How to identify Fake and Scammy Hair Loss Products or Services ?

In this post, I have purposefully avoided taking names of particular companies or brands except one.

  1. Look at their ad

Now, in this photo, you don’t know whether it’s shown for representation purpose or is it real transformation with this oil. End user doesn’t know and because end user is usually naive, he/she believes this photo as a Testimonial. 

Many would click the AD because they would see this photo and believe they are going to see this kind of transformation with this Oil. If they are using photos of a real person in the ad who have seen the results, then that shouldn’t really be a problem

In this ad, they are not technically lying but they are not telling the truth either.

2. Clinical Trials but no proof

This company claims their product grew hair in 85% of them so where are those clinical studies ? Where are the links so I can read them ?

You won’t find them because there are NO clinical studies. 

There are many hair loss supplements which talk about their supplements passing clinical trials but if you don’t find them on their website, then their claims are totally fake and based and based on where they are located, they can get into deep trouble.

Where is the evidence of this ?

Here are supplements which actually did clinical trials. 

Here is one for Jigsaw Magnesium

http://www.jigsawhealth.com/scottsdale-magnesium-study/

Here is one for OptiMSM

https://www.optimsm.com/science/

3. Photos

I found this before after photo on one of the websites selling hair oil, so I just thought of doing reverse image search on person who posted the testimonial.

If it’s a product/service, if you see the photos, your job is to do reverse image search first.

Let’s do reverse image search
On Reverse image search, you will find this image is taken from Stock Photos website
Do you smell a RAT ?

4. Ways to contact them

NO Email

Try to find their email address. Have they given it somewhere or they are actively trying to hide it ? 

No Phone Number

Try to see if they have provided their phone number. If yes, call on it and see if anyone picks up the phone or respond to the message. Try it multiple times, if they respond to any of that or if you see automated voice message, then it’s time you should be careful. 

Fake Video Testimonials

It’s easy to figure out. From their body language, voice tone, face expressions. Some fake product developers hire actors to make it look like a genuine testimonial. I can figure out such testimonials from a mile away. You may not, so sometimes it’s better to trust your gut feeling. If you don’t feel right, don’t buy that product or service. 

Review

Fraud companies like these change their product names and company names to save themselves from Legal Action. 

Few other ways to spot SCAM or Fraud

Look at the customer service

See how they treat their customers, how they respond to their questions, how they address their questions/concerns, see their fulfilment service etc etc. 

Responding to emails

Ask them a question over email and see how long they did take to respond ? Use Boomerang to check if they actually read your mail or not. If they don’t, gently follow up with them. Email them 4-5 times over the period of few weeks, if they read emails but don’t respond back, then don’t purchase from them. 

Responding to Messages

If you have queries or questions or want help with after sales service, if they are hardly available to answer your questions, that’s a Red Flag. 

Responding to calls

Call them, preferably 3-5 times at different times, on different days. Give them some benefit of doubt. If they don’t call back or if they respond through other mode of communication, it’s another red flag.

5. Look at Refund service

See whether they actually refund or not, if yes, how much do they refund ? 

Ask them about refund. When do they provide refund ? How much refund do they provide ? On what criteria they provide refund ? 

Also check if they actually provide refund  or not, if yes, in how many days ? 

 It’s often tricky, difficult or time consuming but in order not to get scammed, you have to do the due diligence.. 

Some might have strong refund policy saying that if you follow this and do this and don’t see the results, we will give all the money back, some have very weak refund policy. 

If they have guts to give guarantee almost everyone in the market is terrified to give and if they actually live up to it…That’s indication of great product/service. 

(This is example of specific and strong guarantee, although it’s not from any hair loss product/service)

There are few things you can do to ensure you will not get scammed

  1. Email/Call/Ask for Trial if it’s oil/topical
  2. Check Person/Company on Google/Social Media, check for Complaint, Check Forum/Youtube
  3. Reference Check (from a trusted friend) or someone you can talk/chat/email/meet 
  4. Mystery Shop. Call them, email them and place an enquiry or order and see if you can manage to spot any suspicious behaviour. 
  5. Reverse Image Search : Whatever photos they give, always run reverse image search on various websites. If you find those photos on other websites, you got your answer. 
  6. Unverifiable Mentions (or Paid mentions) : See if the video testimonials or those who have been mentioned as Testimonials are real people or not. 
  7. Unverifiable Clinical Trials : If you don’t find any document verifying clinical results, then it’s a big SHAM. 
  8. Gut Feeling : Despite doing all due diligence, it’s still possible that you will get cheated by some clever machinations of evil fraudster, always trust your gut feelings. 

Diffuse Hair Loss : Get More Vitamin B6

When I was experimenting to regrow hairs, I was trying different foods, supplements. In April 2017, I get message from a reader. His friend recovered entire crown with ZMA. It’s a supplement which contains Zinc, Magnesium and Vitamin B6. It’s supplement usually taken by those who want to boost their performance in Gym Performance, increase Testosterone.

Naturally, I was curious. After trying Detumescence and Towel massage for 8 months along with Ray Peat inspired diet, there was no sign of improvement on my crown area with this diet. Frankly, I was ready to try anything.

Before, I try any supplement, I usually try to research more about it on Amazon, Youtube, Forums. I found more than 10 people who swore by ZMA to improve density of hair. Many of the reviews raved about Positive effects of ZMA on their sleep, energy level, mood. I was completely sold on trying this new magic supplement.

Basically, ZMA has Zinc Aspartate and Monomethionine, Magnesium Asparate, Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine HCL)

For first few days, I experienced more stamina, more energy, deep sleep (I had in years) and within a week, middle 2/3rd of my hairs started growing. I checked it multiple times to confirm I wasn’t dreaming so I continued it further. I could still see continued improvement in middle 2/3rd area.

I couldn’t believe that I was seeing improvement. Many people also started messaging me about their improvement. Some people just wanted to wait for some more time.

I was in Heaven.

And then came a real shocker. I didn’t pay much attention to it earlier. I was experiencing more and more bowel movements up to 6 times in a day. Initially, I thought, this would eventually normalize after a week, but unfortunately it didn’t.

Then some others also started complaining about it so I started researching more about it. I realized it it’s Magnesium Aspartate causing this problem.

I was really seeing the improvement, but I didn’t want to get stuck up in washroom all the time. Every time, I would go anywhere, this fear would haunt me. So I had to stop it after a month and the problem vanished after that.

But there were few others who still continued despite problems and there were others who were not facing any problems continued too. Not everyone saw improvement with it.

However, that was the time, I started getting before and after pictures from people

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

And there few more and I also got several messages from people who could see the improvement but they didn’t have any before and after photos to share it with me.

This convinced me that it was Zinc that was helping. Was I right in assuming Zinc is doing this ? You will know it soon.

I started reading a lot of literature on Zinc in connection with hair loss.

Most of the studies I found were on Alopecia Areata and Diffuse hair loss. Here is one : Oral Zinc Sulphate in Treatment of Alopecia Areata.

But their before after photos looked dodgy. Here are they

I have no idea if they accidentally put the same photo or it was exactly how it looked like 3 months on Oral Zinc Sulphate.

But there was another study : Zinc Deficiency Associated with Hypothyroidism: An Overlooked Cause of Severe Alopecia

Here are the photos

This was very impressive. However, it didn’t look like normal hair loss. Especially at the back but still I saw tremendous improvement in her frontal hairs.

And I also found several evidence on forums like this one

6 Months on nothing but Zinc with Amazing results

Before

After.

Because this ZMA thing worked well for me. I decided to start Zinc supplements because it didn’t have side effects of excessive bowel movements.

I bought Zinc Picolinate (as it is most bio-avaialble form)

I started taking it every 2-3 days because dose was much higher than RDA. I took it for more than 3-4 weeks with zero improvement. Instead whenever, I used to consume Zinc without food, I would feel so nauseous that I would almost throw up but it worked well with Proteins/Fats.

I thought it was just me not seeing any improvement. Many people I was working with Zinc alone supplement, didn’t see any results at all except one who saw elongation of hairs along hairline.

In fact, including me, many started experiencing side effects like premature grey hairs. First of all, it was not producing any results for hair and on top of that, it was giving me and others premature grey hairs so I decided to ditch it and started researching on reversing grey hair on youtube and I came across Morley Robbins Root Cause Protocol.

And then everything started making sense. After studying and implementing it, I revisited same study of a woman recovering from diffuse Hair Loss and I realized the mistake I made. If you closely read her report, you will know something

“Thyroid function tests were as follows: T3 70 ng/dl (normal 80-200), T4 2 mcg/dl (normal 4-12), and Thyroid Stimulating Hormone 64 IU/ml (normal 0.30-4.5). All routine investigations including antinuclear antibody profile were within normal limits, except for a low hemoglobin level of 9 g/dl.

Her plasma zinc level was estimated, which was 62 mcg/dl (normal 66-144 mcg/dl and optimal levels 90-150 mcg/dl)”

Low Plasma Zinc and Extremely Low Hemoglobin. It was not just Zinc deficiency but it was clear case of Excess Iron. It was Zinc deficiency created by Excess Iron not necessarily lack of Zinc in diet.

There is difference between absolute lack of Nutrient and Bio-availability of Nutrient.

Watch this Video “You are not Anemic”

What should be done in this case is not supplement more zinc, instead run Full Iron Panel Test (Serum iron, Transferin Saturation, Ferritin and Ceruloplasmin)

Giving Zinc supplement in such cases, shouldn’t be even done. Watch this video which explains Root Cause Protocol succinctly.

It’s purpose is to reduce Iron Load and make Zinc bio-available. If you supplement with Zinc (without being truly deficient) then it would further reinforce the symptoms of Excess Iron and Zinc deficiency.

It’s just like taking Iron supplement if you have low Hemoglobin or low Ferritin. It can help you in short term but can cause damage in the long run because true Iron deficiency caused by lack of Iron in diet is very rare.

Heavy metals like Arsenic was used to increase Hemoglobin which stimulates RBC production, but just because Arsenic improves Iron levels doesn’t mean one should use it.

Then I started researching why so many people including me got results with ZMA. I then thought it was Magnesium.

In Root Cause Protocol, Magnesium is the key mineral. I was using Transdermal Magnesium, Ionic Magnesium and Magnesium Glycinate, I saw improvement in my hairs not as dramatic as I saw with ZMA. I started analyzing others lab reports and recommended them to get magnesium through all the means including food. Some saw very good improvement with Root Cause Protocol but those who just used more Magnesium, saw improvement with hair loss and other health issues but not much improvement in density.

I realized I was missing something. Zinc and Magnesium didn’t create much difference. Now it was time to test Vitamin B6.

Vitamin B6 is co-factor for Zinc and Magnesium, it potentiates effects of both. Then my research again started.

I found interesting connections on Forums than in scientific literature.

There is very little evidence of Vitamin B6 in Scientific Literature.

Researchers found that this enzyme Pyridoxine 5 – phosphate oxidase increased in mice, as hair follicles progressed from the telogen (resting) phase to the anagen (active growth) phase. This supports the concept that the metabolism of vitamin B6 is a significant process in the formation of brand new hair shafts.

Vitamin B6 along with Zinc inhibited 5 alpha reductase activity better than just Zinc and Vitamin B6 was also used with diffuse alopecia in Women.

But if you check forums, there is plenty of evidence of Zix (Zinc, Vitamin B6 and other ingredients) There are several threads on hair loss forums/Reddit and many success stories.

Here is one thread : My Zix Experience – How B6 And Zinc Have Saved My Hair

The evidence was so huge that at one point, I thought of ordering Zix but then I thought before I use Zix, I should at least try Vitamin B6 first. I bought food based Vitamin B supplements which contained all B-Vitamins.

As soon as I started consuming it, within a week I again started seeing changes in my hairs as I had seen in my ZMA days. This improvement lasted for 3-4 weeks and then it slowed down.

Then when I started connecting the dots, the picture started becoming more and more clear.

If you look at what people do to restore their hairs. Eat/apply Onion/Garlic/Fenugreek Seeds/Black Cumin Seeds. Each of them have substantial amount of Vitamin B6.

I have personally used Eggs, Unfortified Nutritional Yeast (the richest source of Vitamin B6), stabilized rice bran.

And several people reported improvement in their density and thickness after using it.

Of course, these photos are not comparable but this person mentioned of significant improvement. There was another one who also saw improvement

Both of them saw improvement after adding Vitamin B6 (overall B vitamin rich foods) in their diet.

There are more examples here

So what’s the conclusion ?

If you have early cases of Pattern Hair loss and/or diffuse hair loss, you shouldn’t blindly supplement with Zinc. If you want to use Zinc, first check your Iron markers if they are perfect.

Rule out excess Iron creating Zinc deficiency symptoms. Then if you want to supplement with Zinc, use Wheatgrass (check labels to see if it has Zinc) or eat oysters and other Zinc rich foods. Don’t bother about Zinc supplementation.

If I were you, if I suspect I have true Zinc deficiency (not getting enough from food), I would first try foods and then get more Vitamin B6 from foods rather than supplementing with B complex or B-6 supplements.

Eat foods rich in Vitamin B6.

1. Grass Fed Beef (I don’t eat it, I suggest it to people who can eat it and are OK with it. If you are not OK for any reason, don’t eat it)

2. Unfortified Nutritional Yeast (Don’t eat Fortified, it’s good for nothing)

3. Salmon (Low smoked is better)

4. Pasture Raised Egg Yolks (4-6 a day)

Just because there are not enough studies doesn’t mean you should not try it. If you wait for studies for every food or nutrient, that will probably never happen.

Eat nutrient dense, organically grown, pesticide-chemical free real whole foods and test it for yourself. Don’t wait for double blind studies or any studies.

There is growing tendency among many so called “scientific” people who scour hair loss forums/reddit or read scientific papers. They are waiting for perfect studies before they try anything. Usually, these people don’t see any results or even if they see it, they can’t sustain them for long or without side effects.

Almost every study comes from Western Science is Reductionist. They study a single mineral or extract of something to study efficacy of something so that they can eventually patent something or sell their supplements. That’s the reason, there are very few studies on whole foods.

That’s why many so called “scientific” people are not going to try it because according to them if it’s not “Peer Reviewed” or “Double Blind” it’s not scientific.

I would use studies to educate myself about potential side effects (if any) and then instead of using a sole mineral or vitamin, I would instead find a whole food which contains that mineral/vitamin/enzyme/co-factor and try it for myself. This is better way to approach hair loss. Don’t ignore Anecdotal evidence. Use it for your own advantage but use it wisely, safely and with least side effects.

If you want help with understanding if you are truly Zinc deficient, I can help you do that by analyzing your lab reports and suggest you appropriate course of action. Check Hair Regrowth Blueprint

But don’t hesitate to try Wheatgrass/Oysters as well Pasture Raised Egg Yolks, Unfortified Nutritional Yeast, Salmon

 

Male Pattern Baldness Iron Connection : How Excess Iron Triggers Calcification and Fibrosis Switch ?

In previous blog post, you learned that how I accidentally discovered Iron Connection to hair loss.

Iron : Hair Loss Wunderkind or Arbiter of Doom

In this blog post, I am going to describe how Iron activates the Fibrosis and Calcification Switch and causes Hair Loss and many more Chronic Problems.

But to explain the mechanism to you, I need to simplify things for you.

As you know Pattern Hair Loss is a result of Fibrosis and Calcification.

What’s Fibrosis ? (According to Wikipedia)

Fibrosis is the formation of excess Fibrous Connective Tissue in Organ/Tissue in reparative or reactive process. Fibrosis can interfere with or totally inhibit the function of Organ and Tissue.

What’s Calcification ? (According to Wikipedia)

Accumulation of Calcium Salts in Tissues.

In order to understand the Mechanism of how Iron initiates Fibrosis and Calcification Switch, you need to understand basis of Cellular Respiration, Energy Metabolism and Anti-Oxidant Defense System.

Dr. Chris Masterjohn has done wonderful job in explaining this in simple language.

There is a study connecting Tissue Hypoxia linked to Male Pattern Baldness. They found tissue hypoxia in bald scalp compared with hair-bearing scalp.

What’s Hypoxia according to Standard Definition ?

It’s low saturation of Oxygen in Tissues but do you know it also could be because of Mitochondrial ETC (Electron Chain Transport) Dysfunction.

Hypoxia = Low Oxygen Levels = Low Levels of Iron (because Iron carries Oxygen)

But low levels of Copper (Bio-available) can also cause Hypoxia because Copper activates Oxygen. Look at Complex IV of ETC.

It’s also called Cytochrome C Oxidase. It’s function is to transfer the electrons from reduced cytochrome C molecules to Oxygen.

It contains

a. Two Heme groups
b. 3 Copper Atoms

Copper is essential for three key steps in the process to make these new blood cells:
a) make energy
Copper (I) is responsible for 90% energy production in Electron Transport Chain.

b) make {Fe-S] Clusters
c) make Heme

(Role of Copper in Mitochondrial Iron Metabolism)

Defects in Iron metabolism causes

  1. Impaired Mobilization of Iron to Transferin (Requires Ceruloplasmin)
  2. Impaired synthesis of Heme from Fe(III) (Requires Cytochrome Oxidase

Both of them are Copper Dependent.

So new definition of Hypoxia is

Hypoxia = Low Oxygen Activation = Lack of Bio-available Copper

Why Copper is so important here ?

Because Copper mobilizes Iron from Tissues/Organs to where it needs to be.

Ceruloplasmin is Copper binding Protein and without it Copper can cause Oxidative damage just like Iron. It oxidizes Ferrous to Ferric and gets reduced from Cupric to Cuprous.

For body to utilize Copper, it has to be in Cu (I) state. For Iron used for Storage purpose (like Ferritin) or Heme Synthesis, Iron has to be in Fe (II) state and for Transport purpose, it has to be Fe (III) state.

Ferrous i.e. Fe (II), Ferric i.e. Fe (III), Cuprous i.e. Cu (I), Cupric i.e. Cu (II)

When there is no Cu (I) available in last step of Cytochrome C Complex IV, 90% of energy is not made (34 out of 38 ATP) Instead ETC dysfunction causes ROS (Reactive Oxygen Species) formation giving rise to oxidative stress through formation of Super oxide , Hydrogen Peroxide, Hydoroxyl Radical etc etc.

Superoxides initiates Fenton reaction in presence of Fe (II)

To stop the propagation of free radicals, anti-oxidant defense system in our body starts working

(Reference : Fenton Reaction)

This is how Fibrosis and Calcification takes place

How Hypoxia induces Hair Loss ?

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NF‐κB and HIF crosstalk in immune responses

In those experiencing Hair Loss, level of SOD (Superoxide Dismutase) is significantly lower compared to those who don’t have AGA.

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The conclusion of papers says that

“Significantly decreased SOD activity but no change in catalase, glutathione peroxidase, non-protein thiols level and total antioxidant activity in erythrocytes suggest the presence of a compensatory mechanism for SOD dysfunction in red blood cells of patients with androgenetic alopecia.”

Oxidative stress in androgenetic alopecia

A recent paper “Copper Deficiency a New Reason of Androgenetic Alopecia?”

It clearly indicates the Copper levels in Men and Women who have Androgenic Alopecia is significantly lower than those who don’t have it.

Copper and Ceruloplasmin levels in men and women with Androgenic Alopecia are significantly lesser than those who don’t have it.

More in depth explanation will be added soon.

If you want to reverse your pattern hair loss using Diet changes and Lab Testing, check Hair Regrowth Blueprint.

 

How He Thickened His Hair and Advanced His Hairline with Simple Diet Changes ?

In May 2018, someone named Marcus aged 23 from Zambia messaged me asking for help. I asked him to send me photos and he sent me few of them. (His camera quality is Poor)

His Original Hairline with no Receding

As he claimed, he had no money, no job and had spent all of his money on Minoxidil with no results but horrible side effects. He also tried rice water,eggs,honey,oils but still there was no progress.

He was asking me if he should just perform Detumescence and Towel massage to regrow hairs back. I told him that he didn’t need either of them but focus on changing his diet.

He thought Diet can’t reverse Fibrosis. I don’t completely agree with this statement, in early to moderate stages, Fibrosis of scalp can be stopped and reversed completely or to major extent. If there is occurrence of Chronic Fibrosis, then Diet won’t reverse it fully and would affect it only a little.

Upon little inquiry, I realized that he started losing hairs in last 12 months and I thought probably he can reverse most of his hair loss and advanced his hairline.

I told him to eat foods I commonly suggest others Eggs, Beef Liver, Raw Milk, Wheatgrass, Bee Pollen, Brown Rice, Fruits. (I don’t eat beef liver and I recommend this food because it’s Rich in B Vitamins, Vitamin A and other Micro-nutrients, not for any other reason. If you are not comfortable eating it, don’t eat it, eat Pastured Raised Eggs instead)

Then I completely forgot about him for next few weeks and on one fine day, I got his message out of the blue.

He claimed to have grown back hairs in M shape and his bald areas got covered with Terminal Hairs.

Here are some photos

But because his photos were not clear, including me nobody else believed him completely.But he promised me to take clearer photo in next few months with better camera.

But I asked him what he was following. He graciously agreed to share in his words (with grammatical correction and punctuation)

“Before I noticed some regrowth in my hairline ,my diet was completely vegan after i stopped processed foods and meat ,milk and carbs. I tried all methods even massages,head stands ,minoxidil ,onion juice, massage improved my hair density a but but not significant. I knew i had to keep searching,that’s when I came across your story.

At first i was skeptical about your dietary advice I thought you were just saying it. But i followed it anyway I introduced fruits,brown rice,meat,chicken,milk,eggs, honey,beans,and Moringa supplement. Two months down the line I saw nothing, besides my gut felt heavy after every meal but i felt energetic and at times I had constipation and gases. I complained to my mom she then called her herbalist cousin. He has some knowledge on digestive issues ,i outlined my dietary plan .The man got back to me and said that the diet was perfect but he insisted that I check the brand of the Milk I took and times I at which I ate my meals . After following what he said all these gut problems left and I changed my milks brand .

I always had a habit of looking in the mirror tracing for regrowth but I couldn’t see any hairs. Luckily one day I went to have my hair cut for my next photos .Then the barber man got shocked and asked if i had borrowed a few hairs lol. Thats when he cut lined my hairline and sides .Sukrut, I was shocked I could see my hairline and my thin areas have tones of baby hairs I barely grew,I noticed my hairline grew hairs and my existing hairs gained good color and its elongating quickly .But I’m facing one challenge ,thickening it to the max is an issue for me. Although my hairline is growing hairs and my crowns covered but the area beyond my hairline is a bit thin .I thought it was vitamin D but here there’s plenty of sunlight .Maybe I’m impatient. Whats your advice ?”

First of all, a lot of people wanted to get Aerial photo comparison. He sent me his photos next day for better comparison

March 2018

June 2018

I asked him about his special carb diet and his meals. His itching and dandruff also resolved by itself when he changed to Coconut oil from Soyabean Oil. This is what he mentioned

He ate bananas ,apples,Carrots ,oranges,and melons mixed in small portions ,black berries ,guavas ,and mangoes ,sugar cane, brown rice ,honey ,roller mealie meal and pumpkin. Two hours after lunch he blended oranges and Apples then he sprinkled Moringa powder.

I told him to add few more things to his diet. He was taking Zincovit as Multi-Vitamin. I told him to eat pasture raised eggs, pumpkin seeds, oysters, Wheatgrass.

Then he shared his story about why he probably started losing his hairs. In his own words (with grammatical correction, punctuation and removing certain inappropriate words/sentences)

“Before i moved out of my mothers house in central city, our diet was gluten free and despite using omega 3 vegetable oil back then.My mom had a traditional way of cooking using less oil on meals we ate meat twice a week ,village chicken (organic)once but she insisted the soup was nourishing so I made sure the plate was clear after my meal. We ate fruits a lot too ,we has a guava ,avocado and mango tree in our plot ,But I was dumb and a huge novice back then so I used harsh chemicals on my lovely hairs go black or super black die soft and free perm lotion. All these never showed harm to my follicles not until moved to the capital city .I put my old mom way of cooking behind me and started eating excess soyabean oil in my meals. In meals like pork ,beef ,greens e.t.c ,Five months down the line I developed dandruff and horrible itching ,fatigue ,blared visions,weak erection and annual sores.

To make it worse I worked with a welder before so I was welding and grinding ,And my lunch was always soy powder geez it was sweet such that I carried home after work. One day my ex girlfriend made fun of me that my hairs in front were shorter than then ones at the back with a visible patch there.I thought she was joking not until my brother laughed out loud and said i had a thinning area on my side line on the left side until this day I noticed. Next day bought a hat for hiding the old looking head. At first my hairline moved like a mature hairline would recede. Next month I had a serious flue, went to the clinic i was diagnosed with amoxicillin anti-biotic .Oh lord, after a moth the M pattern formed and my hairs thinned plus I lost weight and always woke up with body aches even when I rested. That’s how I put my MBs to better work of research on my hair loss although I found comedy preposterous type of methods😂😂😂😂,rogaine,home remedies that work after ages ”

He asked me for advice again. I told him to stop consuming all synthetic supplements and get everything from food. He also asked me about Towel massage.

Within following towel massage for a week, he lost all of his regrowth. Same happened with me (but that’s not necessarily bad as most think it’s) Here is his photo

Because he lost all the progress he has made in couple of months, he was worried that if he has damaged the hair follicles. I told him to do it only for 3 minutes.

Then I told him to add few things in his diet and followed up with him after a month. He told me that he had tooth cavity and he had to take anti-biotics and he lost all the hairs he had gained.

Then after a wait of 3 long months, he messaged me again with his new photos

Along with other diet changes, he also added Bee pollen ,egg yolks ,wheat germ oil & nutritional yeast.

Few Takeaways
1. Don’t blindly follow his diet in order to get your hairs back or recover hairline. Experiment with different foods and stick to it for at least 3 months before you notice the improvement.

2. If you don’t have any hairs along the hairline or if you have completely bald patch, then probably diet changes won’t regrow hairs magically but it can possibly stop further receding and thinning.

3. Stop taking synthetic supplements for every mineral and vitamin, instead find high quality food sources which are rich in Nutrients. Even the quantity of nutrient is less, foods are packed with enzymes, co-factors etc etc which enhances effects of each nutrient. It’s not possible with synthetic supplements. Most synthetic supplements are just reductionist chemicals and not made from whole foods.

For long time, I also blindly took Vitamin D supplements, Zinc Supplements, Multi-Vitamins etc etc. All of them did more harm to me in long term than any benefits. I have several people reporting progress for shorter amount of time when they were on such supplements. All of their progress was reversed within few months of stopping the supplements.

Did you enjoy reading this ? Want to read more of such success stories and what did they follow ? I have included them in Hair Regrowth Blueprint, check it here

Photo taken in last week of November

Update : Marcus has promised me to send a recorded video soon. I will upload it as soon as I hear from him

If you want to read my journey read it here

How I started reversing Male Pattern Baldness Naturally ?

Iron : Hair Loss Wunderkind or Arbiter of Doom

This title is adopted from “Omega-3 Fatty Acids: Hair Loss Wunderkind or Arbiter of Doom?” by Danny Roddy

http://www.dannyroddy.com/weblog/omega3fattyacidsmalepatternbaldness

and the theme is adopted from“Iron Overload, Perturbed Redox Balance, and Meddling Serotonin”
http://www.dannyroddy.com/weblog/ironoverloadredoxbalanceserotonin

I came across Danny Roddy in 2015 when I was searching for solution to my hair loss problems. I was tired of reading Reddit threads, watching clickbait youtube videos, Forums where people just preached Big 3 and Transplant.

So when I saw someone who has totally different take on reversing hair loss,I immediately bought his book “Hair like a Fox” because his ideas made sense. I followed many of his ideas. Danny talked about lowering Ferritin values in the body, I didn’t pay attention to it back then because I never thought excess Iron would play so much of role in Hair Loss and other Chronic Conditions.

I followed all the advice Danny Roddy/Ray Peat except taking Aspirin, Antibiotics and Hormones.

Check my photos here

I saw great improvement in my frontal 1/3rd following Egg Yolks, Shell Fish, Milk, Vitamin D supplements, Orange Juice (Citrus Fruits), Avoiding Fish and Fish Oils, Gluten, Beans, Nuts and Seeds.

Although I saw good improvement, I felt very restrictive following this diet. I didn’t want to continue with this because it wasn’t responding rest of 2/3rd area of my scalp. Drinking tons of milk even sent me several times to the Washroom. I still continued with the Diet for 6-8 months but I didn’t see continued improvement in rest of my hairs.

Then I started Vitamin D supplements, I started taking gallops of Vitamin D in my body. Should you ever take Vitamin D supplements ?

Read Vitamin D Hair Loss Connection : A Double Edged Sword

Then meanwhile, I was also researching how to reverse grey hair and started watching few videos that made sense and I was told that I should get more copper.

I had already tried different avenues for getting more copper from Copper Supplements (One of the worst experiences, it made me feel worse I ever felt in my life) , Multivitamin (It had highest ratings on Amazon,after I started it, suddenly started seeing more and more hairs on my bed for the first time in my life and I got fever and whenever I would take it, I would feel almost nauseous so I had to stop it) drinking water from Copper Vessel for long time, I had no effect except turning some of my hairs red (My hairs are Black, so it wasn’t even transition back to normal hairs)

While, I was researching more, I saw a video on Side

Rethinking Vitamin D Supplementation
You are not Copper Toxic
Rethinking Iron Supplements

The titles were interesting and controversial enough to grab my attention. I just started watching it. I didn’t expect that it would change my whole thinking process afterwards.

These videos were from Morley Robbins.

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I came across this overwhelming research 18 months ago. To be precise in April 2017. I started following it slowly and started seeing the results then I started applying it on others and they too started seeing the results.

I mentioned about it in my Journey here

Read my Entire Hair Loss and Regrowth Journey here

I started studying this phenomenon in depth and analyzing reports according to his methodology and started seeing Iron problems in almost 50-60% people. After analyzing over 500 plus lab reports. I can reasonably assert that Iron is somehow related to Hair Loss. The connection no one has explored yet.

I went through substantial research and started putting together evidence to finally connect the dots. After 18 months, I am beginning to understand, grasp and simplify these concepts for you.

I am writing this piece after I get substantial evidence in research and personal experience.

This subject is huge and quite complex to understand, although I haven’t understood it fully because it’s so huge and continually evolving. But whatever I have learned, I have tried to simplify it for you.

In this 3 part series, I am going to tell you how Iron is major lever contributing to Pattern hair loss and if you want to stop this cascade, you need to stop this Iron Elephant before you do anything else.

I had good success with Danny Roddy proposed diet but then I came across Morley Robbins whose research became foremost important in getting results on rest of my hairs. It’s research behind Root Cause Protocol helped me create so many success stories I created afterwards. More on that later.

Before I discovered this, I had several health challenges as I explained

Indigestion

Multiple Bowel Movements

Fatigue

Problems with Sleep

Constant recurring infections

Migraines

Low/No sex drive

Skin Rashes/Allergies

I referred everything I can find, youtube, video, forum, book, course. You name it, I have used it or at least I know of it.

I followed Izabella Wentz, Danny Roddy, Ray Peat, Chris Masterjohn, Jordan Reasoner (http://solvingleakygut.com), Joe Cohen (https://selfhacked.com), Rob (http://www.functionalps.com), Tom (http://forefronthealth.com), Joel Wallach, Paul Jaminet (http://perfecthealthdiet.com)

Their ideas helped me to great extent especially temporary improvement in some of the symptoms and permanent improvement in some others. I liked some of their ideas but I didn’t like or resonate with some of their other ideas.

Especially, I liked Ray Peat/Danny Roddy Diet and but I didn’t want to take drugs to reverse fibrosis, antibiotics to kill pathogens or use Thyroid or Progesterone Hormone.

I liked Izabella Wentz’s book Hashimoto’s Thyroid, her lucid explanation and simplification. I adopted this flow chart based on her book but I didn’t quite like the no of supplements she suggested. It is not even too much of unnecessary expense for me but some of the supplements even damaged me (Especially Vitamin D, Zinc)

I don’t want to blame any of them, their suggestions helped me more than it damaged me so this is not a Tirade against any of them.

But almost every one of them except Ray Peat missed the very important point. They undermined importance of Excess Iron in manifestation of chronic conditions.

Once Danny Roddy asked Dr. Peat about good tests to evaluate the iron burden in 2012 and he replied:

I think the copper/iron ratio is under hormonal-developmental control, and I have never seen an attempt to use ceruloplasmin to guide nutrition. Regular good light exposure is probably important for preventing the displacement of copper by iron. —Raymond Peat, PhD

Ray Peat has written great stuff about Iron Dangers here

http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/iron-dangers.shtml

Morley Robbins developed Full Fledged Protocol based on this one statement, it’s called Root Cause Protocol

Check Root Cause Protocol here

He didn’t just theorized it, he used it on close to 3000 clients to validate it in real life and then used Research all along to connect the Dots.

So I thought instead of just writing a blog post on my theoretical understanding, I should use it to validate it before writing anything about it.

Because I was done with trying Low Carb, Paleo, Fruit Only Diet, Gluten Free diet. I didn’t want to restrict any or many foods just to get my hairs back.

No expert advice working for me. I was extremely tired of following their advice. Frankly, I had given up on my health. I had no hopes. I had so many health problems, I started suspecting that I might have got some incurable disease.

Backstory : My mother got Cancer

On November 13th 2007, just 2 days before my final exams, she succumbed to Death by Cancer at the age of 48… and I miss her every single day.

In 2002, she was diagnosed with Cancer for the first time and then she underwent a Surgery, again diagnosed with Cancer in 2007& Cancer spread
throughout her body and she died within 9 months of diagnosis.
That left deep scar on my mind, many of my health issues started and worsened within 1-2 years of her death.

I was devastated. How could this happen?

But looking back, the signs leading up to her cancer revealed a pattern:

Lifelong Acid Reflux and stomach pain, Fertility problems, Hyperthyroid, Hair thinning, Migraines, Depression, PMS symptoms, Bipolar disorder, Fatigue, Anxiety, Acne, Breast cancer and finally Ovarian cancer which spread throughout her body before taking her life.

My mother is a prime example of what can happen when this hidden epidemic goes on for years, all the while modern medicine is chasing the symptoms. She suffered through years of thyroid medication, Antacids, Painkillers and finally, Surgery.

And because I had started developing all these symptoms, I thought whether I am developing some incurable disease like Cancer.

I used to pray to God everyday to get me out of this mess. There was no light at the end of tunnel. I had exhausted all my options.

Out of all these diets, Gluten free diet worked well for me, not because Grains have Gluten and Gluten is bad.

Because Gluten is not the problem , Iron is the problem

Watch this video
Iron and Gluten, The Toxic Tandem – Thomas E. Levy, MD, JD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUjmwTwNCAI
Why did I see the benefit ?

I see the connection now.

It’s Government Policy to add Iron in Wheat. Food Fortification is curse on Mankind. The iron they add is Ferrous Salt which is most toxic form of Iron. More on that in next part of the series.

I have countless people telling me their hair loss reduced when they switched to non-fortified flour. I thought it was Gluten but in hindsight I realized it wasn’t gluten. It was Iron.

If you have severe gluten problems, then it’s good to stay away from Gluten for a while. But don’t ever think that Gluten is your enemy. There are hundred if not thousands of books written on this topic. The most famous book is “Wheat Belly” by William Davis but even he didn’t mention anything about Iron.

Check Ray Peat’s article for more information on this. Food Fortification is more common in US, Canada, Australia, UK, India and many other countries.

Read this blog

Iron, Food Enrichment and The Theory of Everything

As I started reading all this material, things really started falling in place. I didn’t listen to Ray Peat/Danny Roddy about lowering my Iron levels but now I really needed to get my iron levels checked.

My blood Test Results : Shock of my life

Parameter October 2017 December 2017 June 2018
Serum Iron 144.5 ug/dL 100.5 84.3
Transferrin Saturation 51% 32.74 % 28.97 %
Ferritin 219 ng/ml 39.4 ng/ml 39.1 ng/ml
Haemoglobin 16.2 g/dL 16.6 g/dL 16 g/dL
Vitamin D 20 ng/ml 12.21 ng/ml 14.87 ng/ml

My Ferritin was very high including Transferrin Saturation. My Vitamin D levels were good because I had swallowed 3000-5000 IUs of Vitamin D for 3-4 months but that came with big cost. Read this

Vitamin D Hair Loss Connection

Whatever Morley Robbins stated was spot on now it was time to implement his ideas in my practice. I went for blood donation twice and started Wheatgrass, Magnesium and other foods and ditched all supplements except (Transdermal Magnesium and Trace Mineral Supplement)

I talk in depth about my journey here

Because I wasn’t getting Magnesium and didn’t ingest Vitamin D supplements, my Vitamin D levels dropped precipitously and revealed true levels. Never try to elevate your Vitamin D levels by injections or supplements even if it’s very low.

I was suggesting my findings to others because I saw that it was very promising but nobody would listen to me. They thought this is me drinking another koolaid like before.

There was someone from Germany who was also facing a lot of problems along with Hair thinning, he checked for all the markers and he did go for blood donation. He followed

In right side photo, the hair length is little more. The improvement is although not very much, but it’s visible (at least that person thought it was improvement)

Not very impressive but it’s there.

2 months changes (Not very huge but noticeable)

There are many other photos including my photos, check them here

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How to get rid of itchy scalp naturally ?

Whenever you get itching on your scalp, what do you do immediately ?

First of all, you scratch it.

What do you do if it starts bothering you frequently ?

Then you scratch your scalp again and again and you also might get some hair falling out whenever you scratch your scalp often.

You think that itching caused hair loss so if the scalp itching doesn’t go away, you tend to do one/few of the following things

  1. Shampooing
  2. Applying Oils/Topicals
  3. Applying natural substances to relieve the itch

In fact, I did the same thing, when I started having the itching problem. In 2015, I went on a whimsical/idiotic diet of restricting carbs.

Why ? You would ask.

Because I was facing a lot of health issues, including migraine like pains, indigestion, fatigue, severe itching on my skin, multiple bowel movements. I firmly believed that it was Candida infection.

What’s poplar advice when it comes to treating candida ?

Starve yourself of carbs, so I did. I stopped eating grains, starchy vegetables, fruits. I also stopped eating non veg.

Instead of that, I started eating fermented foods like Dosa, Idli etc etc.

I didn’t know when you eat such fermented foods outside, they don’t use urad dal while preparing these delicacies.Instead they use shortcut. What’s that ? YEAST.

That is worse thing to add in a food. But I didn’t know that so I blindly started eating so called fermented foods. In first few days, I felt good, then after a week, I started feeling ridiculously weak, emaciated, fatigued, jaded, and all adjectives you can think of. But instead of listening to my body, I decided to continue with the insanity. I started eating more of so called fermented foods. I was determined to find answers to my health woes.

At that time, my symptoms started to become worse. I believed it as a healing reaction and continued on this self-experimentation for 4 more months. Imagine what would have convinced me to do this despite my condition getting continuously worse over the time. Even when I visited my friend in Bangalore, I only ate Dosa, Idli etc etc. it got him worried. Sukrut how can you survive on this ? I gave him some BS explanation considering I wasn’t sane back then.

A couple of weeks into the diet, I developed severe itching on my scalp and started seeing hairs in my hands whenever I used to scratch my hair.  I never ever in my life experienced itching, that was the first time in 2015 I experienced it and no matter what I did nothing seemed to work. I used topicals, oils, shampoos, I used aloe vera gel. I did everything to relieve the itching but nothing worked.

In September or October 2015, while I was looking at the mirror. I could see right through my scalp. I could see my crown area for the first time in 28 years.

Where did the f**k my hair go ? I was in Shock.

I thought it is some illusion so I first checked if I wasn’t dreaming and I wasn’t dreaming. It was real. So I thought of using comb in a different way to see if it’s that bad. After coming in different directions, I realized that it’s indeed very bad.

I shaved my head to get over itch.

Did it go away ? Temporarily YES.

This story is similar to most stories I hear around scalp itching. Those who experience a lot of itching has gone through the same cycle. Itching followed by hair loss, application of several things on scalp—shaves head finally and expect itching will go away but there is no permanent effect.

If I knew what I know now, I probably wouldn’t have gone through the similar insanity.

When you have scalp itching, in most cases, its internal problem. Not external. So don’t try to solve it from outside by applying 100 things on scalp or shaving your head because it’s pointless. Unless, it’s a fungal infection, it’s not going to go away. But with each application of topical,shampoo, it’s going to take your hair away.

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When its internal problem, it’s a histamine issue. Itching is a histamine reaction .

What’s histamine ?

Histamine is a neurotransmitter essential for normal functioning of brain and central nervous system.

Histamine is required for digestion, gastric acid release and also essential component of immunological protection for external threats like Trauma/Allergic reactions.

It creates problems when

  1. It is released in excess
  2. Body can’t break down excess

Excess Histamine is controlled by 2 key enzymes

  1. HNMT (histamine-N-methyltransferase)
  2. DAO (diamine oxidase)

HNMT prevents histamine binding to its receptors and DAO degrades histamine into inactive metabolites and excrete through urine.

Histamine is stored in granules in mast cells of throughout the body. It’s released in response to triggers like Cold/Heat, Toxins, Trauma etc etc.

Histamine release occurs when allergens bind to mast-cell-bound IgE antibodies

These are some histamine responses (itching is one of them) If you have any of these reactions , you are probably going through the same histamine response.

This is how Histamine is degraded

Copper (Bioavailable Copper), Vitamin C Magnesium, Vitamin B6 are required for DAO to function properly

So the solution is not in doing treatment on scalp,it’s something different.

How you can significantly reduce or eliminate itching ?

  • Avoiding Triggers
  • Strengthening the Host (By balancing Minerals)

 

What triggers you can avoid/reduce

Drugs
a. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (ibuprofen, aspirin)
b. Antidepressants (Cymbalta, Effexor, Prozac, Zoloft)
c. Immune modulators (Humira, Enbrel, Plaquenil)
d. Antiarrhythmics (propanolol, metaprolol, Cardizem, Norvasc)
e. Antihistamines (Allegra, Zyrtec, Benadryl)
f. Histamine (H2) blockers (Tagamet, Pepcid, Zantac)

Foods
a. Alcoholic Beverages
b. Preservatives
c. Cured Meats
c. Fortified Foods like Wheat, Bread, Pasta, Cereals
d. Polyunsaturated FATS especially when they get oxidized and turn rancid

 

How you can strengthen the Host ?

  • Getting more B6, Vitamin C, Magnesium especially from Foods
  • Getting more Copper and making it more bio-available so body can use it (No Copper Supplements please, they will make the issue worse)

Which factors negatively affect bio-availability of Copper

  • Iron Overload/Anemia of Chronic Inflammation, Iron Supplementation
  • Magnesium Deficiency
  • Calcium, Vitamin D, Multi-Vitamins
  • Ascorbic Acid (not real food based Vitamin C)
  • B Vitamin Deficiencies

So the best bet to avoiding itching is to avoid/reduce triggers by adjusting your Diet and avoid the triggers and increase your body’s capability to counteract the histamine response by supplying it with right nutrients

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References

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2837895/
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Mast-cell-activation-in-response-to-viral-infection-Mast-cells-are-classically-known-for_fig1_277780530
https://www.mthfrsupport.com.au/dao-deficiency-and-histamine-the-unlikely-connection/
https://www.selfhacked.com/blog/deal-histamine/
https://ainotes.wikispaces.com/Histamine+Intolerance+and+Scombroid
https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/85/5/1185/4633007
https://chriskresser.com/could-your-histamine-intolerance-really-be-mast-cell-activation-disorder/
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Mast-cell-activation-in-response-to-viral-infection-Mast-cells-are-classically-known-for_fig1_277780530
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2837895/

Vitamin D Hair Loss Connection : A Double Edged Sword

I get this question a lot. Does Vitamin D deficiency cause Hair thinning ?

Well, the answer is YES. Because in my experience, whenever I am analyzing lab reports, almost everyone has low Vitamin D. Usually, those with Vitamin D levels above 30 ng/ml have always taken Vitamin D injections or supplements.

If you visit a doctor, he would just dismiss your concern by saying “It’s very common problem in the population. Don’t worry too much about it. If it’s too low, let me give you Vitamin D injections or supplements”

But do you know something strange ?

Vitamin D deficiency and Vitamin D in excess both can cause Hair Thinning.

Supplementation of Vitamin D might raise your Vitamin D in some cases only if you are seriously deficient but in long term it can cause serious damage to your body and hair.

 

Ref : Vitamin D metabolites as clinical markers in autoimmune and chronic disease

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Why does that happen ?

Why Vitamin D deficiency is not so simple to deal with. It’s the result of several factors going wrong at the same time. If you really delve into this topic further, you will realize that Vitamin D is a Hormone.

Vitamin D deficiency is not just Vitamin D deficiency. But it’s also

  1. Insufficiency of Vitamin A and Vitamin K2
  2. Insufficiency of Magnesium and Boron
  3. Impaired function of Liver, Kidney as well as Intestine

But let’s first understand how Vitamin D is manufactured in the body.

 

To correctly understand Vitamin D status, you need to know

  1. Magnesium RBC
  2. 25(OH)D Storage Vitamin D
  3. 1,25(OH)2D Active Vitamin D
  4. Ionized Serum Calcium

Unless you test these things, it’s not wise to just to take Vitamin D supplements.

What are the problems with taking Isolated Vitamin D ?

  1. It mobilizes Calcium from Bones causing Hypercalcemia, Kidney Failure, Depression, Heart Failure
  2. It causes Potassium wasting from Kidneys
  3. It also causes depletion of Vitamin A (Retinol) from Liver

When we have low Vitamin D in blood test, it’s telling us that there is too much calcium in the blood, not enough Magnesium to transform Vitamin D storage into Active Vitamin D.

When you take supplemental D, it initiates the inflammatory cascade in your body. It causes Calcium and Sodium to enter the cell throwing Potassium and Magnesium out of the cell. In turn it will negatively affect production of Ceruloplasmin in Liver as supplemental Vitamin D cause depletion of Vitamin A from Liver causing unbound iron to increase.

When Ceruloplasmin production is affected, it affects the production of key antioxidant enzyme Cytochrome C Oxidase and all other antioxidant enzymes. This metabolic derangement causes Arterial Calcification and Fibrosis by Iron loaded Macrophages, initiating inflammatory response.

a. It activates IL-6
b. It activates Acid Phosphatase enzyme which causes Calcium Loss from bones
c. It activates MCP-1 causing Fibrosis and Calcification of Soft Tissues
d. It also activates Lipid Peroxidation and build up of Intracellular Calcium

Supplemental Vitamin D ↑

Intracellular Calcium  ↑

Intracellular Magnesium ↓

Intracellular Potassium ↓

Retinol (Vitamin A) ↓

Ceruloplasmin  ↓

Activation of Antioxidant Enzymes ↓

Unbound Iron  ↑

Inflammatory Response  ↑

IL-6, MCP-1, Lipid Peroxidation  ↑

Soft Tissue Calcification and Fibrosis ↑

Hair Loss and Thinning ↑

My Experiment with Megadosing Vitamin D

Last year March, I started taking Vitamin D supplements because  I came across substantial research about Vitamin D and Pattern Hair Loss Connection.

I used to take anywhere from 3000 to 5000 IUs a day. While I didn’t experience any particular benefits with my Hair thinning but within few weeks, I started experiencing more and more fatigue, leg and back pain (Excess Supplemental D depletes Magnesium) After few weeks, I wasn’t able to see things in dim light. It compromised my ability to work without switching on light even in a daylight (Excess Vitamin D depletes Liver Retinol Vitamin A)

After 2 months, I came across various other research talking about Dangers of Supplemental Vitamin D and my symptoms sounded very familiar. I immediately stopped Vitamin D supplements and within few weeks, my fatigue, back pain, eyesight issues were gone completely.

Why does Vitamin D from Sunlight doesn’t cause Toxicity in the Body ?

When exposed to sunshine, your skin synthesizes vitamin D3 sulfate. This form of vitamin D is water soluble, unlike oral vitamin D3 supplements, which is unsulfated. The water-soluble form can travel freely in your bloodstream, whereas the unsulfated form needs LDL as a vehicle of transport. so the oral non-sulfated form of vitamin D might not provide all of the same benefits, because it cannot be converted to vitamin D sulfate
You cannot overdose when getting your vitamin D from sun exposure, as your body has the ability to self-regulate and only make what it needs.
In short, Vitamin D produced from Sunlight won’t cause Toxicity.

So what to do next ?

  1. Get enough Vitamin D from Sunlight. Use Dminder App
  2. Get it from Fatty Fish, Eggs, Cod Liver Oil and other natural animal sources
  3. Get sufficient Vitamin A and Vitamin K2 rich foods (No synthetic supplements)
  4. Magnesium & Boron Supplementation and Foods
  5. Fix your Gastrointestinal, Liver and Kidney issues (by working on improving Ceruloplasmin and getting rid of excess unbound Iron)

If you want to reverse your hair thinning, identify how you can scientifically do it using Lab testing, Diet Changes, Lifestyle Changes, check out Hair Regrowth Blueprint

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References
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19758177
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jocd.12224/abstract
https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2008/189/11/does-degree-baldness-influence-vitamin-d-status
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8s34p6b7
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20138991
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4127032/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5007917/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24655364
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3805278/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20200983
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3765911/
https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/abcs-of-nutrition/from-seafood-to-sunshine-a-new-understanding-of-vitamin-d-safety/
http://gotmag.org/the-vitamin-d-controversy/
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/29/8/854.full.pdf
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC291035/
https://www.westonaprice.org/new-evidence-of-synergy-between-vitamins-a-and-d-protection-against-autoimmune-diseases/
https://chriskresser.com/vitamin-d-more-is-not-better/
https://www.precisionnutrition.com/stop-vitamin-d
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17145139
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7669510
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3079418
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4712861/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19386744
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22516723
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18722618
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02990471
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/941867
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23816829
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3915480/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28471760
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17145139
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15579526?dopt=Abstract
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2879391/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16181808
https://academic.oup.com/ndt/article/26/4/1137/1884318
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-19092-1
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/9365123/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2705470/

Is Hair Loss really genetic ?

This blog post is going to be massively long.

It is dedicated to the excellence of these Individuals and many more. It’s because of them, I was able to restore most of my lost hair and it’s still going on and I was able to help many people along the way.

Earlier, I would have never thought that I could regain even single strand of hair,  but my deep and excruciatingly long research  & experimentation led me deep down the rabbit hole and I was able to discover many things which didn’t make much sense initially but over the time things started falling in place. I made it my personal mission to find out missing pieces of puzzle. I haven’t found all the pieces yet but I was able to find important pieces of puzzle. As soon as I find remaining missing pieces, I will update this blog post.

I am going to explain you what my research and experimentation have shown me.

I am immensely thankful to those who chose to patiently follow my advice even though it wasn’t medically sound or it didn’t make logically sense at all especially for something called “Pattern Baldness” which is supposed to be genetic. According to Doctors, nothing can be done. Only Minoxidil and Finasteride can save you or maybe expensive Hair Transplant. But many of them who followed it, started seeing the results, whether drastically cut down on their hair loss within few weeks or growing hairs which were not growing before giving them appearance of thickening.

Based on my research and testing till this point , I have tried to make these connections. Initially it sounded theoretical, as soon as I started drinking my own kool-aid, I started seeing results. Not just in my hair but also other health challenges I was facing.

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Credits

Izabella Wentz (https://thyroidpharmacist.com)

Danny Roddy (http://www.dannyroddy.com)

Ray Peat (http://raypeat.com)

Morley Robbins (http://gotmag.org)

Chris Masterjohn (https://chrismasterjohnphd.com)

Jordan Reasoner (http://solvingleakygut.com)

Joe Cohen (https://selfhacked.com)

Rob (http://www.functionalps.com)

Tom (http://forefronthealth.com)

Joel Wallach (http://thewallachfiles.com)

Paul Jaminet (http://perfecthealthdiet.com)

And many others

I got chance to work with those who had hair loss for couple of years to those who had it for more than 10 years. As soon as they made some basic changes in their lifestyle and diet, their Hair Loss reduced by as much as 50% in couple of weeks, they started seeing regrowth and thickening of existing hair which were stagnant earlier in few months. As soon as few people started seeing the results, others started following the similar path, they also started seeing the results, they didn’t just stop their hair loss , started seeing thickening of existing Hair growth but they also started seeing improvement in their other health challenges like Overall Energy, Improved Digestion, Weight Loss, Improved Skin, Better Bowel Movements…and better sleep, better sex drive.

Before approaching me or taking my help, they tried all sorts of things earlier….

Amla juice, Onion Juice, eating DHT blocking Foods, Minoxidil, Finasteride, PRP, Laser Helmet , even some had undergone Hair Transplant. Some of them had seen some positive results with these therapies, some had seen none but after following few important principles which I am going to share with you, many started seeing positive results.

This blog post is not about condemning other methods or products. If you are getting results with them and if you think it’s right for you, then I would recommend you to use it. My main focus is to convince is you that the answers you are looking for are inside you. ( what you put inside your body consciously or unconsciously)

I will be sharing their results with you soon but first let me share my results with you.

Here are my photos



Last Week of April 2017

Last week of July 2017

Before

After 15 days of addressing nutrient deficiencies

April 2017

3rd week of August 2017

300

December 2015

300

August 2017 (After 3 months on this secret supplement and Diet Changes)Note : He started with Diet and Nutritional changes in May 2017

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Possible Theories

What are popular theories when it comes to Hair Loss ?

DHT Theory

These are different interpretations of Researchers about DHT. But is DHT is really responsible for Hair Loss ?

Study finds that increased serum concentrations of DHT were not correlated with pattern baldness in men or women. I get so many people telling me that their hair loss is because of DHT. Sometimes, it becomes really difficult to convince them, DHT is probably not the reason you are losing your hair. When I suggest them diet changes to follow, tell them to address nutrient deficiencies, many start seeing difference in hair loss first and some see growth of stagnant hairs.

In fact, serum DHT has nothing to do with Hair loss or maybe it does. But it is not much of contributing factor, so stop worrying about the same. Researchers found out that tissue DHT in scalp has connection with pattern baldness.

DHT levels were higher in scalp tissues of balding men especially in frontal area of men and women but researchers were not sure whether it’s result of DHT or something else.

Prostaglandin Theory

New research in 2012 about Prostaglandin suggests that they could be behind pattern Hair Loss epidemic. In fact, Prostaglandin D2 is found to be elevated in scalps of balding men. Just like DHT.

How these Prostaglandins and other factors cause hair loss ?

The precursor for prostaglandin D2 is arachidonic acid, it’s mainly produced from essential fatty acid, linoleic acid in the liver and those EFAs promote mast cell activation.

(Reference : Inflammation )

But do you know that DHT is anti-inflammatory and Prostaglandin is a mediator of acute inflammation, including inflammatory mediators Cytokines like IL-1, TNF inhibits Hair growth.

But we don’t know for sure if DHT or Prostaglandins or other Inflammatory Cytokines cause Hair loss and they are just present there as a result of Inflammation (and Fibrosis)

Do you know acute inflammation results into Chronic Inflammation (and possibly Fibrosis) ?

In fact, pattern Hair loss is a result of Fibrosis & Micro-inflammation.

Just like Cholesterol Heart Disease Fallacy. Cholesterol is demonized when Cholesterol is present as a result of Inflammation and not causative agent of Heart Disease.

While we don’t have conclusive evidence which suggests that DHT or Prostaglandins are present as a result or as causative agent however, my best guess is they are not causative agents.

My Theory

Hair Loss/Hair Thinning is caused by Nutrient Deficiency and Systemic Inflammation. I stopped my Hair Thinning and saw regrowth by addressing Systemic Inflammation and Nutrient Deficiencies by Diet Changes, Specific Supplementation and Lifestyle Interventions.

I shared these suggestions with others and as soon as they started implementing these small changes in their daily life, they didn’t only stop their hair loss but also started seeing thickening of existing Hairs, the hairs which were not growing earlier, started growing in length and thickness but they also started seeing improvement in their other health challenges like Overall Energy, Improved Digestion, Weight Loss, Improved Skin, Better Bowel Movements, better sleep, better sex drive.

Here is the flow chart of Hair Loss (Adopted from Izabella Wentz Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis)

This diagram may look quite complicated and I will make sure I will make it easier for you to understand…with providing valid scientific references. I will also share results of myself and others.

There are several factors which directly and indirectly cause Hair loss. If you want to stop and reverse Hair loss, you need to back-trace your hair loss to the point of Root Cause/s.

The answer is not straight-forward and simple in all the cases. But based on the flow chart, you can at least rule out certain obvious factors specific to your case and narrow it down to only few important factors which you can choose to focus.

Let’s focus on first factor.

Nutrient Deficit is very important factor. There could be several reasons for it.

Nutrient Deficit is very important factor. There could be several reasons for it.

  1. Ejaculation
  2. Insufficient Intake
  3. Fad Diets
  4. Impaired ADME (Absorption Distribution Metabolism Excretion)
  5. Wrong types of exercises

Insufficient Intake

Nutritional deficiencies can cause Hair loss. Iron, Zinc, Vitamin D, Protein etc deficiency can cause Hair loss.

All the photos you saw above were results of mainly diet changes and addressing nutrient deficiencies.

Ejaculation

Our seminal fluid contains Spermidine which promotes Human Hair Growth and Is a Novel Modulator of Human Epithelial Stem Cell Functions. We lose Magnesium, Potassium, Zinc and Calcium etc etc. When we do it in excess and don’t replenish these nutrients, we induce deficiencies.

Does Masturbation cause Hair loss ? Watch this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FqpceImSa8

Fad Diets

Fad Diets are usually restrictive types of diets which are devoid of essential micro-nutrients as well as macro-nutrients. When you don’t get them from your diet, you develop several health problems.

Exercise (through Sweating)

We lose Magnesium, Zinc, Sodium, Potassium, Iron, Manganese, Chloride and other trace minerals through sweating. We lose excessive Iron and Zinc during prolonged exercise. That’s why you see these Athletes, Bodybuilders and Sports personalities are more likely to lose their hair early. It’s nutrient loss, physical and mental stress etc etc. Unless you replenish lost nutrients, you will continue to lose hair.

This is the result of Leaky Gut. Leaky Gut can be caused because of several factors. Look at the diagram. I have mentioned few important factors.

What’s Leaky Gut ?

(Ref : Leaky Gut Cure)

  1. Food Intolerance
  2. Medications
  3. Increased Stress Hormones
  4. Impaired Digestion
  5. Liver Toxicity
  6. Abnormal Gut Flora

Food Intolerance

The no.1 problem food can be Gluten present in our food which can cause intestinal permeability. Gluten increases Intestinal permeability under all circumstances.

Medications

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs can also increase Intestinal permeability.

Increased Stress Hormones

Chronic Stress can cause increased Intestinal Permeability.

Liver Toxicity

Acetaminophen can also cause Liver toxicity which results into increased Intestinal permeability.

Leaky Gut in turn causes overactive Immune system causing increased inflammation and thus increased hair loss.

There are other reasons why your body can have overactive immune system

  1. Sleep
  2. Mental/Emotional Stress
  3. Wrong types of Exercises
  4. Skipping meals
  5. Ketogenic Diet

Sleep

(Ref : Selfhacked)

Ketogenic Diet (Low Carb or No Carb Diet)

The body may be able to survive without dietary glucose, but only because it can make glucose from protein.  Give it only fat, and it will make that glucose — and oxaloacetate — from lean muscle tissue

Ketogenic diets cause spike in cortisol

  •  Triggers the liver to release its stores of glucose (from glycogen).
  •  Stimulates the breakdown of triglyceride stores in adipose tissue, leading to an increase in free fatty acids (FFAs) in the blood.
  •  Triglyceride breakdown also releases glycerol, which travels directly to the liver, where it is converted to glucose.
  •  Activates breakdown of muscle protein into amino acids.
  •  (The amino acids then travel to the liver, where they are converted into glucose.)
  •  Acts as a direct antagonist to the actions of insulin at most sites in the body.
  • Stimulates subcutaneous adipose tissue to release fat, thus making it shrink in size. And stimulates visceral fat to do the exact opposite, i.e. absorb and store fats, leading to an increase in visceral fat mass

http://drcarolyndean.com/2017/05/the-perfect-stress-storm/

So how to put a stop to this inflammatory cascade ?

By addressing Nutrient Deficiencies and systemic inflammation. When someone comes to me with excessive Hair Loss and Hair Thinning, I first tell them to go on Gluten free diet…Their first reaction is “What ?” But I am quite stern and those who diligently follow the advice see improvement in their condition…almost within few days.

This is 5 Step Methodology to stop hair loss, get rid of dandruff, oiliness and itching, start regrowing hair naturally and maintain them.

  1. Root Cause (Remove, Reduce or Rule Out)

In fact, the flowchart you have seen is something I have designed to help people. I focus on solving Hair loss from inside out based on this flow chart.

I have developed a detailed questionnaire to Rule out or Identify Deficiency. Remove triggers like problem foods, medications, other things like PUFA, Omega 6: Omega 3 Ratio, Alcohol etc etc, correcting lifestyle errors or minimize them and adopt healthy practices.

  1. Reset Scalp

Once you identify the root cause, you have to put your scalp into optimum condition including getting rid of Dandruff, inflammation of scalp and excessive sebum production in order to stop hair loss and put it into optimum condition.

I tell people to stop using shampoo completely if possible or reduce its usage. I also tell them to stop all kinds of treatments they are doing on their hair like coloring, straightening, using hard water on their hair.

These are not big contributing factors. But they matter. If you want to take good care of your hair and health, you should not indulge into using these chemicals on your hair.

I am a Chemical Engineer. I have worked in a company which manufactures Surfactants. I know first hand that the where these products are used and why they shouldn’t be used on Human body parts. Since I knew that, I have stopped using Soaps, Shampoo and other cleansing agents on my body. It’s been more than 12 months.I use them very very rarely. I only use soap after visiting washroom. I am not going to stop that.

Step 3 : Reactivate Dormant Hair Follicles

It is done by specific scalp massage techniques to activate dormant hair follicles and put them into optimum condition for Hair Regrowth. They will increase micro-circulation in your scalp while helping you break calcification, reverse fibrosis, resolve tight galea and restore the natural blood supply. This is just 20% of the equation. A lot of people I interact with focus more on everything external. Using this oil, this topical, this shampoo, this serum, this juice. Usually, their results reverse faster than they imagine. Once you combine external with internal, your results are sustainable over the long term. They are not like Minoxidil and Finasteride.

I have read many horror stories on youtube and forum. I remember one peculiar story. Someone using Finasteride for 10 years, once he stopped it, he lost almost all of his hairs within 5-6 months of stopping it. On top of that, Finasteride comes with variety of side effects.

Read some stories here

http://propeciahelp.com/

Step 4 : Regrow Hair

Using right food, supplements for deficiency or therapeutic purposes at right time which will not only optimize your metabolism and reduce metabolic stress but also help you grow your hair which were miniaturized or were not growing earlier to fuller length and keep the existing hair.

This is the most important step and contributes 70-80% for your results. I tell people to focus on this first. Investing time in this step gives you disproportionate results. 80% results in 20% changes. But you need to know how to correctly take advantage of it. You can’t just blindly start eating DHT blocking foods and take random multi-vitamins and expect the results. In fact, executing this wrongly will not only delay your results but will keep you going in circles. Often choosing inferior food choices and cheaper quality supplements will give you poor results.

Step 5 : Retain Hair

While regrowth can be tough but the most important part is to retain the existing and regrown hair. I have created troubleshooting guide to help you dig deeper into root causes and fix your hair loss at any point of time in your life.

It can happen that no matter what you do, you will not see much results in first 3-4 months. That shouldn’t be a reason to worry. I have developed a troubleshooting questionnaire in case someone doesn’t see results in first 3-6 months. Once he/she digs deeper, introspect, look closely at his/her food or lifestyle choices, in many cases, he/she is able to figure out the problem.

However, I won’t claim that any method or any approach will work for everyone. But it can be simplified and can be made applicable for at least 70-80% population. I constantly work on simplifying the approach based on new research and experimentation to get faster results for people I help.

In case, if you want to know this approach, I have incorporated this approach Hair Regrowth Blueprint.

Check it out here.

http://regrowyourhairnaturally.com/regrow-hair

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How I started reversing Male Pattern Baldness naturally ?

This post talks in depth about how I started reversing Male Pattern Baldness naturally.

Using the approach I am going to share with you in this blog post I didn’t only stop my hair loss/thinning, got rid of my dandruff, oiliness and itching but I also thickened my hair in front, started regrowing hair naturally in crown (after 9 years of hair thinning) and advanced my hairline by at least 7 to 10 mm over the period of 15 months (and I am still continuing with this)

I did all of it using just Pro-Thyroid Diet, Lifestyle Interventions and Scalp Stimulation Exercises. I am also going to show you my photos from time to time.

When I was 17-18 years old, I had joined swimming. I used to wear swimming cap then. I did swimming for over an year. On one fine day, one of the friends pointed out that I had developed bald patch on my crown area and soon everyone started telling me about it. I immediately stopped swimming.

But I didn’t do anything back then because I didn’t know what to do. Then in 2009, I took consultation of homeopathic doctor in our family, he was quite experienced doctor and he told me that one of his clients started getting hair in his late 60s. The client name was Hrishikesh Mukherjee so I was very optimistic about getting results. He told me to take the medication for an entire year. I took it only for 3 months and because I didn’t see any results. I stopped taking it.

(Hrishikesh Mukherjee)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hrishikesh_Mukherjee

I am not very fond of taking my photos. Back then, I didn’t prefer taking my photos and I didn’t allow anyone to take my photos so I have very few photos available to show you as a reference.

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My hair in 2006/07

My hair in May 2011

See my crown area, you can see bald patch there.

My hair in 2012

See crown area, May 2012. If you look closely, you will see partial bald patch at crown area.

After that I didn’t do anything to reverse my hair thinning. I didn’t experience any hair loss in all those years except in 2015.

In 2013, I started experiencing a lot of issues concerning my health.

Migraine like pain, late afternoon fatigue, not feeling energetic despite getting more and more sleep, skin rashes, food allergies, stomach upsets, frequent bowel movements, cold hands and feet and lot more.

I started adopting different types of diets and exploring different methods to help myself dealing with symptoms.  While researching forums for my symptoms, I came across few posts who had exactly same symptoms I had. According to those posts, these were symptoms of Candida/Fungal infection.

The popular advice,  I prominently followed was restricting carbs because that was the “ONLY” way to starve mold/fungus. For first couple of weeks after stopping carbs (fruits, juices, rice and almost everything) I felt great. I thought this is the key to get rid of symptoms.

After couple of weeks, symptoms started worsening instead of improving. I developed severe craving for carbs and no matter how much protein and fats I would eat, I didn’t feel satisfied. I started feeling irritable and started having mood swings. I started getting anxiety attacks. I started getting upset over  trivial things.

I started feeling more fatigued. I started having difficulty in sleeping. I started having more migraine like pains but I didn’t face any skin rashes so I thought I am getting better. I became even more stricter when it came to avoiding carbs.

I started having even lower energy, my hands and feet started becoming cold.

In July or August of 2015, I started experiencing uncontrollable itch on my scalp. I always used to have a moderate dandruff. No matter how many times, I washed my hair with different shampoos, nothing helped. For a day or two, my scalp used to feel good, I used to have no dandruff and itchiness and after that it would return with vengeance.

Shampoo used to strip off the natural oil in my hair and used to replace it with synthetic oils, so my hair used to become oily quickly.It was vicious cycle.

More shampoo–More oiliness–Even more shampooing—Even more oiliness

At the same time, I started getting clumps of hairs in my hands whenever I used to graze my hands through my hair. Earlier, it was gradual thinning, I never saw so many hairs in my hands when I used to graze my hand through my hair.

My hair become so brittle, they used to break very easily.

In August/September of 2015, while I was looking in mirror for combing my hair. I could see right through my frontal area. My crown area was visible. I didn’t like what I saw there.

“Where the fuck did my hair go ?” I said to myself in the moment of shock.

I thought this is probably the end and I am not going to get those hairs back. To get over severe itch and hair loss/thinning, I started asking my friends about it. The popular advice was to shave your head. I didn’t quite like the idea of shaving the head so I went to barber and I got my zero cut (army cut) like this

For the time being, I felt relief from supposedly hair loss, dandruff and itching. I felt joyous but it was short lived.

One on fine day in October 2015, while I was sleeping, my father woke me up at 7 AM.

“Sukrut, wake up , wake up. What happened to your hair ? Why don’t you something about it ? Have you thought of visiting a doctor ?”

I woke up in the state of panic and asked my father about severity of hair thinning. He told me that my crown was in very bad condition. He told me that I need to do something about this.

My father had never warned me about my hair before but after he told me that day, it seriously got me worried. If he is telling it, there must be something horribly wrong.

At the same time, I used to visit a close friend of mine. He also started pointing out this to me every time and he started making fun of it. Whenever someone used to point at my hair or lack of it, I would start getting severe panic attacks. I started to avoid my friend/s but then I realized that it wasn’t the option.

I used to physically tremble just at the thought of someone asking me the question about my hair loss. Looking at my hair in mirror used to give me panic attacks.

I didn’t know any other options.I only knew about one option. Hair Transplant.

In December 2015, I visited my friends sister wedding, there I met my friends friend who was in his early 40s, completely bald, when he was young, he also explored different options to treat his hair thinning but he didn’t succeed.

So I discussed different options of hair transplants with him including when I should go for it and which clinic I should visit.

He told me to wait till the time I lose all of my hair. He also told me not to cut corners when choosing a hair loss clinic. Choose the best one.

But then I came across research on Hair Transplants, I decided to stay away from it

Should you really go for a hair transplant ?

This is what I did to reverse it.

Time Period/Changes Food Lifestyle Scalp (other methods)
January to March No Particular, starved myself of Carbs Shampoo, Bodyweight Exercise, Five Tibetan Rite Onion Juice, Nail Rubbing, Frequency
April to June No Particular, starved myself of Carbs, also started including carbs slowly Shampoo, Bodyweight Exercise, Five Tibetan Rite Oil, Shaving, Galea Relaxing, Nail Rubbing, Frequency
July to September Pro Thyroid Food No Shampoo, Five Tibetan Rite Detumescence Therapy, Towel Massage, Nail Rubbing, Frequency
October to December Pro Thyroid Food No Shampoo, No soaps, Five Tibetan Rites Detumescence Therapy, Towel Massage, Nail Rubbing, Hair Pulling, Frequency
January to March Pro Thyroid Food, Supplementation No Shampoo, No Soaps, Cycling, Five Tibetan Rites, Power Yoga, reduced Plastic usage (Tupperware) Infrared, Hypnosis, Detumescence, Towel Massage, Frequency, Emu + Castor Oil
April to June Pro Thyroid Food, ZMA supplementation No Shampoo, No Soaps Towel Massage
July to September Pro Thyroid Food, Magnesium from Concentrace Trace Minerals, Adrenal Cocktail, No Shampoos, No Soaps Towel Massage
October to December Pro Thyroid Food, Trace Minerals, Adrenal Cocktail, Cod Liver Oil, Diatomaceous Earth, Stabilized Rice Bran, Wheatgrass, Boron, Blood Donation, Curcumin No shampoos, No soaps, Borax as Shampoo Towel Massage
January to March Pro Thyroid Food, Magnesium Glycinate, Adrenal Cocktail, Beef Liver Capsules, Food based Vitamin B, Vitamin E, Bee Pollen, Boron, Unfortified Nutritional Yeast, Cacao, Hemp Protein No shampoos, No soaps, Borax as Shampoo Towel Massage

 

 
April to June Pro-Thyroid Food

 

Magnesium Glycinate, Pasture Raised Egg Yolks, Sunflower Seeds, Pumpkin Seeds, Bee Pollen, Boron, Unfortified Nutritional Yeast, Cacao, Organic Plant Protein, Cacao, Hemp Protein, Kelp

 No Shampoo/Soaps

 

Only occasional use of Soap

 Towel Massage

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January to March 2016My photo in Mid January 2016

In January, I still believed my stomach problems are caused by Candida infection and I was still consuming lot less carbs. Apart from that, my diet was not particular. I avoided rice, avoided fruits and juices. I also avoided milk thinking it will aggravate my stomach condition.I used to shampoo quite regularly, every day or every alternate day. I also used to perform body-weight exercises and 5 Tibetan rites.I was doing nail rubbing (Balayam) every day at least once or sometimes twice.

In March, I started using Onion Juice. It helped me to reduce itchiness in my scalp but it was too much hassle to prepare juice. After few days of using it used to turn green. I didn’t face any smell problems but I certainly didn’t like idea of using Onion and then shampooing every day. Whenever I traveled, I had to carry the Onion Juice bottle and it created smell problems.So I got rid of it.At the end of March, while looking at mirror, I realized that I had regrown few new hairs in frontal area which were not there before.

Results : Very tiny regrowth in front. Itching reduced. Dandruff reduced a little. I used to wash hair daily so I didn’t see any oiliness.

April to June 2016

From April, I started increasing my carb intake, I started eating fruits and rice slowly. I continued with body-weight exercises, 5 Tibetan rites. I reduced shampooing frequency.I started using an oil (I don’t know the components, it looked red) which was supposed to grow new hair. After couple of weeks of using it, my close friend warned me that my crown patch had become even bigger. I told him to click the pics and show me and I realized that I had indeed lost more hair in my crown after using oil. I became alarmed and stopped using oil completely.

Note : I don’t know the effectiveness of this oil but whenever any treatment starts working, the first sign is little/moderate hair shedding at least for few weeks/couple of months. In very few cases, the hair shedding is heavy.Then I learned Galea relaxing exercises and I started doing it every day for 5 minutes along with nail rubbing. I shaved my head completely at the end of April because I thought I had lost lot of hair in my crown area and I was looking horrible.

Results : Itchiness reduced further. Dandruff reduced further. More regrowth in front and little regrowth in crown area.

July to September 2016
My photo in first week of September 2016, at my friend’s wedding.

From June I continued with nail rubbing. I also started Detumescence Therapy and Towel massage. After I started with Detumescence and Towel massage (especially towel massage) within couple of weeks, my crown area lost a lot of density. Almost everyone noticed it and asked me what happened to my crown hair. (see photo at bottom of this page)

Within few days, my dandruff, itchiness, oiliness problem went away never to return back. Since then I have shampooed probably twice in last 8-9 months. I started losing lot more hair and started seeing them on my towel. I continued with Five Tibetan Rites.I feared that I would not get those lost hair back but I was optimistic. Every single day, I performed Detumescence Therapy for 5-10 minutes and towel rub for 3 minutes throughout my scalp.

I started consuming Pro-Thyroid Food.More Fruits, More saturated fats, Milk, Chicken, Fish, Rice, Potato, Carrot Salad, organic eggs. I started eating 5-6 times in a day. I started measuring my temp and pulse test. My pulse was normal most of the times but my temperature at 3 was below range.If you want detailed advice on incorporating Pro-Thyroid Food in your diet, I have included that in Hair Regrowth Blueprint

I stopped eating beans, nuts. I also stopped gluten for a month and reintroduced it slowly. After stopping Gluten, some of my digestion issues went away and after reintroduction, they never re-occurred.I changed my diet to bring it up to the mark most of the times. After a while, instead of measuring temperature and pulse every day, I started relying more on my overall mood and energy. I started eating fruits or Chocolate Milk at night to reduce stress response in morning.My morning would typically start with fruits and I would perform light exercises after Breakfast instead of doing it on empty stomach.

Results : Dandruff, itchiness, oiliness completely gone, never returned back. Crown area density reduced. Frontal hair thickened a bit. The percentage increase in thickness was more compared to what it was before. I believe it’s the combined result of Diet, Towel massage and Detumescence Therapy.

October to December 2016

My photo in Mid December 2016

From September onward, my diet was more or less same. Other techniques were also same as I described in last 3 months. I added few new things to this regime. I started brushing my hair often. I also started hair pulling (from bottom and not from top) for a brief period (probably a month). I stopped using Soap completely (except washing my hands) I also started taking cold baths for a month. It didn’t quite work for me because I got cold.Whenever I used to pull my hair, 2-3 hair used to come in my hands (not much) but I continued it because my scalp felt better. I continued with Detumescence Therapy, Towel Therapy, Nail Rubbing. I started using Emu Oil + Castor Oil Mixture. I used it every 2-3 days.

Results : Hair thickened a lot in front, crown area started filling in very slowly but steadily. Dandruff, itchiness, oiliness was gone forever. My friends started asking me if I am on some treatment for my hair loss.

January to March 2017

My crown photo comparison

From January, I started supplementation with Vitamin D3, K2, Calcium, Magnesium to reverse Arterial Calcification and Fibrosis. I also started supplementing myself with Vitamin B12 to reverse grey hair. My diet was almost the same.I stopped nail rubbing. I use frequencies but not very regularly. I am quite occupied at the moment so when I don’t get time or when I am tired, I only do towel massage for 3 minutes.I started experimenting with Infrared Light Therapy. Exposing thinned areas to Red Light for 5-10 minutes every few 3-4 days. It gives me a hot tingling sensation after 5-10 minute long session.

I also started Power Yoga , Cycling and I continued with 5 Tibetan Rites. I stopped usage of plastic bags and switched to Tupperware.I have started using Hypnosis (recording affirmations in your own voice and listen to it overnight or when you are resting or working) I have continued using Emu Oil + Castor Oil Mixture. I use it every 5-6 days.

Results : My frontal hair has thickened a lot. Crown area has started filling up. Density in more than it looks in pic. My grey hair has started reversing slowly. New grey hairs are not coming in or coming in very rarely. Almost everyone who meets me after 3-6-9 months, ask me what I am doing with my hair.

April to June 2017

In April, I realized that although I have made a good progress with my frontal 1/3rd area but in my middle 1/3rd area and crown area, there was no significant effect. I realized that I need to do something different in order to achieve this effect.I had only 2 results to show for. I had received several messages like “When I started detumescence/towel massage I could see reduction in hair fall, dandruff, itching”

But there was one problem.I realized that Detumescence or Towel massage were able to induce the new hair growth or thickening of existing hairs but there were not enough to sustain growth from that point onwards.

Only right nutrition is required to sustain the growth and thicken existing hairs. Topicals might help temporarily but they won’t thicken the hair. Unless topicals have certain nutrients they won’t thicken hair. Period.When I realized that, I started reading more and more research on Hair loss exploring Nutrient connection.I came across several research papers on Zinc connected with Hair loss. I also started searching for answers on Forums to see if anyone benefited with Zinc regarding their hair loss.I found several threads on the same. Meanwhile I was also researching other nutrients which could potentially reverse hair loss. One of the prominent minerals was Magnesium. As Male pattern baldness is result of Calcification and Fibrosis. There was a lot of research and anecdotal evidence suggesting Magnesium can potentially reverse Calcification.So I decided to supplement with Zinc and Magnesium.

There was a supplement called ZMA which helped a lot of people to take care of Zinc and Magnesium deficiency and there were several people on internet who were benefited with ZMA for athletic performance , sex drive and hair regrowth however, there was a lot of contrary evidence suggesting that it didn’t help many in regards to reversing hair loss.So I was kind of in dilemma whether to try it or not. But I decided to give it a try for next 3 months. As soon I started with ZMA (which contains Zinc, Magnesium and Vitamin B6) within a week the hair at my middle 1/3rd started growing. In span of 1 month I saw good results. However, I had to stop it because I was having diarrhea like symptoms throughout the day and many of those who switched to ZMA based on my suggestions started having diarrhea like symptoms. While some didn’t face any of the symptoms.I started getting several people reporting that they started seeing improvement with their hair after they were on ZMA.However, I wasn’t sure about what was really responsible for hair regrowth.Was it Zinc, Magnesium or B6 ?

There was overwhelming evidence for Zinc so I thought it was because of Zinc. However, it was a big mistake because everyone who switched to only Zinc supplements, hardly any of them saw any positive results. However, some of them started reporting their hair started greying prematurely, So I stopped using it.

My photo in last week of April 2017 (front photo taken in harshest light possible)

Results : My frontal 1/3rd hair has thickened. Crown area has started filling up. Some of my friends confirmed that there was indeed an improvement in my hairs.

July 2017-September 2017

I started researching other strong links to reverse my hair thinning. I was bumping into dead ends all the time. I realized that I need to find a connecting link which explains the whole picture because resolving hair loss doesn’t seem like a separate problem, it seemed like it wasn’t isolated issue, it was a systemic problem. Isolated supplements may or may not help me.So I started reading a lot of books, research papers and watching youtube videos. I came across Morley Robbins video on Copper Dysregulation. I found it because I was researching copper in connection with my grey hair.

It didn’t make any sense initially after watching his video. so I started watching more and more of his videos.His advice seemed contrary to what other popular gurus were preaching .He talked about stopping Vitamin D, Iron, Calcium, Multivitamins supplement. Instead talked about adding more magnesium and food based supplements rather than synthetic supplements.It was first very difficult to believe his advice because whatever I had read in first 16-17 months, he mentioned to do 80% of the opposite. So I joined his group and started learning about his protocol.

Learn more about it here

http://gotmag.org/the-root-cause-protocol/

But I saw several others in group benefiting from his protocol so I decided to dig deeper into the research behind it and started implementing the protocol.First of all, I ditched all synthetic supplements.I first bought Concentrace Trace Minerals and added things like Adrenal Cocktail, added Silica and other things in Protocol. I started seeing smaller changes in my hair.

Morley talked a lot about Iron—Copper, Magnesium—-Calcium Dance.Watch his video and you will understand

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ongtN4bz_V0

If you don’t want to spend an hour and want less technicality, watch this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=281NHbjJ1Wo

After learning Root Cause Protocol, I realized that my fatigue, IBS symptoms, hair loss, greying could be because of excess Iron. All I wanted to do was to get my blood tests done

My photo in July 2017

.

Results : I saw good changes in my other symptoms. Little improvement in my hair especially middle and crown 1/3rd.

October 2017 to December 2017

In September, I decided to check for my iron markers, vitamin D, liver enzymes, Ceruloplasmin, serum copper, serum zinc.Here are my values.I realized that my Iron markers are very high and I needed to reduce it. Check my reports below.

I went for blood donation. I also started taking Rice Bran, Wheatgrass. This helped me to successfully deal with many health issues I was still having. Changing my diet in September 2016 helped me a lot in many issues, however, there were other issues still there.

First improvement I had seen was reduction in fatigue. Earlier by quitting wheat and changing my diet, I had already seen the improvement in my fatigue and IBS but after a blood donation, I saw very good changes.I continued with Concentrace Trace Minerals till it lasted. Once they were over, I didn’t take any Magnesium supplement.

In November,I was supposed to fly to US for Business and Leisure Trip.When I flew to US, I was terrified because I thought I had to deal with IBS, Hair Loss and several other issues because Food System in US is seriously bad.

Genetically modified foods, Iron Fortified Foods etc etc.

Being an Indian and being health conscious, I never wanted to eat french fries, burgers, low fat milk etc etc. I chose not to eat bread, pasta there, stuck to fruits, seafood, rice, beans. I didn’t face any problems in US. Thank GOD.Even when I used to wash my hair with shampoo, I still didn’t face excessive hair loss.Here is me with my mentor Ryan LevesqueWhen I came back, I again went for blood donation and then I continued with Wheatgrass, Rice BranAll values came into the range except D and I know why that could have happened. I stopped my Magnesium for 3 months. I don’t know why but I just stopped it.

Results : When I came back, I did see marginal improvement as confirmed by some of my friends.

January 2018 to March 2018

In January, I got my 23andme reports.Here are test results of my Genetic TestingSo by genetic standards, I am not supposed to lose hair by age 40 but I still lost it and I have started regaining it so you can say that it’s possible to activate or deactivate genes based on your diet and lifestyle.

I also started getting more magnesium, Vitamin A, I added Egg Yolks, Nutritional Yeast, Cacao Beans, Food based B, E Vitamins, Red Palm Oil. I started seeing major changes within few weeks.Earlier, although I had decent results in middle 1/3rd area, I was not able to part my hair sideways because they didn’t grow long beyond certain length but after this regimen, especially I believe course of B-Vitamins over 6-8 weeks, the hairs which were stagnant for last 8-10 years started growing back.

I don’t know it’s only because of B Vitamins or something else. I think they have played a major role. The key is getting most of them from food or food based supplement and not from Synthetic supplements. It’s not biotin. Biotin will help you to grow your hair faster but it won’t thicken or regrow the hair which are stagnant.The key to get all Vitamins and Minerals from high quality foods or superfoods.Pasture Raised Egg Yolks, Bee Pollen, Unfortified Nutritional Yeast, STabilized Rice Bran (Brown Rice) for B-Vitamins

Here are my current photos from Mid March 2018http://i.prntscr.com/2Qm6zOV7QUeBziNUBYWAEQ.png

Results : Crown Area almost filled. I can part my hairs sideways without leaving any gaps, earlier, there used to be big gaps, now they are hardly there, unless I try to create it.Using oil still shows gap.So when it comes to reversing hair loss (stopping hair loss/thinning and regrowing new hair) it comes to implementing step by step approach.

April to June 2018

From May, I started regularly eating Pasture Raised Egg Yolks (at least 6 a day), I also started consuming more Pumpkin, Sunflower Seeds (10-20gms each)

I started consuming Organic Plant Protein, Hemp Protein, Kelp, Bee Pollen, Cacao Nibs, Unfortified Nutritional Yeast, Borax(to get Boron)

I started seeing further improvement in my hair. (You can see further improvement in crown area despite hair length being 4-5 cm less than previous photos)

In May, I again had chance to travel to Chicago, I didn’t face much problems with food.

Me with my Mentor Perry Marshall in Chicago

This was my journey, if you want to stop your hair loss, I have developed 5 step game plan to identify root causes, resolve them using diet & lifestyle changes, scalp stimulation exercises to stop hair loss and regrow hair naturally.

Take Baldness Risk Factor Quiz Now

Here it’s

Step 1. Root Cause (Remove, Reduce or Rule Out)

My maternal uncle and grandfather and thin hairs. My maternal grandfather was completely bald at the age of 40. My maternal uncle is not completely bald and had thin hairs since he was young. Same with my mother. Although, my genetic test shows something different.In 2013, I started having problems with leaky gut, food allergies, frequent bowel movements etc.I went on a low-carb diet. The low carb diet is usually bad for hair. Your entire metabolism runs on fatty acids instead of burning glucose. It’s very inefficient fuel compared to glucose.  It causes hair follicles begin to miniaturize.I used to wash my hair with hard water for first half of 2015 and I used to shampoo my hair very regularly.When I started finding different possible triggers of hair thinning, I started eliminating them one by one. It wasn’t possible to eliminate every trigger but it was possible to reduce side effects of them. I started doing it with Diet, Scalp Stimulation Exercise and Lifestyle Interventions.If you want to find possible triggers, check out the program I have developed : Hair Regrowth Blueprint

Step 2. Reset Scalp

In order for hair to grow or regrow, your scalp has to be in optimum condition. If you have condition like excessive oiliness, itchiness, fungal infections, no matter how many different attempts you make to regrow new hair, the results will not be optimal.If you want help to reduce dandruff, itchiness and oiliness of your scalp, check out this blog post

How to cure dandruff, reduce oiliness of scalp and resolve itch permanently ?

I achieved optimum scalp condition through diet, Detumescence Therapy and Towel Massage.Detumescence Therapy consists of Pinching, Pressing and Stretching the scalp to reverse local calcification & fibrosis and restore natural blood supply. Towel massage achieves the same purpose at much faster pace.If you have lost almost all of hair, Detumescence is more effective to you and if you still have a lot of tiny hair still intact, towel massage is the best way to go forward.In Hair Regrowth Blueprint, I answer most of the questions revolving around Detumescence Therapy and Towel Massage.

Step 3. Reactivating Dormant Hair Follicles

To reactivate dormant hair follicles, I employed several methods.Notable ones are Detumescence Therapy and Towel massage. I also used Nail Rubbing, Onion Juice, Five Tibetan Rites and Emu+Castor Oil.In late 2016, I also started using supplementation like Ca along with Vitamin D3 and K2 to reverse Arterial Calcification. I started drinking Guava + Orange Juice every week to reverse Fibrosis. (Guava contains Apigenin and Orange contains Naringenin and both of them are known to reverse Fibrosis)

Step 4 : Regrow HairUsing right food, supplements for deficiency or therapeutic purposes at right time which will not only optimize your metabolism and reduce metabolic stress but also help you grow your hair which were miniaturized or were not growing earlier to fuller length and keep the existing hair.

Step 5 : Retain HairOnce you get your hair back, even if you start facing hair loss at any other time, you need to know troubleshooting steps to backtrace possible causes of hair loss and reverse it.So if you want to use this 5 Step Methodology to identify possible causes of your Hair Loss/Hair Thinning and, stop it and start regrowing your hair naturally like I did, check out Hair Regrowth Blueprint

  October 2017 First Week December 2017 Last Week June 2018
Serum Iron 144.5 ug/dL 100.5 84.3
Transferrin Saturation 51% 32.74 28.97
Haemoglobin 16.2 g/dL 16.6 16
Ferritin 219 ng/ml 39.4 39.1
Vitamin D 20 ng/ml 12.21 14.87
Vitamin B12 550 pg/ml 428 330
Homocysteine 22.2 umol/L 12.6 10.6
LDL 122 mg/dL 116  
Total Cholesterol 205 mg/dL 179  
Alkaline Phosphatase 85.1 U/l 85.1 84.4
Bilirubin 1.04 mg/dL 0.75 0.56
SGOT 29.4 U/l 29.7 26.9
SGPT 32 U/l 39 34.7
TSH 2.16 μIU/ml 2.55 2.02
Ceruloplasmin 0.2 g/L    
Serum Copper 113.5 ug/dL    
Serum Zinc 120.4 ug/dL  

Summary

Pro-Thyroid Diet
Diet popularized by Ray Peat which supports Thyroid but you shouldn’t eat fish, nuts, seeds, legumes, beans, grains. I tried for 6–8 months, I got good improvement in front. But it’s not sustainable. I now eat everything in moderation.

What you should do ?

a. Stop all types of diets like Keto Diet, Low Carb Diet, Low Fat Diet, Fruit Only Diet, Raw Food Diet or any kind of weight loss diet
b. If possible, stop all medications like Vitamin A (Acne Medication), Painkillers, Gout Medications, Beta Blockers, Female Hormones, Male Hormones, Steroids/Immunosuppressants with or without Doctor’s permission as you think is suitable. (I am not a Licensed Practitioner or Doctor)
c. Stop Foods you are sensitive to and/or switch to higher quality foods 
Stop eating prepackaged wheat flour, eat wheat flour from mill. (This suggestion alone can help you reversing hair loss)
d. Work on your mind first. Although you might think it’s not very important, I believe that it has major impact on your health and hair loss. There are certain methods I have used like EFT, Emotion Code, Journaling, Non-dominant hand writing, forgiveness etc et
e. Improve your digestion by killing gut infection and restoring Gut Bacteria. (No antibiotics please)

1. Stop smoking, drinking, drugs, weeds
2. Change cooking oil to ghee, cold pressed coconut or groundnut oil
3. No Whey Protein or Soy or any man made protein extracted from foods. Eat real food even if it’s expensive
4. No Vitamin D, A, Zinc, Copper, Iron and Multi-Vitamin supplement
5. Donate blood every 3–4 months. (Very very important)
6. Add more magnesium rich foods in your diet sunflower, pumpkin, watermelon seeds, cacao, Magnesium Oil (to spray not to eat), hemp seeds etc etc
7. No oats, corn flakes, soya, museli and canned or packaged foods/snacks
8. Add B Vitamin rich foods, Moringa, Bee Pollen, Unfortified Nutritional Yeast, Brown Rice, Pasture raised egg yolks etc etc
9. Add Vitamin A rich foods especially animal based like Egg Yolks, Fish
10. Add lots of different types of fruits in your diet
11. Dont try to block DHT, IL-6, Prostaglandin D2 and other inflammatory mediators.

How to cure dandruff, reduce oiliness of scalp and resolve itch permanently ?

As long as I remember, I always had dandruff issues. It started around the same time I entered puberty.

No matter what I did in the past to resolve this condition, nothing happened.

I used shampoos quite regularly but nothing seemed to help. Shampoos helped me to get rid of dandruff for 2-3 days but the dandruff came back again with vengeance.

So I started researching on dandruff.

Here is Wikipedia entry
Dandruff is the shedding of dead skin cells from the scalp. As skin cells die, a small amount of flaking is normal; about 487,000 cells/cm2 get released normally after detergent treatment. Some people, however, experience an unusually large amount of flaking either chronically or as a result of certain triggers, up to 800,000 cells/cm2, which can also be accompanied by redness and irritation.

According to one study, dandruff has been shown to possibly be the result of three factors
1. Skin oil commonly referred to as sebum or sebaceous secretions

This has a lot to do with sebum production. However, there are few things which you should always keep in mind which aggravates sebum production.
a. If you use shampoo to often, instead of actually cleaning your scalp, you irritate your sebaceous gland even more which in turn produces more and more oil and you have to use Shampoo again. It’s vicious cycle.
b. If you choose wrong shampoo for your hair type, it will end up stripping off all the oil which is necessary to keep your hairs moisturized. Use Coconut or Olive oil on regular basis to keep your hair moisturized.
c. If you have tendency to secrete more oil, you also need to check your dietary intake of Vitamin A. It’s very essential to control excessive sebum production. Excess of Vitamin A can cause problems too.

2. The metabolic by-products of skin micro-organisms (most specifically Malassezia yeasts)
This is very common infection on scalp. It’s believed that it’s caused by Fungus (and/or Bacteria) which feeds on Sebum.

To get rid of this, I have used Onion and Garlic juice, it was very beneficial to get rid of it. Onion/Garlic/ACV juice applied topically also stops hair loss and regrows new hair.

Does Onion Juice really work to stop hair loss, get rid of dandruff & itch and regrow hair naturally ?

3. Individual susceptibility and allergy sensitivity

I faced this problem for a longer duration. Whenever, I ate certain foods, whenever I didn’t get enough sleep and whenever I was stressed, I used to see either a lot of dandruff or constant oiliness/itching.

I methodically identified such foods and started changing my lifestyle in order to reduce consumption of such foods and adjust my lifestyle so that I counteract effects of stress using right food and right methods.

So what you can do to completely get rid of dandruff, itch and oiliness on your scalp ?
1. Try to consume diet which will correct your Hormonal Imbalance.
2. Check your intake of Vitamin A. (Excess of it can negate good effects of it)
3. Use specific types of scalp massages which will help you to get rid of excessive sebum production in 2-4 weeks (and more in case if you have this issue for longer duration) Learn more about it here
4. Use Towel rub to get rid of excessive dandruff, reduce oil formation on your scalp while stimulating dormant hair follicles. If you don’t do it correctly, you probably won’t get any results or negative results. Learn Towel Rub Technique here.
5. Use Shampoo less frequently and use shampoo which is suitable for your hair type.

If you want to learn everything about how to stop hair loss/hair thinning, resolve dandruff, itch and oiliness and start regrowing hair naturally, I have created a comprehensive resource which will help you to achieve all these things naturally, it’s called “Hair Regrowth Blueprint”

Check Hair Regrowth Blueprint Now

Take Baldness Risk Factor Quiz Now