HRT and Hair?

[Kimberly Marie Kelly]

Just wondering this question, I'm 52 years old, considering transitioning and hoping to be on HRT by years end. I am balding at the top but still have comb over hair. If you go on HRT and testerone blockers does your hair start to grow again on your head or is that a lost cause.

If any of my sisters can tell me this little bit of information, I'd be very happy. :battingeyelashes:

[Jessinthesprings]

To the best of my knowledge it's a lost cause, height, hand and feet size, and voice. Eestrogen will prevent further loss though.

[Teresa Amina]

I have some minor regrowth, but I don't expect anything useful up there except a little more to attach a hairpiece to.

[Karen564]

Just wondering this question, I'm 52 years old, considering transitioning and hoping to be on HRT by years end. I am balding at the top but still have comb over hair. If you go on HRT and testerone blockers does your hair start to grow again on your head or is that a lost cause.

If any of my sisters can tell me this little bit of information, I'd be very happy. :battingeyelashes:

It depends, it works for some, but may not work for another.

The Estrogen really has nothing to do with it, it's the DHT (Dihydrotestosterone) in your system that's causing the loss of hair (male pattern baldness), so I would suggest that you ask your doctor right now to get on a Dutasteride or a Finisteride right away, these will block the DHT, and it will stop any further hair loss, AND you'll get a head start on your HRT ..And you may start to see some hair come back, but not all if it's been gone to long though, hows that sound to you, good right??

Dutasteride, or generic Dutas , this is what I recommend, it's the better of the two.

Finisteride- brand names, Proscar, Finpecia, generic is Fincar

Karen

[Melissa A.]

Karen is right on both counts. It's a crapshoot, and a diferent outcome for everyone, when it comes to the hair on your head. And it's the T-blockers that do the work, not the estrogen. Generally, for most, you can expect minimal results, but not alot. However....I was in the same boat- very noticable thinning on top and in the front. I knew HRT was in my future. I was told that minoxidil (rogaine, among others) does virtually nothing in that area and only works in the back. this was around a year ago. So I said, "screw it. the stuff is pretty cheap. let's try it". So I faithfully applied it every day. Lo and behold, it started working. hair started coming in around the "hoseshoe" and other places up there. since I started HRT almost 5 months ago, it has really accelerated. My hair isnt quite ready for public view yet. I still wear a wig, for now. But damn, it's close. Better than I ever expected. So before you give in to expensive transplants, try everything you can, because ya never know what may work. I realise my case may be atypical, but it's always worth a try.

Hugs,

Melissa:)

[Raquel June]

As far as hair loss, there are a lot of things that are proven to help a little bit, but most of it's pretty minimal.

DHT is what causes male pattern baldness. About 1/3 of your testosterone gets converted to DHT.

Rogaine increases blood flow to your scalp, which can help hair grow a little.

Just massaging your scalp will also increase blood flow and helps significantly for some people.

Retin-A basically makes your skin healthier/younger, and it's proven that using Retin-A with Rogaine is more effective than Rogaine on its own.

Nizoral shampoo is proven to help. It probably functions as a topical DHT blocker. For some reason 2% shampoo needs a prescription in the US, but you can get 1% over-the-counter.

Most other things don't really work. People often say biotin helps, but that only helps if you have a biotin deficiency, and that is very rare. Saw Palmetto is a very weak DHT blocker. Many studies have shown that it is quite ineffective and would likely need a high enough dose to give you stomach problems before it actually helped much.

Estrogen doesn't do much for your hair. Most people I've talked to have noticed their hair get a little thinner and change texture on estrogen. I think it made my hair a little more curly.

Testosterone blockers work, but obviously there are a lot of other side-effects of blocking testosterone.

Finasteride and Dutasteride are DHT blockers, and they're the best thing you can get. Finasteride blocks 70-75% of your DHT, and Dutasteride blocks 90-95% of your DHT.

I have tried everything. I don't have a bald spot, but I have kinda receding temples. Most people tell you nothing can help that. But I started noticing obvious regrowth less than two weeks after I started taking Dutasteride, which is pretty amazing because it takes 3 or 4 months before it is fully effective.

I still use all that stuff... I actually take Biotin, Saw Palmetto, Dutasteride, a testosterone blocker (not that much, though), estrogen, progesterone, and use Rogaine in the morning, Rogain + Retin-A at night, and I spend about 5 minutes massaging my scalp with 2% Nizoral shampoo three times a week. I'm not convinced any of it does much good except the Dutasteride, though.

If I could only take one medication it would be Dutasteride or Finasteride. I'm 33 and I definitely have more hair than I did ten years ago. I actually cut off my ponytail 10 years ago because I was giving up on my hair.

But as magic as DHT blockers are, I don't think they work for everyone. If you've had a bald spot for a very long time and it's like shiny-looking bald -- no mini baby hairs growing there at all -- the follicles might have just given up totally.

But when you get on HRT, most doctors don't prescribe Finasteride, and Dutasteride is almost never prescribed in the US. I read it had something to do with the patent rights of Finasteride to treat baldness in the US (Dutasteride is only officially used to treat prostate problems in the US).


I forgot to mention, if you're blocking DHT, this actually raises your free testosterone because it is no longer being converted to DHT. This doesn't matter if you're on a testosterone blocker, but it's worth mentioning. This really just means you might not lose the muscle that you thought you would on HRT, though since DHT does most of the "bad things" associated with testosterone.

[tori-e]

I started HRT at about 48, three years ago, and also took Proscar 1.25MG for a couple of years. I have a hairline similar to Ron Howard. All of the HRT gave me a bit of fuzz on top.

I just bought a nice wig.:sad:

Terri

[ria_ts]

I appreciate Kimberly asking this question. I had the same question in my mind.

I used to have unmanageable hair as a kid. Then I started losing hair during my teens and I reached a Norwood scale 5 by the time I was 22 or 23. My balding temples receded and merged with my balding crown. I was miserable! :sad: No other genetic males in my family or relatives are bald. My dad has a full head of healthy hair. My grandfathers had thick gray hair when they died of old age (in their 90s). I have shiny bald areas for the last 8-9 years. I was Norwood scale 7 by the time I was 30. I only had a few healthy hair around the middle of my head and the back and sides - the typical male pattern baldness.

In July last year, I started finasteride. By November last year, I saw very fine hair sprouting out from all my bald areas, all along the horseshoe and my temples. Then I started HRT. And I started Rogaine (minoxidil) in December. My new hair are still very thin and small. They are just not growing fast enough. They have grown about 2-3mm since they first sprouted out in November. Minoxidil has made my thicker hair fall off, perhaps to start a new growth cycle, but now I look balder than ever before. I seem to have a full head of hair, but the hair are only visible on close inspection.

I am hoping that my healthy hair will return and my weak hair will grow stronger on finasteride, spiro and Rogaine.

I seem to have the same hair growth so far as Terri has mentioned.

[Raquel June]

In July last year, I started finasteride. By November last year, I saw very fine hair sprouting out from all my bald areas, all along the horseshoe and my temples. Then I started HRT. And I started Rogaine (minoxidil) in December. My new hair are still very thin and small. They are just not growing fast enough.

HRT isn't likely to give you any significant increase in hair. If you're not growing hair, it's either because the follicle is unhealthy (which things like Rogaine, Retin-A, and simple scalp massages can help) or because the follicle is getting DHT.

Rogaine + Retin-A is proven to be more effective than Rogaine by itself. This page has links to three studies:

http://www.farrellmanual.com/topical/retina.htm

Dutasteride is proven to be more effective than Finasteride in every way.

http://www.dutasteride.com/articles/dutasteride-finasteride.html

And it's not just their website that says so -- there are some lengthy clinical studies out there if you dig for them.

It's not a lot better, so you can't expect a massive improvement, but it's definitely better.



edit: I think I should clarify that when I said, "HRT isn't likely to give you any significant increase in hair," what I meant is that if you're already taking finasteride, adding HRT isn't likely to help significantly more than finasteride by itself.