Month: January 2012

Snippet from the article:

An animal shedding its coat at certain points of the year may involve the same science behind male-pattern baldness.

New research out of the University of Southern California found that not only is hair loss caused by the hormones in the hair follicles themselves, but also in the tissue surrounding the follicles. That is similar to animals that shed their coats, a routine occurrence triggered by the animals’ bodies.

“The hair-follicle stem cell is not only listening to the voice in the stem cell, but also from the outside,” Cheng-Ming Chuong of University of Southern California and lead author of the study told MyHealthNewsDaily Wednesday at the meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology in Denver.

The research suggests that new treatment should focus on the tissue around the hair follicles instead of just the follicles themselves.

Read the full text — Baldness Similar to Animal Shedding Coat

I believe you have mentioned before that, at any given time, roughly 10% of the hairs on your head are in the miniaturized/resting state. For some time now, however, I’ve noticed that many, if not most, of the hairs gathering on my comb and around my sink appear to be miniaturized to some degree. Is this normal, or should I really start to be concerned? I’m currently 19 with no noticeable signs of balding.

Thinner hair shafts represent about 20% or less than the rest of the hair in most people. These hairs may reflect vellus hairs, not miniaturized hair. What you see on the comb and in the shower drain is probably miniaturized hairs reflecting the balding condition. You can find out for sure by getting a set of bulk measurements comparing the donor hair with hair elsewhere on your head. Why guess?

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My hair has been falling out in handfuls for over two years now. Not only is my hair falling out, but each strand is SO thin, it’s almost invisible. And my scalp burns as if it’s been rubbed with jalapeño peppers. I’ve been to three different dermatologists. All said it’s hereditary, even though no one in my family was bald or had hair loss problems. Two dermos put me on minoxidil (Rogaine). My scalp screamed in pain, so I stopped. Each attempt with minoxidil made my hair come out in handfuls.

Since tripping on this site, I’ve realized that my hair first started falling out when I began taking cod liver oil for my general health. Then I added Omega 3/6 supplements, salmon oil… and, most recently my naturopath suggested I take flax seed oil! My scalp pain is so bad, I’ve tried everything to calm the pain. Never did I consider that it might be the supplements. I also take high doses of D3, having recently switched to the gel caps, instead of tablets. I will stop everything and see if things improve.

Here’s the question: those who’ve had success growing their hair back, do you recommend taking biotin? Or should I stop that, too?

I’ve seen a few references to Nizoral. Is it better than Denorex or Selsun Blue, and if so, why? How long did it take for your hair to grow back after you quit taking the oil supplments? I’m desperate not only to stop the hairloss, but to end this agony with my burning scalp.

You may be asking the impossible from me. Short of a visit and a full hour consultation, I doubt that I can help you with a text reply. Actually, I’m not even sure that I could help after a full hour consultation. I don’t know enough about your medical history (or you) to have any idea what could be causing your scalp sensitivity/pain and subsequent hair loss.

The first step is to find a diagnosis for your hair loss and scalp pain. If you’ve been to two dermatologists and neither has been able to find a solution, keep trying until you can find a dermatologist with a solution. I wish I could offer more, but I’m at a loss.

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Doctor..

Thanks for keeping an archive.. It’s a treasure chest of info.

I had a couple of months were I was taking care of a sick family member and missed a minox application usually at night.. so I was down most days to just one application.. maybe 6 weeks. Had a lot of loss the last 5 or 6 weeks. I’m guessing since minoxidil is dose dependent there’s going to be loss from twice to once a day application. Also I switched to an online source that supposedly took over for Dr. Lee’s products. Which like Dr. Lee, is now out of business also. So It could have been a possible scam with phoney products. I needed a non PG formula.. though even the Rogaine foam is a problem..

I’m wondering if the loss is due to twice to once a day application for some weeks. The stress and lack or sleep in being a caretaker.. or could it be Minoxidil Solutions LLC was just a scam. In which case maybe some of your readers may have had the same result and offer a comment.

Thanks for being a “reliable” place to turn for the hair loss community.

You have suggested the many reasons why you experienced the hair loss. I can not tell you which is more possible than the other.

It could be from changing the dosing, or it could be from bad medication (I don’t know if it was indeed a scam), or it could be from stress… or it could be a combination of it all.