Saw palmetto, topical caffeine, and ketoconazole are preferable to potent systemic inhibitors for mild inhibition of the DHT pathway to maintain or grow hair.

“But by my read of the literature, if one is going to try to mildly inhibit the DHT pathway, things like saw palmetto, things like topical caffeine, which has some effect on the androgen pathway, but as we talked about earlier, tickles other pathways, things like ketoconazole, mild reduction in androgen receptor pathways in the follicle and very direct because it's applied directly to the scalp. Things like that are going to be the best route for mild reductions in DHT as an attempt to maintain hair or grow hair.”