Have a male client who is experiencing alapecia aerota ( balding patches) and he is getting injections, but this does not working for regular thinning and balding. His dermotologist told him that rogaine and nioxin don't work and to use head and shoulders, which just blows my mind. He said when you get in the shower, wash hair and let it sit on head while you finsh the rest of your showering then rinse before you get out.
Most likely because Head & Shoulder's *magic* ingredient is zinc which supposedly lowers DHT levels (which is an androgen). This is one of the major causes of hair loss in men. Taking too much zinc (orally) will raise testosterone and can also lead to hair shedding. The reason behind shampooing is DHT is produced in several areas of the body, including hair follicles and zinc supposedly combats DHT (a theory). The other reasoning behind using anti-dandruff type shampoos, is when your scalp is inflamed or irritated by dandruff or seborrhea this can further shedding. The shampoo that came out a few years back (Nizoral) has ketoconazole, which is an antifungal that supposedly kills the critter that causes fungus. If your head itches badly when you sweat, you probably have some sort of irritation going on. I'm talking about bad itching and stinging where you feel you have to scratch, and that can lead to hair shedding. Sometimes I've got sweat going on for hours while participating in 24 hour races, my helmet can get really oppressive and I found that pure tea tree oil (about 4 drops) in my palm with my shampoo makes everything right. Its along the same lines as sweaty feet in tight shoes, you can develop a fungus.
This is so frustrating
. Some of the areas that I ran into trying to solve my anemia, was low ferritin levels can cause hair shedding and very little hair re-growth. Low iron can also cause brittle hair, same if you are low on minerals, and not just magnesium, but the whole spectrum. Soy blocks absorption of several important minerals, and soy is in EVERYTHING. The only soy I would eat is the fermented type. The other area you may look into is iodine. Soy also blocks iodine. Bread that contains bromide also blocks iodine. I'm certainly not saying this is your issue, but something to think about. Iodine is crucial for proper thyroid health. Another happy accident from participating in cycling is I found out you can't exist on just water when you are *out* there. You have to have other stuff to keep you from bonking and I have tried many supplements in my camelbak to keep me moving. Cramping and bonking comes about also from mineral loss through sweating. Hence, my low iron levels. I started putting liquid minerals in my camelbak which solved that problem, and made my nails stronger and my hair stronger and growing way faster. If you sweat a lot, don't eat enough red meat, and lots of soy, this could be part of the picture of hair loss for you. Another hair killer is excessive levels of vitamin A or extremely low levels of A, and if you are using a retinoid skin product that is adding to it. Low levels of vitamin D, low iron, low protein, low minerals.
Possibly you should have a hormone panel done, showing your testosterone, DHA (not DHT now) progesterone and estrogen levels. If you haven't done your thyroid, I would have a complete thyroid panel done with T3 and T4 levels. Too little testosterone is not good either for hair. One of the more hair-friendly hormones is estriol (not estrogen or estrone, the other 2 estrogens) but estriol which is produced highly when you are pregnant.
Ever look back at women in old pictures and portraits? They have all this hair in braids wound around their head. I look back at my own old family pictures and its the same thing. But now I rarely see women with thick heavy hair, and I have to wonder about our environment and what we are eating and not eating, like is it because of lead or plastics that are leaching chemicals into our food. Much good luck to you, I hope you find some answers.
