Rapamycin for Hair Growth and Hair Pigmentation

Nice scruff beard… looks great.

I keep my beard at a 5 days growth length.

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Hair is a good test because it is so complex with the different cell types.

Thanks. It needs more density and color. Hopefully I can get that in the future.

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Just to clarify, is it a case of the grey hair no longer growing in grey? Or just that existing grey is being coloured by the DMSO, EGCG, resveratrol combination?

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The DMSO causes the EGCG, Resveratrol to absorb into the hair… use every 2 to 3 days keeps the color permanent… in the hairshaft… no roots. Very blonde, brown… natural look. No roots… since May when I started.

Stop using…I guess your hair returns… to gray from the roots.

There are soft gray tones at the temples…
Very natural… my hairdresser , wife and staff say.

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This seems like a reasonably good summary of the state of the industry and science:

The recent understanding of HF biology and cycling has triggered the development of novel therapeutics aiming to reverse HF miniaturization or even to promote HF regeneration. Tissue engineering strategies have made possible the generation of cycling HFs in animal models. With the prospect of a hair loss cure and its business, biotechnology companies have begun to develop more effective treatments for AGA. Here, we benchmark those biotechs, highlighting the most innovative therapeutic strategies and/or those with scientific evidence, and we discuss promising steps to consider in the future.

Open Access Paper:

And something to be aware of (in mice):

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I did this same process

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Bad news, I asked Open AI about this and here is the answers:

Are there any effective strategies to help gray hair get its pigment back?

Unfortunately, there is no known effective strategy to help gray hair regain its pigment. Gray hair is a natural part of the aging process, and once the pigment-producing cells in the hair follicles have stopped producing color, it is not possible to reverse the process. That said, there are some strategies that may help to reduce the appearance of gray hair, such as using hair dyes, highlighting, and using products to temporarily coat the hair and give it a darker color.

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Hmmm…

Looks like DMSO, mixed with 5% minoxidil solution, EGCG and Resveratrol… to get a natural hair with brown and blonde streaks… is the best bet. All natural-ish.

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I think i have some hairs that started translucent and became pigmented. It may, however, be a camera and lighting artefact. I will see if i can use microscope camera to record this.

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There are plenty of medications that have hair recoloration listed as one their side effects, most are monoclonal antibodies or protein kinase inhibitors used in certain cancer treatments though, so maybe not the safest to just try


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Yerba Santa tea for prevention of hair graying:

There are a couple brands of tea bags on Amazon.

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I am sorry, this was intended as a joke, because right now I dont put too much stock in AI answers. I asked it to treat several pretend patients and the AI dosages would have killed them.

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Here is the image (I don’t think it is an artefact)

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From what I’ve researched, “sterubin”, a flavanone extracted from yerba santa, seems to be the key factor that influences/ stimulates hair follicle regimentation when applied topically due to a high anti-oxidant profile. It’s even being investigated as a drug for Alzheimer’s disease.

Yerba santa has roughly 11 species. The 2 that seem to have been tested specifically for hair follicle melanogenesis are Eriodictyon angustifolium (Narrow-leaved yerba santa) and Eriodictyon californicum (California yerba santa). Most commercial products - tea or topical agents - seem to mostly consist of the latter, in which sterubin appears to be less abundant (see articles below). However, the photo evidence from the study showing repigmentation results of greying beards from 0-24 weeks using Eriodictyon angustifolium extract didn’t seem overly impressive. That said, it’s fairly recent/ early research and may be worth exploring if it continues to develop.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ics.12620

https://www.alzdiscovery.org/cognitive-vitality/researchers

For the 2nd link see “Sterubin” under “Drugs-in-Development” for an article overviewing the recent scientific literature, mostly lead by N Taguchi (may be a researcher/ scientist to keep an eye on).

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Can you share some details about why you feel this way regarding taking minoxidil for the long term?

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There is obviously a difference between topical and oral. However, topical does have broader effects In a sense evolution has developed a particular position in terms of blood pressure and tension in the blood vessels. The likelihood is that this particular system of homeostasis has benefits over other ones. Hence I would not wish to skew it in the long term. I have, however, no evidence base for this and it is not a big issue.

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I appreciate your opinion, as it helps me think through my own position on long term use of minoxidil. My current dosage is 1.25mg orally each night before bed.

The New York Times piece a few years ago (last year?) quoted a doctor achieving hair-regrowth at levels a quarter of that dosage if I recall correctly. So I’m hoping that 1.25 is large enough to spur the system into action and small enough to have little to no effect on blood pressure.

Anecdotally, a few moths go I took the 1.25mg pill and the last bit of topical minoxidil that I had on the same day. I became dizzy several times. Won’t do that again.

You mention topical in your most recent comment. Do you feel differently about oral?

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Its all about how much you get systemically. You will get some systemically from topical. I would not be massively worried about chronic usage, but preferably I would not take it chronically. On the other hand if it is the only way of getting something really important to you then the risk is probably not that great.

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