Hair Loss Blog

Just saw an interesting press release about a company that is marketing a new solution for women with hair loss.  They use real human hair extensions in a way that is designed to help women who have thinning hair.  The hair loss could be caused by chemotherapy, or other types of hair loss typically experienced by females, such as those caused by hormonal changes and stress.

It seems like a pretty nice system, and their pictures are very impressive.  Here’s their website:

www.goddessextensions.com/integrate.html

Female hair thinning/loss is frequently overlooked, but is a fairly common problem.  Men have it pretty bad when we start to bald, but for females it is probably even more hard to deal with.  On top of the aesthetic issues, there is the general feeling that hair loss in females isn’t as “normal” as in men.  At least whena guy starts balding, it’s nothing too unusual.

Anyways, Kudos to this company for creating a valuable solution that hopefully will help a lot of people who are seeking a solution.

Bruce Willis, who is filming Die Hard 4 in Baltimore MD, reportedly told reporters “I’m a man and I will beat up anybody who tries to tell me that I am not a man just because my hair is thinning.”

This report is from the U.K entertainment site lse.co.uk, so I can’t verify it’s authenticity. The website also reported that Mr. Willis is not wearing a hair piece because he wants to reflect the age of his character in the movie. But I don’t remember John McClane being that bald… or Bruce Willis ever having much hair. Maybe that’s just me though.
Coincidentally, I work in downtown Baltimore, where Die Hard 4 is shooting. The commute SUCKED last week, so thanks a lot Bruce Willis! And this delay wasn’t nearly as entertaining as when the Cosplay conference was in town. At least they were wrapped around the convention center in interesting costumes.

But, at least Bruce is sticking up for bald guys, and making us look good on-screen.

Rogaine Foam is now available, and I’d like to post a full review of it, but haven’t tried it yet. Pfizer just put this product out, probably in response to negative feedback about the smell and consistency of their original liquid minoxidil product. The box I just saw at CVS stated that the new product dries quickly and smells clean.

Competing minoxidil-based products with different formulations than Rogaine have popped up over the last few years. These products got traction largely because of the negative feedback the original hair growth formula gets from some users. Some users complain that Rogaine causes scalp irritation and smells funny.
Other products that also contain minoxidil have popped up over the past few years: Scalpmed and Follicare are two common brand names advertised via infomercial. Both claim to offer a better liquid solution than Pfizer’s product. They do things such as excluding alcohol, and add other herbs and natural ingredients designed to block DHT or promote scalp health.

If you have used any of the products mentioned, please share them with us here!  Leave  comment!

I did just a little snooping around Amazon.com to see the price difference between Rogaine and Generic Minoxidil. The generic is definitely cheaper by a good margin, here are the numbers:

• Name Brand: $45.95 for a 3 month supply of Rogaine (5% minoxidil) extra strength for Men by Pfizer Consumer Healthcare
• Generic: $27.75 for a 4 month supply of Kirkland’s generic 5% extra strength minoxidil solution.

So the name brand version costs about $15 per month. The generic is less than half, $6.90 per month. That’s a pretty big savings when you consider that minoxidil users often use the product for 10 years or more.

If you use this stuff for 10 years, at today’s prices: The brand-name would cost you $1800. The generic would be $828 over the same period. And that’s not counting in inflation, etc.

Rapid weight loss or extreme diets can lead to hair loss, according to an article by the american hair loss council. Dieting as a cause of hair loss seems to be mostly associated with female pattern baldness. According to the article, any rapid change in body weight can lead to thinning of the hair, but it doesn’t always.
Certain medications, stress, physical stress on the body, and even too much Vitamin A can also contribute to hair loss. Here’s a snippet of the AHLC article:

Hair loss may also occur due to dieting. Franchised diet programs which are designed or administered under the direction of a physician with prescribed meals, dietary supplements and vitamin ingestion have become popular. Sometimes the client is told that vitamins are a necessary part of the program to prevent hair loss associated with dieting. From a dermatologists’s standpoint, however, the vitamins cannot prevent hair loss associated with rapid, significant weight loss. Furthermore, many of these supplements are high in vitamin A which can magnify the hair loss.

Source: http://www.ahlc.org/causes-f.htm

I’ve always wondered whether it was an old wive’s tale that hair loss and baldness is determined by the mother’s side of the family.  Apparently there is some real scientific evidence to back up the claim that our moms may be to blame for our lack of hair.  Here’s a quote from Dr. Gio E. Dimayuga, of the Philippine Dermatological Society:

“If the hair loss gene is on the mother’s side, it is likely that most, if not all, the male children will have thin hair or suffer hair loss. But if the hair loss gene is on the father’s side – the children have a 50/50 chance (or even less) of developing baldness,”

According to the article, a specific gene for hair loss has been observed in patients who are balding.  There is some sort of correlation between whether the mother or father passed the gene down.  Although the piece isn’t too detailed, it’s still interesting to know that doctors are looking into issues like this.  Who knows if it will turn into any useful scientific evidence or not.

http://www.mb.com.ph/HLTH2006092575373.html

Apparently some guy named Frank Smith, and his son Donald patented their “ideal comb over” technique in 1975. Their method involves dividing the hair into three pieces, then layering them to look as real as possible. I have no idea how you patent something like this, or how you could profit from it. But that’s what it says in this BBC article:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3708278.stm

They were just awarded an “IG Nobel Award” for their ingenuity. Frank’s granddaughter reports that his technique tricked her for years:

“You know how comb-overs have that stringly look? This is to avoid the stringy look. I did not know for a long time that he even had a comb-over”, she said.

Other “visionaries” awarded at this ceremony held on Harvard University’s campus include Jillian Clarke, who completed a study on the famous “five second” rule. The five second rule states that if food slips out of your greasy paw and hits the floor, you have five seconds to pick it up and eat it. Otherwise, you have to throw it away.

Propecia, one of the most popular hair loss treatments, happens to be one of the most popular drugs sold online. Many sites process these transactions in a legitimate way. However, there are lots of sketchy online pharmacies out there selling prescription drugs that aren’t what they claim to be.

There are three ways these sites break the law, and could harm buyers. First, many of them are selling drugs manufactured overseas and illegally imported. These drugs aren’t made by the same standards required by the FDA, and there is no telling if they even contain the same active medical compounds. Secondly, the drugs could be complete counterfits, containing any number of substances, or simply inert, inactive ingredients.

Lastly, many of these sites charge a “consultation fee” of anywhere from $25-$100 to get a prescription written by a doctor. However, they don’t have any doctors to write the prescriptions, and just send out drugs they obtain through various means. If someone is willing to lie about this, do you trust them to fill your prescription medication? They could sell you counterfit medications. Even if they do have the right drugs, in an uncontrolled environment, they could easily put the wrong drug in your package.

Here’s a nice article about how one False Pharmacy operated, and the owner got busted:
Fake Pharmacy Busted

Yes, that’s right. If your little precious licks minoxidil its blood pressure could fall through the floor and it may collapse and die. Apparently some pet owners were putting the solution on their cats’ bald spots. Other people have reported that the solution spilled and the cat licked it up.

However it happens, the results aren’t pretty. Minoxidil is quite toxic in felines, so don’t try to cure your pet’s hair loss with Rogaine or any other medication (like Scalpmed or Avacor that also contain minoxidil).  Even if it weren’t toxic, I doubt the medication would work on cats, because the cause of their hair falling out is probably completely different than the androgenetic alopecia that is most common in people.
Moral of the story: this stuff is a medicine, not hair gel. Keep it away from pets, kids, babies, pregnant or breastfeeding women, and potential terrorists.

Scientists are developing a technique that could make hair transplants more successful, and maybe even replace them one day. Researchers have noticed that male pattern baldness leaves certain areas of the head with plenty of healthy hair. Hair transplants take advantage of this, and transplant the hair follicles to the bald spots.

Now a company called Intercytex is trying to use the cells that make these areas healthy to help other areas. They are basically removing cells from healthy hair sections, multiplying them in a laboratory, and then injecting them into other areas of the scalp that are balding. Pretty cool idea. They’ve done some early testing, and things look positive. We’ll keep you updated on this one.

An article about hair cloning by WebMD really seemed to over-hype the technology, the title was “Hair Cloning Nears Reality as Baldness Cure”. They make it sound as if hair cloning treatments are right around the corner, even though there’s nothing I’ve read to support that. Here’s a snippet and link to the article in full:

And no, it’s not ready for prime time. Not yet, says Ken Washenik, MD, PhD. Washenik is medical director for Bosley, the giant hair restoration company that’s one of several firms racing to bring hair multiplication to market. He’s also clinical assistant professor of dermatology at New York University Medical Center.

http://www.webmd.com/content/article/96/103836.htm

More links:

• Why Hair Cloning Doesn’t Work
• Hair Multiplication/Cloning Article