Category: Hair Products

Hi Doc,

I am going to be starting the LUCE lds 100 laser treatment soon. Ive been losing hair for about a yr and half. I am currently 22. From your experience, what chances do you see of the treatment working on me? I’ve been on propecia for 5 months. Thinning on my crown is noticeable if pointed out. And the temples have receded slightly.

Thank you

In my personal opinion, lasers do not work to regrow hair. I base this on my experience with seeing many patients who have tried all sorts of lasers (from the big ones in clinics to the handheld models), and I have not seen it work. As I’ve mentioned before, I had a medical grade laser in my office for a year and offered free treatment, of which some patients chose to take advantage. None objectively grew any hair unless they used some medication like finasteride or minoxidil. I recall one patient who spent nearly $5000 on such laser treatments with another doctor for over a year, and as much as he wished and hoped that his money wasn’t wasted, the laser simply didn’t work for him.

If you are balding, there is no simple cure. You wanted a statistical assessment, so I’ll say that my best guess is a 0% chance of laser treatment working to regrow your hair. There are medications and/or surgery to address it, but there are always limitations.

Dr. Rassman. Always a pleasure. I would be interested to know what Clinical Laser Unit you had in your office, and the treatment protocol you had your patients follow. For example were patients just using it whenever they happened to be in the office, or were they on a strict schedule of using the machine 3 times a week etc….

Myself and other LLLT advocates know that LLLT is a moderately effective treatment so long as it is used as directed, that being on average 3 times per week and longterm, not just several months.

It’s like applying minoxidil once, every other day, results if any would be minimal.

I believe the machine was a Revage 670, but I’m trying to get confirmation and will update this post if I discover the name or model is incorrect. As for actual use, I left the decision up to the patient, but recommended three applications a week. About half of those using it stuck to the 3 times a week schedule with no results seen by me. The laser was available in my office for over a year.

Do you know if pomades/hair dressings like brylcreem, Layrite, Royal Crown, or Murray’s, many of which are vasoline type products, can contribute to hair loss? Also, what do you make of the hair loss theory in the old advertisement i.e. dry hair causes dandruff and dandruff is forerunner of thinning hair and baldness?

Old ad here: Brylcreem

Dandruff is not a forerunner of thinning or hair loss or baldness. Dandruff just means you have a dry, flaky scalp. There are plenty of old advertisements that show doctors recommending cigarettes, too. Medicine and science have come a long way… not to mention the laws that are in place to protect consumers from fraudulent advertising.

Hair products do not generally cause hair loss (unless there is an allergy or other sensitivity). With that said, using pomade or other wax may cause hair loss if you are rough with your hair — pulling on it, for example. You can use a good shampoo which will have surfactants in it to help get rid of the pomades, though it might take more than one washing to get your hair clean of them. Bottom line, on their own these products do not contribute to genetic hair loss positively or negatively.

Hello Dr.
I am 21 years old and i have been using Rogain and Propecia for a long time( about a year). Unfortunately I have not had a positive result from these medicines. I lost hair since I was 15. I am norwood 1 or 2. I have heard about an oil called Rejuvenating Oil including oils from plants such as:

Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil, Sesamum Indicum (Sesame) Seed Oil, Arachis Hypogaea (Peanut) Oil, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Juglans Regia (Walnut) Seed Oil, BHT, Cananga Odorata Flower Oil, Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Oil, Gardenia Florida Oil, Geranium Maculatum Oil, and also chemicals such as: Chlorphenesin, Amyl Cinnamal, Benzyl Alcohol, Benzyl Benzoate, Benzyl Salicylate, Citral, Citronellol, Coumarin, Eugenol, Farnesol, Geraniol, Hydroxycitronellal, Isoeugenol, Limonene, Linalool

Are these oils really helpful ?

No, the oils probably do not help with your hair loss. Of course, you’re welcome to try the product out for yourself, but I don’t see anything in that list that will cause your hair to regrow.

My question to you is why did you use Rogaine (minoxidil) and Propecia (finasteride) when you classify yourself as a Norwood 1? Plus, I’m not sure what you’re looking for as far as results that have lead you to believe there was no positive result. Are you expecting complete regrowth, or do you know that just seeing the hair loss halt is also considered a positive benefit? As you can see, after reading your email I’m left with more questions than answers. There is something wrong with your logic, and unfortunately without an exam and better medical history, there isn’t much I can offer you.

I am balding and have dandruff that is consequentially becoming more obvious. I know that dandruff is not supposed to cause hairloss, however, while looking at potential treatments for dandruff I have noticed that some appear to be harsh on the hair, and was wondering if there were any that should be avoided for some one succumbing to MPB.

You are correct that dandruff does not cause hair loss. If you use any good dandruff shampoo, that should be adequate. Head and Shoulders is generally a good shampoo worth using, though there have been unverified reports of hair loss here. I don’t have any recommendations in particular, nor do I have a list of those to avoid. You can find a list of popular shampoos here.

(female) ok well i was using this shampoo i recently got and i used it 2 times and it was fine and then the third time i used it my hair started to fall out like crazy i was having a panic attack in the shower and then i used it AGAIN! because i thought i over reacted the last time and when i put it in i new there was something wrong so i washed it out straight away. then i switched to a different shampoo and it must have reacted with the shampoo i used bfore because i woke up the next morning with about 200 hairs on my pillow, and now its continued like this for 4 weeks now and im a complete disaster, and i changed to a 100% organic shampoo because i thought it was the chamicals but its still falling out what do i do….please help me i lose around 300 hairs a day

This is quite unusual. I don’t know enough about the products you used or your medical history, though. If you’re losing that much hair in a night, I’d suggest seeing a doctor for an in-person examination. Bring the shampoos you used with you so the doctor can see if there is anything in there that could be of concern.