Hi everyone, I'm new here. I'm 22 years old, and have been lurking on this message board for about half an hour looking at some hair transplant blogs and such...

Anyway, please excuse anything I say, as I'm new to the concept of joining a hairloss forum. I know from being a part of other message boards, that adjusting to the way people act/talk on forums is important, however, I don't want to wait to say what I have to say. Also, please excuse my writing. I'm not an eloquent writer by any means, so this will not be a very intriguing post to read.

I have a review from using saw palmetto for several months in conjunction with Rogaine Foam...

Starting with the background...

I started using Rogaine foam about 6 months ago when I started seeing commercials for it. Having no prior experience with any hairloss product, I actually thought since it was a mousse, that it could be used to style my hair as well. Well, after I read the instructions, I found out that was false. Oh well.

After a few months of very minor success (if any--I still don't know if it has done more good than bad--the first 2 months I used it I had a huge increase in hair loss, probably 2x) using Rogaine on my bald spot, I was starting to notice that my temples were receiding at an increased pace. I'm assuming due to the Rogaine making accidental contact when I'd put my normal styling product on within minutes of applying Rogaine to my bald spot.

Well, I started doing some googling on things I could do, and I saw something about saw palmetto and it just "made sense to me." If DHT (di-hydro testosterone or whatever) is the enemy that propecia attacks, and saw palmetto attacks it as well, then by golly it's the logical thing to take!

So I went to Whole Foods and bought some gel caps of saw palmetto. I don't remember the exact mg dosage, but I think the container had a purple lid and an orange label. The pills were nice, they were a low dosage, something like 40mg to 80mg maybe, but they were expensive. About $12 a bottle for 30 pills. I used these until I ran out and had no known side effects, negative effects, nor positive effects. Obviously it would take several months I figure to notice any effects at all.

Before I ran out of them, doing as my mom told me to, I looked at Puritan's Pride's website and saw saw palmetto on there for very cheap, something like $10 for 60 capsules, so I ordered them. To my surprise, they weren't the same as the type I bought at Whole Foods. These from PP are dried up power in capsules and an astonishing 450mg! Thinking these would overdose me, I read the bottle and it said men should take two a day for prostate health* (*not proven blah blah blah).

So I took these pills for about 2 months skipping a day every once in awhile. I didn't really notice any positive effects, but certainly no negative ones related to hair. I may have gained a few pounds from being on it, but I can't confirm that was caused by the saw palmetto. But one thing I can confirm is that I noticed just how bad my breath had gotten from taking these. In fact, my sister and mom were the first to point it out to me. I thought perhaps it was related to a new ADD medication my doctor changed me to, so I stopped taking the ADD medication, but sure enough, it was due to the saw palmetto. Brushing my teeth, using mouthwash, flossing, chewing gum, using mints, none of it helped! I had very foul breath that smelled like expired beef jerky mixed with burnt charcoal brickettes (or what I'd imagine that would smell like).

So I stopped taking the saw palmetto, cold turkey, a week or so ago. But man, oh man, was that a mistake!

The first few days I noticed an IMMEDIATE improvement in my breath. No more mouthwash, no more brushing my teeth 4 times a day. No more mints in the car.

However, the last 4 days have been absolute HELL. My hair has been falling out at three or four times its normal speed in my temple area and bald spot area. Without exaggerating, I am pretty sure I've had about 3 years worth of natural balding/receiding happen in the past 4 days. Absolutely a nightmare to my self esteem, ability to think, and my self confidence. I can only guess that my DHT levels have skyrocketed and caused this absolutely insane amount of hairloss.

So to sum up my experiences with saw palmetto (including some things I didn't mention above)...

1) Helpfulness to my hairloss?
-I would say that it perhaps helped me about 20% in holding onto the hair I had. The hair still continued to receid, but perhaps not as much as naturally.
-I did not notice ANY hair regrowth. Not a single bit.
-I did not notice an increase in hair loss while taking it (so it did not 'work against me').

2) Side effects?
-Incredibly bad breath coming from the stomach. I'm talking the kind that people accuse you of farting LOL.
-I didn't notice any sexual side effects. No increase or decrease in urge or ability. However, there might have been a slight increase in semen probably due to the prostate effects saw palmetto has. I wouldn't say this was positive or negative.
-My body and facial hair slowed down in growth. My facial hair grew in at least 10% softer and 20% slower. I would consider this VERY positive.

3) What happens if you stop taking it for a few days?
-Massive hairloss! 3 to 4 times worse than while taking it.
-Bad breath side effect goes away within 24 hours.

4) Would I suggest taking it?
-The Puritan's Pride 450mg dosage? No. Bad side effects and the dosage is likely much too high.
-The type that isn't dried up powder and is instead some sort of liquid in a gel cap at a lower mg dosage? Preferable, but I do not honestly know if it is worth the money.

Ferrari-or-hair?,

Wow, what a review. Thanks for sharing it.

From my research, I have found no real scientfic evidence that this is an effective hair loss treatment however, the concept of it makes sense.

So if it was working for you, what made you stop taking it? That's interesting too about the side effect of bad breath. I have never heard that one before. Did you also try taking 450mg of finasteride? You mention bad side effects, so I'm wondering what you experienced at this dosage?

Those who typically take Saw Palmetto for hair loss as a DHT blocker typically take about 300mg of the Saw Palmetto Berry Extract. Those who want the same dosage of extract who take the whole berry typically take about 1500mg.

Thanks,

Falc

Well, my initial reason for trying saw palmetto was because I could buy it without a prescription. I don't have insurance, so it seemed like a good idea. I don't do much research on hair loss, so I just take things for face value, and a vitamin/herb was something I was willing to be a guinea pig for. I've never heard of finasteride, so I've never taken it, what is it?

I read an article that said that DHT was the enemy, and that saw palmetto was known to lower DHT. I then quickly researched propecia, and part of what it does is lower DHT. So I put 2 + 2 together, and started taking saw palmetto.

The monthly cost of saw palmetto is about $5-$10, while the monthly cost of propecia without insurance is $80 for the dermatologist visit, and however much the actual medicine is, which I would assume is $60 to $100 a month, totaling over $150 a month. So saw palmetto seemed like a good value.

The bad breath is what made me stop taking it. I was taking a saw palmetto capsule (full of the dry type) every single day and man, my breath simply smelled like feces. It was unbearable. So I stopped taking it for about a week. I was fine for the first few days, no noticably bad hair loss. But after a few days, I was noticing an increase in the amount of hair coming out when I'd wash my hair, and then even more hair would come out when I would apply my Rogaine after showering.

To compare, while I was taking saw palmetto, I'd typically have between 2 and 8 hairs come out when applying the Rogaine. At its worst (the day I joined this message board) At least 10 to 15 hairs came out when applying the Rogaine, and this, keep in mind, was just after taking a shower and losing an abnormally large amount of hair in there.

Also, once I stopped taking the saw palmetto, I started getting small zits in my temples where a lot of the hair started coming out. I'm assuming these are a sign of hair dying and going away.

The day I made this topic (the 9th of March), I took a saw palmetto for the first time in over a week. My breath was fine on the 9th. I didn't take one on the 10th, and had vaguely bad breath. It's now the 11th of March, and my hair is still coming out, but slightly slower. I have worse breath than I did yesterday despite just brushing my teeth an hour ago, but it isn't unbearable. So I think I am going to just take the saw palmetto once every two days and see if my hair loss slows down back to the speed it was falling out back when I was taking it everyday... Perhaps taking it everyday was overdosing my body in some way and causing the horrible breath.

I think a "little" bit of bad breath could be a fair trade off for a slower loss of hair. And since I have already paid for two bottles of this type of saw palmetto, I figure I might as well use it up...

I'll update on my hair loss status in a few days. Hopefully it'll slow down.

Let me also reiterate some points I made before, and perhaps add some new info I didn't mention.

-I NEVER grew any NEW hair due to the saw palmetto. Not a single one in my main area of concern at least (the temples).

-Hair loss seemed to slow down EVERYWHERE. I was not losing as much hair on my head as I was on Rogaine alone. I don't have the slightest idea if saw palmetto would decrease my hairloss if I was not taking Rogaine, and that is something I'm not willing to test. When I started taking Rogaine probably 8 months ago, as the instructions pamphlet said, my hairloss increased massively in the application area for several months. It also increased in my temples for an unknown reason. After about two or three months the loss in the application area slowed down, yet still continued in the temples (which honestly, really, really annoyed me). As of yesterday, when I got a haircut, my mom said I had grown a few new hairs in the application site, and that all the hair in that area had a different texture from the rest of my hair. However, in the approximately 8 months I have been using Rogaine, I have not recovered the amount of hair that it caused me to lose during those first few months. I regret this a lot. Rogaine was not a solution for me as I was only BARELY losing my hair in the back at the time, but I'm now afraid to stop using it.

- While taking saw palmetto everyday, my facial hair would grow in significantly slower. I'm not a fan of shaving, so before the Saw Palmetto, I was shaving twice a week; each shaving day I would be scruffy. After weeks/months of taking saw palmetto everyday, I was able to reduce my amount of shaving to just once a week. I also noticed that as time went by, the hair would not only come in slower, but it would also come in softer.

- I'm the type of guy who grows hair everywhere. Not quite Robin Williams, but I'm a caveman who has to trim his chest and armpit hair every so often. After a few weeks/months taking saw palmetto everyday, my body hair stopped growing so quickly. I believe DHT has some affect on body hair, and saw palmetto much assist in decreasing the amount you get.

-I have no earthly idea what all the saw palmetto has done to my prostate. As I stated before, I have not had any known negative sexual side effects. But I'm no doctor, and this type of thing isn't something I can diagnose.

Ferrari,

Even Propecia is better known for stopping hair loss rather than regrowing hair, though it's possible, it's rarer for this to happen.

Keep in mind that Propecia takes up to 3 months to actually stop hair from falling out. In theory therefore, being that Saw Palmetto is a potential DHT blocker, it could take that long too.

I'm not sure about the bad breath thing...but keep in mind for any hair loss treatment to continue working, you have to commit.

If Saw Palmetto is stopping your hair loss, perhaps you want to try another brand? Perhaps it's not the saw palmetto but what it's mixed with that is causing the bad breath problem.

Just my thoughts...

Falc

dude i was taking procerin(saw palmetto) for about a monthand after i stopped taking it i had massive hair loss. seriously when i shaved my head it was a depressing moment for me, ive still not came to terms with it.

quote:

Originally posted by Jupiter:
dude i was taking procerin(saw palmetto) for about a monthand after i stopped taking it i had massive hair loss. seriously when i shaved my head it was a depressing moment for me, ive still not came to terms with it.

i forgot to add i took propecia for 7 months before and shaved my head once and it looked good and thats when i just thought my hairloss had stabilized and didnt want to taek the chance for sexual side effects, and then got on procerin and here i am now.( if ur gonna taKe SAW Palmetto you mys well take propecia instead of it, its proven and basically the same side effects)

Interesting.

My experiment with taking the saw palmetto every two days had to be canceled. I got tonsilitus (spelling?), an ear infection, and a cough all at the same time sadly.

Because of all these things and feeling like crap, I haven't taken the smelly capsule in about week.

The heavy hair loss continues...

Though I do kind of wonder if there's anything to the idea that perhaps I'm shedding my winter coat. Do humans do that? Or have I just been watching too much Animal Planet?

I don't know if shedding is such a big thing to worry about. Normal, healthy follicles drop hairs too, it's when they stop growing back, or they grow back softer and smaller that your head starts to look more barren.

If you live with women, take a look how much hair they lose - check a shower plughole or a hairbrush - they shed like crazy but still keep their hair.

I'm 29 and unless someone examines my head very carefully, and contrasts it with a photo from when I was 20, they wouldn't know that I was going bald (I'm just vain and want to catch it early), but I've ALWAYS lost a ton of hair every day, even since my teens.

Please read my earlier posts about SPALmetto. All products are not created equally. Research LEF.ORG ..............

I take .5 of Fin and SPALMETTO in gel form.....

Saw palmetto is a key ingredient in hair re-growth products. When you stopped taking it you noticed the results. I would find something with the saw palmetto and other ingredients, i.e., biotin, silica, or Indian gooseberry. It will probably level out the foul odor.

Is it possible that the bad breath side effect was actually due to tonsillitis?