Month: December 2014

My question relates to the difference between foam and solution. Using minoxidil 5% solution has dried out my hair to a certain extent and spoilt its texture(because of the alcohol obviously). If I switch to Rogain foam, will it be better for my hair texture?

The active (medication) in Rogain is minoxidile. Different delivery methods exist in the form of liquid solution or topical aerosol foam. The non-active ingredients that is mixed with the medication to keep consistency or drug delivery can vary. It seems some people are not as tolerant to such ingredients as it can cause dry or irritated skin.

I do not know if you will do better with the foam. I do know that the foam also contains alcohol.

Hello i have been following in the background for a while about methods of treatment of hair loss. A few years ago we had quite a few biotech companies looking at researching hair loss. There was intercytex, aderans, histogen, follica and replicel. Many of these companies no longer exist or else news of hair loss treatments and their pipeline after phase 1 have faded and other products have replaced them. I was basically wondering since i have been away for a year or two from heavy research into this. Has all this research faded now? are there any companies coming in to replace these ones or are we seeing that this sort of application is perhaps more difficult than we expected and as such people have given up on it? Sorry to be fatalistic.

Bosley’s parent company Adarans, stopped funding one of the very promising solutions for hair loss a couple of years ago. A few other companies have dropped their hair research efforts. Intercytex seems to have nothing on their website that indicates activity in the hair arena. It does seem that the failures to achieve good hair loss solutions have thwarted some of the research. I really cannot comment on the biotech companies aside from what you may find on the Internet and speculations. It does seem that the ‘cure’ for hair loss is not as easy as one may have imagined.

In getting a haircut, I’m always adamant that the barber not “texturize”/thin the front of my hair, which is already thinning considerably. Sadly, my new barber did just that unpromted. My question is: is the damage permanent or will the shaft return to its normal (albeit miniaturized) thickness?

A bad hair cut is a bad hair cut. It is not permanent. In time your hair will grow for the next round of hair cut.

Hair loss from genetic causes is different. It gets worse with time and you may find that a bad hair cut just makes things look a lot worse. As your hair grows back out (from a bad hair cut) you may perceive your hair status to be worse than it was before the hair cut. But that may just be a recollection bias coupled with the steadily worsening hair status. It is human nature to blame something tangible like a hair cut – something you can control. It is often hard to accept the progressively worsening hair loss that you have not much control over.

Hey doc! I’m a longtime reader and follower of your blog and I highly trust your advice and recommendations. I want to thank you in advance for taking your time to provide your insight to my question. I’d first like to provide a short description of my hairloss observations and results from treatment:

I’m nearly 23 yrs of age and have been on Proscar daily (cut into quarters) since January 2006. The efficacy of the pill peaked by the time I turned 21 and so far, all its been doing is maintaining my existing hair. I’m more of a gradual diffuse thinner than a genetic balder. Ever since last year, my head has become rather itchy and I’ve always felt a sore burning spot right in the centre of my vertex. It became quite unbearable to the point where I shaved my entire head last November just to make it stop.

By December I started using Nizoral 2% and Head & Shoulders everyday (I currently use them every other day). Although some soreness is still present, it has subsided quite a bit and the itching and flaking isn’t as bad anymore. What’s interesting is that my hair has gone from relatively sparse last year to a lot more fuller and abundant this year. I believe that, from my observations, I’ve regrown perhaps 80% of previously lost hairs due to genetic balding. I’ve also noticed that, from continued use of Nizoral, Head & Shoulders and T-Gel plus Proscar for maintenance, I’ve seen individual hairs reverse in miniaturization (hairs with thicker roots and thinner ends)

Am I seeing things or could I be responding well to inflammatory shampoos? My hair is about 6 inches long and tends to get very oily overnight.

My other question is,
In my crown area, especially near the spot where I feel a sore/burning sensation more often than naught, my scalp produces thin hairs and although cosmetically it looks as if there’s no sign of genetic baldness present in that area, I would like to tackle this problem before it does become apparent. I was wondering if you would recommend using a lotion which contains copper peptides to compliment my regimen? I would rather not use minoxidil due to cost issues as I’m still a student.

Thanks again!

It takes at least 2 years to maximize the value of finasteride. That may explain part of your experience with hair regrowth. Also, there are some reports that ketoconazole (Nizoral) may help with treating hair loss, but the studies are limited and I personally have not seen patient results to be convinced. If you’re seeing these treatments work, that’s great!

There is been no proven benefits of copper peptides in the prevention of balding or regrowth of hair. That does not mean that it does not work, but it means to me that the value has not been proven scientifically. If you have used minoxidil and then you stop, it will cause a reversal of the benefits (if the drug produced value) and as hair that was lost is known to be minoxidil dependent, stopping the drug can cause hair loss. The thin hairs that you see in the crown are the result of genetic balding and they can get thicker from finasteride. The younger you are, the better will be the result of finasteride. Men in their 20s like you, get much better results overall from finasteride than men in their 30s and 40s. Men in their 50s and 60s often have no response from the drug. My patent attorney, went on Proscar for prostate problems (it is finasteride) and he grew back quite a bit of frontal and top hair. He showed me the hair with a Cheshire smile. I told him that he had unusual response but congratulated him nevertheless.

Scalp pigmentation is a tattoo for the scalp. It appears that body tattooing has been around for at least 10,000 years. Carbon black from various sources is the basic ingredient but henna appeared early on the list. I am sure they used whatever colored minerals they had in their region. Australian aborigines painted their bodies with various local pigments for ceremonial occasions and used the coagulation properties of blood to attach feather down to their bodies. I have seen no reference to tattooing but scarification of their bodies in ornamental designs (making use of their propensity to hypertropic scarring), was very popular in some areas of the Continent. It was the Pacific Islanders, particularly Maoris, who went into tattooing in a big way. It was claimed that these designs “lasted for life” but of course we don’t know how long they lived in that war-like country or if the pigment was “topped-up” from time to time. I am not sure if they used any colors. More research needed.

Dr. Rassman: Tattoo inks have been described as “remarkably nonreactive histologically”. However, cases of allergic reactions to tattoo inks, particularly certain colors, have been medically documented. This is sometimes due to the presence of nickel in an ink pigment, which triggers a common metal allergy which is fairly rare. Women may be more sensitive to the inks so we test concerned patients (who have known allergies) with tattoo inks prior to performing scalp micropigmentation with a patch containing ink on the skin of the forearm and then wipe it off 5 minutes later and look for a reaction.