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sourkitteh
March 23rd, 2018, 10:39 AM
I wrote in this forum over a year ago about thinning hair, turns out i was having reactions to the castor oil scalp massages i was doing and after stopping them, noticed new hair growth. Yay for baby hairs 😁

I currently take biotin which makes my hair grow like a weed. Im talking about an inch a month, at least! Anyway, my ponytail width seems to be staying at a steady 2ish inch but the thinning at my temples seems to be more apparent again. In a fit of panic at the thought of my hair thinning again i bought myself some saw palmetto bdcause i had heard about it helping after hair loss?

So long story short, advice please! Im a bit scared to actually take the saw palmetto now because ive tried searching this forum for advice and cant find a single post anymore!

Reyesuela
March 23rd, 2018, 10:45 AM
Saw palmetto internally isn’t very likely to help women with thinning because propecia doesn’t and they have the same mechanism of action. Brain can’t recall why it doesn’t work as well on women, but I do remember that topical might help IF you have pattern balding. If you don’t, give monistat a shot instead. Way more likely to do something. :) Thinning temples is classic for pattern balding, insulin resistance, and high androgen levels, so make sure to get tested!

jennareid
March 23rd, 2018, 11:00 AM
Saw Palmetto is absolutely something you should not take without talking to a doctor first. It affects estrogen levels and can interfere with birth control and many other medicines.

MoonRabbit
March 23rd, 2018, 11:05 AM
Tati Westbrook just released a hair skin and nail booster and one of the ingredients is saw palmetto. The vitamins started some harsh negativity saying it could counter act birth control and possibly have side affects on men..Not sure how accurate that is since I am not a chemist. But she did put it in her vitamins so I'm guessing it is related to healthy hair growth in some way. But I would discuss this with your doctor. I wouldn't take anything until I had my doctor look at the pills and had approval to take them.

I'm wondering if you might just be paranoid about the hair loss? If your circumference is the same but you are thinning at the temples..I've always had thinner temples, and once I was scared that it meant I was going bald but it was just because I was really begin to Look at my hair so I looked at old photos of myself with my hair up and noticed it still looks the same. Some days depending on how my hair behaves it will appear that it thinning more but it's just an illusion. Then again this is just me. I don't think any of us have the qualification to tell you to take something or give you miracle advice.

jennareid
March 23rd, 2018, 11:28 AM
Tati Westbrook just released a hair skin and nail booster...

Tati Westbrook and her husband are both extremely shady (husband is by all accounts a professional scam artist) so I would avoid any of her dodgy vitamins tbh.

Reyesuela
March 23rd, 2018, 11:32 AM
Tati knows jack about cosmetic chemistry. It’s a money grab white label product. Plus, she looks older than I do, and I’m nearly 40.

MoonRabbit
March 23rd, 2018, 11:38 AM
Tati Westbrook and her husband are both extremely shady (husband is by all accounts a professional scam artist) so I would avoid any of her dodgy vitamins tbh.

I was using it as a reference since that was the first time I heard of saw palmetto. I do not take vitamins, for my own reasons. Nor do I know anything about her life to judge what she or her husband is. I like her makeup videos on occasion, but I only get to see what she shows me. Do I think they are a miracle pill? No.. but do I think she is out to intentionally poison people, to make money, then destroy her own career? No. Like I said, with any pill it's best to discuss with your doctor, and even then take at your own risk.

Reyesuela
March 23rd, 2018, 11:38 AM
Saw Palmetto is absolutely something you should not take without talking to a doctor first. It affects estrogen levels and can interfere with birth control and many other medicines.

It’s an antiandrogen. I just can’t remember why oral antoandrogens don’t work for female pattern baldness—spironolactone does for androgen excess associated hair loss, though.

There really aren’t any real medications (or supplements) for hair loss that have proven to be safe in pregnancy. There are those that manipulate hormones and those that could very well cause birth defects(Minoxidil). I’m an older woman who’s also infertile, and most people with pattern baldness are also older, but I should have mentioned that it’s bad to take if you’re intending to get pregnant.

Reyesuela
March 23rd, 2018, 11:44 AM
I wonder if it would counteract progesterone birth control. I used to know what part of the androgen cycle it blocked, but I can’t remember anymore. It might or it might not, but it could really muck with a male baby’s development, that’s for sure.

In men, it could possibly have the same sexual side effects are propecia, but it’s like 1/4th as effective as the lowest dose in reducing the androgen metabolite that messes with men’s hair. So possible, unproven.

sourkitteh
March 23rd, 2018, 11:59 AM
Thank you all for the replies!

I wonder if i could use it externally, like making a mask of some kind for my scalp?

I was tested last year for all sorts and apart from a slight low iron level, i was told to try regaine of something similiar. Sadly i think if i was to ask for any other tests they would look at me like a fool. (When i did mention that i was getting some facial hair along with thinning hair on my head, one doctor just shrugged and said it came with age, i mean i know im now in my30s but really? )

I was really paranoid about my hair last year, but when i noticed it comjng back (slowly and sparsly i calmed down and told myself worrying would only make it worse) what made me freak out a little was the fact that i was able to wear my hair up in the last year but recently the sides are making it hard to wear it up without noting the thinness. Also if its the baby hairs im losing then the ponytail wouldnt really change. Oh im babbling now!

Thres no chance ever of me getting or wanting to be pregnant so that point is moot lol

I wonder where i have read about saw palmetto then if not on this forum, its very strange. But again thank you all!

Reyesuela
March 23rd, 2018, 12:02 PM
Just rub it on. It can’t have significant systemic effects. Sorry—been a year sine I was reading. Can’t remember which study.

lapushka
March 23rd, 2018, 12:02 PM
Saw Palmetto is absolutely something you should not take without talking to a doctor first. It affects estrogen levels and can interfere with birth control and many other medicines.

Definitely. I saw the whole deal around "Halo Beauty" (Tati Westbrook) and that wasn't pretty.

Reyesuela
March 23rd, 2018, 12:04 PM
I think I did mention it in my thread. I was using it topically. Lol.

sourkitteh
March 23rd, 2018, 12:23 PM
I think I did mention it in my thread. I was using it topically. Lol.

How do you use it topically?

Reyesuela
March 23rd, 2018, 12:31 PM
I stabbed an oil capsule and mixed it with estrogen cream. Rubbed it into the scalp. Little enough that it wouldn’t be greasy.

Remembering my age and infertility! Lol.

sourkitteh
March 23rd, 2018, 12:47 PM
I stabbed an oil capsule and mixed it with estrogen cream. Rubbed it into the scalp. Little enough that it wouldn’t be greasy.

Remembering my age and infertility! Lol.

Yeah, typical i have tablets and not the capsules 🙈

Reyesuela
March 23rd, 2018, 12:49 PM
Tablets are pointless anyway. It’s the sterols—the fats—that are bioactive.

sourkitteh
March 23rd, 2018, 01:09 PM
Tablets are pointless anyway. It’s the sterols—the fats—that are bioactive.

Haha once again i am reminded that before panic shopping i just need to get advice here! So i think its a no to the tablets, ill keep on with the biotin and just try different hair styles and hope that by babying my hair will calm me down again. Thanks again for all the advice 😊

Reyesuela
March 23rd, 2018, 01:10 PM
I’d return them. They’re a cheap, deliberate, cynical scam.

lapushka
March 23rd, 2018, 01:52 PM
Tablets are pointless anyway. It’s the sterols—the fats—that are bioactive.

So why are tablets so bad? I don't get it. :shrug:

Reyesuela
March 23rd, 2018, 01:57 PM
The tablets are made out of the dried bits that have no sterols. They’re still saw palmetto. Just the wrong bit! There are several supplements that are like that. Some fish oil tablets have almost no omega 3s.

lapushka
March 23rd, 2018, 02:02 PM
The tablets are made out of the dried bits that have no sterols. They’re still saw palmetto. Just the wrong bit! There are several supplements that are like that. Some fish oil tablets have almost no omega 3s.

Oh, I see. Thanks for the clarification on that end. :flower: Yikes. You have to know that, though!

I have tablets for my glucosamine + chondroitine (you can't get these in capsules where I am). Hope that's not a bad thing!

Reyesuela
March 23rd, 2018, 02:34 PM
Oh, I see. Thanks for the clarification on that end. :flower: Yikes. You have to know that, though!

I have tablets for my glucosamine + chondroitine (you can't get these in capsules where I am). Hope that's not a bad thing!
They’re fine! :)

lapushka
March 23rd, 2018, 03:42 PM
They’re fine! :)

That's good to hear! :D Thanks!