It’s believed the hair follicles on the back and sides of the head are less susceptible to the miniaturization effects of the androgen hormone Dihydrotestosterone (DHT) due to differences in receptor sensitivity or the presence of different androgen receptors. These resistant hair follicles continue to produce healthy hair, even as the follicles on the top of the head gradually shrink and stop producing visible hair.
So this begs the obvious question: how can we make the hairs on the top of the head more like the ones on the back and sides?!
Kind of obvious when you think about it.
Reducing follicle sensitivity to DHT
A lot of people use medication like Finasteride to reduce the serum DHT levels because they want to reduce the amount of DHT that binds to the hair follicles in their scalp, but this can be a bad idea in some instances because it can also reduce sex drive, muscle mass and competitive drive. Think about it. It’s kind of crazy to reduce a hormone that you really need all over your body when you just want to reduce it’s effects in your scalp. Wouldn’t it be much better to reduce your hair follicle sensitivity to DHT instead?
One answer: Reduce androgen receptor availability
One solution to this problem is to apply other substances to the scalp that compete with DHT to bind with the hair follicle receptors. As a result less receptors are available for DHT to bind to and hair loss is reduced. This has actually been done in practise by many people who have talked about it in hair loss forums. These are some of the substances used:
- RU58841 for Hair Loss: A Powerful Androgen Receptor Blocker
- CB 03 01 / Breezula (Clascoterone) for Hair Loss: Research, Results and How to Use It
- EGCG for Hair Loss: Supress Androgen Receptors in the Scalp
Do I use any of these?
For a short time I used RU58841 but I stopped when I read there are some risks associated with it, which will probably mean it will never be commercially available. A lot of people use it though — the same applies for CB 03 01.
I have been considering adding EGCG to my formula though since there are abbsolutely no drawbacks to it. Watch this space for updates.
Do you or have you used any of these? Let us know in the comments.
This is all great but it doesn’t really answer the original question…
So, the hair follicles at the top of the scalp are more succeptable to DHT than the ones on the back and sides. But why is that? Surely if we can answer this question we can figure out how to make the hairs on the top of the head more like the ones on the back and sides and cure hair loss (and therefore make billions). It does seem that simple and yet no one as far as I know has an answer to this question. Not a single full-time hair loss expert.
It’s true that studies show hair follicles in androgen-sensitive areas (like the crown and front of the scalp) exhibit higher expression levels of androgen receptors compared to areas less affected by hair loss, such as the occipital scalp (the back and sides), but why is that? What evolutionary reason can there possibly be for having more androgen receptors on the top of the scalp than the back and sides? It’s possible that it’s just random genetic mutation that has happened to pass down through the surviving genes. Perhaps over the next few melennia more men with fewer androgen receptors in the scalp will pass on their genes making this problem less prevalent, who knows.
We’re back to square one. It’s like the old physics question, “why does mass cause the curviture of space time?” 99% of physicists just say “that’s how the universe is” and the 1% who are real scientists ask why.
Stay tuned because I’m in the 1% and I will continue to research this until I figure it out.
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