Hair loss?

[Terra]

Okay, maybe i'm being parinoid. Everytime I take a shower or brush my hair, I keep getting hairs that go with it. Not alot, but constently. Am I losing my hair or just being hyper sensitive?

[RebeccaFog]

   I can't tell you if you are losing your hair, but I can tell you that you can never be hypersensitive enough when it comes to the possibility of losing your hair. Hair loss is the evil center of most of my GID.

[sarahb]

This happens to me too! I wonder if it has something to do with HRT, although I heard it's supposed to STOP hair loss (at least the male pattern baldness aspect).

[seldom]

This happens to me too! I wonder if it has something to do with HRT, although I heard it's supposed to STOP hair loss (at least the male pattern baldness aspect).

It is supposed to stop it.  Also in over 50% of the cases there is full regrowth (this is highly dependent on age whether it happens or not).  At the very least hair loss stops.

[Keira]

If you hair is long, losing the normal 50-80 hair that is normal to lose each day can be shocking. When they're short, they have a tendency to fall off the scalp before you brush them, so you don't notice as much; when they're long, they tend to get held on the head by the other hairs and only come off when brushing them.

IF you're not on HRT, just to be sure that this is not the case you can take finesteride (Fincar in generic form). Its dirt cheap (a few dollars per month if you buy the Fincar pills and cut them to small pieces) and has nothing to do with HRT, so there's no real limitation to being prescribed this stuff. It will stop any hair loss you may or may not have and the side effects are few and quite benign. Dutasteride is a more efficient version of finesteride, but its more expensive ($1 dollar a day if you buy them online); you only really need it if you have a high sensibility to DHT (you start losing substantial ammount of hair by your early 20's) or you've lost a great deal of hairline already.

But, if you want to make sure before taking medication, you could go to a dermatologist and they'll get a test on your scalp to see if your suffering from pattern baldness and where the problem is (if there is any). Sometimes, there are systemic reasons to lose hair not related to male pattern baldness at all (a diet low in proteins or iron for example).

Anyway, its always better to keep the hair you got instead of trying to get them back. Now, with the current medications, there's no need for most to lose their hair prior to HRT, or even on it.

[seldom]

Keira, I was explained in detail by my endo why this it is not necessary to do anything with finesteride if you are on HRT, even if there is a DHT sensitivity.  I could go through the long explanation, but when it gets down to it is Spiro and estrogen are both more effective at blocking it than finesteride.  In fact Spiro is the medication used for women to block DHT, which is where there is extremely high sensitivity. It is also the drug of last result for men who have issues with hair loss. Of course the reluctance with men is for pretty clear reasons. I think I explained this all before.  Deja Vu.

I asked my doctor about this.  He flat out said finesteride would be a waste of money.  He was very good at explaing the science behind it as well. (Basically Spiro blocks DHT as well as T when it gets down to it.  If you are reducing T production you block DHT production. Spiro blocks the production of both. Also Estrogen fights off DHT as well.)

[Kate]

IF you're not on HRT, just to be sure that this is not the case you can take finesteride...

Is finasteride worth it if you ARE on HRT? That's what I cannot figure out. Sure, HRT drops the T levels, and therefore indirectly the DHT as well. But does a DHT-blocker help too? Or is it redundant at that point?

~Kate~

[seldom]

Kate.
Spiro blocks both DHT and T.  Finesteride is redundant and unnecessary. I will say it was added because of undo influence by drug companies on doctors, it is the type of perscription marketing which is pervasive.   I see a doctor who sees quite a few trans patients at a GLBT clinic.  He has no reason to be dishonest, drug companies are not allowed to enter it to do marketing.  The clinic is run for the best interest of trans patients both in terms of cost and health and safety. 

Finesteride got into HRT regimines because there was marketing for the drug (proprecia and proscar).  It added an expensive drug to a cheap hormone regiment.  It was a way to exploit trans women and open up their pocket books.

Both Spiro and Estrogen are generic.  Finesteride was not when it was added. 

[Keira]

The initial question was by someone who's HRT status I wasn't sure Amy.
Everywhere else, I did not mention HRT status at all.

Pre-HRT. Any TS should right away use a DHT blocker, I wish It had existed earlier, I would still have by temple hair and a slightly lower hairline.

[seldom]

I think that all depends when one is starting!
If its within 3 months...well I would argue the worth, finesteride takes quite awhile to stop hair loss.  6 months on average.

[Kaitlyn]

Hairs fall out naturally, lots of them. It's hard to notice when they're short, but as they get longer, it becomes apparent that you're shedding them all the time! So it depends. When I take a shower, sometimes I get enough to clog the drain a bit because my hair is thick and reasonably long.

So... if its only a bit at a time, and your hair is a little long, I don't think that's too unusual.

[Keira]

OK, since I was challenged on this :-).

This is a study on binding of various anti-androgens to receptors.
"The Use of Human Skin Fibroblasts to Obtain Potency Estimates of Drug Binding to Androgen Receptors", Eil and Edelson, J Clin Endocrinol Metab 59:51, 1984. Its old, but Spiro's been around forever it was studied back then.

He we learn that spiro has a great affinity to bind to DHT receptors, but it does not bind as well as DHT itself. The affinity of DHT=100% and the affinity of spiro is 66%.

Spiro of course as the effect of eventually cutting T at the source (the testes).

So, if your T is low enought that conversion of T to DHT doesn't produce a high level in hair tissues, spiro will have blocked many of the DHT receptors before DHT even gets to them.

But, some amount of DHT WILL GET THROUGH to the receptors, and depending on the sensibility of your hair to DHT and how miniaturized it is, it will continue affecting the hair.

So, if you had not much thinning prior to HRT, stopping all DHT will not be that usefull. But, for someone who's had major thinning (say that they will go bald by 30 if they don't arrest it), I think its usefull. For others, generic finesteride in an effective dosage (a small fraction of Fincar pill) is so cheap ($50 a year!!) that the companies are sure not making money off it. The worse side effect of using DHT blockers are breast enlargement and loss of male libido... LOL, I don't care.

Anyway, I'm taking it and I've looked all my hormones so much that I should apply to a medical school or teach it. 

[Kimberly]

If it is of any consolation I have always lost strands after brushing. An, to my dismay, I still do.

An I've yet to go bald, so ^*shrug* I guess, I am not really sure.

[Autumn]

Stress contributes. Or if you go on a crash diet and throw your body into crisis... your body stops feeding your hair to preserve life functions, and subsequently, it falls out. When I was starving myself with like 200-600 calories a day for a couple of weeks while suffering from massive amounts of stress, I lost globs of it. It'll be another year before the recovery from that is noticeable. The only thing at the time that mattered to me more than a slim waist was not losing my hair. Heh.

[Terra]

Hmm, thanks all.

Most likely it is from my poor diet as i'm trying to extend my budget. Still trying to get protein but I usually only eat twice a day and usually its ramen. Guess i'm just sensitve to hair loss, heh. 

[almost,angie]

  When i started growing my hair at 16 my bangs and the top of my head just stayed at about 7".  Giving up on my nasty looking thining hair I shaved it and had colored mohawks till I was 26 then I gave up on that because everybody had one and did nothing and that resulted in a mop of dreadlocks. LOL

  Now I just shave it and am thinking it`s so thin i will just need transplants. I`m not on HRT yet and don`t know how much will come back. Do you? Being punk is very hair damaging ,  Angie >

[seldom]

I am about two years older angie.
I am hoping HRT works as well.

But I did not start to have thinning hair till I was 21/22.  It did not really start to go until I was 25. 

Now its really bad.
I just started HRT though, so here is hoping for the best. 

[LynnER]

between the drungs, alachahol, punkrock lifestyle and family... my hairloss was incredable by the age of 22/23... my receding hairline was perfect for me to keep a mowhawk but nothing else... just shave everything thats not between the strips of skin LoL....

It started growing back rappidly not when I cleaned up, but when I got the heck out of my familys house...  it grew back mostly on its own 3 or 4 inches, 1 inch due to hrt and now I just have an inch or so left to regrow... thists being difficult though cuz its allw anting to fall back out again due to haveing to live with and deal with my family again  ...

ON the hair comeing out in the broush though... Ive allmost allways had long hair and allmost allways have hairs that come off in the brush...

[Terra]

Well I talked to one of the gg on staff at my youth center. She says that it is perfectly normal to lose about a hundred hairs a day due to regrowth. Girls just tend to notice it more since their longer hair gets caught in the rest and dosn't fall away. Boys get this too but they tend to have shorter hair. So I guess its normal to always find those hairs in the hairbrush, afterall, that's what the csi teams use and all those shampoo commercials show for getting stronger hair right?

[almost,angie]

I am about two years older angie.
I am hoping HRT works as well.

But I did not start to have thinning hair till I was 21/22.  It did not really start to go until I was 25. 

Now its really bad.
I just started HRT though, so here is hoping for the best. 

Oh ya I`m 36 now.
And still a part of the punk seen. It`s my family