LeesHair

Tell them michelle sent you? Is this a secret club hair fibre club or are you on commission!?

The heavier dose would have something to do with it I would think, it is an over-the-counter drug after all, there must be some reason. Personally I've been using Revita daily for a month, and I'm really happy with the way my hair feels, haven't noticed a reappearance of the dandruff since switching to a lower dose so I'm happy!

Topical antioxidants would reduce the effect of hydrogen peroxide, but only if applied shortly after it happened I would think. Sorry but I think Bill's right, time will be the main thing, and talk to a salon I believe there are some products for hair damaged by hair bleaches (which use peroxide)?

Who doesn't know where they bought a medical device with needles from? You're a braver man than me notjustyet! The first post is just a release isn't it? Aren't they always promotional? I'm interested in the device because of Minoxidil really not PRP, but from what I can tell they seem to be saying it's great becuase it increases the effect of PRP, and it might be good by itself but there's not much proof?

I thought most HT surgeons gave you their recommended regimen for quite a long time after HT? Not that these are always reliable, and all the ones I've seen are different which is wierd. If Johnson's baby shampoo is working for you, I'd keep using it until you feel the HT's have fully taken, when that is- 3/6 months? I don't know. After that maybe go onto a gentle but useful shampoo like Revita?

If you have Nizoral and a moisturising alternative why don't ou just alternate them between days instead of using them one after the other? It might just be me that doesn't have the patience to shampoo twice, but it does feel like a waste of time!

Certainly having oil on your scalp would decrease minoxidil penetration, however I don't know whether a significant amount of oil would build up in 24hours to merit washing daily? I do anyway, simply becuase my scalp gets itchy if I don't, and also I like being clean but refuse to wear a shower cap

Sorry to put a dampener on things, but how often have we heard that stem cell research, gene therpay, and similar are going to cure cancer/heart disease/parkinson's/our inability to fly/and now hair loss? I really hope that there's something around the corner, but there are always more hurdles in the way of these new technologies than we can foresee.

Propecia will not have any effect on testosterone at all, MrJobi's right it is an alpha blocker so it stops Testosterone conversion to DHT. However it won't increase it either, hormones are regulated in your body so if testosterone builds up slightly as it isn't being converted to DHT your body will stop producing as much, evening it all out. Getting on to, or back to, the topic: Folligro is very expensive for what it is, a blend of cheap generic herbs that might help, but probably won't.

I'm not one to just dismiss a product out of hand, just because it isn't proven yet doesn't mean it never will be, I do think that perhaps we as a community are a little harsh on certain people who "invent" hair loss "cures". Some of them (sadly I fear a minority) genuinely believe they have a cure. However surely if they believed they really had a product that would work they could sell it for a few years at a price to cover cost, distribute it as widely as possible, and then when they became famous as the people who haad found a working product for a reasonable price, get FDA approval and charge proper money for a proven product? I love the "we don't make much money... just enough to buy my house". BUY MY HOUSE! I haven't made enough money doing something that I think is very profitable to buy myself a house!

With Nanosome I think you do increase penetration into the bloodstream and therefore, I guess you're right it doesn't last as long. Blood minoxidil levels shouldn't do you much harm actually as it's fairly low toxicity for a drug? Unless I suppose you have low blood pressure anyway or heart problems, that might screw things up a little. What about the needle idea though, surely if the needles don't go deep enough to break the blood vessels (I guess they don't as they claim there's no bleeding?) you wouldn't get the same problem? Or would it be the same as it would reach the bloodstream normally, so the faster it goes in to the point where it starts diffusing into the blood the faster it goes into the blood? I think I've just confused myself there, if someone can make sense of what I'm trying to say please feel free to agree or disagree, and call me an idiot either way! . I don't want to use 15%, for a start you can't get it readily in the UK, it's incredibly expensive, and all that alcohol can't do you much good, I get a dry scalp as it is!

Hi FiveOaks, I haven't used it but hope they haven't. I've been trying Alpecin for a while and haven't been that impressed. I was looking at Revita as I'd heard a lot of good things, now you say they may have changed it? Damn, missed the boat there!

I didn't think it worked synergistically with Propecia. They both aim to do the same thing in different ways so can work together, but I thought the effect is at best additive (the sum of both) not synergistic (more than both)?

Hi All, I've read a lot on other forums about new ways of increasing Minoxidil penetration. The theory is, (and great if it works) that more penetration would give more effect from the same concentrations of Minoxidil. Most discussions have been about nanosomal forms of Minoxidil like Spectral DNC, which sound great. However I don't think they're available anywhere in the UK, not sure that it's legal as it's an untested modification of a drug? (Laws in the UK are funny about that sort of thing.) My questions about this are: is Spectral DNC legal and available in the UK, and does anyone have any experience with it? The second thing I've found is the Scalproller, a microneedle roller by nanogen that increases Minoxidil penetration by puncturing the scalp slightly 1000's of times. It looks a bit like a medieval torture device, but they say it doesn't hurt. I can accept the logic for it increasing Minoxidil penetration, but they also say it can fade scars and possibly grow hair, what are everyone's thoughts?

Hi Steak! I use the Nanofibres too, and have spoken to Nanogen about their other products. Basically they're quite reticent about what their products do, they say that for example Nanogaine works in the same way as Rogaine, but using a different chemical to Minoxidil, so it isn't a prescription drug. The plus side of this is it's alcohol free, the downside is it's unproven. The guy I spoke to last said they'd love to do proper trials, but no way can they afford it so they can't. Basically it's a side-effect (apart from shedding) free unproven alternative to minoxidil. As it doesn't contain minoxidil I'd try something with minoxdil first, unless there's a reason you can't. Or you could I guess use them together? Would be quite expensive though.

I wouldn't think finasteride would cause hairline loss, but I know it isn't effective at stopping it. It could just be then that your frontal loss is progressing as it would with or without the drug, but it's more obvious there as you aren't losing it at the back?

Hi Chris, Well first congratulations on your success so far with the finasteride/minoxidil combination. I was speaking to a friend the other day debating this, I've noticed something similar although I'm just using minoxidil, after the first majopr shed and grow back I get little mini-sheds, which don't seem to make much difference to the way my hair looks. My friend (a fellow suffferer so we talk about these things) and I just think that everyone might lose more hair occassionally, but as hair loss sufferers we notice much more? If it isn't having an effect, and stops after a while, I wouldn't worry too much

Graham, I understand the problem, it is tempting to try "Natural solutions" rather than nasty "chemicals". However chemistry isn't as simple as you think: Parabens- strongly suspected carcinogens and often said to be bad for hair loss, a chemical preservative. Also found in high concentrations in grapefruit and many other fruits. Uva Ursi- often quoted in hair loss remedies, a natural plant extract from traditional chinese medicine meant to increase metabolism and blood flow. Has been proven to be toxic and interact to prevent numerous other medicines working. So be careful. There are approved drugs, and non-approved drugs. Not all drugs are bad for you in the same way as not all "natural" alternatives are good for you. Also be wary of the "many people used this and got all their hair back" there are many ways to bend the truth and doctor images, you can bet if the peiople selling natural oils really had found a quick 100% effectove cure they'd be shouting a lot louder about it.

That's not a hard and fast rule, many sites don't use a https: even if they are valid, they should have some security certicicate so either https, a padlock on the address bar or the address bar turning green. Personally I'd rather not buy from most online pharmacies because they charge carriage or build it into their prices. Buying hair loss stuff from a pharmacy is a little embarrassing first time out, but it's not the end of the world

I don't think viviscal or any supplement can give regrowth, certainly there are Very few reported cases of it working. As for stopping hair loss, I'm open to the suggestion that the right ones might, however I wouldn't put all my eggs in that basket. If I were you I'd pack anything like that in a piece of hold luggage in the original pack/carton so it's blatently obvious what it is if they search the case. Hand-luggage will be embarrassing if they turn it out, and if you have them unmarked in a case then there's always the risk of being pulled over and examined where you REALLY don't want to be!

Compared with propecia, any natural supplement or amino acid is going to be less effective, or add only a small additional effect. If you can take propecia without any side effects then keep going with that, have you thought about using something topically as well? If you wanted to add something to your regime there are topicals with better proven success rates than adding factors to propecia.

Oh sorry, that was incredibly dumb I thought that bit was your signature... Nanosomal Minoxidil is meant to penetrate better, we all know that it doesn't penetrate well so I'd love a solution to the problem, pity about the scary price tag though. It's been a while since you first posted that, have you tried it? Thoughts?

That would be a bit of DermMatch. If you wash it all out with a good shampoo (Nizoral?) then you shouldn't have the problem and won't need to pull your hair out! However if you tug gently on a hair and it falls out, it was probably going to go anyway. As for either product actually causing hair loss, I don't believe they would, some people suggest it might but hair loss is a progressive condition so how can you tell? Certainly I don't think there's any evidence that they would.

I would second the end of Mr GQ's message, hair gel clumps your hair together making it look thinner, if you're just starting to get thin, a few quid extra on a decent hair cut could save you a lot on hair gel and concealment products!

I personally didn't find Toppik that bad, no green colour issues although I have heard from an increasing number of people that it is a problem? However I use Nanogen in preference, it just looks that bit better, especially in bright light, although being form the UK I don't get too much bright sunlight to contend with! I use Nanogen's locking spray, but very occassionally only if it's really windy or something outside. It doesn't change the colour of my hair or the fibres, and does work well, but it isn't cheap and I don't find it necessary unless there's a gale outside.