Lose Your Hair Or Your Erection?

Here's a guy who seems to be doing almost everything right: lots of exercise, healthy diet and no drugs. But despite all that, he's still losing his hair. Is excess DHT to blame? What is DHT, anyway? Read on, get the facts, and find out what you can do.

Case #: 775

Concern：

I am only 28 years old and I am experiencing one problem that is really bugging me, rapid hair loss. I lift weights and play basketball so I am in pretty good shape. I don’t' smoke or drink or eat unhealthy. I also don't take any medications.. I don't think the hair loss is genetic because my father has a head full of hair as well as my 4 other brothers. I was told that the reason for my hair loss was because of DHT. But without DHT would my penis shrink?

The questions I wanted to ask are:

1. How do I stop DHT from furthering my hair loss.

1. Is there anything that will help me grow my hair yet keep my penis the same size?

Please help me out, thanks!

Discussion：

DHT, short for “dihydrotestosterone”, is a “supercharged” form of testosterone. Just the right amount is what maintains your secondary male characteristics like facial hair and deeper voice. Too much will result in decreased head-hair, too little will result in loss of body hair but your head-hair (and penis size) will be unaffected.

What Is This “DHT” stuff?

For the record, the only time in your entire life that too little DHT will have any effect on the size of your penis is before your birth. If, during pre-natal development, your body had not maintained particular levels of DHT, your penis and would have remain concealed within your lower pelvis and your parents would likely have raised you as a girl until you hit puberty. At that time, your testosterone production would have increased, essentially “turning you into a boy” (though, in reality, you had been a male all along). Rest assured that this condition (known as “pseudohermaphroditism”) does not naturally occur in adult male humans.

What Could Be Causing It?

Believe it or not, the culprit could be excessive stress. Specifically: exercising without allowing your body enough time to cool down in between sessions, though too much sex and/or masturbation could contribute very strongly to the overall diagnosis of excess stress.

Why Does Stress Thin My Hair?

Your body normally maintains particular levels of “stress hormones” in your bloodstream. You may have heard of one called “cortisol”, which increases blood-sugar levels as well as metabolizing fats and proteins to give you a quick, short-term boost in energy. The problem is that it also suppresses your immune system, so it's definitely something you should reserve for emergencies and avoid keeping too much of it in your bloodstream for longer than you absolutely have to.

Another is prostaglandin E-2, which normally makes blood vessels expand (which is why it's technically known as a “vasodilator”); when your body has too much of it, it can cause inflammation in several important organs like your prostate, as well as the blood vessels that supply your hair follicles. DHT is not usually categorized as a stress hormone, but high DHT levels almost invariably leads to a diagnosis of “excess stress”.

Your liver has the ability to filter out excess quantities of these and many other substances that your body produces. You impair that ability when you keep the production levels high, and do not allow your liver the time to do its filtering, nor the nutrients it requires to repair and refuel itself.

What's A Good Way To Relieve This Stress?

Sex with a partner or masturbation are tempting answers, but using either or both for tension-release will only accelerate your hair loss and lead to additional health problems. Optimally, you should go without any sex for at least three solid weeks, but any significant reduction in your sexual activities will only help reduce your stress levels.

You should also cut back on the frequency or intensity of your physical workouts for a while, as the high levels of testosterone your body naturally generates in response to such things is contributing to your hair loss. Your health-care provider will have several options for you to pursue, so please be sure to keep him or her informed about your situation and any changes in it.

There is also an all-natural herbal supplement that you might try while you explore these other options. (SEE: Herbal Formula for Severe Hair Loss) It's designed to address various aspects that all contribute to your hair loss.

Please note that, just as the process of losing your hair took a long time to reach that end result, the process of reversing your hair loss will also take time. Relax, cut down on the stressors on your life, and give the herbal supplement time to work on all the different factors that are preventing your hair from regaining its normal thick growth.