Do hair transplants debunk the scalp tension-hair loss hypothesis? (2021) | Hacker News Reader

Do hair transplants debunk the scalp tension-hair loss hypothesis? (2021)

perfecthairhealth.com

62 pointsrzk59 comments

Rob English is an interesting character. On one hand, he has a head full of hair, a sexier smile than Tom Cruise, and a membership website offering subscription-based anti-hairloss treatments. I.e all the traits of a snake oil salesman. On the other hand, he has published in peer-reviewed journals, his summaries of the science seem legit, and, despite their best efforts, none of his detractors have been able to convincingly debunk him. I really don't know what to think... If massaging your scalp is all it takes to keep your hair, sign me up.

This article and website is very interesting. As far as laid out here, the DHT theory of hair loss doesn't actually say why DHT is overexpressed, it usually is explained with "genetics". If the scalp-tension theory is fundamental for hair loss, it might just be a level deeper: many men (and women) have a genetic disposition for scalp tension. But apparently this is something you can combat manually to a degree.

i mean understanding the endocrine system is hard. theres a lot of reasons why diff ppl got diff levels of hormones. so everybody's like "genetics" but really it can also be lifestyle factors (diet sleep exercise alcohol whatever) with also genetics.

btw antiandrogens also are good evidence against tension theory, they can legit restore some hair in places where it was lost, see ru58841.

I take finasteride, have been for two years. I now have a very full beard, and I've never had hair on my chest before, despite being almost thirty. Only on 1mg per day. No sides.

The model explains DHT in the scalp. It is something like:

Scalp tension>inflammation>DHT accumulation in scalp.

I learned reading Rob work that you can find DHT accumulation in any inflamationn you have in your body (I.e. you receive a blow in the arm), and it includes scalp inflammation as well.

DHT can‘t be "overexpressed", what you mean are the 5AR enzymes that convert Testosterone to DHT, their creation can theoretically be overexpressed, so can be the amount of androgen receptors.

But androgenetic alopecia is less about abnormally high amounts of DHT and more about the hair follicles sensitivity to it and/or dysfunctional repairing/compensation mechanisms. Practically it makes no difference though: Nuke 5ar = keep the hair.

If it‘s scalp tension, why doesn‘t it impact transplanted hair and why do fin and dut work wonders? It‘s a crackpot theory that doesn‘t need debunking.

Your questions are addressed in the article.

You should read it before throwing around "crackpot theory".

I need more news on things like this .. (help..)

there was something about mice growing their hair back with something, https://archive.nytimes.com/well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/1... also some facebook groups with keto and zero carb report that they're less stressed when eating that way. Some also reported that they lost all their hair first, but then it came back healthier and stronger over the course of 1-2 years.

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal...

It‘s a running gag in the hair loss community, that even pissing on mice probably makes their hair grow. Most "x causes hair growth" studies are worthless and lead to nothing.

Like a Haircker News? That would be great.

r/tressless

theres some on r/moreplatesmoredates but thats more pharma oriented

Tressless is a very unhealthy place full of clueless beginners and the mentally ill.

I don‘t recommend consuming it.

theres a lotta bullshit but also theres some interesting studies that get posted sometimes. like any other place it aint all good but kinda a good meta feed.

probs not the best place to start tho ig

It is a marketing website for a paid coaching/membership program

Meh. Scalp advancement works pretty well. That is removing a strip of skin on the forehead and then pulling the rest down. It's adding a massive amount of tension in a very short period of time. If this resulted in more hair loss, nobody would be doing this procedure.

More evidence in favor of androgens being the cause is the ridiculous recovery that some transgender women experience in hair regrowth after starting HRT. Sometimes it's slick bald to nearly a full head of hair. There was also a guy who isn't trans on some hair loss forum who decided to take the strongest antiandrogens he could order plus some estrogen and had incredible regrowth.

Utimately it's probably multifactorial. Minoxidil helps, and that seems to be more about blood flow than androgens, though it's not totally clear why it works.

> Minoxidil helps, and that seems to be more about blood flow than androgens, though it's not totally clear why it works.

Isn't one of the causes of hair loss a build-up of dihydrotestosterone in the scalp? Improving blood flow possibly allows for more to be carried away instead of deposited.

Could be part of it. Minoxdil is just one kind of vasodilator. There hasn't been regrowth noticed with other classes like ACE inhibitors. And in general cardio training hasn't been shown to improve hair loss. Minoxidil might induce vascular endothelial growth factor as well. Maybe you need both? It also seems to work much better in combination with finasteride or dutasteride.

All medicine is a little human experimentation. We don't even understand the complete mechanism of action of acetaminophen and that drug has been around for over 130 years. Generally if something works, we're happy.

Minoxidils modes of action are actually incredibly multifaceted. It‘s not limited at all to messing with the blood flow.

The wikipedia article enumerates all the different things it does and how they could relate to hair growth.

Over the years I've heard people swear that microneedling helps regrow hair. If scalp tension really is a cause (doubt it is the only cause), perhaps the punctures created by microneedling alleviate the tension. For those who are losing hair due to other causes, microneedling wouldn't help and would lead those researching microneedling to get inconclusive results on effectiveness as the root cause wasn't accounted for.

Would Elon Musk have been as successful without a hair transplant?

well, Jeff Bezos didn't seem to need one

Imagine what he could have done with a full head of hair.

Or Marc Andreessen

Would Dwayne Johnson be half as appealing with a shaggy head?

Isn't this just another step in evolution?

Whatever that boosts your confidence.

Shave your head and grow a goatee?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AD-E2B5GfI8

What is "tension hair?"

Parse it like this: (scalp tension)-(hair loss). It's a hyphenated term but the two things being connected each have a space in the middle.

What's scalp tension

This is the sort of news that keeps me coming back to Hacker News...

What, it's not the 27547th blog post about Rust being good at something?

Or a post that's about the cloud, and the follow up "You Don't Need The Cloud" post?

I wish we were discusssing programming languages or technical problem solving! This is sub-Facebook level.

Discovering how organs work is sub-facebook?

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