Procede Ingredients

Hello Doctor,

I wanted to share something. I’m sure you are familiar with the product called Procede. I believe you have even written about it before and thought it was some sort of coloring agent. Information on the product is very sketchy and nobody seems to know how it is even supposed to work. Until recently, the ingredients were never even posted on their website and the company has always been extremely vague about its mode of supposed action.

I just discovered the ingredients are now posted. I have pasted them below. The product seems really weird and the list of ingredients seems alarming. One of the main ingredients is actually a depilatory agent and the other is used for shrinking varicose veins. Obviously, the product does not seem to be a coloring agent as suspected.

Can you please look at the ingredients and tell us what you think the makers had in mind in formulating this product. What route do you think they were going for to achieve the claimed results? By what action do you think this product is supposed to work by and what do you see it actually doing?

A Formula #1 Ingredients:
Deionized Water, Thioglycolic Acid, Monoethanolamine, Cetyl Alcohol, Stearyl Alcohol, Mineral Oil, Polyquaternium-6, Ethyl Alcohol 1.4%, Ceteareth-12, Methyl Salicylate, Salicylic Acid, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Lactic Acid, Glycolic Acid, Propylene Glycol, Diazolidinyl Urea, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Papain, Citric Acid, Tartaric Acid.

Formula #2 Ingredients:
Deionized Water, Sodium Bromate, Cetyl Alcohol, Mineral Oil, Cetearyl Alcohol, Ceteareth-20, Urea, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Propylene Glycol, Diazolidinyl Urea, Methylparaben, Propylparaben.

I am not a chemist, and I really cannot comment on if those ingredients will grow hair. I’m not seeing anything proven to grow hair in there, though. I can tell you there is no cure for hair loss. Even the best medications we have (Propecia and Rogaine) still have limitations. As the ingredients you listed as being in Procede are not controlled by the FDA, you are at the mercy of the manufacturer unless you decide not to use is (which is still in your power).