Brylcreem and Hair Loss?
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.
Actually, I developed really bad dandruff when I was 16 or 17, and shortly afterwards noticed I seemed to be going bald. I went to see the doctor and the doctor told me that not only was I starting to lose my hair from male pattern baldness, but that I also had seborrheic dermatitis, which is a condition in which your scalp produces TOO MUCH oil (rather than being dried out), and causes your skin to become inflamed.
So if you have dandruff from seborrheic dermatitis, I wouldn’t say it’s due to a dry scalp.
Also, since seborrheic dermatitis causes inflammation of the scalp, which can lead to hair loss, and I developed it at the same time I started going bald from male pattern baldness, I don’t think I would totally rule out the possibility of a connection between certain types of dandruff and baldness.