Hair Restoration Blog

Q:

Hey Doctor, 

Hope all is well. My name is XXXX. I came in last Saturday for consultation. I forgot to ask you about shampoo use and hair loss. Does the brand of shampoo have an effect? Do you have any recommendations? I use baby johnson, the goldish yellow one. My friend suggested Nioxin, do you know anything about this brand. He gave me one bottle numbered with a 1 for early stages of thinning and the other numbered 2 for noticeably thinning. Should I make use of it? And which bottle would I make use of? Sorry with all the bother and questions.  Thank You so much I really appreciate it. Have a great weekend. 

A:

There are many shampoos currently on the market which have claimed to be useful for hair loss treatment and/or prevention.  Some of them may have active ingredents like minoxidil which is a proven hair loss topical medication.  However,  since shampoos don’t stay on the scalp for an extended amount of time and are rinsed off after only a few minutes, the active ingredients do not have adequate time to be absorbed from the skin level.  Minoxidil is the most effective ingredient of these shampoos.  We do recommend its use as simple topical solution which is to be applied twice a day and left on scalp for its maximum effectiveness.  Most other products and shampoos that contain minerals and vitamins do not help since the active ingredients are not even absorbed from the scalp skin.  You can see more on this in our several posts on hair loss shampoo and the brand shampoos for hair loss that are in the market of different brand.

Q:

I’ve been using 5% topical minoxidil in liquid form for five months and see some positive results (I think) but I have two side effects:

1) itchiness–it’s mild, I can live with it

2) a crust forms that’s dry and I can pick it off, little dry flakes–that is.

Questions are simple:

1) Can/should I still use it?

2) is the foam better to avoid these symptoms?

3) Is there an inexpensive hair conditioner or shampoo I should use? Appreciate your feedback/thoughts…thanks

A:

1) Can/should I still use it?

Minoxidil use is lifetime in most cases. If you stop using it, you may lose the hair which grew from its effect. This is called shock loss and many people experience it when they get tired of minoxidil use and stop it after using it for a few years.

2) Is the foam better to avoid these symptoms?

To avoid the itching, the foam is better based on reports I am gathering from my patients who tried them both.

3) I am not aware of any conditioner and shampoo that can be used to help the growth of hair. There are some shampoos with active ingredients such as minoxidil. However, they efficiency in comparison to minoxidil topical solution is questioned.