Spearmint Tea For Hair Loss: Effective Anti-Androgen?

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Spearmint is added to many different things like confectionery, chewing gums, and different types of teas, but usually not as the main ingredient. You can also buy spearmint supplements, which provide a highly concentrated extract from the spearmint leaves. In recent years, the popular herb has been studied for helping with conditions related to high androgen levels — so in this article, I will take a look at the evidence to see how effective it is.

The easiest way to get the benefits of spearmint is to simply take a supplement, especially if you don’t have time and you’re unable to drink several cups of tea each day. Spearmint capsules can also be mixed in with smoothies, chocolate desserts, or whatever else you can think of! Plenty of things go nicely with mint.

I do drink plenty of spearmint tea but I also take supplements it. The spearmint supplement that I’ve used for the longest time was from a company called Swanson’s. It is the one that I’m holding in the picture. I’ve now switched to a much better one that became available by the same company.

This supplement has been standardized, so it’s much more potent and contains a higher concentration of rosmarinic acid, which is known for being highly anti-inflammatory.

Although there are many different types of mint plants that one can consume, peppermint and spearmint are the most popular.

However, if you’re looking for a powerful anti-androgen herb, you’re best going with spearmint as it has the most evidence behind it for being able to prevent male pattern baldness and hair loss in women.

Will Spearmint Tea Help Stop Your Hair Loss?

Several studies that have been published in recent years focused on a condition called ‘Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome.’ This is a condition that can cause hirsutism in women as a result of elevated levels of testosterone. Women may also experience hair loss on their head.

In one study, spearmint was shown to be an effective anti-androgen in women if they drank spearmint tea up to twice a day for just 30 days. The study found that women who consumed the tea saw their levels of free testosterone drop significantly. By the end of the study, they had also reported a better quality of life.

However, the researchers noted that due to the short length of the trial, there wasn’t enough time to see significant clinical improvement of their condition. One of the reasons why they thought this might have been the case is because the natural hair growth cycle takes months. A longer trial would be more likely to show a benefit.

Nevertheless, despite no clinical improvement, it was clearly evident that spearmint did act as an anti-androgen in women. So if one were to take spearmint long enough, it’s possible that it could affect hair growth by lowering androgen levels.

What Spearmint’s Anti-Androgen Effects Mean For Combating Hair Loss

Given these results with spearmint tea being able to significantly reduce testosterone and DHT, taking spearmint as a supplement or drinking spearmint tea could potentially be a great addition to your hair loss prevention regimen.

That being said, if you’re male, you’re naturally going to have much higher levels of testosterone than women, so more spearmint tea might be needed to have a similar effect. And one shouldn’t expect the same level of androgen suppression as seen in women.

Spearmint is also a natural plant that has been used for literally thousands of years and is very safe to drink (I drink up to 6 cups per day!)

So if you feel like you want to give it a go, why not try a few cups a day to start with and see if it makes a difference? You should also consider having your androgen level tested so you can see whether or not the spearmint is really working to reduce testosterone.

One hint that spearmint tea is working is when you start noticing that your skin is less oily (including your scalp.) There have been numerous anecdotal reports on acne forums where people have noticed this effect. If you have excess oil on your scalp, this can result in inflammation, acne, fungal growth, and hair loss.

If Spearmint Reduces Hair On The Body And Face, Will It Reduce Hair Growth On My Head?

One of the questions I hear a lot is: “Will spearmint reduce the growth of my hair on my head?”

The good news is that spearmint will not cause your hair to fall out on your head. Hair follicles respond differently to androgens depending on the location.

The hair on your head is more sensitive to the effects of DHT and causes damage to the hair follicle, leading to hair loss. For facial hair the opposite is true! Facial and body hair grow faster in the presence of testosterone and DHT.

It’s the same for women that have elevated androgens levels — they cause unwanted hair growth on the face and body while leading to thinning hair on the scalp.

In all of this, there are of course some genetic factors and the sensitivity of follicles to testosterone and DHT.

However, reducing the production of these hormones in the body by drinking spearmint tea should have a positive effect on head hair growth and prevent or slow down hair growth everywhere else.

And finally, if you’re a guy and you’re now worried about a reduction in your beard growth, there is no need to worry! Spearmint will have a very minor (if any) effect here.

Spearmint Supplements Or Tea: Which Is Better?

As I mentioned earlier in the article, I drink spearmint tea and I also take spearmint capsules every day.

There is no difference between the anti-androgen effects that you’ll see if you chose one over the other.

Of course, if you’re drinking five or more cups of spearmint tea every day, you’ll probably be taking a few bathroom trips! That’s where taking supplements can come in handy. You won’t have to be drinking spearmint tea all day and you can enjoy other teas instead.

One thing to keep in mind when you’re shopping for teas is that you’ll probably discover that in most stores, spearmint is often one of many ingredients in a tea (usually combined with peppermint.)

You will want to make sure that you find a product that contains spearmint only. If you need help in finding a tea, this is one of my favorites!

Conclusion

Spearmint tea has many beneficial health effects and is a popular beverage in many parts of the world. People have been drinking it for thousands of years because of its refreshing taste and health benefits, which includes being able to prevent hirsutism in women.

Due to these anti-androgen effects of spearmint, some men and women have been been using it to help slow down or prevent hair loss. Whether or not it’s effective has yet to be determined by future studies, but early trials look promising.

To get the most benefit from spearmint, some people take it in combination with other hair loss treatments such as saw palmetto.

It’s also important that you give it enough time to work! You probably won’t see a dramatic difference in a few days or even a few weeks. You’ll need to give it at least three to six months before you judge whether or not it’s made any difference.

Read my article here if you want to learn and understand the stages of hair growth.

Women who use spearmint may see bigger benefits for hair growth than men due to men having far greater levels of testosterone. But when used as part of a healthy diet and a comprehensive strategy for combating hair loss, spearmint certainly has its place.

Article reviewed and updated: November 2019.