Excess facial hair (and body hair) is one of the most embarrassing symptoms for women with PCOS. It can be very hard to hide and even harder to manage.
Anything you do to try and minimise excess hair will take at least 3-6 months before you begin to notice any effects. This is just due to the hair growth cycle.
Saw Palmetto can be useful for reducing facial hair. It inhibits the conversion of regular testosterone into a supercharged form (dihydrotestosterone) by inhibiting an enzyme called 5-alpha-reductase.
The best thing to do is get to the root of the problem, which is increased insulin levels, caused by insulin resistance combined with eating too many carbohydrates (more than you particular system can handle anyway). There are nutrients which can help such as chromium, b vitamins especially inositol and d chiro inositol, magnesium, manganese, iodine, and herbs such as gymnema sylvestre, liquorice, bitter melon or cinnamon.
Ultimately though, being very strict about the amount of kinds of carbohydrates you eat and making sure you get a sensible amount of exercise daily is essential for the success of any treatment.
Hi, if I take saw palmetto, is it okay to be in a normal diet? I mean as you said it takes regular testosterone and inhibits the enzyme. I was wondering if that’s possible. Please let me know.
Thanks!
If you have insulin resistance, then you should still manage your carbohydrate intake. The high testosterone is only a symptom of insulin resistance, so treating the symptom with Saw Palmetto will not actually address the cause.
Supplements which treat the cause of insulin resistance, such as d-chiro inositol are a better first line treatment, though saw palmetto can still be useful to help the DCI along in the early stages.