Category: Hair Products

i have been using kaminomoto hair tonic. i want to know if this is rite product for my hair and i want to use proscar finasteride 5mg. will there be some side affects or not because i hear that there is serious side affects by using proscar finasteride 5mg. pls i want good advice

I hadn’t heard of this tonic in some time (the name sounds like something I saw for sale decades ago), but I did some quick research and found the ingredients are listed as, “alcohol denat, water, rosemary extract, capsicum frutescens, glycerine, menthol, sophora radix (kujin extract), allantoin, panthenol, pyridoxine HCl, isodonis japonicus (enmeiso extract), glycyrrhetinic acid (kanzo extract), hinokitiol (hinoki extract), neo-takanal, fragrances”.

So in other words, it contains nothing that will help with treating your hair loss. Is it the right product for you? Well, if you’re using it to regrow your hair or halt your hair loss, then no, I think it is not the right product. If you’re using it to line the pockets of the vendors and makers of this tonic, then yes, you’re on the right track.

I’ve written many, many times about potential side effects from finasteride. You shouldn’t be taking 5mg for hair loss anyway — the 1mg will do just fine. You do run a greater risk of side effects with the higher 5mg dosage anyway. My advice is to see a physician rather than treating yourself with hocus pocus tonics that will likely not help.

I found the website of a certain Dr. Sandra Brown MD, a dermatologist practicing in Southfield (MI), who claims she has developed a “proprietary and patented gel that has successfully reversed many types of hair loss in hundreds of [her] patients”.

According to Dr. Brown, this gel “thickens and lengthens hair and reverses many types of alopecia (hair loss) such as genetic thinning (e.g., male pattern baldness), chemical and stress related hair loss and other types of hair loss”. The treatment “is applied daily to the scalp” and “stimulates hair follicles causing hair to grow thicker and faster. Additionally, after the gel is discontinued the hair that you have re-grown does not catastrophically fall out (in contrast to the only commercially available product currently approved by the FDA which must be used forever to prevent hair loss).”

This gel contains bethametasone dipropionate 0.05% and tretinoin (all-trans-retinoic acid) 0.0125%.

The patent can be viewed at PatentStorm. Some quotes from the patent: “An application of betamethasone dipropionate and all-trans-retinoic acid is made to the patient. The betamethasone dipropionate and all-trans-retinoic acid are administered together in a compound applied topically to the scalp. The compound and method have been found to effectively restore hair growth even after discontinuance of use of the compound.” “Betamethasone dipropionate is a steroid and has a tendency to thin the dermis. All-trans-retinoic acid is also administered in combination with betamethasone dipropionate. However, one of the well-known side effects of all-trans-retinoic acid is that it acts to thicken the skin. Thus, when used in combination with each other, the negative side effects of betamethasone dipropionate and all-trans-retinoic acid act to cancel each other out while synergistically producing a large amount of hair.” “Outstanding results, including hair growth within one week of applying the compound, were observed.”

I also found a newspaper article about Dr. Brown. During the interview with the journalist, Dr Brown said: “85-percent of the patients that we treat can see the hair growing back thicker within 21 days.”

Now, what do you think about all this?

Bethametasone and tretinoin are very common and cheap drugs and can be easily obtained in any drugstore. So, it wouldn’t be difficult to try this treatment. However, I’m skeptical, because:

1. There are no scientific studies to support Dr. Brown’s claims, only her clinical experience.
2. It all seems too good to be true. As I said, the treatment is based on well-known and common drugs. If it really worked, it would have become the standard hair-loss treatment all over the world.
3. Although dr. Brown says that tretinoin counteracts the side effects of bethametasone (and this claim seems to be backed up by some research, I’m still concerned about the negative effects of long-term use of a corticosteroid.

I’d like to hear some opinions before trying this treatment.

Betamethasone dipropionate is a steroid which I believe does require a prescription. I personally use it occasionally to treat my psoriasis and for that it works well. The application of steroids for various forms of hair loss has been proposed and it works in mild autoimmune diseases that may be responsible for hair loss, but it is usually not strong enough for these diseases. The use of retinoic acid could burn the scalp and cause blistering for repeated heavy use, partly controlled by the steroid effects of betamethasone dipropionate.

There is nothing new here, just some possible misrepresentation on the use of these two drugs in combination. And the 2nd point you made at the bottom of your email is spot on — common sense would tell most people that if some common medication turned out to be the greatest hair loss treatment ever, it’d be a standard treatment.

Hello Dr Rassman
Do you think if I use Ketoconazole 2% lotion ( 60% isopropyl alcohol , 38% water ) it can have bad effect on my skin (not hair loss)?!?!! I mean is isopropyl alcohol bad for your skin? I want to use .5ml per day or every other day on my vertex area! Thank you

Ketoconazole 2% is an antifungal medication that is prescription for those in the United State, although some countries allow it to be sold over-the-counter. Are you treating a fungus on your scalp? Otherwise, why would you want to use a antifungal medication on your scalp? I hope you do not think it may grow hair, because it will not. I would discuss your desires with your physician, particularly if the medication was prescribed to you.

I do not believe isopropyl alcohol (also known as rubbing alcohol) is necessarily bad for your skin when used in a medication like that, but unnecessary use of a medication would be more harmful and it may dry the skin. Many topical products use alcohol as an additive, like Rogaine. You can read the health hazard information here.