Can Minoxidil be in the form of a hair styling wax? The current minoxidil products on the market are mainly spray, foam or gel form.
Would the addition of Minoxidil into a wax be viable?
Minoxidil topical is used to grow hair, but you need to put it on your scalp, not hair. So if you make it into a wax for styling purposes, it would not be doing any good (unless you want to cake it on your scalp).
Hi Doc,
thanks for your awesome website.
I stumbled across this article – Take this vitamin to halt hair loss
and this website – Tocotrienol.org
What can you comment about this? Would love to hear your comments. Thank you!
There are always new products that come out claiming to be hair loss cures. This is one of them. I cannot say if Tocotrienol works or not, but here are some things to keep in mind when doing your own research. Read the report carefully. Find out how many subjects were in the study group. Is it 10,000 or is it only 10? There is a difference, right? In this case, the study was 38 people. Ask if there was a financial or marketing incentive. Find out if the report was published in a well-respected journal (and realize that even if it is in a published journal, it does not necessarily mean it is good study).
Tocotrienol is an herbal vitamin E treatment, and I really have no significant comment to give other that “buyer beware”.
Dr Rassman,
What are your thoughts on the following hair loss treatment? Is it another scam?
I don’t know if it’s a scam, but I guess it depends on what you’re using it for. This Activance product claims to treat hair health, but I don’t see anything here that would make it treat hair loss. Strengthening and thickening hair isn’t anything extraordinary, as many hair treatments can do this.
I didn’t know what rhodanide was, so I had to do a little Googling. Rhodanide is also known as thiocyanate, which isn’t a common hair loss treatment outside of guinea pigs. The US distributor of rhodanide says that there is some study (which one?) from 1997 that showed this ingredient regrew hair in 80% of participants in a trial. No real information is given other than that.
I’ll let you draw your own conclusions, but if you want to try the product and report back, please feel free.
I have the same type of hair loss as my father. My father suggested not using shampoo, saying that his hair loss was better after not using it. I haven’t been shampooing for two days, and my hair FEELS thicker and fuller, but I’m not sure if that’s just a placebo effect.
Will NOT using shampoo cause more hair loss, because of sebum build-up etc?
If you don’t wash your hair, you will build up grease and grime from the environment, as well as wax from the glands located in each hair follicle which secrets sebum. Your hair may appear thicker as the grime builds up, but this will not impact hair growth one way or the other.
Dear Dr. Rassman,
Please read the link: RepliCel Announces Retraction of Public Disclosure
Do you hear the fat lady singing for Replicel (and us balding lucky ones)?
Thanks
I had the link to the original press release and intended to write about it early this week, but saw it was removed. This explains it.
For those that aren’t aware, RepliCel issued a press release touting their hair loss “cure” and promoting the price of their stock. Then they issued a retraction of the statement, which is causing some on various forums to believe they aren’t hitting their targets. It sounds to be more like lawyers making sure they aren’t going to dig too deep a hole, but I really don’t know one way or the other. The link you sent about the retraction doesn’t mention anything about results of their treatment.
Dr Rassman
Many shampoos claim that they are “suitable for every day use” . Does that mean that shampoos that are not for every day use could be dangerous for hair ?
This is a statement that promotes the sale of more shampoos. It has nothing to do with health of hair issues.
Doctor,
Is polysorbate an ingredient (in a cosmetic creme or lotion) which could temporarily increase the diameter of thin & regular size hairs? If so, how long would the effect persist after a single application? And assuming no commercial product is available could it be compounded by any pharmacist?I am asking these questions because years back a commercial lotion, supposedly from Norway which (falsely) claimed to be the solution to baldness incorporated polysorbate (I can’t remember if it was polysorbate 20). An employee of a pharmacy who told me he was using the product stated that he had noticed an apparent increase in hair density over a short period of time which could not be from new hair growth. I did not try this product after reading critical comments. But I wonder if one could safely use polysorbate or for that matter other products to improve the apparent hair density.
Thanks in advance
I have no experience with this approach for using polysorbate (80 or 20 or any number) as a hair regeneration treatment. If it really worked, I would suspect I would know about it. I will, nevertheless, keep an open mind and probe it with some of my colleagues.
What are your views on the new Nanogen Serum VEGF, and the (very big!) claims it makes?
I read about it in a magazine and wanted to yawn, but sucked my yawn back in when I saw the excitement of some of its supporters…
Link: £30 serum goes on sale to beat baldness
Reason tells me it will not make hair transplants redundant…but what about minoxidil? If not, is it worth adding to one’s arsenal of hair loss products?
I have no experience with Nanogen’s Serum VEGF, but the notion that increasing blood supply to the scalp increases hair growth or reverses balding is wrong, illogical, and not scientific. The link you sent looks to be a press release disguised as a news article.
To me, it sounds like yet another product in a long line of products that try to dangle a carrot in front of balding men in hopes that they chase it. In other words, you can try it out if you’re curious, but I wouldn’t expect it to regrow hair.
Hello Dr. Rassman,
First off – great site and on behalf of everyone, your honesty and integrity is certainly refreshing.
I’m sure you’re sick of the Lasercomb questions by now, but I was wondering if you had a chance to look over the following new macro photos on the Hairmax site.
In order to accentuate the visibility of the results, they actually circle the new hairs that grew as a result of the treatment.
I know one of the previous criticisms of your earlier analysis of the original photos was that the images that you based your assessment on were not high resolution. These macro photos are high resolution and seem to indicate that some growth did occur. Strangely though, there appear to be hairs that existed in the before picture, that are no longer present in the after photos. One might get the impression that there was some ‘selective circling’ going on.
Just looking to get your thoughts.
Much appreciated.
For those that missed it, I analyzed their “results” photos back in 2006 — Analyzing the Results of the HairMax Laser Comb.
I looked at the link you sent, but I am not willing to make the invested time to analyze it again. Is there selective circling? I don’t know. There’s nothing there that will change my negative opinion of the effects of the laser combs. Sorry!
I have been reading through the blog and reading your posts on Low Level Laser Therapy (the laser comb). What I am not understanding is why you are so against it? If it has FDA approval, double blinded clinical trials, and is backed by many hair restoration doctors why do you disapprove?
It does NOT have FDA approval. It has FDA clearance for marketing, and the product was grandfathered in. We haven’t seen lasers work as claimed anywhere and on anyone that could be said to be objective. I’ve written about this topic many times before.
Further reading can be found here.
Hi
I’ve discovered this new product at the pharmacy – Bionike Defence Hair
It seems to do the same work as minoxidil 5%, but as opposed to minoxidil, I can actually feel a definite tingling sensation on my scalp with Bionike the moment I apply it(as if it may work more effictively).
What’s your opinion on this product? Does it have the same chemistry as minoxidil and is it maybe even beter?
Thanks
From the list of ingredients (Adansonia Digitata, aesculin, ximeninic acid, amino acids, superoxide dismutase), there’s nothing that appears to be proven as a hair regrowth treatment. The description claims that it blocks the conversion of testosterone to DHT, but a topical spray like this has yet to show results that come close to the oral DHT blockers. It likely doesn’t have the same chemistry as minoxidil.
I don’t recall ever hearing of the product before your email, but if it works for you, that’s great news! To my knowledge there is no connection between tingling and reversing the hair loss process… so you could just be experiencing a reaction to the ingredients (whether it is positive or allergic, I couldn’t say).
I have had expierence with the dermaroller. Depending on the length of the needle it can be pretty discormforting although I hear that it stimulates certain growth factors by wounding the area applied. Old news in terms of methods used in Medical fields but new to hair.
Follica has a method however I have not heard much on their progress. Does it work? Well I did not use it long enough because of some concerns in terms of what you mentioned sterile needle. I do however believe that one of your contributing writers has marketed this type of product. Its suppose to make rogaine more absorbable like Retin A in which removes the upper layer of skin. Even Platelet Rich Plasma therapy used for hair loss uses a product similiar to the derma roller. Unproven? Well there was a case of female hair loss that was quite impressive with this therapy. If you are interested I can see if I can find the link. Keep on educating the public Doctor Rassman.
The contributor you’re referencing is Dr. Farjo, as his name was attached to something called the Scalproller in a press release. At the time, he said, “I can not endorse the Scalproller device itself until further clinical research is at hand.” You can read his full response here.
A single case doesn’t necessarily meet the standard for calling something a proven treatment, but I would be interested in reading about it if you have the link. Please keep me informed and thanks for sharing!
Dr Rassman
I use Dermmatch concealer regularly. After many years of using, i just found out that Dermmatch (like every cosmetic) has an expiration date, 18 months after first opening. Didn’t know that and i’m pretty sure i’ve used dermmatch opened for more than 18 months. I do get some scalp pimples occasionally .
How worried should i be?
You can just stop using the expired product and purchase a fresh product. I wouldn’t be too worried, but if you are really worried about changes in your scalp, see your doctor.
I am interested in using a dermaroller to enhance topical absorption. How long can the needles be before there is a risk of damaging the follicle and the surrounding vasculature?
We do not use or have experience with a dermaroller. I had one on my desk to play around with, but it never got use on the scalp, so I am the wrong person to ask about this one. I wrote about that years ago. It still looks painful.
In general, anything with a sharp point or a needle that you use on yourself (or others) should be sterile and used with caution. If there are readers out there that use this product, I’d be curious to know what you think about it.
Hi,
i had a hair transplant done 3 months ago. now i am seeing some thin hairs on the transplanted area. but when i apply shampoo or oil, the hairs are falling out. is this a problem?
Perhaps what you are seeing is the old transplanted hair shafts that never fell out. Maybe you are seeing your existing native hair falling out. Or maybe you mistook your bottle of shampoo for a bottle of hair remover. It could be that there are other unknown issues going on. Make an appointment and see your doctor. Have an open line of communication with your surgeon and see him/her for a follow-up to see how your transplanted hairs are doing.