Natural Solutions for Hair Loss: Effective Remedies for Regrowth

Pine Tar Soap

Posted by CJ (northern, wisconsin) on 04/02/2008
★★★★★

Over ten years ago, I experienced clumps of hair suddenly falling out overnight. Stress, I suppose. I had 3 patches of total hairlessness ranging from the size of a quarter to a half dollar. I mean, no hair, at least I could comb over at the time. Also, thin spots that weren't totally bare. A month went by with no improvement and then my sister happened to mention to me about a couple other people she knew who had the same type of hair loss and who had used the kind of soap we Finlanders use in the sauna, ____ Pine Tar Soap, and their hair grew back. I lived near a soap shop at the time and immediately went and bought a bar and washed my hair with it right away. I washed my hair with it daily for over a month. Within the first week, the bald patches filled in with peach fuzz hair within 4 weeks, you could not tell where the bald patches had been. My hair has not fallen out since and I only wash my hair with it occasionally as "insurance." It's easy to use bar soap to wash hair but they also make it in a liquid shampoo. I don't know why it works but it's only couple bucks for the bar soap and worth a try.

Brushing Technique

Posted by Shirley (Missouri) on 08/20/2008

Response To 08/19/2008 Sad Ger from Singapore:

Answer,
I hope I can to be clearer about the way this brushing should be done. When you start to brush your hair while you are bent forward and have your hair toward the floor, you start at the scalp but do not put pressure on the brush at the scalp. At this point you don't want to be brushing the scalp but just the hair. From the scalp you brush your hair down to the tips.I use one hand to push the hair into the brush and brush all the hair starting from the back of my neck down to the ends.

When you're finished, you would stand up straight again. Let you hair fall back away from your face and brush from the forehead towards the back or from the crown down the sides. When you begin this brushing, you hold the hairbrush firm onto the scalp and beginning brushing from the scalp with pressure on the brush, and brush the hair towards the back, sides or whatever feels right for your hair.

Hope that explains it more correctly. If not you may send me an email for more info.

Brushing Technique

Posted by Erin (Ny) on 01/20/2018

I would say give yourself a head massage. I'd bend over while messaging and massage from back of your head to front.

And then stand up or sit up straight and massage front to back.

I'm just guessing but I think you'll have less and less hair loss as you continue to massage your head and give your scalp some focused attention.

Hope it works for you

Apple Cider Vinegar and Baking Soda

Posted by Angelo (New York) on 08/22/2010
★★★★☆

I have been waiting a little over a year to write this letter expecting better results than what I have. Unfortunately, I believe the benefits of fighting Male Pattern Baldness with baking soda and ACV may have been exaggerated. I've been using ACV & baking soda since Aug. 9, 2009 (today is Aug. 22 2010) and the difference in my hair regrowth is only slight at best. The shape of my head is still quite visible. I've found that drinking horsetail tea on a regular basis and adding it to the ACV rinse helped with the MPB even more so but again only slightly. However, until something better comes along I'm going to continue using baking soda & ACV because it's a wonderful treatment for dandruff. Also, every shampoo & conditioner I've investigated contains Sodium Lauryl Sulfate and/or Sodium Laureth Sulfate. These two chemicals are what are used to make soap nice and lathery but they also destroy hair follicles. I must also add that baking soda & ACV restored my hair color. It didn't get rid of the gray hairs but restored the youthful shine & got rid of the dullness that comes with age. As I continue the baking soda & ACV treatment, if anything should favorably change, I will make sure to write.

Apple Cider Vinegar, Hydrogen Peroxide

Posted by Shemika (Hightstown, Nj) on 06/19/2010
0 out of 5 stars

I am grateful for Mary's story about topically applying acv to her head by mistake when she had a fungal infection and thus losing all her hair.

I unthinkingly slapped some acv on my head before bed last night as I do from time to time, but this time I woke up disturbed and vaguely recalling her post so I got up and reread it as well as Teds instructions about the subject since I hadn't read them in a couple years. I realized I was making the same mistake Mary had because I likely also have a fungal infection due to my parasite infection.

In Jan just when my hair was starting to see some real progress I absentmindedly put a little acv on it and continued to do so on occasion. Soon afterwards I was combing my hair and it started falling out in clumps. Not making the connection I continued over the past five months to put acv on my hair from time to time, wondering why it kept getting shorter and wouldn't grow any more. Sure enough, topical acv is likely part of the reason why my hair fell out and hasn't grown. I had credited it all to the meds I took about the same time which are known to cause hair loss, which is also likely part of the reason as well. Now I hope to get it right by using tea tree oil and the proper remedies instead. I will let that be a lesson I have to be more careful. Thanks for your site.

Apple Cider Vinegar, Hydrogen Peroxide

Posted by Bb13 (New Jersey) on 07/22/2015
★★★★★

I am a licensed beauty professional as well. ACV is not what made Mary's hair fall out, it was most certainly the peroxide. But I will say, unless it is a conditioner, I don't recommend leaving any product on overnight. Everyones skin is different, including your scalp, and will react different. Also, vinegars are cleaning agents, as are baking sodas...mixing these products together is essentially stripping the hair of anything. Salons use baking soda to strip the hair. ACV is a great product, but should not be applied to the hair in full strength (more is not better in this case). In fact, (I did not see it so I cannot be sure) but I would be willing to bet that Mary's hair did not fall out, but actually broke off. Am I saying not to use it, absolutely not, I love ACV, I use it all the time...use it in moderation...equal parts with water, do not leave it in overnight.

It's in the Water

Posted by skip (Washington, DC) on 07/02/2007
★★★★★

YES I can vouch that since I came to AMERICA my hair are falling. The water here has either chlorine or too much remnants of estrogen wich causes hair loss and feminizing men!

Probiotics

Posted by Nic (South Africa) on 12/30/2022
★★★★★

Please also try probiotics. A good quality liquid or capsule kept in fridge with multiple strains and high bacterial count. If it's a gut issue, this will quickly remedy the hair loss.

Potato Oil or Juice

Posted by Katzie (Calgary) on 08/15/2022
★★★★★

Update: It's been 3 months now and my potato oil is still working like a charm!

I am halfway thru my bottle, and have found it is best to use at least 1x/week. Remember, ya don't have to worry about the length of your hair as you're not supposed to coat the lengths; potato oil is for the scalp only.

I once went about 3 weeks where I only used it twice, and sure did notice a difference! More hair loss, for sure, as I found I was pulling my hair from bathroom drains again, so once a week it is for me. It has been SO nice not having to pick out my fallen strands from the shower & sink drains! Such a treat.

Supplements

Posted by Hisjewel (Usa) on 09/29/2020

Thanks Art.

Apple Cider Vinegar and Baking Soda

Posted by Sal (Fairfax) on 04/20/2016
★★★★★

Change your diet to no meat, gluten free, check thyroid, for iodine deficiency, and stop dying your hair, if you must and only if you must, whole foods has Natural solution for hair dye, and natural HENNA!

Baking soda and ACV is working for me but I'm so not eating foods that may have pesticides and additives!!

I'm eating less because I'm detoxing from pesticides and additiv Es that may be causing the problem, in my opinion hair loss is the body's way of saying its stressed out and the hair follicle can't breath!! Stress comes in many forms, brisk walking, nutrition and letting go of resentments and unhappiness helps!!

Hope this helps!!

B Vitamins

Posted by Natalie (Seattle, Wa) on 02/25/2016
★★★★★

Coenzymated B vitamins (the kind you dissolve under your tongue) works amazingly well for hair loss. I noticed my hair feeling thicker, smoother and fuller within the first 10 week! I think the other kinds of B vitamins are not absorbed very well.

Castor Oil

Posted by Nadine (Trinidad) on 11/12/2015
★★★★★

Hi, I have been using Black castor oil since March of this year but I think the results are good. my hair has gotten fuller, I have mixed in a bit of olive oil into it as it makes the consistency less thick.

Acupressure on Nails

Posted by Margaret (Huntsville, US) on 09/19/2014
★★★★★

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.

Wheatgrass

Posted by Audrina (Los Angeles) on 07/21/2014
★★★★★

An incredible benefit of drinking wheatgrass (the juice powder) is that it has made my hair incredibly smooth, silky, and fuller than it ever has been before. I was thinking it may help those who are suffering from hair loss. I noticed a difference in my fine hair right away.

Aloe, Essential Oils

Posted by Bess (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) on 04/26/2013
★★★★★

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.

Multiple Remedies

Posted by Lisa (Thousand Oaks, Ca, Usa) on 10/24/2012

Hi Gloria, I also went through radical hair loss but mine was from hair dye. I would always have the worst reaction but I was too proud to let myself go gray. The reaction was so bad my husband would get upset that I would continue this procedure. Well, I went to Aveda because that was supposed to be "natural" and it worked for a time but then, I began reacting again. So, I changed to "natural" hair dyes from the health food store. Again, they worked for awhile and then I began to react once more! It was bad but the last straw for me was I began to lose hair in clumps. That's when I thought, perhaps gray would be better than bald... I stopped using shampoos with anything other than the mildest herbs and cleaners in them. I massaged my scalp, I used borax when washing my hair. Then I learned about hair oiling here on EC and began that practice about a year and a half ago. I take Chinese herbs and do fresh green juices every morning and follow much of Weston Price's ideas on diet.

I am now quite salt and pepper but my hair is nice and thick and healthy once more. I won't lie though, it took a long time though to restore it! As a matter of fact, just about a month ago I was going to a wedding and my oldest daughter said she wanted to blow dry my hair for it. She couldn't believe how thick it was and healthy and just kept commenting about it! It's probably been a couple of years since she last did that for me and she said it never felt like that before. So friends, take heart, our hair can be restored but you must be steadfast at working at that and be patient! Lisa

Eggs

Posted by Z_girl (Santa Barbara, Ca) on 10/08/2012

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.

Eggs

Posted by Lisa (Thousand Oaks, Ca, Usa) on 10/08/2012

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

Posted by Z_girl (Santa Barbara, Ca) on 10/15/2012

Actually my diet is pretty good and I get a sufficinet amount of protein for my size (small). I've tried hair vitamins to no avail. If it helps the texture has changed as well to coarser and brittle-- it's like wire now, before it was soft thread. I'm wondering if its some sort of toxic buildup that my body is getting rid of by dropping the hair that contains it? Maybe its not a deficiency at all but a toxcity?

Fenugreek

Posted by Drsd (Dubai, UAE) on 08/31/2012
★★★★★

as a long time sufferer from hair thinning, I would proudly say that I haven't almost missed a remedy for hair fall. Recently, I came across a remedy on the web, that used methi (fenugreek) to stop hair loss. I added few more ingredients to methi and the remedy was very powerful.

Here is what I have concocted:

2 teaspoons of methi soaked in 1/2 a glass of water overnight
1 large red onion (actually, I find them purple! )
1 table spoon of cayenne powder or 3 jalapenos
strain the methi seeds on the next day, put them in a coffee bean miller or a food processor, add the peeled onion and the cayenne pepper, make a paste out of all that.

now massage the scalp with the paste, wetting your palms frequently with water to help your finger tips slide around and the pepper to sting alittle bit. Cover with a shower cap. you will feel instant heat on the scalp. In an hour, rinse thoroughly and wash and condition as usual.

I noticed an 80% reduction in the mass of falling hair.

now, this remedy is potent and effective in ceasing hair fall, but will not suffice ALONE in the battle of regaining hair. So adding nutritive foods and taking vitamin supplements is imperative to check hair fall.

hope this is as useful to you as it was to me! regards :)

Edgar Cayce's Hair Loss Remedies

Posted by Mary (Rural, Va) on 01/30/2012

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

Ted's Remedies

Posted by Barbara (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) on 01/01/2012
★★★★★

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.

Accutane-Related Hairloss Remedies

Posted by Nickodactyl (Pullman, Wa Washington, United States) on 12/10/2011
★★★★★

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.

Lugol's Iodine

Posted by Louwrence (Rustenburg, North West South Africa) on 10/16/2011
★★★★★

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

Baking Soda, Borax, ACV

Posted by Doddie (Lawrenceville, Georgia, Usa) on 09/16/2011
★★★★★

1) I used baking soda 1:5 ; 1 part baking soda to 5 parts water to wash my hair, left it on 10 minutes and rinsed.

2) I used borax 1/2 Tablespoon to a liter of water pour it in my hair and left it on overnite, I rinsed the following day, then sprayed my hair with 1 part ACV and 5 parts water. I have a sink top water filter and so it probably did have some chlorine and definitely fluoride it in and I am hoping the borax helped some.

The only side effect I had is when I left the baking soda sit on my scalp for 10 minutes. It did burn (sting) in the areas where my hair had thinned out (on top, at temples) and I take that as a good thing (like there was a little fungus or something there that I did not know about, that needed to be removed )

3) I am very pleased with the results and my hair is not falling out.

I think that when a person chemically treat their hair maybe with perms or permanent hair color and use peroxide or vinegar incorrectly you will have a negative reaction. Read everything carefully!