Eat Rice and Get Scalp Massages Daily to Make Hair Regrow?

I was at the hair salon yesterday and overheard another customer telling his stylist to keep the top a little longer because he was starting to bald. The stylist told him “my father was losing his hair until he started eating rice every day and my mom massaged his scalp. Then his hair grew back and although he’s 72, he looks like he’s in his 50s”. Now I know enough to realize that this sounds like just a cheap way to get your wife to massage your scalp on a daily basis, but is there ANYTHING to the rice thing? In Asian countries, there is still hair loss and rice is a dietary staple, so I am guessing that right there dissolves the theory. I wanted your insight though. Thanks, doc!

Well, Asians do have less hair loss than Caucasians, but I don’t believe that anyone has connected it to rice. The dietary differences may play a role, but how? I don’t have the answer to that.

I used to massage the scalps of my children when they were younger. It was a bonding experience of sorts and I joked that my magical fingers surely kept them healthy! Maybe I should’ve added a bowl of rice at the same time as the massage so that my oldest son wouldn’t have lost his crown hair! While a scalp massage might feel nice, it won’t regrow lost hair.