A pot bellied, thin armed balding man with a slight erectile dysfunction looks to his wife proudly and proclaims “My doctor says I’m losing my hair because I have too much testosterone.” Ah, pride cometh before the fall! Look at your usual specimen of balding male; honestly does the average balding male look like he has too much testosterone floating 'round his body? Does he have: Good musculature, tight waist, great sexual function, consistently good erection size, good moods, no depression, great mental drive? Vin Diesel might still have all or most of these attributes but he would be one of the few balding men I can think of that does. In most guys loosing hair comes along with an increase in the hormone Di Hydro Testosterone, the swollen prostate, prostate cancer and hair loss hormone. And, sorry to tell you guys, DHT is not really testosterone despite its name and being classified as an androgen (male hormone)! In vivo (in live people not in a test tube or on paper), DHT is mostly made from estrogen. And, estrogen levels in the body have to increase before DHT levels get critical enough to cost you your hair. It is estrogen that causes muscle loss, fat gain, cranky moods, depression, swollen prostates and lack of mental drive.

The University of Iowa did a study some years back where they injected a group of 18 to 20 year olds with 600 times more testosterone than they already had! (1). (It’s a wonder these guys didn’t impregnate every gal in Iowa and both the Dakotas)! During the entire duration of the fairly long study, a control group of men aged 50+ was monitored for the same things the young men were being monitored for: Total and Free Testosterone level, Estrogen level, DHT levels and other pertinent things. The control group received no hormones or medications during the study period.

During the time of having super high T levels the young men had low DHT levels! Their DHT levels remained consistent and did not elevate. AND their estrogen levels remained low as well. This came as a surprise, because the prevailing thought among MD endocrinologists (who really don’t know much about hormones) was that as T levels rose so would DHT levels and that T would convert to E and increase estrogen levels. That flatly did not happen. What also did not happen were any increases in prostate size, testicular or prostate cancer or the onset of any other malignant disease.

Meanwhile back in the old guys control group; during the entire time of the study their T levels were constantly decreasing, their estrogen levels were constantly elevating and with the increase in estrogen was an increase in DHT. With the increase in both E and DHT there was in increase in prostate swelling and dysfunction and I believe there were one or two cases of prostate cancer developed in this control group during their time under study.

This was a landmark work and you don’t have to be Einstein to figure out what the study is saying. Normally from the age of 35 on, a mans testosterone level begins to decline. Making that worse is a new study finding which showed that men these days of any age are making 20% less testosterone than men of the same age were making just a short 20 years ago! Aside from the cost to sexual function, fertility, great moods, mental drive, zest for life, bone density and muscularity this means that the X’er generation will go into Andropause earlier than the Boomers did! 35 to 40 instead of 40 to 45. What is Andropause? It’s death! The death of your time as a fully functional, strong and fully able sexual guy! After andropause if you work hard as hell at anti-aging programs and exercise you’ll be able to retain most of your former function - if you work at it. If not, the decline in all the above mentioned benefits will set in at a speed between gradual, (as is had in some men) to sudden (as happens in others). And by 45 to 50 the decrease in ability and function will be so deep and noticeable as to be life changing in a very negative way. But back to hair loss.

If DHT creates hair loss, how can you keep from making DHT, how can you increase your testosterone levels and how can you keep your estrogen levels low?

1) Let’s start with controlling estrogen.

By 35 we are making a good bit of it. By 40 to 45 we have a higher estrogen level than our wives do! Now some of the estrogen is made and some of the estrogen is acquired. First let’s talk about avoiding estrogen exposure.

We are bathed in a sea of estrogen daily. Environmental estrogen's are called xeno estrogen's and they come from: exposure to pesticides, organo phosphate fertilizers, petro chemical fumes, the esters of plastic containers, but by far the worst sources of estrogen exposure is soy and flax. Soy is everywhere, not only in soy milk, miso and tofu but since it is a cheep form of protein, soy is also found in most all prepared foods. Read the label of everything from bread to frozen meat patties. You’ll find soy. Each glass of soy milk contains the equivalent of 3 to 5 low estrin birth control pills worth of estrogen per glass (it’s in the isoflavones). In soy formula given babies the ratio is worse, there it is 5 to 8 birth control pills worth per every 8 ounces of soy formula. No wonder some girls hit menstruation at 6 or 8 and some boys grow up not knowing they are boys! But for more on that read my article “Soy The Poison Seed".

The flax oil we have been told is so good for our hearts is likely killing our testicles! The lignans of flax have the same estrogenic effect as the isoflavones of soy. So if you treasure your manhood stop eating soy both non fermented and fermented, and switch from flax oil to olive oil and cod liver oil for your lipid nutrients.

Next to control your own E production we can use a product called Myomin. The Chinese herbal blend Myomin is: 1) an aromatase inhibitor, something that will prevent your own testosterone from converting into estradiol and estrone (the two worst forms of human estrogen) and 2) an estrogen blocker filling up the E receptors and not allowing the E to have a physiological action while at the same time helping to get rid of the E through metabolization by the liver.

2) Now to give our bodies what it needs to make more T.

Forget all the stuff you’ve heard about the various T precursors. The best way to increase your own Testosterone production and also to increase your Progesterone level (which is also an aromatase inhibitor - preventing T from converting into E) while at the same time blocking the action of Estrogen through a natural E blocker known as Di Indole Methane (DIM) is by eating maca powder. But here is where I have to issue a consumer warning: The maca extracts, regardless of how concentrated they claim to be do not perform all of the above functions as well as the plain old maca powder the folks in Peru, Ecuador and Brazil have used as a fertility enhancer and aphrodisiac for centuries! At about 20 to 30 dollars a pound, Maca powder is cheap and a pound will last for between 2 to 4 weeks depending on your daily intake. you’ll spend 20 to 30 bucks on 60 capsules of a maca extract that won’t work, and won’t have more than 3 tablespoons of the powder in the whole bottle. Buying anything less than the powder is a waste and worse it won’t work! Use 3 to 6 teaspoons of the maca powder a day. It tastes toasted, sorta like butterscotch (in my opinion) so you can simply pop a teaspoon in your mouth and chase it down with water.

Then we have to take something to stimulate the body into taking those precursor sterols in the maca and actually turning them into testosterone and progesterone. Here is where the herbal formula created by an herbal genius comes into play: Enkindle. One to Two caplets a day does the trick.

3) Last let's fight hair loss from the outside.

Look for a hair product called Polysorbate 80. This form of oil will neutralize DHT in the scalp and help cut back on hair loss as well.

You may ask “Why go through all the trouble of taking the maca, eating the Enkindle and using the Polysorbate when I can take a little pill my doc can prescribe to prevent hair loss? The reasons are many but the primary ones are that: that pill kills your sexual function, can cause mutations in any babies you may happen to make while on the pill if you get to keep your sexual function, does not address your making estrogen, does nothing to improve your testosterone level and in short does nothing to make you healthier or feel younger!

I won’t guarantee your hair will return but we can sure cut back on the speed with which you are losing your hair and the reason why you are losing it. Doing that will also make you more of the man you were, in more ways than one!