There are many reasons for thinning hair and hair loss as you may have read last week.
Luckily, there are also many different treatments that may help, including natural ingredients that can be made into home remedies, as well as commercially sold shampoos and conditioners to strengthen and restore hair. Hopefully, one or more of them can work for you.
Home remedies
If you’re not one to pay for expensive hair restoration treatments such as platelet rich plasma, low level laser light therapy, or hair transplant surgery, consider these remedies made using natural products right at home:
- Strawberry puree: Puree 1 cup strawberries, one egg yolk and 2 tbsp. olive oil. Work this into hair from roots to tips, leave on for at least 20 minutes (use shower cap), then wash with a mild shampoo or conditioner.
- Onion puree: finely chop 2 onions by hand or in a blender or food processor; squeeze out juices through cheesecloth into a small bowl; saturate hair and scalp with juices and leave on for 15 minutes at least; rinse with a mild shampoo or conditioner.
- Hibiscus flower paste: grind dried hibiscus flowers in a blender down to a tbsp. of powder; add powder to 1-2 tbsp. of coconut oil into a paste; massage into scalp and leave on for an hour if possible (shower cap); rinse with a mild shampoo or conditioner.
- Aloe Vera: apply pure aloe vera gel to dry scalp and leave on X 5 minutes, then rinse. No need to shampoo after this treatment.
- Cognac shampoo: a tbsp. of brandy, one egg yolk, a tsp. of honey, and olive or avocado oil (for dry hair); massage into roots and hair; leave for 30 minutes then rinse with a mild shampoo or conditioner.
- Apple cider vinegar: mix with water in 1:1 ratio; massage into wet hair and scalp and leave on for five minutes before rinsing with water. It balances scalp pH and reduces bacteria and fungi.
- Rosemary oil: was found in a recent study [1] to be as effective for hair regrowth as minoxidil 2%, and both required six months to show significant effects. Rosemary had less scalp itching than minoxidil.
- Chamomile infusion: pour a quart of boiling water over chamomile leaves and let it sit for 20 minutes and then cool; filter this infusion through a strainer, then pour over your scalp and hair but do not rinse it out; just towel dry your hair.
There are other natural ingredients touted to have a hair-restoring effect too. Ginseng extract works by reducing stress to help balance hormones (thought to reduce DHT production from testosterone). Nettle extract is also known to inhibit DHT production. There is also plantain, menthol, horse chestnut, and capsaicin.
I realize there are many oils that are used for hair health, but they have very little effect on stopping hair loss or thickening hair. I personally use Marula oil on my skin and hair and love it. Consider also Argan oil, Jojoba oil, Burdock root oil, and the essential oils lavender and peppermint.
Shampoos and conditioners with natural ingredients
If you don’t like to make your own shampoo I completely understand. There are many shampoos sold online and in cosmetic stores that contain natural ingredients aimed at growing and strengthening hair. Here are some to consider:
- Procerin: blocks DHT production. A clinical study by this company reports 94% of users had slowed hair loss (http://www.procerin.com/)
- Tricomin: patented blend of copper and essential amino acids (www.tricomin.com)
- Revita: shampoo by DS Laboratories: contains the anti-fungal ingredient ketoconazole, plus copper amino acids, MSM, biotin, apple, emu oil, and amino acids cysteine, taurine, carnitine tartrate, and zinc (http://www.dslaboratories.com/revita/)
I would first consider the organic shampoos that don’t contain sodium lauryl sulfate. Here is a link to 13 such products: http://www.nicehair.org/hair-loss-treatments/10-organic-shampoos-that-do-not-contain-sodium-lauryl-sulphate
In conclusion, scalp and hair health start with steady health eating, effective stress reduction, and getting your hormones in balance. You may also need to eliminate the allergenic cause. Foods are the most likely source here (remember how my scalp dramatically healed recently by eliminating wheat protein)?
After all this, then I would go after home remedies or natural shampoo ingredients.
To healing and feeling good,
Michael Cutler, M.D.
Easy Health Options
[1] Panahi Y, Taghizadeh M, Marzony ET, Sahebkar A. Rosemary oil vs minoxidil 2% for the treatment of androgenetic alopecia: a randomized comparative trial. Skinmed. 2015 Jan-Feb;13(1):15-21.
