Hair Products – Page 31

July 21, 2009

Dandruff Shampoo, Ethnicity, and Other Hair Loss Questions – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi, I’m a 21 year old male of white American (european?) and Bangladeshi (father’s side) descent. I feel that I’ve been shedding hair at a fast rate, but I honestly can’t tell. Hair loss does run in my family. My father is bald and some distant relatives on my mother’s side are as well. I’m a fairly hairy person overall, and I’ve been wonder if that’s also correlated with scalp hair loss.

I tend to have a lot of dry scalp problems for reasons that I’ve never understood. Often, showering using new water makes my head so dry that the area of dry skin creeps to more apparent parts of my forehead. On the whole though, it usually doesn’t — staying on upper scalp area overall (as opposed to sides and back).

There was a time that I suffered a few anxiety attacks and I lost an IMMENSE amount of hair that time and was sure I was experiencing hairloss. I hope that’s enough background. Here are my questions:

Is there a particular pattern of male-patterned-baldness that I should be looking at? From looking at me, at least not to my eye or anything else’s, I have a full head of hair. However, I’ve been losing a lot of hair lately, and I definitely do feel that it’s noticeable in the front crown area.

Do you think I am a decent candidate for propecia?

Do you have any idea why anti-dandruff shampoo works sometimes and not others? Does that impact my hairloss?

Generally speaking, is the hair on the back and sides of a head always thicker than that on top? I don’t know how to view my ethnicity in this regard, because of the mix.

Does length of hair affect hair loss?

Thanks.

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You may inherit the genes from one side of your family, so what you can expect will reflect the inheritance pattern, which varies widely in different family lines.
Young men with hair loss (and miniaturization) will find that Propecia (finasteride) will slow down the genetic component of hair loss. I can’t specifically say whether you’re a good candidate without seeing you first, at least in photographs.
There are different types of dandruff shampoos. If one doesn’t work, try another one. Some are just more effective than others (see Wikipedia for treatments). Dandruff does not cause hair loss.
The hair in the back and sides of your head will not miniaturize and therefore, if you have genetic balding of any degree, will be thicker than on the front and top.
Hair length does not dictate how much hair you will lose unless you abuse it.

July 16, 2009

Could Supplements Have Caused My Sudden Hair Loss? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hi I have recently been experiencing sudden hair loss. I am a 23yr. old male, and have always had thick brown hair. This past march I took some pro-hormone supplements (oxyguno) to help my workout program. At the end of May, I noticed my hair was alot more blonde in areas, and noticeable thinning in the front hairline. I immediately went to a physician, and he said it was probably the supplements I took. I also had two tough last semesters (both 18hr loads). My doc prescribed me some propecia & told me to take Rogaine. My hair began to shed really bad after starting the two medications. After about a month I decided to stop the Rogaine, because my scalp was itching and I was continuing to shed alot of hair.

My question is, do you think this was caused by the supplements? Also is I got back on the Rogaine do the shed hairs grow back? Also there is some MPB in the family, although this hair loss just seems too sudden.

I would doubt that supplements caused your hair loss. The stress you are apparently experiencing will accelerate the genetic process and it can happen in a relatively show time frame. I can’t say what Rogaine will do for you — not everyone reacts the same.

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July 15, 2009

Sodium Hydroxide Can Seep Through Skin? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

You mentioned in this link that certain chemicals and dyes can seep into the hair follicles and damage them.

My question is regarding sodium hydroxide, the most popular permanent hair relaxer around. Can this damage the hair follicles? I didn’t realize it could actually seep through the skin!

Yes, it could seep into the skin and hair follicles. At high concentrations it could be dangerous.

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July 13, 2009

HairSense Spray – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

hi Dr Rassman,
there is a new hair loss product in the uk called hairsense there web site is www.hairsense.co.uk it is a natural topical please can you tell me anything about it?

Everything I know about this product comes from their website, and even their website is extremely vague about what is in this spray. It does say it contains an “anti hair loss formula enriched with caffeine,” which leads me to believe it doesn’t actually have a proven ingredient like minoxidil in it. I haven’t a clue what is in this tonic.

My dictum still hold true… BUYER BEWARE. Just keep in mind nothing (even proven medications such as Propecia or Rogaine) completely stops hair loss. You can try this Hairsense stuff, of course, but I wouldn’t expect much more than an empty space in your wallet where your money used to be.

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July 9, 2009

Hair Loss InformationCould Chemicals Applied to the Hair PERFECTLY Still Cause Hair Loss? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I don’t think my question about chemical relaxers causing baldness was answered, or perhaps I didn’t ask it right. If the professional never messes up the chemical relaxer on hair, can that cause baldness? I’m not talking about the occassions when they might mess up and burn our scalp, I’m referring to the chemical being applied perfectly to the hair.

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I have heard many accounts that chemical hair relaxers have caused hair loss from the chemical stress/burn. Most of what is lost usually grows back, but it can take over a year. There is no such thing as PERFECT in real life and everyone has a different impact from chemicals, even a different impact over time (what worked in the past could damage your hair in the future).

July 9, 2009

Thymuskin: Does the Thymus Gland Even Play a Role in Hair Growth? – Balding Blog

I have been using thymuskin a topical shampoo and dropper solution made in Germany by Klett-Loch gmb. The company claims it reduces or inhibits DHT in the scalp, acting as a coating/membrane around the follicules. It is also a synthetic thymus extract/peptide originally from a baby calf, cow but is now synthetic due to cattle health, the German company claims. They say it also acts by boosting the level of thymosin and or boosting the thymus gland which normally shrinks in size. They say it was originally developed for chemotherapy patients that lost their hair after chemo, but soon they say the German doctors who were bald themselves started using the thymus product with success. It is extremely expensive to me @270.00 for a 2 month supply. Does thymosin and or the thymus gland play a role in hair follicule stimulation and or growth? Why did the chemo patients not lose hair when using it while under chemo? I ordered it because I thought with all the products out there, that surely a German company would not lie! It dosen’t suit them based on their history. haha funny. thanks Dr. Rassman

To my knowledge, nothing topical inhibits DHT production on the scalp, though there are some shampoos that claim to reduce scalp DHT. In my humble opinion, it is probably just marketing hype, but if it works as promised, the company can make a fortune selling it at any price worthy of putting in the effort. The Thymuskin North American distributor claims the product was sold for 20 years in Europe, but the amount of years a product is available in the European marketplace really doesn’t have any bearing on its effectiveness. The user reports online vary wildly, and with so many Thymuskin resellers and affiliate links out there looking to cash in, it really makes it hard to distinguish what is a real review and what is a disguised advertisement.

The thymus gland does not play a part in hair growth. There is an association between hair loss and the thymus gland in a special type of inherited disease, but that would not point to the use of any thymus extract in the treatment of the normal genetic hair loss that is common in the general population. I’m not sure what T-cells have to do with hair growth or hair loss, but these cells are in the critical path for autoimmune diseases. Again, in my humble opinion it is just marketing hype, but I will be glad to be proven wrong.

July 8, 2009

Shampoo Eliminates Sebum, Allowing Follicles to Grow? (Video) – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

What do you make of the video below. It claims excess sebum on the scalp can cause hair loss and that the tincture of herbals and scrubbing (and brushing?) help to allow the hair follicles underneath to grow. Is there any chance that this could work? I am under the impression that shampoo eliminates sebum. Off topic regarding shampoo, should we be shampooing our scalp and our hair or just our hair?

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There is hope everywhere (after all, it springs eternal). I would doubt that anything shown here will work for another person as it did for the lady demonstrating the technique in the beginning of the above video from Honolulu’s ABC affiliate. It’s obvious the news anchors have no idea about what they’re talking about when discussing hair loss, and this is quite a puff piece for this herbal maker.

As to your other question — you should shampoo your scalp and hair (the main reason for shampooing is to clean the scalp).

July 2, 2009

Hair Loss InformationCan Chemical Relaxers Done Professionally and Correctly Still Cause Hair Loss? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Can chemical relaxers applied properly by a professional at a salon cause hair loss? It seems as though every question here about chemical relaxers involve doing it yourself or messing up and burning the scalp.

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Professionals make mistakes on occasion so the use of relaxers always put you at risk for chemical burns. In the hands of experienced professionals, I would think that the risks are minimal.

With that said, I just met with a nice lady who had a professional use a relaxer on her hair about a year ago, and ended up with two thumb-print type bald spots that appeared after a 6 month course of treating open burn wounds on her scalp. I will be transplanting those thumb-print bare areas shortly.

July 2, 2009

Follicare and Minoxidil? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hi Doc,

I’ve been using Minoxidil 5% for around 18 months and although results are evident they aren’t miraculous…as to be expected. My question to to you is, I’ve bought some Follicare supplement to assist with my progress. DO you know if this contains any harmful chemicals or will it cause a reaction with the minoxidil? I;ve read the chemicals are natural but to what extent? I know that follicare sells a package containing minoxidil but I wonder if it is any different to Kirkland minoxidil.

Anyway thanks for your time

I do not believe there is anything harmful in a supplement, aside from the harm it does to your wallet. If the product contains minoxidil, that’s going to be the ingredient that regrows your hair — so I’d stick to the generic minoxidil. I would not double up on the minoxidil, using the generic and the Follicare at the same time. Follicare’s various sprays and lotions also contains botanical extracts, saw palmetto, vitamins, oils, and lots of other stuff. It might make your hair shiny, but I don’t see where the treatment for hair loss is in there.

I’m looking at the Follicare website now, and I am not impressed by the tiny and blurry before/after photos. Ever notice how so many of these various hair loss products for sale are often accompanied by lots of hype, little proof, and even smaller photographs?

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July 1, 2009

Is the HairDX Test Accurate If It Just Tests the X Chromosome? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hi my question is about the HairDX test. If male pattern baldness can be inherited from either side of the family, is the Hair DX test only about 52 percent accurate since it tests the X chromosome only? And is it even less accurate in regards to actual hair loss because of the complex gene expression?

Men have one X chromosome and one Y chromosome so the impact for the test on a man’s only X chromosome is clearly from one parent or the other. The overall predictability is only about 70% and possibly the cause of the difference between 70% and 100% are the other factors associated with gene expression and possibly other genes not tested.

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