Month: October 2009

Is there anything to thickening shampoos that contain “regenium xy” and the like? Or is that just marketing? If they’re for real, how do they work?

Regenium XY is an ingredient in some thickening shampoos by L’Oreal. I haven’t seen anything about L’Oreal Elvive shampoo (also known as L’Oreal Vive) that states it regrows hair, so I’ll have to assume you’re talking strictly about hair thickening itself.

Hair thickeners just give the illusion of fuller hair and are pretty commonplace. Different thickeners exist in the form of shampoos like the one you asked about, and camouflaging agents like Toppik that are applied when the hair is dry. I have a feeling that the “Regenium XY” name itself is likely just branding to make it sound more amazing than other products for sale, but perhaps there’s more science to it that I don’t understand (I’m not a shampoo expert). This site might have some more useful info about it.

In general, some thickeners might work better than others and some people might not see any real benefit whatsoever, so you’ll have to try them out to see what your personal preference is. To learn how they work, I found a sites that explain it — understanding-hair-loss.net.

Dear doctor. I think you are correct about Segals. Its now seven weeks since I have started using Segals solutions, no visible changes, so far no new hair growth. Now I want to know whether these people like Segals, Foltene, etc are trying to make money by giving false hopes. But some people blogged that these are working for them. Are they mere illusions? and compared to minoxidil why these products are very expensive? I would like your views on that.

Recently I have studied so many articles on Internet that “EMU oil” is a DHT blocker and it grows new hair. I would like your comments on emu oil and whether applying oils like coconut oil, olive oil or almond oil promote hair growth?

I really think the driving force behind many of these products is the ability to make easy money. If I posted a study on the internet consisting of 2 people and said fertilizer applied to the upper lip caused a moustache to grow in thicker 50% of the time, I’d imagine there would be a dozen products like “Magic Fertilizer Moustache Cream” for sale by the end of the month. I wouldn’t have to provide any photos or scientific proof whatsoever for people to believe it. Of course, I would never do that and fertilizer will not grow hair, so don’t bother trying. What I’m getting as it that there’s no proof that emu, coconut, olive, almond, peanut, caramel, nougat, dung, or any other substance will regrow hair. I don’t know where this stuff comes from, but I’ve yet to see proof that it does what it claims.

People are so willing to believe almost anything when it comes to hair loss. Look at the ridiculous “Trust Timmy” and “Honest Jimmy” type of sites out there. Anyone that has searched for “hair loss” on Google has undoubtedly seen those advertisements. Those are simply marketing campaigns created to give you confidence in the product to get you to place an order. They might give false hopes, but their real intention is to make money. Perhaps I should make a “Believe Bill” site to warn people not to fall into these traps.

The sellers of these hair loss products can charge an inflated price, because people tend to equate this higher price with a higher level of efficacy. That reminds me of a story I’d read about consumer electronics (unrelated to hair). In the mid-1990s, high-end electronics began appearing on the market with blue LED lights (rather than the red lights that were common). When cheaper products with blue LEDs began hitting the shelves, it instantly gave some higher perceived value to those products. Now you see those blue lights in everything (instead of red, like it used to be). It was a novelty that has now become commonplace. Granted, blue and green LEDs weren’t developed until the mid-1990s, but the demand for blue in particular was spurred by the higher-end products including these tiny lights. But I digress…