MYTHICAL TREATMENTS

The mythology of hair loss is a book unto itself. Wearing hats won't cause it, doctors say. Nor will standing on your head to increase blood flow cure it. Massaging your scalp and brushing your hair won't save you. Toweling off your head lightly rather than vigorously will only postpone the inevitable for a few days.

Perhaps the biggest myth is that cleaning your scalp of sebum (the semifluid secretion of glands attached to the follicle) will unclog those follicles and allow hair to grow. Surgeons will tell you that when they're performing transplants, there's no trapped hair to be found.

In 1989, FDA banned all nonprescription hair creams, lotions, or other external products claiming to grow hair or prevent baldness. And it has taken action against companies that continue to sell such products. In 1996, the agency sent a warning letter to Daniel Rogers Laboratories Inc., of Paramus, N.J., the manufacturer of "Natural Hairs," for claiming its product could promote hair growth and prevent hair loss. Two years earlier, after an FDA investigation, a U.S. district court judge enjoined the marketing of "Solution 109 Herbal Shampoo" because of claims that the product warded off hair loss.

Advertisements for "hair farming" products and others that hint they can regrow hair are still plentiful. But if you're desperate, keep one thing in mind:

"There will be never be a secret [ingredient] that works for hair loss," NYU's Washenik says. And, if they were to find it, he says: "It will be on the cover of the New York Times. It will be on the nightly news. ... When this happens, it's going to be wildness. You're not going to need an expert to tell you the name of the drug."

by Larry Hanover, FDA Consumer Magazine




The following are external links to hair loss and hair replacement information.

Overviews

Diagnosis/Symptoms

  • Hair Loss (American Academy of Family Physicians)

Treatment

Specific Conditions