List of Ingredients with DHT Blockers | Forum

Hard to say with zinc. Evidence points both ways, but it's probably fine overall. I wouldn't worry about it.

hey man, love your work.
Just bought a new moisturiser and was just wondering if you knew if any of these were DHT blockers?
Propylene Glycol, C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Cetyl Alcohol, Stearyl Alcohol, Salicylic Acid, Stearic Acid, Propylene Glycol Isostearate, Cyclopentasiloxane, Glyceryl Stearate, Cyclohexasiloxane, PEG~100 Stearate, Dimethicone, SodiumIsostearoyl Lactylate, Carbomer, Acrylates C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Disodium EDTAm Sodium Hydroxide, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone, Fragrance.

Cheers mate.

Quote from Puddles23 hey man, love your work.
Just bought a new moisturiser and was just wondering if you knew if any of these were DHT blockers?
Propylene Glycol, C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Cetyl Alcohol, Stearyl Alcohol, Salicylic Acid, Stearic Acid, Propylene Glycol Isostearate, Cyclopentasiloxane, Glyceryl Stearate, Cyclohexasiloxane, PEG~100 Stearate, Dimethicone, SodiumIsostearoyl Lactylate, Carbomer, Acrylates C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Disodium EDTAm Sodium Hydroxide, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone, Fragrance.

Cheers mate.

None I can really put my finger on. Here's a list of all DHT inhibitors: http://www.beardology.org/2017/01/07/138/

Hard as it is, I've been successfully avoiding DHT blockers. Only one I'm having constant trouble avoiding is soy. 98% of edible products are made with soy, even ironically in muscle building protein foods.

For the record, DHT inhibitors really aren't as bad as we make them out to be, they're not a potential threat to your beard, they really only just slow growth. But you probably should take them seriously if you want to finish your minoxidil journey as soon as possible, and minoxidil use is long enough without further slowing terminal gains with DHT inhibitors. So hopefully when I'm finally done with minoxidil I can stop reading the ingredients of everything I buy and stop limiting myself so goddamn much.

Hi guys, my name is Simon.

First of all, I would like to thank you the beardprofile community, you have such a great website with very helpful and honest articles. Thank you very much, I have been searching for real and useful information for a long time.

 

Secondo, I want to know more about the ‘’other essential oils for scents’’ that are put at the end of the ingredients list of the JBCO. Do you know which essential oils it is and their effects?

 

Thank you very much and have a nice day,

 

From your fellow bearded brother, Simon.

Should I stop zinc during minoxidil? Been taking 25 mg from supplement.

I read that its good for your hair and testosterone?

This DHT issue has me so confused about what you all think is right to put where and which things are good or bad... lots of stuff about peppermint and lavender are DHT blockers but no its fine as long as it's not excessive... 

What is your definition of excessive?

I saw a post where the person was scared of using the ingredients listed as DHT inhibitors but then was told it's all good just don't over do it... lack of guidelines on this issue and conflicting testimonials have me wondering whats what.

Let's just look at lavender for a moment. Use in beards is bad, use on the scalp is good? Is that right? I'm new to the forum and I'm seeing lots of new info without clearly understanding what is presented on here.

Hello chaps, this is my first post.  

When I signed up to this site tonight, I wrote a very detailed "about me" section in my "profile" so you can understand where I am coming from and why I stopped by here this evening. 

However, when I "view" my profile, I can only see the first 2 lines of that, so maybe other forum members can only see that much as well.  In case that is true, I will copy and paste my full "about me" section here:

"Hi, I am just passing through here, but I signed up today to offer some information to you chaps that may or may not help.  I'm a middle-aged female who is trying to AVOID unwanted facial hair growth. 

I am a light-complexioned woman who for the first 45 years of her life had never had an issue with excess or unwanted body hair anywhere - in fact, I can go for a couple of weeks without shaving my legs and an observer (from a couple of feet away) wouldn't be able to tell that I had not shaved them the day before. 

Unfortunately, a number of things (supplements, medications, foods) that I have tried over the last few years to help improve my general health (and a few medical conditions that I have) have unexpectedly resulted in unwanted facial hair growth. 

And, surprisingly, when I try something that causes me to start getting beardy-type facial hair, it happens SO FAST, like within a week. 

My prior endocrinologist (male) told me it was physically impossible for beardy hair to grow that quickly on a woman and he said that I was imagining the whole thing (even though the makeup-counter lady at my local Macy's department store had completely agreed with me that I was experiencing coarse, beardy hair growth on my face, from out of nowhere!)  He also had an observing med student who was sitting in at that appointment also tell me that I was imagining things because "female facial hair never grows that quickly", and they both shook their heads and chuckled at me... AHEM (the bozos!) 

Fortunately, my gynecologist (female) and my *subsequent* endocrinologist (female) believed me when I said that I was having episodes of coarser-than-normal, thicker-than-normal, longer-than-normal, fast-growing facial hair popping up out of the blue (and taking ages to finally subside and go back to my smooth-faced "normal" state -- typically, it takes my facial hair follicles in the 'beardy' regions 4 to 6 months to revert back to unnoticeable/unremarkable/calm). 

I found your site today because I am now fed up with trying new things out innocently "for my health" and having them backfire into giving me another 4-month beardy experience, so I have been trying to understand the biological processes and terminology of what can trigger hirsuitism in a woman so I can check out the supplements/meds/foods before I take them and PREVENT the beardy growth from even starting on my face. 

(I have always researched carefully any new supplements and meds, surveying pubmed.gov and the internet in general, but the specific info on whether something might contribute to DHT or testosterone and/or inhibit other competing hormones and/or whatever other voodoo is involved in this facial-hair-follicle stuff isn't always in the first few layers of public information about products/foods/meds.) 

Note that these excursions into slight hirsuitism have not been due to any substantial changes in my hormonal balance in general -- due to an unrelated health issue, my hormones are tested several times a year by an endocrinologist; instead, they have been due to external things that have altered the way my facial hair has behaved (and when I stopped my exposure to those things, my facial hair eventually went back to being docile and low-key, even though it took a few months to do so). 

In high school and university I didn't study much biology/medical stuff, so unfortunately I am at a disadvantage when trying to understand how all these things relate and to wade through the more technical journal articles.  I do not have a great understanding of it all, so excuse any errors I may make -- but I thought I'd leave a note to let you guys know some of the things that seriously encouraged my facial hair growth, since that is what you are aiming for. 

Along these lines, just like I am doing (trying to "reverse engineer" by reading about tips for men for growing their beards), I would encourage you to look a little bit into what women who don't want beards/hirsuitism have learned about what triggers their facial hair growth, so that you can "reverse engineer" from that angle and maybe pick up a tip or two."

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Regarding ZINC and facial hair growth, the following is from a post from Dr. Laura Briden:  https://www.larabriden.com/7-ways-zinc-rescues-hormones/ . 

Note:  If you go to the original blog post, the first two blue-underlined text snippets point to medical journal articles.  I will quote the abstract from the first one at the end of this post.

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"Blocks excess androgens (testosterone).  

Zinc inhibits the enzyme 5 alpha-reductase and therefore reduces the conversion of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone (DHT).

That’s one way it treats PCOS symptoms such as acne and hirsutism (facial hair).

The other way it treats hirsutism is by inhibiting excess prolactin.

Read 4 Causes of Androgen Excess.

Because zinc is involved in so many different enzyme pathways, it has different effects in different people. For example, it reduces the abnormally high androgens of PCOS-sufferers, but it can also raise androgens to a healthy level in both men and women. But just to be clear: Zinc will never push testosterone outside of normal levels.

[...]  Clears skin. Zinc is the perfect medicine for acne. In addition to blocking excess androgens, it kills bacteria and opens pores by reducing keratin production."

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Here is the first study she linked to:

Br J Dermatol. 1988 Nov;119(5):627-32. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3207614 Inhibition of 5 alpha-reductase activity in human skin by zinc and azelaic acid.

"The effects of zinc sulphate and azelaic acid on 5 alpha-reductase activity in human skin were studied using an in vitro assay with 1,2[3H]-testosterone as substrate.

When added at concentrations of 3 or 9 mmol/l, zinc was a potent inhibitor of 5 alpha-reductase activity.

At high concentrations, zinc could completely inhibit the enzyme activity.

Azelaic acid was also a potent inhibitor of 5 alpha-reductase; inhibition was detectable at concentrations as low as 0.2 mmol/l and was complete at 3 mmol/l.

An additive effect of the two inhibitors was observed.

Vitamin B6 potentiated the inhibitory effect of zinc, but not of azelaic acid, suggesting that two different mechanisms are involved.

When the three substances were added together at very low concentrations which had been shown to be ineffective alone, 90% inhibition of 5 alpha-reductase activity was obtained.

If this inhibition is confirmed in vivo, zinc sulphate combined with azelaic acid could be an effective agent in the treatment of androgen related pathology of human skin."

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Obviously, that is a study from 1988 -- quite a while ago.  I don't know if further research has confirmed those findings.  (Dr. Briden's blog post is recent though -- from 2017). 

I have not researched it further myself, because for my purposes (of trying NOT to have extra facial hair), Dr. Briden's 2017 blog post and the 1988 British Journal of Dermatology article were enough to convince me to try bumping my daily zinc up a bit from the RDA (I think the zinc RDA for an adult woman is 9 or 11 mg these days) to 22 mg a day, which is still well below the suggested maximum daily amount (for long-term use).  I think it could only help my situation, and not hurt.

However, if I were a guy who wanted as much 5 alpha-reductase as possible, then I'd look into the topic further (check out more recent journal articles about it on pubmed.gov, for example) and maybe reduce my daily zinc intake, especially from supplements.

 

My 2nd post.

Here is another brief blog post by Dr. Laura Briden aimed at women who want less beardiness, but which may or may not contain info that could help you fellows in your quest for MORE beardiness.

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"The 7 Best Natural Anti-Androgen Supplements for Facial Hair (Hirsutism)

https://www.larabriden.com/best-natural-anti-androgen-treatments-hirsutism/

Natural anti-androgen supplements reduce testosterone or block its effects.

In women, androgen blockers can improve the symptom of unwanted facial hair (hirsutism) [...]

Both estrogen and progesterone have strong anti-androgen effects. [...]

Zinc improves ovarian function thereby decreasing androgens and increasing progesterone, which is a natural androgen blocker. In a recent clinical trial, zinc supplementation significantly improved hirsutism in just eight weeks. The recommended dose is 30-50 mg taken directly after dinner. Don’t take zinc on an empty stomach, or it could make you feel sick. [...]

Peony & licorice combination. Peony (Paeonia lactiflora) inhibits the production of testosterone and promotes the activity of the enzyme aromatase, which converts testosterone to estrogen. Licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) reduces serum testosterone in women and contains phytoestrogens thatblock androgen receptors. Together, the two herbs have the synergistic effect of normalizing the pituitary hormones. It’s just undergone a new 2017 clinical trial. Licorice raises blood pressure, so consult a clinician about safe use.

Reishi mushroom (Ganoderma lucidum) inhibits 5-alpha reductase which is the enzyme that converts testosterone to the more potent DHT hormone. Reishi has many other health benefits including immune enhancement and stabilization of the HPA (adrenal) axis.

DIM (diindolylmethane) is a phytonutrient derived from vegetables such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and kale. It blocks androgen receptors. Because DIM inhibits the aromatase enzyme, it could have the unwanted effect of decreasing estrogen, but clinically, I’ve found it to be quite effective for both acne and hirsutism. I recommend 100 mg per day.

Saw palmetto (Serenoa repens) inhibits 5-alpha reductase. It did well in a recent clinical trial for androgenetic alopecia when it was combined with green tea, vitamin D, melatonin, and soy. Like DIM, saw palmetto can have the unwanted effect of decreasing estrogen. I don’t prescribe it mainly because I prefer other treatments like zinc, peony, and licorice.

Melatonin is showing great promise for PCOS. It did well in a recent clinical trial.

Vitex agnus-castus lowers prolactin and so improves prolactin-induced androgen excess and hirsutism. High prolactin can induce androgen excess in two ways: 1) It increases the adrenal androgen DHEA, and 2) it up-regulates 5-alpha reductase.

Progesterone inhibits 5-alpha reductase and blocks androgen receptors. [...]"

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I've only skimmed over that article, but I hope that posting it here might help some of you or give you some ideas of things to research. 

From that list, perhaps the things that an average guy might be having a little bit of contact with, not knowing they could be reducing his 5-alpha reductase, could be:  more than a moderate intake of zinc, licorice, reishi mushrooms, the DIM contained in dietary levels of cruciferious veggies (if eaten in big quantities/regularly), and saw palmetto herb (which I realize has already been listed in this thread as something for beard enthusiasts to stay away from),

Now, I don't know how Dr. Briden's mention of melatonin fits into it -- maybe the way melatonin helps women to counteract hirsuitism is so roundabout that it's not really relevant to men, but if you are a guy who takes melatonin and you don't want to inadvertently reduce your beardy hair potential, you might do a bit of research to make sure that it doesn't reduce the hormones/physical processes that you are trying to boost.

 

My third post.

Following on from Dr. Briden's mention of progesterone:  "Progesterone inhibits 5-alpha reductase and blocks androgen receptors."

Subtle progesterone exposure is possibly something to watch out for, if you are a guy who has regular physical contact (even just with a workmate, housemate or a relative -- it doesn't have to be a romantic relationship) with a woman who uses progesterone cream as a topical medicine.  From contact with her (or shared contact with a door handle, bathroom faucet, bath towel, etc.), you might be getting some of that cream on your skin, and then absorbing a little bit of the progesterone, without even knowing.

A small amount of hormone cream, applied regularly, can actually make a big difference -- for a while, I used 1/4th of one teaspoon of progesterone cream per day and it changed a lot of things physically.

I have seen a lot of warnings to women and children who live with men who apply topical testosterone cream -- to make sure they don't inadvertently come in contact with it (even just having a cuddle), because absorbing a little of that testosterone can negatively affect some women's hormone balance -- but I haven't seen too many warnings the other way, about men being careful not to come into contact with a woman's estrogen or progesterone topical cream, though I guess it is possible that it might also have a slight hormonal effect on them.

My fourth post.

Regarding the use of peppermint, which I saw highly recommended in one of the articles on this site ( https://www.beardprofile.com/articles/article/34/how-peppermint-essential-oil-can-help-with-beard-growth ):

Make sure you are choosing peppermint to boost your beard, and not spearmint...

I don't know if spearmint has the same effect in men, but in women, spearmint is known to lower androgen levels, and to reduce their beardy facial hair/hirsutism:

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a.  "Spearmint tea (Mentha spicata), 1 cup, 2 times per day.

A preliminary study found that women with hirsutism who drank spearmint tea had less free testosterone (a male hormone) in their blood.

The researchers thought the tea might reduce symptoms of mild hirsutism. Another study found that spearmint tea lowered androgen levels in women who had PCOS."

from:  http://pennstatehershey.adam.com/content.aspx?productId=107&pid=33&gid=000081

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b.  Phytother Res. 2010 Feb;24(2):186-8. doi: 10.1002/ptr.2900.

Spearmint herbal tea has significant anti-androgen effects in polycystic ovarian syndrome. A randomized controlled trial.

...Free and total testosterone levels were significantly reduced over the 30 day period in the spearmint tea group (p < 0.05).

[...] Patient's subjective assessments of their degree of hirsutism scored by the modified DQLI were significantly reduced in the spearmint tea group (p < 0.05)....

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what about growing hairs, I heard after certain long and slow down is it true, if true which are things cause that?

Hi guy,
I'm not english so I will try to ask my question as simple as I can :
Can I use some oils with DHT blocker on my hair (I'm losing some) without affecting my beard growth ?

 

thanks