Hair Loss & Ben & Jerrys

🧠 The Psychology of Hair Loss

Positive gaslighting is a term I’m coining to describe the phenomenon that’s taken place in my life for the past five years.
An act of love. Well meaning loyalty. True friendship.
Usually from close friends, family, and especially my barber.

“Your hair looks great, king.”
“It’s so thick, man.”
“Balding? You’re crazy.”

Meanwhile, the most honest figurehead in my life, my shower drain, has been delivering clumps of brutal truths for the past half decade.

By age 35, roughly two thirds of men will show noticeable hair loss, and by 50, as many as 85 % will experience significant thinning or balding*

The global hair restoration and treatment market was valued at USD 7.7 billion in 2023 and continues to grow each year*

There are levels to the treatment game:

• The herbal: rosemary oil, pumpkin seed oil, scalp massage, biotin gummies.

• The medical: minoxidil, finasteride, dutasteride, microneedling, PRP injections.

• The nuclear: experimental stacks inspired by the More Plates More Dates crowd. Topical dutasteride, oral minoxidil, RU-58841, stem cell exosome serums, frequent microneedling, anti androgen cocktails, and research grade peptides like GHK-Cu or TB-500.

All designed to delay the inevitable, or at least feel like we’re buying time.

The demand is high, but so is hope. It feels like we’re closing in on a real solution.
One that doesn’t drain your wallet (bad), wreck your mood (terrible), or your libido (kill me).

I’m not here to rehash what the rest of the hair-loss side of the internet is already screaming. 

My curiosity is in the psychology of it. Every man on this planet deserves a full head of thick, luscious hair, if he wants it.

The other day, a younger guy at my gym whispered that he was considering a transplant. Within ten seconds, I was in full bro therapist mode, peppering him with questions and losing all remnants of my pump. It was obvious how much shame he was carrying.

There are two main reasons for that.

1. Vanity is still seen as bad.

2. Non surgical methods are framed as the “honorable” route, so transplants feel like failure.

I’ll be the last man to say we’re entitled to anything. But in a world where homeless dudes have iPhones, I think it’s safe to say you can fix your hairline without moral guilt attached.

🧾 Reality Check - The Truth About Results

If you’re a first timer researching this stuff, a quick Google search will hit you with a dozen sponsored links, each showing baffling before and after photos that leave you curious. Could it really be this easy? 

With a healthy dose of skepticism, I’ve tried my best to set my expectations based on what’s actually out there.

The Herbal:
The rosemary oils, pumpkin seed serums, scalp massages, biotin gummies. The science is mild, but not nonexistent. A few studies show marginal improvements in thickness or shedding reduction. These are fine entry points, but they won’t resurrect dead follicles. Think of them as hair hygiene, not hair resurrection.

The Medical:
This is where most people find real traction. Topical and oral minoxidil, finasteride, dutasteride, microneedling, and PRP injections all work - to varying degrees. They don’t cure hair loss, but they slow it, sometimes even reverse it if caught early enough. Minoxidil can reawaken dormant follicles; finasteride can stop DHT from choking them out. But both require lifelong commitment. Stop, and you lose your progress.

The Nuclear:
The experimental frontier. Topical RU-58841, oral minoxidil, exosome serums, copper peptides, and every other molecule floating through More Plates More Dates comment sections. Some early data looks incredible. Most doesn’t. It’s the Wild West - filled with promise, snake oil, and the occasional genuine breakthrough. If you go down this road, know that you’re a pioneer, not a patient.

The Surgical:
Hair transplants and scalp micropigmentation remain the most consistent solutions. They can restore density, but not creation. You’re relocating hair, not generating it. The artistry of a good surgeon can do wonders, but even a perfect transplant still needs ongoing maintenance to protect the native hair you have left.

There’s no miracle yet.
But my optimism is as high as my widow’s peak.
The cure will arrive in our lifetime.

Until then, I’m beginning my own protocol, and I plan to document every step.

From the research, the conversations with barbers, the reassurance from loyal friends, and the quiet talks with fellow balding sad boys, one thing has become clear to me:

Don’t let the intention of your path be labeled by anyone but yourself.

Is this an act of hatred?
A fear of the man you are and how the world might look at him?
Or is it fueled by love,  for the man you’re still becoming?

🍦 Dopamine

That was a doozy. You need a treat.

This one’s been in rotation lately, and I’m confident it’s the closest I’ve ever gotten to my favorite Ben & Jerry’s flavor of all time, Cinnamon Buns, for about one third of the calories.

Macros, as with all my Creami creations, simply don’t make sense.
370 calories. 55g of protein.

This is my lazy man’s version, but after a recent one-on-one with Jackson, I’ve been enlightened. There’s apparently a way to recreate that iconic cinnamon caramel ribbon that snakes through the B&J pint like medicine for the soul.
I’ll leave that one up to you Creami whisperers.

🌀 Cinnamon Bun Creami

Base Ingredients:

• 1 vanilla Fairlife shake

• 50g sweetener of choice

• 1 tbsp cinnamon (choose wisely)*

• 1tsp butter extract

• 1 tsp salt

• ¼ tsp xanthan gum

*This is a bigger deal than it sounds. There are three main types of cinnamon you’re likely to find when shopping: Ceylon, Cassia, and Korintje (often labeled “Saigon” or “Vietnamese”). Ceylon is light and floral, great if you want subtle sweetness. Cassia is that classic “red hot” spice burn most of us grew up with. My favorite is Korintje, the rich, dark, almost brown sugar version that gives this Creami its fragrant sophisticated sweetness. It’s technically a variety of Cassia, but grown in Vietnam. If I were to break-in and take a peak at the Ben & Jerry’s recipe books I’m sure this is the one their using.

Toppings:

• 2 Legendary Cinnamon Crumble donuts, chopped

  (I’ve tried this with their other cinnamon products, this hits the best - totally has the same mouth feel and buttery flavor or the B&J mix in). 

🧊 Creami Instructions

1. Mix the base: Combine all base ingredients in a blender or shaker bottle until smooth. Pour into a Ninja Creami pint and freeze completely for at least 12 hours, ideally overnight.

2. First spin: Once frozen solid, remove from the freezer and let the pint sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes or run under hot water for 1 min so sides release. Run a Lite Ice Cream cycle.

3. Re-spin: If it’s crumbly, add a tablespoon of milk of choice and run a Re-Spin cycle until smooth and creamy.

4. Top it: Add your chopped Legendary donuts and gently fold them in for that Ben & Jerry’s chunky chaos.

5. Enjoy immediately: The texture hits best right after the re-spin.

🪄 Optional Swirl

If you want to chase greatness, here’s how to make that Cinnamon Caramel Ribbon swirl.

Swirl Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp allulose

• 1 tbsp sugar free maple syrup or zero cal caramel syrup (Jordan’s Skinny Syrup works great)

• ½ tbsp light butter or 1 tsp coconut oil

• ¼ tsp cinnamon

• Dash of salt

• ⅛ tsp xanthan gum (optional but helps it stay cohesive)

Swirl Directions:

1. Heat everything in a small saucepan on low heat until it starts to bubble slightly.

2. Stir for about 2 minutes until it thickens. You’re looking for a syrup consistency, not watery, not caramel sticky.

3. Let it cool slightly before adding it to your Creami.

4. Pour the swirl down the sides or layer it through the middle before a quick re-spin for that perfect Ben & Jerry’s ribbon effect.

📚 Things Worth Your Time

🤯 So You’re Having an Existential Crisis. What Now? - Sisyphus55
Viktor Frankl, in one of the most impactful 200-page reads you’ll ever get your hands on, talks about the idea of the existential vacuum. The emptiness that creeps in when life lacks meaning.
Big question: what even is meaning, and how do you get it?

Great podcast listen this week by one of my favorite bro philosophers, Sisyphus55, where he breaks down the hierarchy of psychological needs. He argues that meaning stems from three big roots: autonomy, relatedness, and competence. When you feel in control of your life, connected to others, and capable at what you do, meaning follows naturally. Everything else is decoration.

📵 Scheduling IG time
Social media is kind of a time suck. You heard? Not exactly breaking news, but not exactly easy when your business is social media.

People love to parrot the phrase “social media isn’t life.” Really? Because there are people spending most of their waking hours on these apps. Seems pretty life like to me.

I’ve been ruthless lately about giving myself 30 minutes in the morning and 30 at night to engage with my community. Turns out the little dopamine fix I get from random check ins only messes with my centeredness, which is supposed to be the whole point of showing up online in the first place.

🥩 The Best Grill of All Time - 1500º of pure joy
Dropped my Steak & Aristotle love letter video this week. In it, you’ll see my well patina’d infrared grill. I’ve cooked well over 2,000 steaks on that thing over the last three years, and she still sizzles like day one.

It’s remarkably well constructed for the price, and the customer service is top tier. They even sent me replacement grates when mine wore out. Best way I know to cook a steak in under five minutes.

If you’ve ever wanted to chase your own version of eudaimonia, start with a pound of filets and a grill that’s easy to use daily.

🔜 Coming Soon

Out Now - Sunday Gravy School: Apparently I’m Red Pilled (IG)
Leaned into confusion and curiosity on this one. Learned a bit while making it too. A lot of my content tends to reject inaccurate labels and false dichotomies, and the Red Pill movement seems to fail on both of those fronts. Erica didn’t get this one at all when I showed it to her. Chances are my tribe will, and that’s all that matters.

10/15 -Test Kitchen: Hair Loss Protocol Day 0 (IG)
The start of a new experiment. I’ve officially entered my Hair Loss Era. This first episode is part confession, part data collection. I document the research I’ve dug through, and maintain the hope that maybe, just maybe, the peninsula of a widows peak on my head doesn’t turn into an island. The journey begins here.

10/17 - Gravy Code: I Have the Paper Towel Habits of a Much Wealthier Man (IG)
Pure shenanigans. An old concept from the infancy of the Cinemagravy launch, revived for the modern era. A lot has changed, but my chronic overuse of paper towels has not.

✌️ Until Next Time

If this issue had a theme, it’s probably control. The fight to keep it, the moments where you lose it, and the peace that comes when you stop pretending you ever had it.

Hairlines recede. Algorithms change. Paper towels vanish in bulk.
But meaning sticks around when you stay curious.

Thanks for being here early, for reading, and for growing alongside all of this.

You don’t wait till next monday if you wanna reach out.
DMs always open.

-Michael