What Is DHT?
DHT is pegged as the main cause of male pattern baldness, but, what is DHT, where does it come from, and how does it damage our hair follicles?
DHT – Dihydrotestosterone – is an androgenic hormone derived from the hormone testosterone. While, as one may expect, most of DHT is produced in the prostate and testes it is also produced in the adrenal glands and hair follicles.
Production of DHT in the hair follicles is the primary cause of male pattern baldness in those genetically susceptible.
Because testosterone is circulated throughout the body, it was noted in millennia gone by that eunuchs — men who were castrated — did not develop baldness. This is why modern drugs designed to inhibit the production of testosterone or DHT in the testes can have a similar effect.
Nobody is entirely sure of the exact mechanism by which DHT works to destroy hair follicles, although it known that gradually hair follicles are susceptible to DHT shrink until the hair they are capable of producing is tiny and of no cosmetic use.