Shou Wu Chih 3 Month Update

It’s roughly 3 months now that I’ve been drinking Shou Wu Chih fairly regularly. It’s hard to take something almost every night even with free dailynudge reminders sent to my cellphone! Daily Nudge. Because it has a fair amount of alcohol in it, I didn’t take it on nights I had a few drinks or got caught up with work late into the evening. It’s non stimulating, so I find it’s a superb tonic to take before bed.
I do have to say, that my hair is much much darker. I haven’t found a hair with a dark root yet, but overall my hair is darker. Why the hair is darker is hard to say. More oil? Any experts out there?

Other benefits

If you read my first post on this product: Gray Hair Experiment you will notice that Shou Wu Chih is one of the more effective tonics out there. It’s taken to restore energy depleted from too much sex or stress. This is a good one to have and it’s certainly not expensive. I’ve been finding mine in a asian grocery store for just a few dollars. And it tastes good!

A Secret Revealed

I was thinking the other day about how much real information is really available in printed form and on the net.  I was involved for many years in studying martial arts, especially the mysterious internal martial arts mainly from China — Tai Chi Chuan, Xing Yi, Bagua etc.  What I like about these arts is that they tend to have associated health preserving practices often loosely labeled ‘Qigong/ChiGong/ChiKung‘ or ‘Nei Gung’.  These exercises are loosely translated as ‘breathing exercises’ or ‘Inner Work’.  There are some purists who will argue every statement made concerning these arts and practices.  I always found them fascinating, especially the idea of a practice that could guarantee youth and vitality well into advanced age.  One can find alot of books on these arts and introductory classes.

Chen Fake
Chen Fake

Unfortunately, the secret ingredient to make them work is not found in any of these books or on the net.  If you want to learn from books and from introductory classes, you will not learn the true practice.  I spent many many years and have yet to find the real secret.  I’ve had a lot of  secret stuff revealed to me, but it’s never the full story.  I have had enough secret information revealed to me to know every book and video out there is pretty much useless.  You will get hints from your teacher, but the only way is to stumble upon yourself.  And that’s why we practice and practice. 

But I will give you one secret a Chinese Herbalist revealed to me one day that I haven’t seen anywhere.  For the tonic herbs, mix a little red wine in the resulting tea to magnify the effects.  I thought this was a cool revelation, although minor, of the oral tradition only insiders get to witness.  I humbly pass it on to you.

Red Wine

Notice the swirl?  That’s a hint for another secret…..

Gray Hair Experiment

One of my all time favorite tonics is something called ‘shou wu chih‘ and it’s found in any chinese herbal shop or asian grocery. It looks like this:

The main ingredient in Shou Wu Chih is an herb called polygonum multiflorum. There’s a raw version of this herb that is sold in many herbal tablets for hair loss and graying.. However, traditionally, the raw herb is specially prepared by boiling it in a broth made primarily of black soy beans and then carefully dried. Many people don’t know this, but if you’re interested in this herb for it’s reported hair benefits, you want the prepared herb, not the raw version.
This herb is also called FoTi and He Shou Wu. You’ll probably encounter just as many spellings and pronunciations as you can imagine. You’ll also find countless variations of the legend that states a person who was gray haired and really old, ate this herb and became young again with dark black hair. I’m told in chinese, he shou wu means something like ‘mr. he black hair’.
Many people familiar with Chinese Medicine take this tonic everyday in hopes it will either darken their hair or keep it from turning gray. There is another benefit–this is also a very good overall tonic that is supposed to benefit the ‘Jing‘ if you are depleting your energy from stress or other activities (read my post on Jing-Chi-Shen).  It’s purported to be a reliable youth tonic and powerful libido enhancer.  I really like the taste of this one.  There are two versions–one made with alcohol (it’s labeled ‘cooking wine’ in some stores) and one made with water.

I could go into all the other ingredients, but you could google it. There’s a wealth of information on it.

The Experiment

So, I’m not happy that I sprouted some gray hair on my temples and scattered throughout what used to be very black hair.  I’m going to take this everyday and report on results after a few months.  If I see some gray hair with dark roots coming in, I will claim this a success.

I’m thinking about picking this up as well:

Shou Wu Extract
Shou Wu Extract

Shou Wu Pian is a concentrated version of the single herb in a small black pill.  It’s supposed to be taken for a long period of time to see results.  I think I may add this to the regimen.

The products are in my amazon store on this page.  Your best bet if you live near a metropolitan area or asian community is to buy it yourself.  These products are inexpensive.  Try my links or search the web for a better deal.  In the future, I may setup a store.  Let’s see…

 

Extracts vs Powders

I recently went to visit a local Chinese Herb shop to get an herbal ‘tune-up’.  Many years ago, I found a great chinese herb shop and whenever I felt rundown, I would get my pulse read by the old resident herbalist and he would write out a prescription for the pharamacist to combine together and grind up.  I would then boil the ground up herbs and drink a cup twice a day.  I always felt like a million bucks afterwards and I recommended them to all my friends and family.  Unfortunately, the place burned down one night and I never saw or heard from them since.  I haven’t been able to find a good herbalist since. 

Anyway, I tried out this new place and when I went to pick up my herbs, I got a bunch of packets of powder I was supposed to mix into a cup of hot water and drink.  The herbalist told me this was the new way to dispense herbal prescriptions.  I didn’t really like this, but decided it was worth a try.

Extracts have some merit.  Always make a note if you are dealing with a raw herb or with an extract.  Extracts are just that..alcohol or water or some other chemical extraction of the chemicals in the herb.  Extracts are very potent and come in varying strengths such as 5:1, 10:1, 100:1 etc.  Extracts are usually standardized to contain a certain percentage of the known active chemical, which I guess makes it more like a drug, but guarantees you are getting a standard and expected dose.  As an example, I don’t think 500 mg of powdered gingseng is going to have much effect on anyone, but 500 mg of a powerful ginseng extract certainly could.

The problem with extracts is that they could be missing important chemicals that are not understood or known that are vital.  I always felt a water extract would miss chemicals that were not water soluble or an alcohol extract could miss ingredients as well.  But I’m not a chemist, so I’m not really sure about that.  I’ve noticed really powerful effects from extracts (which I’ll go into detail in future posts) so I know they work.  At the same time, I’ve had great effects from boiling bulk herbs too.  I can’t really think of a good experience with a raw powdered herb off the top of my head, I think they are largely ineffective because the dosage is so small.

In either case, one is probably not always better than the other and each will have it’s place.  For now, just make sure you know what you’re dealing with and what you’re paying for.   Read those labels to see if you’re getting an extract or just a few milligrams of a powder.

Oh, and my experience with that new herbalist was terrible.  I don’t think mixing individual extracts of the herbs into hot water is the same as the raw herbs.  I didn’t feel better, in fact I felt worse and threw the rest out.  I’ll never go back there.

By the way, and this is a topic for another post, I don’t think the herbs we get now are anywhere near what they used to be in the ‘old days’.  But I digress…

Cured Brain Fog!

I wanted to share a supplement I found that I feel has helped cure brain fog. Of course, if you read my inaugural post, it could be just a coincidence, so I’m putting this out there to see what others think. I was experiencing extreme brain fog after some stressful life circumstances. Thinking it was tied to allergies, I took Claritin to no avail.   I tried several other supplements to address this problem including choline and phosphatydilserine, but nothing seemed to be working. Until I came across this at the local asian supermarket:
Gingko Ginseng

I took three vials a day, which provided a whopping 7.2 grams of Gingko Biloba Leaf Extract and 1.5 grams of Red Panax Ginseng Root.

This is a liquid extract in a vial.  The box comes with little straws and a plastic tool to puncture them.  The other ingredients are honey, water and less than .05% alcohol.

In about three days, I noticed the brain fog was lifted and my mood improved.  I know from experience that both Gingko and Ginseng boost dopamine levels.  I was pleasantly surprised to find my thinking clear and my concentration improved.

I did some light research on this later and found the combination of ginseng and gingko has been studied pretty extensively.  Check out:  http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0ISW/is_2002_June/ai_86387585/  for some interesting studies.

This one is a keeper for me.