hair tonics for thinning hair?

Has anyone noticed hair tonics helping to grow thicker hair? Apparently in the old days, that was what Eau de Quinine and Bay Rum were often used for. They were not used for styling so much as massaging into the head.

I have had a lot of hormone issues in the past few years, I have borderline high estrogen (I even had a breast exam the other day, unusual for a guy but I had a lump and I had the doctor look at it, he just said it was "normal breast tissue" and nothing to be done about it since my case was not so severe and any drugs would have side effects on my stomach). I've noticed my hair is thinning somewhat in the front. Not going away so much as the hair shafts have become thinner. I used rosemary shampoo in the past a few years ago but now days I don't shampoo my hair every day. When I did use it, my hair did grow faster. I've also tried rosemary water but sometimes that seems a little too strong and I'm worried about making my head itchy.

Many years ago I was vegetarian and it seems like the hormone problems only happened after I started eating meat again. My diet hasn't been so great in the past few years but the past week I've tried to start eating more vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower again, and eating more soy (something I haven't eaten much of in a long time). I also plan to take some supplements (saw palmetto, nettle, and grape seed extractl). But, I'd like to hear if hair tonics actually improved things for anyone.

my hair is also starting to turn grey (a few scattered hairs seem to have no color at all) around the same time my dad did, fairly young at around 38-39. I've being using a brown rinse every shampoo but that isn't hacking it . Years ago I would dye my hair plum sometimes, so looks like I will be wanting to dye my hair again (this time just medium or dark brown). I don't really want to go grey because people think I look like I'm about 25 and that's the way I want to leave it for now.

I have been looking for a real bay rum to try, so far it seems that maybe something like Superior 70, which seems to be made with real bay oil. I do like Lustray's from time to time when my face isn't feeling too sensitive, but I don't think it has much, if any, real bay oil in it.

I use eau de quinine a lot. I do not think it has thickened my hair at all. Other than the help that stimulating the scalp may give from massaging, I do not think any tonic will help regrow any hair. I believe that was just a marketing claim.

Grecian formula works well, especially if you do not have too much gray hair. I used it for years in my 20's, and early 30's. Until I just gave up and embraced the "experienced" look. You use it like a tonic. It doesn't have "color" in it, so it doesn't color your skin, only the grays. It does not grow more hair, but I think I saw that it made what hair you had look fuller in one of its formulations at one time or another. It takes a while to work, but looks very natural.

good Luck,
Brian

Take a shaver to your head, and buzz it all off. Thats what I did more than 20 years ago, and Ive never looked back. It's cool in hot weather, you don't have to dink around with styling, you save money on haircuts, your shampoo is your bar soap, it's easy to take care of your scalp, and nobody can tell if you are graying or balding. Then you grow a goatee, and you dont' have to worry about ATG passes on your upper lip, and you can look bada$$ at the same time. Problem solved.

I'm not quite at the stage I would want to buzz my hair off- I don't look like I'm balding per se. But my hair doesn't look as full as it used to.

I'll look into Grecian Formula... it's a brand I haven't often seen in stores, but I have heard of it.

West Indies Bay Rum is a simple "real Bay Rum". Price isn't to bad either. Hope it all works out for you.

I use hair tonic every day. Haven't noticed any changes to my hair. But my hair was pretty thick to begin with. If you're looking for something to stimulate your scalp, Osage Rub is awesome! Superior 70 is a great bay rum and one of my favorites. Superior 70 also has a mentholated version which is nice and tingly as well.

I am a 36 year old Blond male that has been suffering the thinning of hair over the last few years. Not to bad, but its noticeable to those who know me. I have been watching this post. Maybe i will have to try some of these and see if any of it appears to help with that. I also have noticed recently that my hair does 1 of 2 things now. It either lays flat and looks oily/greasy even though it's not, or it has a combed appearance and I have hairs curling upward making it look kind of messy. It's frustrating. Maybe a tonic would help in those regards for me too.

TheVez2 said:

I use hair tonic every day. Haven't noticed any changes to my hair. But my hair was pretty thick to begin with. If you're looking for something to stimulate your scalp, Osage Rub is awesome! Superior 70 is a great bay rum and one of my favorites. Superior 70 also has a mentholated version which is nice and tingly as well.

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+1 on all this

JaredB said:

Take a shaver to your head, and buzz it all off. Thats what I did more than 20 years ago, and Ive never looked back. It's cool in hot weather, you don't have to dink around with styling, you save money on haircuts, your shampoo is your bar soap, it's easy to take care of your scalp, and nobody can tell if you are graying or balding. Then you grow a goatee, and you dont' have to worry about ATG passes on your upper lip, and you can look bada$$ at the same time. Problem solved.

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I started to buzz at 39 no guard every 2 weeks Best thing I ever did. Love it. Should have done it years earlier.

Bhugo said:

I started to buzz at 39 no guard every 2 weeks Best thing I ever did. Love it. Should have done it years earlier.

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I was 19 or 20. I was working in the woods logging, and just couldn't handle the combination of sweat and sawdust and bugs. Just think of all the money I've saved on combs.

I'm going to try Superior 70.

A buzz cut would make my head cold, I'd be wearing something all the time to keep my head warm. I got my hair cut with a #5 guard last week and I'm already wishing I asked for a scissors cut instead- it just took off too much hair.

My experience is with typical male pattern baldness. Given your age and other conditions, I question if that's what's going on in your case. However, if it is, tonics and other non-medical applications aren't going to help. IMO, the best first-course option is Propecia, which stops the formation of the hormone that attacks the follicles and causes the thinning, and eventual baldness. Propecia only works on follicles that are still alive and producing hair. Thinning is the first sign they're under attack, but eventually they will die, if not treated. Once that happens, there's no bringing them back.

That's why Propecia should be viewed as a first option, rather than something you try later. If it doesn't work, you can always stop taking it. But if you fart around with tonics first, by the time you figure out they're not working, you will have lost valuable time during which the Propecia could have been helping. My advice is consult with your doctor ASAP to see if your thinning issues are related to typical male pattern baldness. If so, and if you really want to do something that will help, get on medication.

I also advise against dying a darker color. That will just emphasize the thinning, by increasing the contrast between your hair and your scalp. Going lighter will help minimize the appearance. Grey might be just the ticket.

(I will point out that I'm in full support of just buzzing the hair off. I do that myself, and am the happier for it. However, I understand that's not what you want to do, so I'm telling you what I would tell anyone in the first stages of thinning who wants to combat it, rather than resign himself to it.)

the hair thinning is happening around the temples. The top of my head is fine, no thinning at all.

It could be a lot of things. I used to take care of my hair a lot- my hair would get brushed often, now I have tended to have a hairstyle that just stays in place a lot easier. I'm also washing my hair less in the past few years since I got fibro (it usually makes you very cold sensitive, I can't even stand being under air conditioning vents in my apartment). It could also just be normal aging too. From what I've seen balding on the temples is normal for most guys. My dad has very little of it, however. My mom's side I don't know fully, my grandma had thinning hair all over her head, but my grandpa never seemed to go thin (he never even went fully grey, he ended up dying from cancer in his 70's, by which time of course he lost his hair).

I definitely agree that if you had serious hair loss, hair tonic would not be a very reliable course of action. I suspect it probably does work to some extent but medications tend to be reliably proven.

I have been using Eau de Quinine a few times a week, but I may try Bay Rum every day. I like the sensation it gives, it reminds me of when I went to a barber as a kid and why I liked it, it left my head feeling good from all the stimulation.

I did some quick searching to find out more about Propecia and found this.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/baldne...g-possibly-permanent-sexual/story?id=16758123

This might be something to think about.

As far as thinning goes, try Propecia or Rogaine. It might work for you.
As far as greying goes, embrace it. There has not yet been a dye/product invented that doesn't make everyone else think "that guy dyes his hair"

I've read about that study but 54 people is very small, and the selection process for participants was questionable. One thing about impotence in younger men is that there is often a psychological component, even if it has a physical cause. Confidence is shattered, and men tend to be performance-oriented anyways, so they may not recover from it without working with a therapist to deal with mental issues surrounding sexuality. The truth is unless you are a teenager, occasional sexual dysfunction is not rare at all.

I'm going to be using saw palmetto and nettle, not just for my hair but because it's probably healthier long term. I've taken it in the past when I had prostatitis and had no side effects. I'm not too worried about sexual side-effects. I just don't feel my case is severe enough to need a prescription medication. Maybe if I had an actual family history of balding. But I'll keep track of things and keep in touch with my doctor.

FireDragon76 said:

I've read about that study but 54 people is very small, and the selection process for participants was questionable.

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That was my reaction. It's not a large sample size, and was selected via a process that likely skewed negative. That said, it is worth noting that the FDA has updated labeling requirements for the drug (as well as its big brother, Proscar). Thanks for the link, Wayne. I hadn't heard about this issue before.

I didn't have any sexual side effects for the short time I was on Propecia. However, given that I'd already had thinning hair for the better part of a decade before I started taking the medication, I wasn't really a good candidate for success. If I'd known that (I didn't), and if the potential for sexual side effects were acknowledged at the time (they weren't), I might have opted not even to try it. But for me, it was no harm, no foul - it didn't help much, but I suffered no long-term effects from it.

I would say my thinning is just starting. Maybe the last few years. Likely since I got married and inherited 2 teenage boys. That's what did it...lol But yeah, i came across that article and figured it was atleast worth pointing out. I know most men would stop dead in their tracks when that type of stuff comes up...no pun intended. I just know I want all of my stuff to work as it should...lol Good to hear the FDA did and update. I may look into this further and see if I could start something in the near future.

Though they don't fully understand the causes of either baldness or prostate cancer, there could be a link between the two, particularly in African-American men http://healthland.time.com/2013/03/27/the-link-between-early-baldness-and-prostate-cancer/ . So, it could be that something like finasteride might in the future be a realistic preventative of prostate cancer in some men prone to baldness (and the treatments for prostate cancer are no picnic and definitely involve big risks for sexual dysfunction).

My point is that all in all propecia seems like a relatively safe drug with a lot of potential benefits. There are certain antidepressants that are considered decent drugs and yet have far bigger risks to your sex life.

These last few posts illustrate a point being made in the thread about dangerous substances in shaving creams: there's a buttload of conflicting information out there, and it takes a lot of diligence to sort through it all. Indeed, while we're discussing a report about how finasteride can bollocks up your love life, there is evidence that suggests the same medication can lower one's risk of low-grade prostate cancers by about 30%. Interestingly, another study from 2004 shows men who have 21 orgasms a month also lower their risk of prostate cancer by one third. Now we need a study to show whether combining finasteride and averaging 5+ orgasms a week can result in even lower risk.

Thanks for the article about the link between balding and prostate cancer. That is something I will ask my doctor about the next time I'm in. I'm not African American, but I did start noticeably balding at age 20, both in the front and at the vertex. (Now, where did I put my copy of Big 'Uns?)