Does Masturbation Cause Hair Loss (2020 Edition)?

If you’ve done any amount of reading on the subject of hair loss and hair growth, you’ve probably read that one of the main factors that cause hair loss is testosterone. More specifically DHT (Dihydrotestosterone), which is an androgen sex steroid created from the free testosterone that is flowing through your body.

Wikipedia:

Dihydrotestosterone (DHT), or 5α-dihydrotestosterone (5α-DHT), also known as androstanolone or stanolone, is an endogenous androgen sex steroid and hormone. The enzyme 5α-reductase catalyzes the formation of DHT from testosterone in certain tissues including the prostate gland, seminal vesicles, epididymides, skin, hair follicles, liver, and brain. This enzyme mediates reduction of the C4-5 double bond of testosterone. Relative to testosterone, DHT is considerably more potent as an agonist of the androgen receptor (AR).

In addition to its role as a natural hormone, DHT has been used as a medication, for instance in the treatment of low testosterone levels in men; for information on DHT as a medication, see the androstanolone article.

DHT is famous for being considerably more potent than testosterone, which is why it can have such a strong effect on a person’s head.

The link between testosterone, DHT, and hair growth can be easily seen when you notice how much more often it is guys who are affected by hair loss, rather than women. Male pattern baldness (MPB) and alopecia areata are the two most types of hair loss – in many cases, in fact, they are one and the same thing.

Can Hair Grow Back if You Quit Masturbating?

When you think about hormones, it is natural to think about the effect excessive masturbation can have on them.

As testosterone is the main sex steroid, it means that there must be a direct link between testosterone levels and hair regrowth.

While NoFap does seem to at least temporarily increase your testosterone levels, the effect on your hair shouldn’t be negative, as testosterone isn’t the problem behind your hair loss – DHT is. And DHT production seems to ramp up after a person masturbates.

Here’s some research on the subject:

NCBI:

The levels of pregnenolone, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHA), androstenedione, testosterone, dihydrotestosterone (DHT), oestrone, oestradiol, cortisol and luteinizing hormone (LH) were measured in the peripheral plasma of a group of young, apparently healthy males before and after masturbation. The same steroids were also determined in a control study, in which the psychological antipation of masturbation was encouraged, but the physical act was not carried out. The plasma levels of all steroids were significantly increased after masturbation, whereas steroid levels remained unchanged in the control study. The most marked changes after masturbation were observed in pregnenolone and DHA levels. No alterations were observed in the plasma levels of LH. Both before and after masturbation plasma levels of testosterone were significantly correlated to those of DHT and oestradiol, but not to those of the other steroids studied. On the other hand, cortisol levels were significantly correlated to those of pregnenolone, DHA, androstenedione and oestrone. In the same subjects, the levels of pregnenolone, DHA, androstenedione, testosterone and DHT, androstenedione and oestrone. In the same subjects, the levels of pregnenolone, DHA, androstenedione, testosterone and DHT in seminal plasma were also estimated; they were all significantly correlated to the levels of the corresponding steroid in the systemic blood withdrawn both before and after masturbation. As a practical consequence, the results indicate that whenever both blood and semen are analysed, blood sampling must precede semen collection.

The study cited above clearly states that both DHT and oestradiol were significantly increased in the subjects that masturbated, while they remained unchanged in the control group (meaning those that did not masturbate).

Can NoFap Reverse Hair Loss?

According to the study cited above, there is a probable chance that NoFap can indeed reverse your hair loss, and in fact add to some regrowth. However, you won’t have the same amount of hair that you did when you were 16. But you can buy yourself some time with NoFap.

Recently, I noticed some extraordinary amount of hair growth when I combined NoFap with NoMilk – in other words, I stopped consuming any kind of dairy apart from butter. For the first time ever (and I’ve been doing NoFap for a long time), I actually noticed my hairline to be getting lower on my forehead. It seems that modern dairy is filled to the brim with estrogen, which made for a terrible combination with the amount of DHT people that do PMO have.

NoFap Might be one of the Best Natural Remedies for Hair Growth

No one on the internet can tell you what the exact cause of your baldness is. There are blood tests, and hair follicle scanning equipment that can help with this – but beware: most doctors that work in this field are there to only take your money.

Rationally speaking, there are only three things you can do to your hair, while at the same time saving the most amount of time and money:

• Do nothing and eventually rock a shaved head ($)
• Try natural remedies for hair growth with the hope that some will help or at least slow down the hair loss ($$)
• Go for an FUE-type hair transplant ($$$)

I’ll give a broader explanation of all three options.

Should you Shave Your Head?

The first option is to keep whatever amount of hair you now have left, and keep a combover (or otherwise short) hairstyle until that becomes impossible.

How do you know when it is time to shave your head? Once your bald spot on the crown of your head becomes too big and visible, and as well as when your hairline has receded to the point where all hairstyles look bad on you (when your combover looks more like a wig than natural hair), that’s the time when you shave. Walking around with a huge forehead is not a good look.

Trust me, it is better to walk around with a shaved head than to look like you just can’t let go of the 9 hairs left on your head. That screams insecurity from miles away (even if you are insecure about your hair – it is better to not communicate that with other people).

It’s All About Your Hairline

At the end of the day, it all comes down to how tall or short your hairline is. If your hair is starting to look like the guy in the above image (that is a picture of a high hairline), that would mean that you are close to having to get a buzz cut or a shave.

A hairline is the line on your forehead, where hair begins to grow. When we are kids, we all naturally have low hairlines, meaning our foreheads appear short. As we age, our foreheads begin to visually look taller. The reason why this is happening is male pattern baldness. The hair that is nearest to your forehead is always the one that goes away first. If hair falls differently, it would look worse – you would have balds spots.

Mind you, there are people that lose hair without some kind of recognizable pattern. Those people usually have an easier time getting their hair to grow, as random hair fall occurs due to acute reasons – such as stress or a deficiency of some vitamin. Guys with pattern baldness are the ones that are going to have problems getting their hair to regrow.

Pattern baldness is genetical. Random baldness is a systemic issue.

NoFap for Thicker Hair

I regard NoFap as a natural hair growth remedy.

I don’t believe that there is any “miracle” herb or tea that is going to get your hair back, but what is possible is to reverse any negative chemical effects that might be affecting your outside appearance.

For most guys the worse things that can negatively affect their outside appearance is living an unhealthy lifestyle. This includes:

• Fapping to porn (PMO)
• Eating processed/junk food (this includes milk and dairy as most modern dairy products are filled with estrogen)
• Not exercising at least twice a week (even bodyweight exercises are enough to be healthy – you don’t need a gym membership)

Those are the main and best natural remedies I can recommend to you. I don’t recommend buying any expensive or rare herbs and seeds. Those things don’t cure anything, and in fact, they might be dangerous.

FUE Hair Transplant

An FUE hair transplant is the holy grail of hair surgeries.

It is pretty much guaranteed to work on everyone (if no surgical complication happens – which is pretty rare in healthy people that go to a recommended hospital), and many people can even have 2-3 surgeries during their lifetime.

The side-effect of an FUE transplant is that it is going to cost a hefty chunk of money. If possible, you should look into having the surgery overseas, but try to thoroughly research the doctors and clinics. Turkey is the most popular destination for these surgeries.

There is also a FUT hair transplant which is an older technique. It is cheaper, looks slightly worse and leaves a scar on the back of your head, so I don’t recommend it.

Can NoFap Cause Hair Loss?

Another common question that comes up on NoFap boards is if NoFap causes hair loss.

Some guys think that since NoFap is going to jack up their testosterone levels, that they are going to end up like Jason Statham in Transporter. Oh, how you wish you would look like Statham in that movie. The answer, as said at the beginning of this article is that, no, NoFap is not going to cause hair loss.

Being a healthy male (which is the epitome of what NoFap is all about) is not something that causes hair loss. Getting 30% more testosterone doesn’t cause hair loss. “Swimming” in DHT, estradiol, and prolactin is what could cause an increased amount of hair loss in otherwise healthy subjects that are prone to male pattern baldness.

Can Herbs Help with Hair Growth?

Never, ever invest in magical shrooms and berries. These things won’t help you with anything. Hair restoration is not something that herbs can solve.

There are many manageable diseases that can get worse if you don’t go the usual route in treating them. Modern medicine exists for a reason.

The most important thing to know when it comes to modern medicine is to only take the bare minimum of pills required to treat an illness. And certainly, don’t take any NSAIDs. They have a lot of side-effects, and the benefit of having less pain simply doesn’t outweigh the long-term risk.

Remember: it is always easier to remove negative symptoms than to get “magical” positive symptoms from pills.

Quitting an addiction is going to be a million times better than a Vitamin C or Magnesium supplement.

You should not think about supplements until you are at a healthy, lean weight, are exercising and have been doing NoFap for some time.

What is the Ultimate Hair Growth Formula?

The “ultimate” NoFap hair growth formula as outlined in this article can be summed up as the following:

• Live as healthy as humanly possible (skip on dairy and processed foods, eat more vegetables, fruits, and meat)
• Block all pornography from your life
• Get as many NoFap benefits as possible
• Remove negative symptoms
• Try to take as little artificial chemicals as possible
• Try to sleep at least 8 hours every night

If the above doesn’t work or you are unhappy with the improvement, save money for an FUE hair transplant.

What About NoFap and Facial Hair?

After the top of the head, facial hair is the second most important piece of hair every guy has. In fact, some guys tend to enjoy their facial hair more than regular hair – probably because it makes people look more masculine.

Anyway, a common question arises of whether NoFap can fill in the bald spots some guys have in their facial hair. The answer is a resounding yes. NoFap boosts testosterone levels, balances your hormones and removes excess DHT. These are all things that are beneficial to facial hair growth.

The only thing that can hinder NoFap’s effect on facial hair is if you have a genetic predisposition towards not growing facial hair, which is not common. The only suggestion I might add is that you try to eat more testosterone boosting foods while doing NoFap, and eliminate dairy so that you lower your blood estrogen level.

According to one study, dairy is responsible for over 60-80% of estrogen found in adult males. Not drinking milk can lower your estrogen by almost 80% – which is sure to have an effect on your beard.

 NoFap Hair Growth Questions and Answers: 

Can NoFap Cause Hair Thinning?

When you break a lifelong habit (like PMO), you may have fears about any negative side-effects this may have on you. Although you might not be happy with the amount of hair you have, perhaps you feel that things could get worse if you make a major change.

Stopping the PMO practice is one such big major change, and I understand if you fear that NoFap could make your hair loss worse. I can offer two answers to this question:

1. Taking risks is worth it. No man would be where he is today if he didn’t take any risks. The bigger the risk is, the bigger the potential reward. You know this is true, because over 90% of you reading this are guys, and you wouldn’t be on an obscure website such as this one reading about the benefits of NoFap if you weren’t a risk taker. People that don’t take risks read the New York Times. Perhaps NoFap won’t completely reverse hair loss – but it is going to slow it down, and may, in fact, add a few thousand strands to your hairline.
2. Remember this: Everything that makes you healthier makes you stronger. Healthy things are the ones that take you closer to nature. That’s why the paleo diet is one of the best diets of the past 10 years – it is based on eating food that is closer to our biological roots. NoFap is much more natural than masturbation. Keep things natural, keep things normal, and you’ll live to your highest genetic potential.

Can NoFap Cause Softer Hair?

NoFap can obviously cause softer hair, as you’ll be healthier, and you won’t be losing as much zinc and other trace minerals because all NoFap practitioners naturally engage to some degree of semen retention.

The more semen retention you practice, the softer your hair is going to be.

Can NoFap Cause Shiny Hair?

Just like the answer above, yes, softer hair is correlated to shinier hair, and NoFap can definitely help with this.

Can you Get Stronger Hair with NoFap?

It depends on what you count as stronger hair.

By medical standards, strong hair is hair that is resistant to hair-pulling and doesn’t fall on the first pull. Healthy hair is correlated to being stronger in this regards, and since NoFap is going to make your hair healthier, that would mean that it is going to be stronger. We don’t know the exact percentage – so whether we’re talking about 5% of 50% stronger, is a mystery. However, the upwards trend in strength is a given.

Will Relapsing Cause Hair Loss?

Any kind of negative behavior that you repeat from your past is going to have the same negative effect it had before.

If fapping to porn had a negative effect on your hair loss, that would mean that relapsing is going to have the exact same effect – there is no way around this. Of course, relapsing for one day is not going to be the same as relapsing for 7 days, so try to keep your relapses to a minimum.

What Causes Uneven Hair Growth?

Uneven hair growth is caused by either two things:

1. You need more time for hair to grow in another area – this is normal, as not all hair follicles are the same, and different hair follicles have a different reaction to DHT. Typically hair on the sides and the back of your head are the most resistant to DHT.
2. You may be eating food that is causing you an allergy, or you may be deficient in a trace mineral. A deficiency, allergy or physical hair pulling (Trichotillomania) are the only things that cause uneven hair growth. Medically speaking, uneven hair growth is a far more dangerous sign than male pattern baldness, so talk to a doctor if you have this symptom.

How Long for Results from Hair Growth?

If you are new to NoFap, you are naturally going to be interested in seeing the fastest possible results in your hair regrowth journey.

To answer this question, no one exactly knows whether you will get more hair growth in 1 week or 1 month. Usually, 100 days is the bare minimum for hibernating hair follicles to reactivate. When hair follicles are hibernating, that’s called the telogen phase. Conservatively speaking, you should check the progress on your hair restoration at a time between 3 and 6 months, as that’s the earliest time your hair can enter the active, anagen phase of its growth.

If you are unsatisfied with the results, check this article again and see if you can improve your diet or exercise routine even more.

If nothing worked, an FUE hair transplant or a complete shave are going to be your only bets.