Thoughts on beta-sitosterol and saw palmetto

[youngster]

Hi everyone,

I've been looking into alternatives to finasteride (I want to start finasteride in a couple of years, just not yet as I'm still young), and the "best" I seem to have found are beta-sitosterol and saw palmetto.
Does anyone have any thoughts on these, and experience? And do you know of any good places to get these?

 

[swimjammer]

I just started taking beta sitosterol about two weeks and have noticed a massive shedding of hair. I had originally started Finasteride in February and noticed a lot of regrowth, my hair was looking great. I stopped about three weeks ago because I had started to notice one of my pecs starting to change shape, like the beginning stages of gynecomastia. I stopped immediately because I have worked very hard to get the body that I have. I did compare the way my right pec was starting to look to pics on the internet of the beginning stages of gyno and it looked the same. The gyno went away and my pecs look normal again, but I was worried about losing the hair I had regrown so I started the sitosterol. I noticed a lot of hair shedding and my hair looks like it did before I started the finasteride!

What's weird is that I've lost older hairs, but have kept the hairs that the finasteride regrew. I'm hoping those older hairs are going to come back even thicker, there was nothing wrong with them. I've read on a couple other sites of some guys having success with beta sitosterol and there's even a published study of hair regrowth success with beta sitosterol. I'm hoping, hoping, hoping those hairs come back because I'm missing the great looking hair that I was enjoying.

 

[Wolf Pack]

Saw Palmetto is a weak DHT inhibitor according to small studies, it may provide a very small benefit versus hair loss or be completely useless. I wouldn't bother. Stick to proven and established treatments. There is plenty of stuff which may or may not work and should be thought of as useless or supplementary at best.

 

[Baylad]

Saw palmetto if it does do anything is very very slow...

 

[swimjammer]

So, I quit the beta sitosterol finally. I was just losing too much hair to justify/hope using it. I compared pics of my pecs from before I started taking the finasteride to how they look now and apparently my right one has always looked a little different than my left one. I guess I never noticed it before because I wasn't scrutinising it that much. I was just being a paranoid f*ck. I was using the finasteride for almost five months with no side effects at all and good regrowth. Needless to say, I've jumped back on it, but this time I think I'm going to try using a natural aromatase inhibitor along with the finasteride.

For anyone that's thinking about the beta sitosterol, be warned--it may cause a lot of shedding when you start it. I'm not sure if the lost hairs would have regrown had I stayed on the beta-sis, but I didn't want to "wait and see" what my hair would look like had I remained on it. However, in the short time I was on it I did not notice any side effects.

 

[Iopu]

I've maintained above baseline using topical anti androgens instead of finasteride. Including: topical spironolactone, revivogen, fluridil and the most effective, RU58841. Worth a look.

 

[Iopu]

No, just RU is what I'm using now. Also using serioxyl, minoxidil and daily keto shampoo.