1… does increase in blood circulation in scalp increase hair growth ?
2… does scalp massage increase hair growth ?

if you give me genuine answers at the earliest i will apply these on myself and if i get positive result i will appreciate your good advice lifelong

Granted, I can’t say for sure that this is due to the saw palmetto because I’m using it as part of an essential oil blend. However, the pattern of shedding + new growth seems consistent with SP to me. (My full topical formula is pumpkin seed oil, saw palmetto, green tea extract, bhringraj, lavender oil, rosemary oil, peppermint oil, cedarwood oil, and thyme oil. About 10% essential oils, 90% carrier – reduced from 20/80 a couple weeks ago.)

I’m surprised you didn’t mention the potential sexual side effects of saw palmetto. There are anecdotal reports floating around of men getting similar side effects to propecia (sexual dysfunction, breast growth, etc.). There are a couple such comments on this page in fact. Seems like it’s pretty rare but still, a good reason to be cautious and perhaps try just topical before taking SP orally.

Last bump on this. I’d really like to hear your thoughts on this if you can, Rob! Thanks!

Hey John,

Thanks for sharing your experience here, and I’m sorry to hear about your shed. I feel like your switch back to the original, supercritical CO2-extracted brand is a good move. It’s possible that the cheaper brand either didn’t meet its labeling requirements, or that its formulation was far worse than the one you’d originally used. In any case, please keep me posted on your progress.

Have you had DHT levels since trying saw palmetto?

Best,
Rob

Hey Rob,

Following up, it’s been almost 10 months on Saw Palmetto Supercitical CO2 extract, 360g a day. I didn’t notice big improvements overall, I still had some hair shed, but nothing critical. So ~3 months ago I decided to try cheaper brand serenoa repens (fruit) pills 900mg. Well, I’ve been shedding hair like crazy since then and the scalp became very itchy and I see that I have more hair growing on my chest, maybe indicating that overall DHT level went up. Now I went back to the Supercritical CO2, hopefully, I will stop my crazy shedding

Hey Koen,

Thanks for your patience with my reply. Firstly, I wanted to confirm your name change to Koen G. This occurred within minutes of your second comment submission. So, while I’m just getting back to your original questions now, please know your name has remained changed for a while.

In regard to botanical DHT reducers – lycopene (from tomatoes), saw palmetto, and pumpkin seed oil all hair some degree of effect on DHT levels, though these are generally much milder than any effects from finasteride and dutasteride. There was a study showing that over a two-year period, 90% of men taking saw palmetto orally were able to maintain their hair density. At the same time, most people agree that saw palmetto alone generally isn’t enough to see major hair count increases – and that for many individuals, its use in the real-world doesn’t live up to the results seen in the few clinical studies we do have on the extract.

I’d be happy to talk more in a consultation inside our membership community. There are plenty of options out there – especially for those who are more interested in an all-natural approach. Regardless, I wanted to provide you with some direction.

Best,
Rob

My case is totally different. I don’t know what is the exact reason also. My hair fall started temple areas around 2011. I stayed in multiple places don’t know water change could impact. It gradually decreased density. Now it’s almost 1/10. It’s not always noticible. For 4 months it’s regular 4 months couldn’t notice any hair fall. I recently took prp + finasteride treatment like 1 year back. I couldn’t see any improvement. It made my condition worse. Recent days I noticed both body hair and scalp hair both became so thin and body hair stick to soap that’s how I noticed body hair also becoming thin. But scalp hair thinning is easily noticible. Please provide some solution.