FOUNDER PERSPECTIVE
FOLIKL has nothing to do with treating multiple sclerosis. But living with MS for 23 years has everything to do with the standard I bring to FOLIKL™.
By Daryl Bryant, Co-Founder of FOLIKL™
Today, I am 49 years old, a husband, a father of three, and an entrepreneur. I am also in the best physical shape of my life, and for well over a decade I have lived without symptoms of multiple sclerosis.
I do not say that to suggest I defeated MS or discovered a formula that someone else should follow. The lesions are still there. I say it because the journey changed how I think about health, evidence, supplementation, longevity, and the responsibility that comes with asking someone to make a supplement part of his daily routine.
To understand why, I have to go back to the week when I could no longer look away.
The Week I Could No Longer Look Away
In 2007, I was sitting at my desk at work when I became nauseous and dizzy. I stepped outside for some air, sat in my car, and suddenly lost all equilibrium, fell to my left, and began vomiting violently.
I was terrified. I made a decision I would never repeat or recommend: I tried to drive home. My vision was so blurred that I could barely see, and I kept the car door open because I was getting sick every few seconds. I called Shannon, who was then my girlfriend and is now my wife, and asked her to call 911 so an ambulance could meet me at the house.
I truly thought I was going to die.
What was supposed to be one night in the hospital became seven. My eyes were moving involuntarily, a condition called nystagmus. Whenever I tried to stand, I fell to the left. I had been walking my entire life, and suddenly I could not take a single step without falling over.
An MRI showed seven lesions on my brain, up from the two found several years earlier. One was on my brainstem.
After a week of rehab, I eventually went home with a cane. The physical symptoms began to subside, but something else had changed permanently: I could no longer deny that I had multiple sclerosis.
Before Acceptance Came Denial
My first warning had come five years earlier, when I was 24. The vision in my right eye worsened for about two weeks and then returned. Later that year, excruciating pain and pixelated vision in my left eye left me barely able to see.
In 2003, a neurologist diagnosed me with optic neuritis and ordered an MRI. The scan revealed two lesions, and at 25 years old I was diagnosed with MS. I was alone with the doctor when I heard the news.
That same year, I started my first business and waited tables at night to keep a roof over my head while I built it. I was fighting to create one future while refusing to face another reality.
I wish I could say I immediately accepted the diagnosis and became the model of a proactive patient. I did not.
For nearly two years, I tried to convince myself that the doctors were wrong. I researched diets, vitamins, supplements, and homeopathic approaches, searching for a way to avoid confronting the diagnosis. I initially declined medication because taking it would have made the disease feel real.
Meanwhile, the optic neuritis kept returning. My vision would worsen, the pain would become unbearable, and the New Jersey summer heat exacerbated my symptoms. Still, I resisted acceptance.
The seven nights I spent in the hospital in 2007 ended that denial.
What Taking Responsibility Actually Looked Like
After that hospitalization, I began disease-modifying treatment and committed myself to changing how I lived. I paid closer attention to my nutrition, exercise, sleep, stress, vitamins, supplements, and the consistency of my daily routine.
The first medication caused severe flu-like symptoms after each injection, and over time I became deeply depressed. When I told my neurologist, he took the side effects seriously and changed my treatment.
The next medication was easier to tolerate. After several years, however, I began losing sensation throughout my body. I believed the treatment might be contributing, although I cannot establish that it was the cause. Imaging during those years also showed that my MS appeared well controlled. I do not want my current health, or my later decision to discontinue medication, to erase the role treatment may have played.
Nearly five years ago, I made the highly personal decision to stop taking disease-modifying medication. I do not share that as advice or as a path anyone else should follow. MS is different for every person, and disease-modifying therapies can play an important role in care. Treatment decisions belong between an individual and a qualified medical professional.
For me, that decision deepened my commitment to the parts of my health I could influence every day while continuing to take the disease seriously.
What My Health Looks Like Today
About six months ago, I underwent another brain MRI and, for the first time, imaging of my cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine.
The seven lesions on my brain were still there. The spinal imaging identified three additional lesions I had not known about, bringing the total to 10. But the most important finding was not the number. My doctors explained that none of the 10 lesions appeared active on the scans. Bloodwork ordered to examine inflammation also did not show an elevation in the specific marker tested.
After reviewing the results, my neurologist said something I will never forget. As I remember it, her words were:
"I'm not sure exactly what you're doing, but you're not on MS medication, you're living with 10 lesions, and you're one of the healthiest MS patients I've seen. That tells me you're doing the right things for yourself and your health."
Hearing that was deeply meaningful. I received it as an affirmation of the care, discipline, and consistency I bring to my health.
I also understood what the results and her words did not mean. They did not mean MS had disappeared, guarantee there could never be future disease activity, endorse stopping medication, or prove that one part of my routine produced the outcome. I cannot attribute my current health to one diet, medication, habit, supplement, or lifestyle decision.
What I can say is that I have lived without MS symptoms for well over a decade. I go to the gym six days a week, eat a specialized, nutrient-dense diet, and pay close attention to sleep, stress, and recovery. I am in the best shape of my life and feel stronger than ever.
I am also a strong believer in supplementation. But that does not mean believing in every supplement or every claim. I do not view supplements as treatments for MS, substitutes for medical care, or replacements for the fundamentals of a healthy life. I believe carefully selected supplements can complement those fundamentals and should earn their place in a person's routine.
There was no miracle ingredient or overnight transformation. My journey includes nutrition, lifestyle changes, medication, supplementation, support, research, setbacks, and the decision to keep participating in my health even when I did not feel motivated.
In the book I wrote in 2011, MS: Living Symptom Free, I described motivation this way:
"Motivation is not about waking up every day and wanting to make all of the right choices. It is about waking up every day and doing them anyway."
I still believe that. Health is not something I won once. It is something I continue to practice every day.
Personal Experience Is Not Scientific Proof
Writing my book let me share what I had lived, tried, and believed had helped me. Fifteen years later, I understand an important distinction even more clearly: a personal result is not scientific proof.
My experience can inform my choices. It cannot establish what will happen in someone else's body. Research must be evaluated on its own terms. Study design, participants, dosage, and outcomes all matter. Evidence can support a specific conclusion without supporting every larger claim someone may want to make.
Living with MS did not teach me to look for miracle products. It taught me to question them.
It taught me to ask what an ingredient is doing in a formula, whether the amount is meaningful, what the research actually evaluated, and where the evidence ends and the marketing begins.
Believing in the potential value of supplementation did not make me less skeptical. It made me more demanding about what deserves to be called a well-formulated supplement.
What began as a personal interest in supplementation eventually became an important part of my professional life. In 2016, I co-founded NaturalCell, a dietary-supplement company that has since grown to more than 20 products. Building the company taught me how much goes into formulating with purpose: defining what a product is intended to support, evaluating ingredients and research, selecting meaningful amounts, navigating manufacturing and quality, and communicating benefits responsibly.
I also advise supplement companies on formulation, supply chain and strategy. Evaluating formulas and product decisions across the industry has broadened my perspective and made me more exacting. It reinforced something my health journey had taught me: a credible supplement is built through disciplined choices, evidence used responsibly, and a clear reason for every ingredient included.
Together, those personal and professional experiences shaped how I would later approach FOLIKL.
Why My Story Is Part of FOLIKL™'s Mission
People may reasonably wonder what any of this has to do with a men's Hair Longevity formula.
Medically, it has nothing to do with it. FOLIKL™ has never played a role in my MS care and is not intended to treat MS or any disease. This is a story about what my health journey taught me to demand from FOLIKL™ and why I believe its mission matters.
Joe Rhodes and I were introduced by a mutual friend and quickly realized that we shared similar core values regarding family, honesty and integrity. As Joe shared his vision for a men's supplement designed to support both hair and vitality, I saw an opportunity to build more than another product in a crowded category. His vision, my direct experience, and our belief that men deserved a more thoughtful approach became the foundation of our partnership. Today, I work alongside Joe as Co-Founder and part-owner of FOLIKL™.
We believed we could help change how men think about their hair and how they age. Instead of waiting for visible changes, we could encourage men to think earlier, look deeper, and take a more proactive approach to Hair Longevity.
FOLIKL™ was built around three beliefs: healthy hair begins internally with a healthy follicle; Hair Longevity begins long before changes become visible; and men should not have to view support for their hair and their vitality as competing priorities.
The biology of MS and the biology of hair are entirely different. The mindset I bring to them is not.
My journey taught me to respect what is happening beneath the surface, think in years rather than quick fixes, and understand that consistent choices matter before their full effects can be seen. That is why FOLIKL™'s mission is larger than a bottle of capsules. We want to help men take a more informed, proactive approach to their hair, vitality, and aging.
The formula had to live up to that mission. Joe and I started by looking at the internal biology associated with how hair grows and ages. That led to what we call the Five Biological Systems of Hair Longevity™: cellular energy, the hair growth cycle, hormone balance, microcirculation and nutrient delivery, and oxidative stress.
FOLIKL™ was formulated to support healthy hair growth and density, natural pigment pathways, and male vitality from within.+ Just as important as what we included was the standard we used to evaluate it.
Every ingredient must earn its place.
It should have a defined purpose in the formula. The amount should be meaningful. When research exists on a branded ingredient, we look carefully at whether the amount used reflects the relevant research. An ingredient does not belong simply because consumers recognize its name or expect to see it on a hair-supplement label.
Responsible formulation sometimes means deciding what not to include. Responsible marketing sometimes means deciding what not to promise.
That is what formulating with purpose means to me. My health journey did not give FOLIKL™ a disease story. It gave our company a standard: respect the biology, think long term, use evidence responsibly, and never promise more than the science supports.
What Aging Powerfully Means to Me
When I wrote my book, I said that I could not trade in the cards I had been dealt, but I could choose how to play them. That belief still shapes how I live.
At 49, longevity is not an abstract idea to me. It means being present for my wife, raising our three children wisely, having the strength and energy to keep building as an entrepreneur, remaining physically capable of living the life I value, and being the vital man my family needs me to be.
Twenty-three years with MS did not teach me how to formulate a hair supplement. It taught me something more fundamental: respect biology, think long term, question easy answers, demand evidence, and take responsibility for the choices that shape your health.
Those lessons do not turn personal experience into scientific proof. They do explain the standard I bring to FOLIKL™. Every ingredient must earn its place. Every promise must respect the evidence. And any brand asking for a place in a man's daily routine should understand the responsibility that comes with that trust.
We are not asking men to chase youth. We are asking them to care about what is happening beneath the surface and take a more proactive approach to their hair, vitality, and how they age.
That is what we mean by Where Hair Longevity Meets Male Vitality.™
And it is why FOLIKL™'s mission is personal to me.
Personal health note: This article describes Daryl Bryant's individual experience and is not medical advice. It does not suggest that diet, exercise, or dietary supplements treat multiple sclerosis. MS and treatment decisions are highly individual. Do not start, stop, or change treatment without consulting a qualified medical professional.
+Product disclaimer: These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Author Biography and Disclosure
Daryl Bryant is a husband, father of three, entrepreneur, Co-Founder of FOLIKL™, Co-Founder of NaturalCell, and author of MS: Living Symptom Free. Daryl has spent the past decade working in the dietary-supplement industry as an entrepreneur and advisor. His personal health journey shapes the standard he brings to evidence, formulation, and responsible health communication.