I’ve been taking Saw Palmetto Capsules for the hair loss control but discontinued because I started taking provillus dietary supplement(because containing Saw Palmetto), Can I continue with the Saw Palmetto capsules (The reason: I’m interested in the protate benefits)along with Provillus. Thank you in advance for your help.

Saw palmetto and Provillus are over the counter natural supplements, though Provillus now contains minoxidil along with saw palmetto. The use of saw palmetto may or may not work, but one of the problems is the dosage between different manufacturers and as it is an herbal remedy it is not covered by the FDA regulations for claims. I really don’t believe it works in treating hair loss, but I also see no harm in taking it. I would be careful not to take excessive dosages of any natural supplements, though. Unfortunately, I cannot tell you what an excessive dose of saw palmetto would be.

Provillus has 5% minoxidil in it now with their “improved formula” (it should say so on the bottle), which means that it is now as good as the cheaper generic minoxidil you can get at any pharmacy or most supermarkets.

Good day Dr.,

I’m just riddled with questions regarding this new HairDX test and although it’s brand new, I was wondering if you could help me clear up at least one. How accurate do they boast this test to be? They say: “Scientists discovered that among men that had the best response to Finasteride approximately 70% had a CAG score below 22 while among men that had a subtle response to Finasteride approximately 70% had a CAG score above 22”

Does that mean that even if someone has a score above 22, there’s still a chance at having a best response? I mean, say the score comes back above 22… is that the end of hope or is there still a chance the pill could work? And if someone scores below 22, does that mean it’s a slam dunk that it’ll work for them?

Thanks again for the great site.

You do not need the HairDX test to find out if you have a balding gene if you already show miniaturization and/or balding. The CAG repeat test, however, does suggest how sensitive you will be to a drug like finasteride. This may have value in establishing expectations for finasteride, but any benefit of finasteride is better than none. I’m not completely familiar with the HairDX tests yet, as I’ve not used them, so I can’t give you specifics on what their descriptions mean.

If you believe you are balding without much physical evidence of balding (even after a miniaturization test), I would not recommend Propecia to you even if you test positive from the HairDX finasteride test, as we bald at different ages and although you may be positive for the genes for hair loss, if you are not yet losing hair, no treatment is needed until it starts.

Is possible that revivogen is better than propecia and finasteride?

https://www.regrowth.com/hairloss-remedy/revivogen/revivogenstudy.cfm

There is no scientific evidence that a skin application can get to the hair follicle with a DHT blocker, and as Revivogen is a topical and Propecia is an oral, therein lies the answer to your question. Revivogen does not block DHT the same way finasteride does. The study doesn’t show Revivogen working better than dutasteride or finasteride with actual hair regrowth or halting the progression of hair loss.

I really don’t understand why people would want to bother with unproven treatments and risk their progression of hair loss when there is an effective medication with great confidence that it will work (with scientific evidence to back it up).

Hi, i’ve been using rogaine foam for about 7 1/2 months, and started using nioxin system 1 shampoo and coditioner. i’m starting to get a lot of head aches i think from the foam (since i think i’m using too much) and i’m not sure i’m getting much results, so i was thinking of starting using propecia, except it’s costly and i’m afraid of the side effects, seeing as i’m only 22, male. i heard the younger you are though, the less likely you are to have side effects from propecia, is that true?

i’ve been reading around and would like to only use .5mg, by cutting themin half. is it safe to just take a knife and cut them in half though? and i’ve heard using nizoral shampoo along with the foam is considered the “big 3” and has shown a good amount of results for people, do you recommend using all three products?

Headaches may be from the hypotensive impact of minoxidil (Rogaine), which does drop blood pressure in some people. You may be using too much of it, or may just be too sensitive to it.

If costs on Propecia is too much, you can get a prescription for the genetic finasteride 5mg tablet and cut it into quarters. At our local Costco, the cost runs about $5/month for the 5mg generic. With regard to halving the dose, the financial solution to your problem is discussed already with the generic finasteride… and why take half when a full 1mg dose is better? Side effects are rare in men of all ages, but I don’t recall seeing statistics about side effects relating to age.

You can use Nizoral, but aside from being a good shampoo, I’m not sure it’s going to regrow your hair. If you’ve got the financial means to do so, you can continue to use all three products.