Home Remedies for Hair Loss

I have had hair loss due to fungus. I read a book on hand reflexology about rapidly rubbing the fingernails across one another (face the 4 fingers toward each other, then rapidly buff against one another, hands going in opposite directions--up & down, or back & forth) to prevent hair loss and cause it to grow back. 5 minutes, 3 times a day. Since I have a delicate condition in my neck and can't handle the jarring, I use a hand massager, and set my fingernails, one hand at a time, on it. My hair is now growing back, although I have to keep it up every day, so I am also beginning to try the ACV also. I'm not usually on this site, so I may not respond to questions. The reflexology book is very old--can't remember author's name. Hope this helps.

Onion juice will regrow hair. The Allicin in the onion juice stimulates follicle growth and draws blood supply up to the root. Blend one medium onion in a blender, you can add 2 tbs honey and tbs olive oil. Put into a squirt bottle. Massage onto your scalp before bed and wear shower cap, wash off in morning. There was a study in Journal of Dermatology, 80% of subjects showed hair growth within one week. You can use nightly until you get the amount of growth desired and then use once a month for maintenance.

I had thinning hair because of a thyroid problem. If your doctor says there is nothing they can do if you have hormone imbalance, then he/she is wrong! Time to find a new doctor or - better yet - a naturopath.

My husband uses 8 ounces of aloe vera gel, 1 teaspoon of lavender essential oil and 1 teaspoon of tea tree oil (mixed in a glass bottle and kept in the fridge). Every day he massages about 2 teaspoons into his scalp. His hair loss has slowed down quite a bit. Everyone loses hair on a daily basis but his was clogging the shower drain. Now, it may be that it is the actual massage that slowed down his hair loss and not necessarily the ingredients but he's just happy that "something" is working.

Hi, I have found that Biotin (5000mcg) and Bamboo Extract (900mg) daily have helped a LOT with hair loss from hypothyroidism. I have been taking Biotin for years (when I started Synthroid) and Bamboo Extract for about 6 months. My hair looks so much better. I have also recently started drinking ACV 3x per day and I think that is helping too. Good Luck!

Googling around again and one site said to no longer use soap or shampoo on hair but 1/2 cup soda in 1 1/2 cups water and massage in scalp and then rinse with cold water as little as needed and don't mess with hair much, combing , curling , styling , but massage head once in a while until improvement shows.... Hope this helps.

Hair Loss:

I had the same symptoms. I remembered then that hot water is for cleaning but COLD water is for toning and healing for such things. Slowly turn the shower head to cold as you wet your hair (make sure you are not feeling chilled at the beginning) try cold water for about one to two minutes, then towel dry. Remain in temperate surroundings and repeat the towel drying process until you know you could not catch cold.

Repeat this procedure and you will feel the wonderful effects of natural treatment and increased blood circulation and a feeling of well being.

In addition I use urea with great benefit. This is, however not for those that do not know anything about it. I also use coconut oil, undiluted ACV, and colloidal silver in case there might be a parasite infestation. In addition I chew soaked fenugreek seeds, a good teasp. Daily for diabetes but it makes also the hair grow. This may take some months as the action is at first in the hair follicles. Good luck and patience. The itching and burning disappeared quickly at the outset. Om

Hi, I just thought I'd share my success with growing out my hair (even if not intentional). It used to be thin and stay shoulder length, it would break off, very fine and dry. This was when I was in my twenties and part thirties. Now, five years later, my hair is shiny, wavy and fairly thick, I cut it about a foot (12inches) every 9 months or so, it reaches my waist right now.

This is what worked:

1. stopped using commercial shampoo.

2. only wash with a natural shampoo with low alcohol content once a week (I started doing this after a trip to Italy, when I got some advise from a lady with enviable curly hair to her hips. She says shampoo is the worst enemy of hair; it strips it of nutrients, opens the fibers and makes it vulnerable to break off).

3. wash everyday (if needed) with a natural, low alcohol content conditioner, or even better; an olive oil based cleaner like available in Italy (not available were I live, so I realized I could use a lightweight conditioner). The reason the conditioner cleanses is that if you think about it; oils cut (mix with) oils. What we want to cleanse is the amount of oils in our hair, right? We don't want to strip out all the good oils from the hair, that makes it break... (commersial or harsh shampoos)

4.Rinse with COLD water when finished, to close the fibers in the hair.

5. Supplements; I started taking selenium, blue-green algae and alpha-lipoic-acid together (to control blood-sugar spikes). It seems the side effect of perhaps Selenium is to support hair-growth. I also took multi mineral or coral calcium and Sublingual Vit-B multi-vitamin in the evening from time to time.

6. Stopped blow-drying. Let air-dry, massage scalp with towel while drying (for blood-sirculation) and only brush hair AFTER its dry. With a natural brush, llike boar, or wood-comb (not plastic or metal - again these will tear and break the hair if it is fine like mine).

This is what I was doing, and it's so nice to have my hair back almost like from my childhood, too bad I didn't know to do this in my twenties! ;-) Good Luck!

What is natural shampoo?

I have been suffering with hypothyroidism for 20 years. One year ago I started using Lugol's iodine. 3 drops in about a cup of water or juice everyday. After about 3 months, I thought I was cured and therefore quit using my thyroid medication (Naturethroid). I was so wrong and so discouraged that I almost quit using the Lugol's. However, I decided to just keep using it anyway, it was helping my symptoms: hairloss, being extremely tired, can't think, feeling bad all over, etc. As a bonus, it cured my fibrocytic breast (they hurt really bad for a while while using it, but then they got better, then well).

Anyhow, one month ago, to my suprise, my pharmacy informed me that my nurse practicioner reduced my medication from taking 5 pills a day to 3. I had given up hope that it was going to work because I'd had this problem for so long (my thyroid felt like a rock). I'm not cured yet, but I have renewed hope that I possibly could be someday. I do know this: anytime you begin a thyroid Rx medication, change a medication, or stop a medication, one of the side effects is hair loss for up to 3 months! The Lugol's has given me my hair back - Thank God. Chances are, if you tell your doc that you're going to try this, they will probably not approve. So, I didn't tell mine, but whenever I felt like my thyroid was off, I would get them to check it. If someone begins the iodine therapy, just have your doctor monitor your thyroid profile as closely as possible because it can cause you to become hyperthyroid because of too much Rx medication. However, needing to reduce or eleminate the Rx medication eventually is a good thing. I'm really hoping FDA doesn't interfere any further with this wonderful healing elixer. I will try to keep everyone updated with any progress. Good luck. God bless.

I am experiencing greater than usual amounts of falling hair. I've tried adding hair vitamins, good protein in diet, adequate water, using safe shampoos, but the only thing that lessens the amount of falling hair, that ends up in my hands, on my clothes and in the drain, is eating several eggs per day-- they are free range, organic, omega -3 brown eggs. If I miss a day of eating at least 3 eggs my hair starts to fall out again.

Eggs are such a complex food its very hard to isolate what mineral or combination or minerals are helping my hair. I really cant eat 3 eggs every day-- not only because that is a lot of cholesterol, but I don't want to develop an allergy to them from eating them every day.

Additionally my nails and cuticles arent in that great of shape, but eggs sure helped at least the cuticles in short order.

Part of the reason I am so concerned about it, is that if I have a deficiency of some type I'd like to find out before it affects something more serious than my hair.

Any help as to why the eggs are helping would be appreciated.

Hi Z_girl, You don't say much about your diet other than eggs help with your hair and also nails. They're rich in protein, lecithin and sulfur among other things. I'm thinking it may be the protein. I say this because, when I was a vegetarian in my 20's my hair started falling out and my nails would peel. I had always had very thick hair and good nails up to then. When I finally started adding in eggs and meat my hair was eventually restored and my nails got a lot stronger. Anyway, that would be my guess. Since you're concerned about eating too many eggs, get protein through many different sources. Hope this helps, Lisa

Eggs are also good for your face. Whites are good for oily skin and yoks are good for dry skin.

Better But With Side Effects

Good news/bad news regarding biotin. It worked great at growing hair.... I actually had eyebrows for the first time in years! But, I wound up with severe migraines. I have tried different brands and different strengths, but ended up with migraines each and every time. Just to let you know that some of us get negative side effects from biotin. I suffer from multiple chemical sensitivities.... not sure if this has anything to do with it or not.

Hello, I am taking magnesium for hair loss, that is magnesium citrate tablets, two a day, about 100% the RDI, for now a month, and have a lot of growth on my scalp, and in the beard actually too, which appear to come in fuller.

Magnesium seems to calm the scalp, or something similar, I think. I am taking iodine and phosphorous as well, as these minerals are lacking in my nutrition.

This is a remedy from Edgar Cayce who was a medical intuit and some say a prophet. He could put himself into a trance and offer advice to people on healings. I read it today and thought I would post it here. This is the question asked of him:

(R) How may I promote the growth of new hair on my head?

(B) Eat more shell fish and rub same with a few coffee grounds occasionally.

Perhaps any males out there (or females) could try this and report back?

Maria, I use your basic drugstore Potassium Iodides. The colorless kind.

Hi Sayno from Vancouver, BC, Your dandruff is an internal issue. Most everyone is lacking the health essential fatty acids in their diet. I cured my seborrheic dermatitis a skin disorder on my scalp with organic extra virgin coconut oil. I took 2 table spoons each day of the 29 oz jar and after I finished I noticed my scalp healed completely and it felt as smooth as a baby's bum. My scalp prior to using extra virgin coconut oil was very dry with scab like bumps that were also very painful at times and would also bleed a little after I scratched it. I only flaked a little and itched a little, but mostly it was sore and extremely dry. Before I decided to experiment with extra virgin coconut oil, I was consuming flaxseed supplements and oil for about 12 or so years.

It definitely helped, but this past summer for some reason the flaxseed oil was not doing a good job and so I decided to search for something else. I am soooo amazed at the results of extra virgin coconut oil and it's many many other medicinal healing properties. Just google health benefits of extra virgin coconut oil and you'll be amazed. Mother Nature always come through for us, we just have to look for it.

I'd like to start by saying how amazing this website is and all of the great information that Ted and all of the members provide. A little background; I started Acctuane July of 2010 and got off it in December of 2011. I took anywhere from 40-80 mg a day. I saw a previous post on Acctuane and hair loss on this forum and I have been following it to a T for the last 4 months will little success. I am 18 years old and had the thickest head of hair before Accutane and I have no family history of baldness on either side of my family. I am 100% sure that I am losing hair due to Accutane. It isn't in the MPB pattern, it is mostly diffusing all over. I have taken so many supplements in attempt to counteract my hair loss, here are some:

Biotin (5mg)

N-acetyl Cysteine (1500mg)

Riboflavin 5- Phosphate (36.5mg)

B Complex (Activated/co-enzymated 3x daily)

Molybdenum Picolinate (1, 000mg)

Phytisone Adrenal Complex (3x daily)

AC Grace Vitamin E (1200 IU)

Glutathione (2x daily)

EPO (1000mg)

Thorne Mediclear (2x daily)

Prescript Assist soil based probiotic (2x daily)

Niacinamide (1, 000 mg)

L-Glutamine (10g)

Copper (2mg)

Zinc (30mg)

Manganese Sulfate (400mg)

Fish oil (2x a day)

L-Lysine (1000mg)

Vitamin C (5000mg)

MSM (3000mg)

Vitamin D (6000 IU)

As you can see, I have experimented with a lot of different supplements and it's quite overwhelming. The hair loss did not start until 2 months after my course was over. I feel like none of these are getting to the source of my problem which I believe to be cell divison. Accutane is a chemotherapy agent and acts by suppressing cell division and proliferation. I have done copious amounts of research over the last 8 months and feel like I am getting so close to the answer.

"Retinoic acid (active form of Accutane) induces differentiation and reduces proliferation of stem and progenitor cells. It works on acne by inducing similar events in basal sebocytes. These same actions also lead to 13-cis-retinoic's (Accutane's) side effects, and these are directed towards proliferating cells in the adult such as in the skin, gut and bone. "

"A wide ranging effect of retinoic acid is to inhibit proliferation in dividing cells, and this accounts for its frequent consideration as an anti-cancer agent."

"Deleting telomere elongation capacity throughout the body would also be life-threatening, because it would mean that our regular, proliferating cells (like those in the skin or the lining of the gut) would suddenly have iron limits on their ability to reproduce themselves and thus replenish tissue. From the moment that we denuded our cells of telomerase, a clock would be ticking. With each division the telomere would shorten by a notch from whatever it had been when we took telomerase out. We would be under the specter of a rather horrible death, as our stem cells went offline one by one under replicative senescence with each failure of a stem cell responsible for supplying key functions, the tissue would fail to be renewed and would slowly degenerate. "(De Grey, 297)

To sum all of this up, the evidence we currently have is that long term treatment with ATRA (all-trans retinoic acid), which is almost chemically identical to Accutane, causes "telomere shortening, growth arrest, and cell death."

Accutane induces cell apoptosis. It down-regulates the telomerase enzyme and shortens the telomere length so the cells can't divide as much anymore.

Numerous factors affect the number and activity of androgen receptors in dermal papilla cells. Retinoic acid (vitamin A derivative), if used for a long time, may reduce the number of androgen receptors by 30 - 40 percent. [29] Vitamin B6 reduces by 35-40% the extent of protein synthesis observed after androgen receptor activation. [30] A polypeptide with molecular weight of 60 kDa, analogous to an intracellular calcium-binding protein called calreticulin, prevents binding of the androgen-receptor complex to DNA and also results in the production of calreticulin.[31]

Drugs producing hair loss:
Drugs may affect hair follicles in anagen in two ways: by stopping mitosis in matrix cells (anagen effluvium) or by inducing transition of hair follicles from anagen to premature telogen (telogen effluvium). Anagen effluvium ensues a few days or weeks after drug administration, [46] and telogen effluvium only after two to four months. In both cases hair loss is reversible. Anagen effluvium can be produced by cytotoxic drugs (alkylating agents, alkaloids) and telogen by: heparin, vitamin A and its derivatives, interferons, angiotensin converting enzyme blockers, beta-blockers (propranolol, metoprolol), the antiepileptic trimethadione, levodopa, nicotinic acid, salts of gold, lithium, cimetidine, amphetamine, isoniazid and antiinflammatory drugs (ibuprofen, acetylsalicylic acid).

http://dermatology.cdlib.org/DOJvol4num1/original/jankovi.html

I feel as if there was a way to increase cell division that the hair loss could be reversed. It states in the last paragraph that "in both cases hair loss is reversible". I hope that this is the case and that I just have telegon effluvium and not permenant alopecia.

Without having a scientific background it is hard to connect the pieces and come up with a solution. Ted- if you can decipher all of this and make some connection between it, it would mean the world to me and many other Accutane sufferers.

Sorry for the long post, take care EC.

Please see an eye doctor immediately, the dimming like a curtain falling is a symptom of detached retina, it can result in blindness, but if caught in time and repaired can save your sight.

Hi, Try Lugols iodine it helped me with hair loss, also have thyriod problem. Good luck.

B12 stopped my unnatural hair loss.

As I recall, it took about a month or so. I was also taking a low dose of B-complex. 1000 mcg of a sublingual lozenge of B12 is a good average amount to try. Many people find that after 6 months of this, they are able to reduce their thyroid meds.

When the proper amount of B's are supplied, they can help balance electrolytes, which in turn may help with blood pressure. It may also help lower BP to increase potassium in diet. This should be done very carefully if the BP med. is a potassium sparing type, though.

I know this sounds strange, but L-Glutathione & MSM help the texture/look/feel of my hair almost overnight. I have very thin hair, and when I take these supplements my hair doesn't have that "thin" appearance anymore. For the first time in my life I am getting complimented on my hair - I can't believe it!