| Author | Message | ||
     mb |
Hi guys, These two new theories ought to get a few chuckles from regular posters. First, L'Oreal. L'Oreal, the french cosmetics giant believes that excess collagen production is what causes hair to most often begin miniaturization. Apparently they felt their test subjects in European hospitals exhibited a bunch of extra collagen growth squeezing the epitheleal layers much thinner in the balding guys vs. the non-balders. After looking at 150 different molecules, L'Oreal's scientists settled on one called Aminexil as the one that could counteract excess collagen growth. This info is available at L'Oreal's website at loreal.com. You'll have to search the big site to find it though. Its explicit addy was loreal.com/_en/_ww/research/innovations/aminexil.aspx? L'Oreal has a product thats available in Europe, but not here for hair loss. Kevin McElwee, host of Keratin.com, thinks L'Oreal is wrong. I personally think that they have found just one of the elements in the VERY complex etiology of baldness. Ready for another chuckle? A researcher in Spain published in the Journal for Medical Hypothesis his theory of baldness and links it to cultural practices (I know guys, stop laughing and keep reading). He believes that sebum has both outward and inward flow (true), but as sebum moves to the surface to go outward, our short haircuts, etc...retard it and its apparently reabsorbed into the scalp. He notes that the area of the scalp that rests on absorbent pillows at night dont bald. He offered no solution for this in his article. His name is Armondo Jose' Yane'z Soler and he is a legitamate biological researcher. Ive emailed the guy as I know sebum contains DHT and its reabsorption back into the scalp would be a bad thing, just what he would have men do? Im supposing he will tell me to wrap my head in an absorbent towel while I sleep and to wipe it off a couple of times a day with something absorbent to clean excess DHT-containing sebum away....... Personally, I think the above two phenomena are authentic, but are only side effects of a root series of causes of DHT's effect on follicles. But reading scientific research is fun, even if I only understand half of it....Great eve guys | ||
| Anonymous |
As far as the collagen one, i can care less. Mainly because of the fact of who's conducting it. And let me guess where the cure is going to come from. Now, i have read the thing on oils. I actually find it interesting, except that people don't sleep evenly on all sides of the head. So then, would it be possible for somebody to bald completely on one side? If this were the case, you can just sleep with a skull cap on anyway. That would solve your problem. It seems more plausible then, that dead skin would clog sebum flow. Thats my opinion. | ||
| mb |
Dear Anonymous, I have to ask.........Im also a bit cynical myself, however, we MUST keep in mind that big companies like L'Oreal and Johnson+Johnson, Bristol-Meyers, etc. are the entities that have the scientists, facilities and money to really STUDY baldness microscopically. I assure you that scientists (one of my best pals is a scientist) are usually honest people who really want to help humanity. On L'Oreal's web site there is beaucuoup info on baldness and plenty of microscopic pictures and explantations of balding phenomena. They had a great blow-up of the collagen-squeezed follicle. Im not doubting that the phenomena of excess collagen surrounding a follicle exists, but by L'Oreal's own research regarding their new product, there was only an 8% increase in hair growth in effected areas with the use of the molecule that inhibits collagen production in the scalp. I believe its a genetic expression of baldness, much like scalp inflammation and excess sebum, but not the root cause. Check the site out though......its state of the art from a well-funded lab, I assure you. M | ||
| Edge |
I wouldn't trust L'Oreal. Cosmetics companies ONLY care about thier profits. The industry is almost completely unregulated, they can say whatever they want in thier advertising campaigns and research papers and the products don't even have to work. | ||
| Tom Hagerty |
Here's that article by Armando José Yáñez Soler. Good for a smile. Tuesday May 3, 2005 The Guardian It's your own fault if you go bald, or if you lose your memory, or both. That's in theory. The theory is championed by Armando José Yáñez Soler, of Elda in Alicante, Spain. The town of Elda, until now, has been best known as the home of the Museo Calzado (the Museum of Footwear), but if Yáñez's theory is correct, his fame could surpass that of the museum. Yáñez published details of his research recently in the journal Medical Hypotheses. "The human being has evolved to become a naked monkey," he writes, but "there is no apparent reason to continue the evolutionary process up to becoming a bald monkey." Common baldness "is a degenerative process derived from certain inadequate cultural practices, such as excessive hair cutting or certain types of haircuts". The process is roughly akin, in his view, to the coming of Alzheimer's disease. "It is generally accepted," he writes, citing a small study that appeared in the journal Neurology four years ago, "that loss of memory in people over 60 years of age is mainly due to ... certain behaviours of the individual." Yáñez is fascinated by sebum, the oily secretion produced by tiny glands in the regions of skin where hair is produced. The sebum flows around and through the hair. If this gunk builds up, says Yáñez, there ensues a cascade of physiological events that lead to baldness. Combing, brushing, touching or massaging one's hair helps keep the sebum flowing out of the scalp. Sleeping with one's head on a good, absorbent pillow sops it up. Yáñez is almost lyrical in explaining the rise and meanderings of the sebum and the attraction of pillows. Pillows are just the half of it. Luxuriant, flowing hair is the other half. Yáñez explains that sebum can move out and along the lengthy surface of each hair and so eventually ooze its way to a pillow or a hairbrush or some other absorbent, sebum-sucking surface. Somehow, short hair doesn't cut it. Yáñez says his theory explains why baldness is more common in men than in women. "Nature provides both sexes with the capacity to have long hair," he points out. And people with thick or curly hair have especially good sebum elimination: "This explains why certain ethnicities or cultures, such as Native Americans, Rastafarians, Gypsies, etc do not suffer from common baldness." Furthermore, "many people affected by common baldness have noted that they started to suffer from it during military service. The difference in hair length is the key. Military people, skinheads and others wear their hair short and therefore they can induce problems with sebum flow." Yáñez says he is "aware that this thought-provoking theory will give rise [to] a lot of scepticism". | ||
| Anonymous |
I still wouldn't trust L'Oreal. Cosmetics companies ONLY care about thier profits. The industry is almost completely unregulated, they can say whatever they want in thier advertising campaigns and research papers and the products don't even have to work. | ||
| mb |
Dear Tom, Armondo did email me back with his advice for enacting his theory. Jobaba oil......he said jobaba oil is a chemical antithesis of sebum. Ive noted that you stated you used Jobaba in your hair also. He recommended some Spanish product that I dont think one could buy in the states. It was similar to the product Proxiphen that is sold over at HLT. One of those that attempts to be anti-androgenic, super-oxide dismutase, anti-inflammatory, growth stimulant all in a couple of bottle type things..... That was the extent of his advice. He did think the "wiping the head off with an absorbent towel" a few times a day and a towel on the head at night wasnt a bad idea. I know we both feel he has just hit on a side occurence of the much more complicated balding process, but he was a nice guy and hopefully he can find out more for us in subsequent research. So good luck Armando. : ) | ||
| theodore roosevelt....bully....bully |
Dear Anonymous, I know you dont trust cosmetic companies to cure or come up with a medical solution for baldness. However, If I were you I would examine the possibiltiy that a charitable entity or public hospital proboably isnt gonna put hair on bald heads either and we can at least learn from their scientists research. Their is a link some fine soul posted on another thread that will send you to a company called Blackwell Synergy so you can see the latest on their profoundly complicated reseach into baldness and the rainforest jungle of genetic occurences that govern the hair cycle clock. Its under the thread called "Baldness, Vested Interests and Money"......read it, you'll love it, I PROMISE | ||
| Tom Hagerty |
Theodore Roosevelt was an idiot to go charging up San Juan Hill, but he's right in his recommendation to read the Blackwell Synergy article. | ||
| Anonymous |
Hi I'm a lifeguard from the midwest. I work at a highly clorinated pupluc pool and have noticed that my hair has gotton very thin. Is there anything I can do about it? | ||
| Anonymous |
Yeah the reason why u schreedin is because of the clorin in the water ur scalp is not in such great health go to a dermotoligist and let him or her check ur scalp...thats the best thing u can do.. | ||
| Tom Hagerty |
Lifeguard: The structure of your hair is vulnerable to drying agents, such as the chlorine in swimming pools. The cortex or inner layer of your hair is protected by the cuticle - this is the outer layer. Sebum is a natural lubricant that protects this layer. The chlorine in pools strips the sebum from your hair. This probably will cause the cuticle to crack. I don't know if chlorine will harm the hair follicle itself, but just in case, I'd wear a swimming cap. The biggest danger for an outdoor lifeguard is sun damage. The UVA, the type of UV wavelength that does not cause sunburn, penetrates between 165 and 250 micrometers into the skin. This can damage the DNA in the cells of the hair follicles. You don't want too much of this. | ||
| michael ong |
i am swimming instructor, i in the the about 4 hrs a day under the sun and the outdoor swimming pool. are the clorin in the will harmful to me? is yes, then why it is harmful? and how to overcome it? i love to be in the water. |
