DHT & dutasteride

[Sandin Face]

Questions about di-hydro testosterone, folks - is it good or bad?


For a period of about six years, from around 2003 to 2009, I was taking dutasteride to protect myself from feared hair loss.

During this time, I was not exercising much, and not thinking about trying to muscle up.

I don't know if the dutasteride worked or not - I still have my hair, but I might well have kept it anyway, and may not really had anything to worry about. There were no side-effects, as far as I could tell.

From my reading at the time (ten years ago now), I came to believe that DHT didn't have any useful function at all, after puberty. There was a documentary that I saw a long time ago, about a place in the Dominican Republic, where a genetic inadequacy of 5-alpha reductase was common in the population, and in which it was fairly common for kids who looked like little girls, to turn into men at puberty, when testosterone took over all of the masculinising functions that DHT usually has in boys. As far as I remember, such men were just as macho and muscly as others around them.

I stopped taking dutasteride not for any particular reason, but just because my stash got used up; the supplier that I had been buying from dissapeared from cyberspace; because my wife was saying I was just wasting money and sticking who-knows-what into myself; and general apathy.

Anyway, recently (last 2-3 years) I have been making a sustained effort to get myself together physically - I've been lifting regularly, eating better, cut down drinking, etc. And, as part of my effort to regain my youthful good looks (ha ha), and retain them into middle age, I've been looking closely at my hair-line again ...

Since starting to look around the internet for body-building information (which brought me to this forum), I've noticed that DHT is now sometimes talked about as a VERY GOOD THING to have (eg Testosterone is great but Dihydrotestosterone is the king of all male androgens | Mahler's Aggressive Strength ; http://www.anabolicsteroids-hormoneknowledge-bigmuscles-drugs.com/dihydrotestosterone.html), although there is a case to be made that it is not relevant to muscle gain (eg Effect of testosterone supplementation with and without... [JAMA. 2012] - PubMed - NCBI).

So, my question is - can I have both hair and muscles, or do I have to make the choice?

 

[0ni]

topical anti androgens are fine
I use nizoral 2%, put it on when I go to sleep and wash it out in the morning
small $20 bottle will last months, my dad even got regrowth

systemic anti-androgens are very bad for your health indeed

 

[Sandin Face]

Thanks Oni!

I didn't know about Nizoral.

The name's familiar - probably because they advertise it on TV, but I didn't know that it had DHT-synthesis-inhibitory properties as well. I'll give it a go.

A topical medication (if it works!) would be much better - then I might get to have hair on my head AND my chest!

A quick internet search showed me that they've just banned tablets of the stuff (Nizoral pulled off pharmacy shelves | Pharmacy News), so it must be good! Maybe we should stock up on the cream.

Cheers - Sandin

 

[Johnnie Walker]

The reality is your fighting a losing battle, if you hae male patern bakdness your fcked either way. Better off accepting it and getting that head shaved!

Dht is gooood

 

[0ni]

yeah there comes a time in every mans life when he has to shave his head
I am 23 though, give me 10 more years please!!
Nizoral also works on spots

 

[Johnnie Walker]

Shave mine anyway but not lost a single hair yet and almost 30

If you wana use strength drugs prepare to be bald before your 25 lol

 

[Sandin Face]

I use nizoral 2%, put it on when I go to sleep and wash it out in the morning
small $20 bottle will last months

Is this the stuff? or is it the shampoo? or something else?

 

[0ni]

The shampoo
not used the cream, you can use that on your spots I guess

 

[Sandin Face]

Shave mine anyway

You're a smooth man

... but I want to stay a hairy man

(Gen 27:11)

 

[Sandin Face]

The shampoo
not used the cream, you can use that on your spots I guess

Thanks.

There's more for your money with the shampoo.

I wonder how Sandra Face might take my going to bed with a head full of unrinsed shampoo ...

Lots of factors to be weighed up ...

 

[0ni]

When you work it in, it dries up so it's not wet

 

[Sandin Face]

One last thing I should say on this subject - I did buy a new supply (about 2 years' worth) of Dutasteride back in September, when the dollar was stronger, but I didn't start taking it.

I was waiting for some health tests, before I started doing and taking various things, so that I would have a base-line in case something wasn't doing me any good.

All OK (although scans show that I am full of stones - both gall and kidney - waiting to torment me, when they decide to do so ...).

So, in light of advice received on this thread (thanks!), I will leave the Dutagen in its package for the moment. I might break it out if I have a bad hair scare, but, if not, I think I'll do this experiment:

When (inshallah) I get to a level where my muscular development is significantly improved from what it is now, and seem to be maintaining that level (for example, that I can routinely do bench press of >= 100k for reps, and my 1RM has got to 110k), I will (in the interest of Science) try the Dutasteride again, and see if it has any noticeable negative effects. I'll report back when I do this ...

 

[Alpha Moth]

topical anti androgens are fine
I use nizoral 2%, put it on when I go to sleep and wash it out in the morning
small $20 bottle will last months, my dad even got regrowth

systemic anti-androgens are very bad for your health indeed

Why do you put it in overnight? what advantage does that have?

also, do you wet your hair beforehand?

thoughts on minoxidil?

 

[0ni]

Why do you put it in overnight? what advantage does that have?

also, do you wet your hair beforehand?

thoughts on minoxidil?

Because it's a topical DHT blocker
If you put it on in the shower, it will wash the sebum off then you wash the nizoral off as well. Then you sweat and your hair gets covered in sebum again and you got maybe 5 minutes of protection.

Overnight, that's 10h of protection. I'll even leave it in and go and train then wash it out after training at 8:30am before I go to work so it gets nearer to 12 hours of protection. That's half the day with no androgens in my hair. Yes you wet your hair a little first, needs to be damp not wet

I've not used minoxidil

 

[zayd687]

+1 for nizoral 2%
i've never stopped using it. From early - mid twenties due to steroid use I had very thinned receding hairline.
Im my desperate attempt to save my hair in my mid twenties i resorted to nizoral and coconut oil + mustard seeds. My hair came back fuller and only got thicker and thicker. Some friends and family await my downfall with my hair but they keep waiting ,as their hairline recedes my hair keeps growing.

You can create muscle while supplementation with anabolics but the dose will depend on the negative side effects and unless your competing a little bit should be enough for most.

 

[andyr99]

Hmm this is very interesting to me it's never even crossed my mind to leave nizoral in I've been using it for a while now (I use sebizole same thing quarter the price) but never really noticed any less hair fallout I've also been on finasteride for about 6 years which helped but never stopped it I tried dutasteride for a few months but it KILLED my sex drive and seemed to work less? or could've been stress from the lack of sex drive I guess too, I might give it a go I'd be interested to see if many other people do this, if it works well I can give the finasteride the boot because I'm sure in the years to come scientists will find dht actually is super important and blocking it was a really bad idea the human body has a reason for everything.