Readers who have been around for some time know that my NBE history is similar to chrishoney and pansy-mae's. I did a year on SP, FG, fennel, with a little WY and blessed thistle here and there. I did get some results, but not very much. I switched to PM, and within a few weeks dropped the rest of it except for FG, which I continued at a reduced level because I found it helped my IBS. Within a few months of starting PM (dates not to scale

I dropped the FG as well. Most of my development happened while I was on PM.
I had a small area starting to lose hair where my grandfather lost his, before I started on any NBE. During the year on the herb mix which included SP, that area continued to grow and become more noticeable. I just assumed that my genetics were such that I was going to lose most of it like my grandfather. In light of this topic, I took a few minutes and looked through some photos taken over the last year. I was surprised to note that my balding area has not only stopped growing, it has filled in some. I hadn't really noticed it before. That has to be the PM. My diet hasn't changed in the past year. Oh and my weight gain happened while I was on the weaker herbs, but I cannot say which one it was. I haven't gotten rid of the extra weight, but I think the blame for it is on my lack of will to fix it, not on the PM.