Taking He Shou Wu (Fo Ti) for Fertility... and gray hair reversal

Just wanted to share this with any women it may help.

10 years ago, when I was bitching about my hair starting to turn gray in my 20's (it's genetic- I get it from both my parents' sides) - a friend of mine, who was born and raised in China, told me about something called He Shou Wu (otherwise known as Foti). I believe this is a root. And supposedly, it can help to restore your hair to its natural color (or at the very least, help delay the "graying" process).

Well, I went to a Chinese herb store and bought some - it looked like wood chips, just like this picture on the left. I had to make a tea out of it. But honestly, I just wasn't that motivated to keep up with it. I was never sure if I was preparing it right, and it didn't taste very good. Another time, I bought some in a bottle, but again... wasn't sure of the proper dosage, and just kinda gave up on it.

Well, fast forward 10 years, and now I'm in my 40's and the TTC supplements are making my new roots come in soo fast, I'm dyeing my hair more than ever. Which I realize, can't be good for my health (or a baby's health) but I am just too damn freaked out by the idea of showing the world just HOW MUCH gray hair I have, to stop dyeing it. I hate seeing gray hair in the mirror (and I have a LOT). Hate it. I feel like a completely different person when I dye it. So I'm just going to keep doing it and hoping for the best.

But anyway... all this to say, I recently have been wanting to start back up on the Foti (He Shou Wu  ) supplements again, because I am so sick of having to dye my hair (it's up to once a week now...at least, that's about how often I do touchups). But the reason I've been holding off, is because I didn't want the Foti to mess up my chances of trying to conceive.

So, I started googling Foti and He Shou Wu  , along with "TTC" and "Fertility" and "pregnancy" to see if other people had taken it during pregnancy, and had experienced any negative side effects.

Well, lo and  behold this stuff is actually considered to be a fertility ENHANCER. Which I guess makes sense, given the fact that it's able to turn back the clock on your hair, right? So maybe it can do the same thing for your reproductive system.  Lucky for me, I live in an area where we have lots of Asian markets, and I can get the liquid version at a decent price.

I did find a "testimonial" from a gal who seems to feel it helped her get pregnant. Her review is copied and pasted below, and you can find it on this page: http://www.herbwisdom.com/review-fo-ti-root.html   And please note, it does seem that it may be best to STOP taking it once you find out you're pregnant (I'd seen that in 2 places online). Yeah I know... I need to look this up some more. But better safe than sorry.

Ruby •  

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"I have been taking Fo Ti Root for just over 2 month for stress. It has been working fantastically. My husband and I have been trying to have a baby for the past two years, I was told by doctors that I didn't even have a 1% chance of falling pregnant. I have just conceived and am 4 weeks pregnant. The chemist has told me to stop taking the Fo Ti Root because it's not good for the baby.. Is that true? Anyway I highly recommend it for both stress and fertility."

Again... more research needs to be done on this one, but just wanted to put it out there. Who knows, maybe it could help someone. At the very least... maybe it can help you skip a trip or two to the salon : )

EB