When it comes to hair loss videos on YouTube, many of them are not really worth watching. But, we recently came across a video from a guy, Christopher Walker, who shares his intriguing theory on the REAL reasons why you are losing hair and how to reverse it.
Here, we will break down the video into small chunks and share the most important part at the end – his baldness cure solution.
If you want to skip the details and get to the ultimate summary, click here.
If you want to see his action items on regrowing hair, click here.
DHT = Hair loss? Think again
Walker starts the video by sharing the most common belief on what causes hair loss – DHT.
But is it really true?
He points out that this Androgenic hair loss hypothesis (aka DHT hair loss) is actually based on ONLY 2 “obscure” research studies.
The two studies he mentions in the video are the following:
- Study 1: Male hormone stimulation is prerequisite and an incitant in common baldness (James B Hamilton in 1942)
- Study 2: Steroid 5 alpha-reductase deficiency in man (Dr. Imperato-McGinley in 1974)
Here is a summary of each study along with his points:
DHT (Dihydrotestosterone) is an androgen hormone which is thought to cause hair follicles to shrink and lead to male / female pattern hair loss to those with “sensitive” androgen receptors
Study 1 The role of male hormones in baldness
This study (1) was conducted by Dr James B Hamilton in 1942 observing 104 castrated inmates (men without functioning testicles – the observation was composed of 20 prepubertal and 84 post pubertal men).
As castrates have very low levels (or non existent) testicular hormone production (thus, a lack of DHT production), Dr Hamilton made several interesting observations.
First, he noticed all of them had FULL heads of hair. Next, not only those castrated inmates had low sebaceous secretions (natural hair oil coming out of sebaceous gland located in the skin/scalp), but also none of them showed signs of dandruff.
Then Dr Hamilton gave these castrate inmates testosterone propionate injections and found the following results: 4 out of 104 castrated men started showing male pattern baldness as well as increasing sebaceous gland (aka oily scalp) and dandruff activities.
Walker points out that only “4” out of 104 reacted to testosterone injections by showing baldness, yet Dr Hamilton somehow grouped ALL men who are sexually mature (= producing androgens in their testes) into the idea that they will become bald.
He also adds another flaw of this study – Artificial testosterone.
He points out that the artificial testosterone injection is different from natural testosterone production due to various negative side effects including liver toxicity, hardening tendons, heart and circulation problems, prostate cancer as well as hair loss.
Study 2 Origin of DHT (via 5 alpha reductase enzyme)
This study(2) is based on people known as pseudo-hermaphrodites who have genetic deficiencies.
They have normal levels of testosterone, but lack 5a reductase enzyme (which converts testosterone to DHT). The study shows that these people had small prostates and do not show any male pattern baldness patterns.
This is where he said it gets interesting.
This was the point where big pharmaceutical companies decided to jump onto the case.
During this time, there had been a rapidly rising population of men with enlarged prostate issues in western society.
As this particular study showed that ALL subjects had small prostates yet full heads of hair, Merck, a pharmaceutical giant, took this as a great opportunity to make a 5a reductase inhibiting drug to target both prostate enlargement AND hair loss prevention (without analyzing further details, he adds).
And that’s when Finasteride was born (also known as Propecia).
Finasteride – Effective baldness cure?
So why does he believe Finasteride (Propecia) is not actually an effective baldness cure?
He talks about the following:
- Negative side effects
- Minimal improvement
Negative side effects
First, he points out dangerous side effects of taking Finasteride outweighs the benefits.
Some of the negative symptoms resulting from taking the drug include shrinking genitals, mental fogginess, depression as well as sexual dysfunction which can cause permanent damage (there was even a class lawsuit).
Minimal improvement
Next, he shares an article by Dr Jonathan Darrow (3) from Harvard University which reads that “after 5 years of faithful use of Propecia (aka Finasteride), those threatened with hair loss can expect somewhat more than a 10% improvement over what they would have experienced without any treatment.
His bottom line? The original Androgen-related hair loss hypothesis is not as promising as you think it is.
What actually causes hair loss
Walker says the best clues to finding out what actually causes hair loss is to look at studies on babies and women.
Babies lose their hair shortly after birth (same as pattern hair loss) as well as women in menopause, postpartum, or when taking birth control pills.
When it comes to men, he says that baldness is a key symptom that occurs when you have heart disease, atherosclerosis, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, prostate cancer as well as obesity related inflammation (he shares a number of studies to back up his claim).
He mentions that all of these situations, whether it’s men, women, and babies, show the same patterns of hair loss.
So what are these patterns? He says the following:
- Chronically elevated estrogen levels
- Chronically elevated cortisol levels
- Low thyroid function
- Liberation of free fatty acids in the blood (which increases estrogen production)
- Chronically elevated prolactin levels
- Mucopolysaccharide accumulation (aka scalp calcification – see magnesium oil for hair loss)
- Drops in protective hormone levels
Basically, in order to reverse hair loss and regrow lost hair, he says your body needs a hormonal balance by correcting such patterns.
Now, here comes the most important question: How?
Walker mentions that you can control such hormone imbalance (cortisol, estrogen, thyroid, and protective hormone) through
- Proper nutrition
- Micro-nutrition correction
- Stress management
Here are his specific action plans for a baldness cure:
Action plan – How to reverse hair loss for GOOD
He suggests four areas to focus on for preventing excessive hair fall out and regrowing hair.
#1. Control excess estrogen
- By consuming choline and betaine (betaine, also known as trimethylglycine, also good for stomach acid)
- Lose extra body fat (excess estrogen is being stored in such fat tissues)
- Intake of Vitamin A, K2 and D (vitamin A is shown to up-regulate the expression of androgen receptors)
- Reduce exposure to estrogenic in terms of environments and foods you eat (he recommends Master Your T – his book – and Estrogeneration by Anthony G Jay Ph D)
#2. Control Cortisol
He says controlling cortisol really comes down to stress management in various layers
- Psychological: Stop reacting negatively to things
- Physiological: Increase oxygen consumption (10-20 min deep breathing)
- Cellular stress: Stop eating unhealthy foods
- Exercise: Stop chronic endurance training. Instead focus on heavy lifting / plenty of rests between sessions
#3. Lower prolactin levels
- Ashwaganda: A study (4) shows a 15% drop in prolactin level while increasing testosterone production by 40% in men (Medical Medium also recommends Ashwaganda for reversing hair loss)
- Increase vitamin E: A study (5) shows that 300 mg of vitamin E for 8 weeks decreased prolactin level by 69% compared to placebo group
- L-DOPA: L-Dopa is a precursor of dolpamine and dolpamine modulates the release of prolactin
- Up your Zinc: A study shows that Zinc helps cut prolactin levels in half in male
- Increase B6: A study shows it increase growth hormone while simultaneously decreasing the production of prolactin levels)
#4. Improve your thyroid function
- Desiccated thyroid supplement to kickstart the thyroid
- Iodine and selenium
- Eat thyroid nutrients (meaning stop the Keto diet)
- 4-8 weeks with monitoring recommended (Measure it first)
The ultimate summary
Here is the summary of this video:
DHT hair loss theory is only based on 2 “obscure” studies that were conducted on subjects who were far from everyday normal people (castrates and pseudo-hermaphrodites).
The REAL reason you are losing hair actually has to do with hormonal imbalance, specifically elevated cortisol, estrogen, and a thyroid dysfunction.
How to reverse hair loss? By controlling hormonal levels (cortisol, estrogen, thyroid, etc) through proper diet, stress management, and supplements if needed. He says this will provide the optimal balance to the ratio of stress to protective hormones for hair regrowth.
Final takeaway
As you may have guessed by now, this solution requires more of a lifestyle change rather than a single target way (aka magic pill) to regrow hair.
Another thing we noticed is that a lot of information he included in his video is actually from Danny Roddy, who is the author of Hair like a Fox. So if you want to know more about this particular hair regrowth method, read Danny Roddy’s book here for more detailed instruction (the book is available for free).
Either way, is everything he says the truth? Well… you will never know, but he raises some interesting and valid points.
If you want to try his baldness cure method, yet are overwhelmed with a long to-do list, start by checking your thyroid level first.
It’s well documented that people experiencing hair loss often have thyroid dysfunction.
Have you experienced any noticeable hair growth with any of the solutions he mentioned above? Please share your experience!
