Category: Hair Products

has anyone used BIO-FEN PlUS? It’s a all natural veggie capsule? Any side effects?

From their website, Bio Fen Plus contains:

• Fenugreek seed extract
• Saw palmetto berry extract
• Flax lignans
• Vitamins B5, B3, B6, and B2
• Folic acid
• Biotin

None of these ingredients have been proven to treat male pattern baldness. It is a supplement, but even supplement can have side effects. See the recent post — The Harm of Dietary Supplements.

Paid advertisements (not an endorsement):

With all of the different reviews, products, and people claiming it does or it doesn’t work, how in this world can I really know what to try or what to believe? I’ve tried reading about each product and their reviews, but again how do you know if the people are not from that company? In simple words my dad once told me were “Are you pissing on my back and telling me it’s raining?” What and how can I find a truthful and honest answer for a product that will help me? I Thank You and hope you can help me with this.

I get a lot of questions about various products that claim hair loss treatment, and some of my employees have told me that many of my responses to those questions about vitamins, herbals, snake oils, lotions, and potions, all seem to have the same answer (which is basically “these products are crap and don’t work”). That shows that no matter where I look, I too have the same problem you are referring to. There are so many frauds out there that fulfil the wishes of the balding public and so many people that are ready to believe anything, that if I posted something on this site that said rubbing urine in your eyes caused your scalp to sprout hair within days, there would probably be at least one person that would try it. Of course, I’m not trying to take advantage of anyone and the urine thing is a joke.

So how does one find truthful and honest answers? They’re out there, but you just need to use common sense. If these products really worked as claimed, wouldn’t it be front page news? Baldness treatments are a billion dollar business and if the magic cure arrived, you’d hear about it from more reliable news sources… and you’d see far less balding men in public.

Remember, the only two medications approved by the FDA to treat hair loss are minoxidil and finasteride. And as I always say, “Let the Buyer Beware”.

Paid advertisements (not an endorsement):

Is it safe to use a laser comb during pregnancy?

I would guess that a Low Laser Light Therapy (LLLT) device like the LaserComb should not impact pregnancy. Ask your doctor and check with the medical warnings in the package.

Paid advertisements (not an endorsement):

I read this article in the New York Times and also found it on the International Herald Tribune site — Potential for harm in dietary supplements

Snippet from the article:

A form of substance abuse rampant in this country is rarely discussed publicly or privately. It involves abusing legally sold dietary supplements — vitamins, minerals, herbals and homeopathic remedies — all of which can be sold over the counter without prior approval for safety and effectiveness.

This is a very important story. We spend billions of dollars trying to achieve a longer and healthier life, and when we do, we get roped in by advertisements and multi-level marketing processes which get us to buy more and more of these products. Some of them are dangerous! Please take a few moments to read this.

Full article: IHT.com

Have you heard anything about “HVT” from New Health Products in Brewster, NY. Their propaganda reads like many dietary supplement products: stop hair loss, thicken hair, regrow hair. Most of their “so called” testimonials primarily mention “fuzz”. I have used other products before that have given me more fuzz, but the fuzz never matured to “typical adult scalp hair.”

I did search your archives. I could not find anything using your search. Using a google search brought me to your blog in the first place. It found one message asking about HVT in the middle of a thread for a different product and the HVT question did not seem to get answered. (The person should have probably asked the question separately.)

http://www.new-healthproducts.com/hvt.html

Some of the vitamins and minerals that are used in this product are things that I take daily (like folic acid), but I do not see any evidence that this has any value for treating hair loss or regrowing hair. You are right to call it propaganda. A lot of hype without proof.

Paid advertisements (not an endorsement):

I need to know once and for all. Does saw palmetto work for pattern hair loss?

Most of the excitement for using saw palmetto as a treatment for androgenic hair loss is based on its mechanism of action and the evidence that it works for prostate problems like benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH). Besides anecdotal reports, there is actually little evidence that it also works for hair loss.

There has been only one study thus far published in the medical literature examining saw palmetto to treat pattern baldness. In this small study, 6 out of then 10 subjects with androgenic alopecia who received saw palmetto were reported to benefit from the treatment. This is far too small a study to draw any conclusions on its efficacy for pattern hair loss.