My hair is rapidly thinning at only 22 years old. The link between cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome and early onset male pattern baldness is extremely concerning, so I’ve been getting some bloods done to determine the root cause. All my bloods looked fine, apart from progesterone:
Progesterone: 0.445 nmol/L (Range: 0.64 - 4.7)
My levels are extremely low. Mean serum progesterone in 1050 men was shown to be ~1.2 nmol/L according to this study, roughly 3x my current levels.
Progesterone is a potent androgen and estrogen antagonist, whilst also competitively inhibiting 5-ar dependant testosterone -> DHT conversion as prog itself is reduced by 5-ar.
From wikipedia:
"The major metabolic pathway of progesterone is reduction by 5α-reductase and 5β-reductase into the dihydrogenated 5α-dihydroprogesterone and 5β-dihydroprogesterone, respectively.This is followed by the further reduction of these metabolites via 3α-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase and 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase into the tetrahydrogenated allopregnanolone, pregnanolone, isopregnanolone, and epipregnanolone.
This is actually part of the reason many get 'brain fog' and other mental sides from fin. 5-ar inhibition impairs progesterone metabolism, and as a result you become deficient in the aforementioned allopregnanolone, pregnanolone, isopregnanolone, and epipregnanolone - all of which are neuroactive and important for proper cognitive function. The PFS study displayed altered levels of CFS neurotransmitters and sex hormones in the PFS group vs control. That's a topic for a different thread, however.
I find this rather interesting. You'll find various threads over a variety of forums where people have used topical progesterone cream to combat hairloss. Some users reported amazing regrowth; other users reported nothing. I believe that those who noticed great regrowth had low levels of progesterone like myself, whilst those who noticed nothing had adequate prog levels and the cause for their specific loss lied elsewhere.
I'm going to be using topical prog on my scalp in very small dosages to get myself up to around 1.5 - 2 nmol/L. I'll be updating my progress in this thread, but I'm also interested in hearing others experience using prog for hairloss. If you've tried it, how did it work for your hairloss? Did you have any bloods done before and after supplementation?
I'll be starting with ~5mg p/d and will get bloods at week 2 and 5. I'll also be monitoring changes to estrogen, test and dhea.
Progesterone: 0.445 nmol/L (Range: 0.64 - 4.7)
My levels are extremely low. Mean serum progesterone in 1050 men was shown to be ~1.2 nmol/L according to this study, roughly 3x my current levels.
Progesterone is a potent androgen and estrogen antagonist, whilst also competitively inhibiting 5-ar dependant testosterone -> DHT conversion as prog itself is reduced by 5-ar.
From wikipedia:
"The major metabolic pathway of progesterone is reduction by 5α-reductase and 5β-reductase into the dihydrogenated 5α-dihydroprogesterone and 5β-dihydroprogesterone, respectively.This is followed by the further reduction of these metabolites via 3α-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase and 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase into the tetrahydrogenated allopregnanolone, pregnanolone, isopregnanolone, and epipregnanolone.
This is actually part of the reason many get 'brain fog' and other mental sides from fin. 5-ar inhibition impairs progesterone metabolism, and as a result you become deficient in the aforementioned allopregnanolone, pregnanolone, isopregnanolone, and epipregnanolone - all of which are neuroactive and important for proper cognitive function. The PFS study displayed altered levels of CFS neurotransmitters and sex hormones in the PFS group vs control. That's a topic for a different thread, however.
I find this rather interesting. You'll find various threads over a variety of forums where people have used topical progesterone cream to combat hairloss. Some users reported amazing regrowth; other users reported nothing. I believe that those who noticed great regrowth had low levels of progesterone like myself, whilst those who noticed nothing had adequate prog levels and the cause for their specific loss lied elsewhere.
I'm going to be using topical prog on my scalp in very small dosages to get myself up to around 1.5 - 2 nmol/L. I'll be updating my progress in this thread, but I'm also interested in hearing others experience using prog for hairloss. If you've tried it, how did it work for your hairloss? Did you have any bloods done before and after supplementation?
I'll be starting with ~5mg p/d and will get bloods at week 2 and 5. I'll also be monitoring changes to estrogen, test and dhea.
