AndyJ's Body Enhancement Thread

Well, sometimes it’s just great to let the air out, do nothing, relax and recover! I have those days as well, or part of days and normally I end up in a feeling that I wasted time. But with age I have learnt that it all ok and then I get back to “normal” (aka getting plenty of shit done) the days after. Take care!

Smart move listen to your body. I need to learn how to do that.

Yeah. Fortunately, while the "out of gas" days used to happen a couple of times a week, now they’re rare enough to be noteworthy.

Bumped the vacuum from 5"Hg to 6"Hg in the pump tube yesterday. Only a slight increase in edema with 15-minute sessions. Definitely more pull.

I turned the temp on the heating pad down a couple of weeks ago, but I think I’ll turn it down again. Every now and then I’m still getting that "burnt" feeling on the skin. Apparently the core temps Kyrpa talked about aren’t nice outside at the skin.

Still jelquing a few times a week. The main reason I don’t do it more is that I don’t care for the lube getting on my hands. Which seems trivial enough, except I simply don’t like slimy stuff on my hands, and it won’t really wipe off, and gets on anything I touch after I’m done.

"Fear is forward. No one is afraid of yesterday."

— Renata Adler

On days when I have time, I’ve started my PE sessions with jelquing, then a pump session, then clamping, then another pump session, alternating "pressure from inside" with "vacuum from outside."

I haven’t been doing it long enough to see how it affects gains, but it sure helped flaccid size and EQ. I figured so much work all at once would push me into the "losing ground from overwork" zone, but it hasn’t. At least, not yet.

Liking that idea, going to steal it in another 1/4” of length and do something similar.

The only drawback so far is the amount of time it takes. So far no blisters or petechiae. I had some minor edema at first, but I know only have half of that. I’m hoping it will go away completely in another week or two, but it’s minor enough to put up with if it doesn’t.

Three years ago my hair, eyebrows, moustache, and beard had all turned gray. Pretty normal for early 60s.

A couple of years ago my hair started turning dark again. Head, eyebrows, and moustache and light brown now, and the beard is going salt-and-pepper.

Looking on the web, it seems it’s not unknown. Causal factors might be:

diet change - specifically to keto
exercise - sports or weights

Things that can cause hair to turn gray:

age
stress
iron deficiency (anemia)
B-vitamin deficiencies
D3 deficiency

My beard started going gray when I was in my mid-30s. Unfortunately it did it in patches, like a palomino, and looked like shit. The rest just slowly went gray in the normal progression, becoming noticeable after I turned 60. As my beard is getting darker it’s salt-and-pepper this time instead of patches, which is good.

I’m sure it will eventually go gray again, as age seems to be the primary factor. I don’t mind the gray hair; it just seemed odd that it would change, then change back.

Genetics as well. Some families have bald gray people. Also age of going gray is probably mostly genetic.

Interesting though, I didn’t know it could go the other way or the common causes.

One extra point for carnivorish keto.

I’ve read that deficiency in something that you didn’t list causes gray hair as well. However I don’t remember what it was. I’m sure it’s probably your change in diet. I think it was some odd mineral like iodine or copper. I’ll see if I can recall exactly what it was.

The web says copper deficiency can be a factor in graying hair. One link also said magnesium deficiency. I take supplements of both. Hmm.

"Magnesium deficiency" is hard to pin down. My doc suggested I take it, since most people don’t get enough. It’s something you don’t *have* to have, but it links to a whole bunch of other stuff. There are a bunch of different magnesium compounds; the human body isn’t very good at metabolizing any of them, so most of the magnesium you eat or supplement passes right through. And if you take too much… there’s a reason magnesium citrate is a strong laxative. Magnesium also has a short lifespan in the blood stream before being excreted, so a blood test just shows what your magesium level was when they took the sample.

Mem suggested using magnesium sulfate, ordinarily packaged as "Epsom salts." Unlike supplements that are sold by the ground, magnesium sulfate is packaged in convenient one and five pound bags. Such a deal! I’ve been using that.

I’m using an over-the-counter copper supplement, cutting them in half, and only taking them a few times a week. Copper deficiency is bad, but having too much copper can be *very* bad. As in, Central Nervous System problems or liver failure. Apparently the body is set up to grab and store all the copper it can get, without any way to get rid of too much.

I’m Asian which means I’m screwed on grays, but at least I don’t have to worry about going bald prematurely. Nice thing is that gray on men as we get older is accepted much more than for women.

Past 60, a lot of guys are happy just to have hair, no matter what color it is.

My father had a very high far head with mostly white hair at age 66 when he passed and his brother had just a ring around his head with mostly grey hair in his seventies. I am well passed their age and still have a full head of pepper and salt hair and mustache and my eyebrows are still black, though when I tried to grow a beard several years ago it was mostly white.