Ultimate Hair Secrets A Guide to Stopping Hair Loss Dead In Its Tracks and Regrowing a Full Head of Hair

Hairsecrets.orgby Dr. Richard Armitage, Trichologist

1st Edition

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Printed in the United States of America

First Printing: March 2013

SAMPLE INTRODUCTORY COPY

Guarantee: Not a single product, brand, entity, or otherwise, has endorsed nor paid for placement

nor recommendations outlined in this book. All products recommended are solely for your benefit

based on the results of Hairsecrets.org’s research and testing.

Disclaimer: This book is for research purposes only, and should not be considered medical advice.

Always consult your physician before undertaking any radically new changes to your existing health

regimen.

DEDICATIONTo all of you out there concerned about your hair, fear not. Your hair is your strength; your identity. You can and will have the full, strong, beautiful head of hair you desire. It is only a matter of two things: carefully reading this book, and patience.

.................................................................................Introduction 7

......................................................................................................Getting Started 7

....................................................................Sources of Hair Loss 9

...........................................A Primer on Hair Loss, Medicine, and Supplements 9

..................................................................................................Threshold Issues 13

.....................................................................DHT: The Main Culprit, Or Is It? 15

....................................................................Prostaglandins, The Miracle Cure? 17

.....................................................................Male and Female Pattern Baldness 18

.......................................................................................Seborrhoeic Dermatitis 18

...........Medical, Environmental, Nutritional, and Prescription-Related Causes 20

....................................................................Dealing With Stress 24

............................................................................................Stress Is The Enemy 24

..............................................................................................Catalysts For Stress 25

....................................................................................Focusing On The Present 25

.................................................................................Reprogramming Thoughts 26

..............................................................Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind 26

.........................................................The Final Word On Stress / Good Habits 26

.....................................................................................Nutrition 28

.................................................................................An Overview Of Nutrition 28

.................................................................................................Synergistic Foods 28

.........................................................................Products Review 32

........................................................................................................Supplements 32

....................................................................................Prescription Medications 33

................................................................................Hair Loss-Specific Products 34

..............................................................................................Vitamins In Depth 35

..........................................................................Exercise Secrets 36

..........................................................................Androgenic Impact of Exercise 36

..............................................................................................Anaerobic Exercise 37

..................................................................................................Aerobic Exercise 38

....................Putting It All Together: The HairSecrets Program 40

........................................................................Time To Get Down To Business 40

..........................................................................................................Preparation 40

........................................................................................The HairSecrets Stack 41

..................................................The Ultimate Scalp Exercise For Hair Growth 44

................................................................The HairSecrets Daily Routine: 1-2-3 46

.........................................................................................................Styling Tips 48

...................................................................................................When In Doubt 49

IntroductionI have had quite a long, strange, personal history with hair. I was born with a full head of

bright, straight red hair. As a child, my hair turned bright blonde, and then when I became a teenager, my hair suddenly became dark brown and turned into giant curly ringlets. It was quite an evolution. It was this stage that really made me start paying attention to my hair. People with curly hair have to pay attention to their hair; it won’t just fix itself–you have to fix it. Otherwise, it will take on a mind of its own.

Fast forward to my college years. As stress ran high, I began to noticed a lot of hair shedding, and then experienced alopecia areata, a condition in which bald spots form on the scalp, usually in small circular patches. Having had my hair for all of my life as such a large part of my identity, I naturally freaked out. But let’s fast forward again (I will come back and fill in the details; just wait). Now in my late 30s, I have a full head of hair, a lower hairline than I did as a teenager, not a sign in sight of a thinning hair or a nanometer of a bald spot. I have a massive head of hair that is the envy of my friends at school reunions and, frankly, a crowning asset to my career. As unfortunate as it is, Harvard Business School studies still show that people doing the hiring tend to hire the more attractive candidate over a less attractive one when all other things are equal. Not to mention, outward appearance is generally accepted in all fields of medicine as an indicator of overall health.

So, are you starting to lose your hair? Afraid you might? Already lost a bucketload down the shower drain and had to unclog it a few times? Does hair loss run in the family? Do you hear stories about your mother’s grandfather’s hair and this-and-that? Have you rubbed minoxidil into your head every day, straining your eyeballs up into the mirror, counting the follicles, unsure day-to-day whether you’re gaining or losing hair, and constantly stressing out about it? Are you so stressed out about losing your hair, that you’re starting to worry that the worrying itself is causing you to lose hair?

Fear not. Regardless of the cause of your hair loss, you can rest at ease. This book is your friend. It is going to be your guide to stopping hair loss and getting your full head of hair back. I wrote this book as a medical researcher second, and as someone who lost their hair, and fully regained it, first. I am here to help.

GETTING STARTEDBefore you get started, I want you to do just two things:

• Stop everything you are doing to deal with your hair loss right now.

• Put your hair completely out of your mind for now. Stop thinking about your hair, products, the mirror, checking your scalp, so on and so forth. There will be time for that later. For right now, put it all out of your mind, focus on the present, and know that hope is now.

Chapter 1

Sources of Hair LossA PRIMER ON HAIR LOSS, MEDICINE, AND SUPPLEMENTS

Hair loss is a little bit like the beginning of the universe; we have a decent idea about how and approximately when it began, but we aren’t quite sure why it happened; exactly what the reasons were. There are many books written on the topic of how humans became mostly hairless (as compared to our primate counterparts and other animals), and why despite this we retained the long hair on our heads, but that is a topic for another book. Suffice it to say, research in the field has yielded decent results in the past century, and in the past decade, our understanding has exponentially increased (along with the overall progression of science and technology in the civilized world in general1).

Andre Agassi

Photo by Chris Josefy

1 Eliezer Yudkowsky, 1996 "Staring at the Singularity”

In a study by Muscarella and Cunningham2, males and females viewed six male models with differing levels of cranial hair (full head of hair, receding, and bald). The participants rated each combination on 32 adjectives related to social perceptions. Males with bald or receding hair were rated as being older than those who had a full head of hair. Baldness was also associated with more social maturity. So, big surprise... Having less hair is a sign of age. But a lot has changed since man first walked the Earth. Think about it; by the time some men start losing their hair now, they would have already lived a full life several thousand years ago (when the median lifespan was around age 30). The Japanese, whom I will return to later in this book, were forced to wear their hair in certain styles during historical periods to match given social ranks, and this largely accounts for the wild and novel hairstyles they pride themselves upon today. In short, people are living longer, and it’s now possible to be middle-aged and even well into one’s golden years, with a full head of hair. It merely takes following the steps outlined in this book, and patience.

This having been said, it is important to understand that there are many factors in play when it comes to treating and understanding hair loss. The one I want to focus on before beginning our survey of reasons for hair loss is the process by which medical treatments become allowable to the mainstream public. In the United States, Congress has abdicated the responsibility for medical and drug testing and allowance to the FDA, the Food and Drug Administration.

At any given time, there is an astounding number of chemical compounds in existence, many being studied and/or tested in closed studies, which may yield incredible benefits and therapeutic values for given health problems. The problem, however, is that in order for these compounds to ever reach your hands as a commercial product (whether prescription or over-the-counter), the drug must undergo many, many studies and trials, and then must undergo more trials, and even then, a highly complex playing field must be navigated before a drug can reach the market. According to a recent Forbes article3, a single clinical trial can cost $100 million at the high end, and the combined cost of manufacturing and clinical testing for some drugs has added up to $1 billion dollars. Furthermore, fewer than 1 in 10 medicines that start being tested in human clinical trials succeed in making it to the market. But perhaps most importantly, in the United States, it takes an average of 12 years for an experimental drug to travel from the laboratory to your medicine cabinet. And don’t even get me started on the USPTO and the US patent laws as they apply to new medicines; they are increasingly problematic and in serious need of an overhaul.

So what is my point here? My point is that, 1) the state of what is available in the market is never in sync with what we actually know in the science/research world, and 2) if you’ve heard of

2 Muscarella, F. & Cunningham, M.R. (1996). "The evolutionary significance and social perception of male pattern baldness and facial hair.". Ethology and Sociobiology 17 (2): 99–117. doi:10.1016/0162-3095(95)00130-1

3 http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2012/02/10/the-truly-staggering-cost-of-inventing-new-drugs/, retrieved 2-28-13

some hot new miracle drug that’s been discovered, don’t hold your breath. The best thing that can happen is that it makes it to the market in 10 years instead of 12, and that’s if the company holding the patent decides its worth pursuing, and if it achieves FDA approval. Do you really want the fate of your hair left in the hands of this industrial-governmental complex?

Thankfully, in the United States (and to similar degrees, in the United Kingdom and other countries around the world), laws are in effect that allow supplements to be sold without undergoing the same process that pharmaceutical drugs go through4. However, this is a double-edged sword. Because these products are subject to next-to-no regulation, any claims their respective manufacturers make are not verified by any authority, legal or otherwise. Basically, anyone can say just about anything about a supplement and sell it to anyone willing to believe the claims. As a result, it’s safe to say that there is a tremendous amount of junk products in the supplements world, and that’s true of hair growth/hair loss products, too.

“All Natural”

Let me get straight to the point: in the world of food, supplements, and hair products, “all natural” means nothing. It has no legal definition, nowhere in the US legal code, nor in the FDA. Anything can be called “all natural”; it has nothing to do with “organic” (which does require certification and analysis), or even quality, at all. It is purely a marketing term. So ignore it whenever you see it.

Another problem with the hands-off nature of supplements, perhaps the one most important to take away from this book, is that while a bottle may indeed contain what it claims to contain (e.g., a certain herb or chemical compound), unless the bottle states that the thing in question (typically an extract) is standardized, there is no way to know the strength or potency of what you are getting. This can be dangerous in the case of herbal supplements, for example, that affect blood pressure, or are used in the treatment of cancer or other terminal diseases. Without standardizing an extract, the actual available amount of the usable form of the supplement could be zero, or it could be extremely high, and almost certainly, it will vary from bottle to bottle, and even from pill-to-pill. This is not an effective way to treat ailments.

4 "US Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994". Fda.gov. 2008-10-15. Retrieved 2012-12-05.

Checking for Standardization in Supplements

To make sure a standard is standardized, first check the label. In fact, always check the label of anything you consume; it’s just a smart practice. Look beside the ingredients (especially those labeled “extract”), and if you see something like “standardized for 5%”, perhaps with another word after it, this is a good sign. The aforementioned caveats apply; though–it’s still a claim that’s unverified. To follow up, a really great product will not only be standardized, but will have a seal of approval from an independent verification authority, meaning another company has tested and verified the product(s) to meet the claims made as to standardization.

Before we leave the topic of supplements and hair products in general, I will mention that the FDA has followed up in recent years by implementing a good manufacturing practices (GMP) policy which assures better labeling, and the Dietary Supplement and Nonprescription Drug Consumer Protection Act, which requires manufacturers to submit to the FDA reports of serious adverse events involving their products. However, based on audits completed by the FDAs compliance division in 2011 and 2012, it was estimated that nearly 70% of dietary supplement manufacturers are currently not compliant with GMP. Suffice it to say, use caution when purchasing supplements, and that very much includes any and all products that claim to regrow your hair which are not pharmaceutical drugs subject to the FDA testing process. We will discuss in detail which products do and don’t work later in this book, but I recommend that for now, you drop your latest miracle hair-grow product of the month and continue reading.

THRESHOLD ISSUES

Before you go any farther, there are a few things worth mentioning right now. Some activities, products, etc., are so bad for your hair, that they should be stopped immediately.

Inflammation is The Enemy

As a general matter, inflammation in the body is a bad thing. A very bad thing. It’s caused by injuries and physical activity that is high-impact (hard on the joints and connective tissues), but it’s also caused internally by eating the wrong foods, by certain nutritional deficiencies, and by stress, among other things. There’s often a golden rule in many areas of medicine: “If you kill the inflammation, you kill the problem.”

So, right now, if you are doing or using any of the following, STOP:

• Braiding, dreadlocks, and other styles that pull the hair – These styles put pressure right on the follicle, causing damage and inflammation (leading to traction alopecia). A sure fire way to damage your scalp and lose your hair. If you must pull your hair back in a pony tail for employment or other reasons, do so as loosely as possible.

• Ironing, straightening products, bleaching, other strong chemicals – while more damaging to the hair itself (causing it to appear thinner), some products, especially those applied directly to the scalp (for example, to straighten African-American hair) are highly damaging to the dermis (the skin) and should not be used.

• SDS, SLS, and SLES - Sodium dodecyl sulfate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, and Sodium laureth sulfate, as well as some derivatives, are commonly found in cosmetic products and shampoos. Many people are sensitive to these products, and they have been shown to cause irritation of the skin. In addition, when found in leave-in products, they can possess an oily property, exacerbating seborrhoeic dermatitis and generally causing the hair to appear thinner. We will discuss which styling products and techniques should be used to maximize hair health and appearance later in this book. Tip: somewhat paradoxically, most commercial preparations of Minoxidil (brand name: Rogaine) contain SLS. As we will discuss later on, Minoxidil, despite its fact-spinning claims, is not among Hairsecrets’ recommended treatments for hair loss.

• Stress – while there is no quick fix for stress, I want to emphasize that numerous recent studies have shown that stress not only increases inflammation throughout the body, but the link between emotional/mental pain, and physical pain, is now stronger than ever. Simply put, studies show that if you take Tylenol shortly after someone says something that hurts your feelings, you will actually feel better. The body’s pain system is highly integrated. The more quickly you can remove stress from your life, the more quickly you can get at the underlying cause of inflammation and hair loss. I will reiterate now

what I said in the introduction: whether you fold your hair back to check your scalp every morning in the mirror, or sit in front of the computer for hours every night reading about hair loss on hair loss forums, now is the time to stop. Trichotillomania is an actual condition of hair loss caused by compulsive pulling and bending of the hairs. Sometimes the answers to complex problems are the most simple ones. Take your partner out on a nice date, go play with your children, or go practice your favorite hobby. “Hair time” should now be devoted to this book and its exercises and advice, as they are the most researched, most tested, most effective advice you will receive, and second-guessing yourself can only contribute to stress.

DHT: THE MAIN CULPRIT, OR IS IT?

By now you’ve most certainly heard much about DHT. It is the most-mentioned, most-talked about, most-advertised buzzword in all of the hair loss world. It is an androgen, meaning it binds to androgen receptors in the body, and it causes the development of body hair, facial hair, deepened voice, and is a contributing factor to male pattern baldness and BPH (benign prostate hyperplasia). And while DHT may be all these things, it has proven time and time again to be far too complex to isolate and treat in a logical way that would stop hair loss and regrow hair. As all the medical literature on DHT prepends: “While the entire genetic process of male pattern baldness is not completely understood...” Case in point: 5α-reductase inhibitors such as Dutasteride and Finasteride (Propecia), along with a host of so-called “DHT Blocker” supplements, act to effectively inhibit the production of the enzyme that produces DHT. Yet, Propecia has shown only weak efficiency overall, on average. In a select few individuals, it has worked very well, yet in most people, it has worked poorly, working out to a below-average overall effectiveness. And, as will be discussed in detail later, these drugs have a host of side-effects, many of which have proven to be permanent, leading some countries to issue black-label warnings against their use, or even ban them outright.

So why then, if DHT is known to be responsible for causing baldness, does simply blocking it not cure baldness? Because chemistry is complex, and the human body is complex. And hair science is complex, too! And most importantly, everyone is different. We all have different genes. Our ancestors evolved in many different ways, in many different parts of the world, for many different reasons. What I’m getting at here, may call for an illustration. Have you ever noticed how some professional bodybuilders are bald, and others have full heads of hair? I’m talking about the guys who compete in Mr. Olympia. The reason I mention these guys specifically is that it’s no secret that they don’t get that big naturally; they use a massive cocktail regimen of muscle-growth-inducing drugs, not least of which is Testosterone and many potent

derivatives of it, which of course convert to DHT. Thus, they make a perfect example for why there is more to the overall equation of hair loss than just DHT. Without a doubt, their bodies are jacked full of hormones, converting this way and that, and plenty of DHT is in the mix; and it’s there for good reason. It’s actually required for them to grow larger, not to mention DHT interacts with estrogen in a way that keeps mens’ estrogen levels in check (were you aware of that)?

So one school of thought is that, through evolution and genetics, the hair follicles themselves actually possess different interactions and sensitivities to DHT and other chemicals. This is why some guys can have tons of DHT and have a full head of hair, and others can have only small amounts and still lose their hair. Furthermore, the full, complex, biochemical state our bodies are in at any given time, attempting to attain homeostasis, modulates and affects how, when, and where the follicles react to DHT and other chemicals in the body. And we haven’t even gotten to environmental factors yet; if you live in a big city with lots of pollution, consider how many thousands of other chemical reactions are occurring in your body at any given moment!

Another factor is the blood plasma level of DHT over time. As we will discuss in the Exercise section, not all exercise is created equal when it comes to hair loss. Certain things that we do (or don’t do) may create rises in DHT levels that last a very short time or a very long time. Furthermore, certain activities may also raise levels of other chemical compounds, such as SHBG (sex hormone-binding globulin), a chemical which protects against the effects of DHT, or 3AAG, a marker of DHT metabolism rate. As you can see, a discussion of DHT quickly becomes more complex than what the average site on the internet wants to sell you.

Regardless, DHT may be a problem, but it is not the be-all, end-all of hair loss, and the search for the holy grail, some novel way to “block DHT”, is not the answer, at least not in and of itself. Rather, we must first attack the fundamental, underlying problems that are causing the hair follicles to be responsive to DHT, treat those issues, and then treat a host of other issues that impact hair health which go far beyond DHT, all of which will be discussed in this book.

PROSTAGLANDINS, THE MIRACLE CURE?

Prostaglandins are lipid compounds derived enzymatically from fatty acids. They have a variety of biochemical and physiological effects in general, including hormonal effects. It was recently discovered that a particular prostaglandin, prostaglandin D(2) (PGD2) was highly elevated in the scalps of bald people5. Furthermore, during normal follicle cycling in mice, PGD2 levels increase immediately preceding the regression phase of the follicle, suggesting an inhibitory effect on hair growth. The study showed that PGD2 inhibited hair growth in explanted human hair follicles.

So you might be thinking, if we’ve isolated a new compound whose inhibition would be more effective in preventing hair loss than simply blocking DHT, isn’t it simply a matter of blocking the production of this compound? In fact, PGD2 inhibitors (or “blockers”) exist today. The problem is that they are formulated (and approved) for the treatment of allergic rhinitis, asthma, and other inflammatory disorders. Thus, the drugs are neither approved for, nor produced in a form applicable for, hair loss treatment. In other words, an asthma inhaler won’t help your hair; it’s not a topical treatment with a dermal delivery system. Even more unfortunate is that as of today, there are zero FDA clinical trials ongoing for PGD2 inhibitors as hair loss treatments. Thus, a pharmaceutical PGD2 hair loss product is at minimum, 10+ years away from the market; probably 15 years or more. However, there is hope!

Three readily available food products are available which have great influence on inhibition of prostaglandins. They are:

• Curcumin – an extract from Turmeric.

• Mangosteen – a fruit; it’s extract is sold as a dietary supplement.

• Pomegranate juice – fresh juice is ideal; but extract will work as well.

Continue reading; in the nutrition section, we will list the specific products we reviewed for standardization and explain how and why they work to inhibit PGD2 and promote hair growth!

5 Garza LA, Liu Y, Yang Z, Alagesan B, Lawson JA, Norberg SM, Loy DE, Zhao T, Blatt HB, Stanton DC, Carrasco L, Ahluwalia G, Fischer SM, FitzGerald GA, Cotsarelis G. “Prostaglandin D2 inhibits hair growth and is elevated in bald scalp of men with androgenetic alopecia.” Sci Transl Med. 2012 Mar 21;4(126):126ra34

MALE AND FEMALE PATTERN BALDNESS

Androgenic alopecia, or male pattern baldness (MPB)/female pattern baldness (FPB) is responsible for hair loss in many people. While many websites define MPB as responsible for the “vast majority” of hair loss in men, recent research has indicated otherwise. Yes, when men lose their hair, it is most likely going to be in the male pattern, but the MPB definition and theory alone simply point to DHT, which was discussed in the previous section.

SEBORRHOEIC DERMATITIS

Senorrheic dermatitis, often responsible for dandruff, is actually a cause of baldness that is often overlooked and not often covered on hair loss sites. It causes reddening of the skin and flaking, and is caused by excessive sebum from the oil glands of the scalp. It is particularly common in people with oily skin or hair, acne, or psoriasis. If you think you may have an advanced case of seborrhoeic dermatitis, see your dermatologist, as the most effective treatment is usually a cocktail of prescription treatments that are beyond the scope of this book. However, it is worth nothing that if this condition is present, it is imperative that you get it cleared up first and foremost, so that your skin can heal. It is for this very reason that topical treatments for hair regrowth cannot reach the follicle. Once you have knocked out seborrhoeic dermatitis, your scalp will become responsive to hair regrowth treatments in general, so this is a threshold issue.

That’s just a small introduction to the full eBook. The full version contains a tremendous amount of information. This was just a start. To learn about all the real sources of hair loss, nutritional must-haves, exercise programs for hair regrowth, the secret scalp exercise to restore your scalp to its youthful age, as well as the HairSecrets Systemic and Topical Stacks and the Daily 1-2-3 routine, download the full version of the eBook now, from:

www.hairsecrets.org

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