin deficiency in the past who made you bald prematurely and not because of the deficiency - because it triggered male pattern baldness. If you'll fix your vitamin deficiency now after you are balding because of male pattern baldness it will not help you AT ALL.


You hair follicles are sensitive to DHT so your either get down you DHT levels in your scalp using RU58841 or you'll get down the DHT levels in your entire body using Finasteride or your hair would keep falling.


I also had enough arguing with you, you can try your natural treatment and soon you will be bald, instead you can fight it in the normal way and keep your hair for 10 more years and even regrow and I'm pretty sure that after 2015 there would be some miracle cure.

What's with natural vs pharmaceutical argument? The best regimen is one that incorporates both.

 

[let-it-grow]

There is not even one natural treatment for hair loss just like there is not any natural treatment for cancer. Genetic hair loss is caused by hormones and should be treated with drugs that effect this hormone strong enough, like finasteride for example. The best treatment would be to make the follicles immune to this hormone (DHT) and then no hair would fall, but a treatment like this is not available.

Saw Palmetto, Green Tea, standing on your head, scalp massage - those are natural things, but they are not treatments for hair loss and therefor they are not natural treatments, just natural bullshit. Also green tea was found to increase DHT in some studies so if it effects DHT it would most likely to make it higher and not lower it.

If green tea would lower DHT just like Finasteride - both green tea and finasteride would cause the same side effects. The side effects by Finasteride are not because the 0.5mg/1mg Finasteride - they are because it lowers your DHT and I never heard about someone who has finasteride-like side effects by drinking a cup of tea and if tea would stop hair loss then no British guy would lose his hair, and that's not the case.

 

[Hoppi]

Ok sorry let me just clear some things up here, because it seems that people are misunderstanding me. I think it's because my views have changed a bit since joining as I've been learning so much over just the last 4 or 5 days (mostly on these forums!)

Here's the thing - I know now that although diet/lifestyle/stress may have triggered this for me and maybe for many people out there, as you said let-it-grow, once the gene has been activated I understand it would be very difficult to turn it off again (it would probably involve gene therapy, or a very precise trigger). This sits well with what we observe around us, as we hear countless tales of people who "tried everything but could not halt their balding" once it had started. It does seem that once you set it off it's damn hard to stop it again! That was difficult for me to accept and that's why I got a bit depressed in my thread called "Do we think it's possible to turn this gene off again? ", but I've pretty much accepted it now ._.

With that in mind, I now understand that SOLELY diet and lifestyle changes are probably not going to reverse this one, and I need to come up with a more specific solution that works according to the needs of my now more sensitive hair follicles.

Ok so that's that bit done, I hope that clears that up a bit!

Secondly though let-it-grow, I think you are really underestimating or perhaps simply misjudging the "power of nature"! heh

The reason people take Saw Palmetto extract is not because it's some witch's potion or because I don't know, it makes your hair shiny or something. Saw Palmetto contains beta-sitosterol which has been shown to inhibit both forms of 5-alpha reductase, bind to androgen receptors, is a phytoestrogen, and probably even other mechanisms we are not aware of. You see? So yes it's natural, but it's properties are actually very close to synthetic alternatives like Finasteride and Dutasteride.

The same goes for my old friend the Lingzhi mushroom, that too inhibits at least one form of 5-alpha reductase and balances out the hormones, although I came to the conclusion it probably isn't strong enough, which is why I'm shifting to beta-sitosterol.

beta-sitosterol is like MY equivalent to Finasteride, and the equivalent for many people on here. Like Dutas it is an ALTERNATIVE, with very similar properties.

On top of that I am trying to strengthen my hair follicles with b vitamins, enhance the blood flow to them with omega 3, and combat the sebum build up in and around the follicle with Coenzyme A and Nizoral.

Why am I going to all this trouble? Because I love my hair to bits and I would do anything to ensure that instead of "Take finasteride and cross your fingers", I can put together a solution which WILL work (I am doing this slowly and learning more and more every day), unless my follicles are so damn sensitive that nothing will save them.

And yes, if beta-sitosterol does NOT have the required effect (I am choosing it because it's natural, more freely available, requires no prescription and often has fewer and less damaging side-effects), I will switch probably to Finasteride.


Sorry for this very long post, but do you understand what I'm saying now? I think because I've changed my opinion a bit people have been thrown off, but if you look at my regimen you will see quite a good balance

Mike!