Diclofenac gel to regrow hair on bald head and beard
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That is quite a contrast: 3mm vs .5mm. I'm all for less pain, so I may try the .5mm approach. And I hear you, @wester130, where the deeper penetration may not equal more pain, but I think I'm going to try this .5mm for 3 months.
Some things worth pointing out are that the participants in the study were primarily women: 14 men, 31 women, and maybe even more surprising, they only microneedled every 2 weeks. That kind of blows my mind. All the years I've researched microneedling, the general consensus was to microneedle as frequently as you can get away with. This new approach is really the best of both worlds — less pain, less work.
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I have vellus hairs growing all over the areas where I've microneedled very sporadically, where it was totally bare skin before, so throw in another case into that pool.
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you are almost there guys, just one more months of microneedling...
https://youtu.be/JKBGjEKeCIA?t=635 -
@Hearthfire I have microneedled at least 15 times already, at various depths and I have never seen even one vellus hair sprout...what am I doing wrong?
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You need to pair it with other things. I'm doing a whole routine....
Microneedling, homemade growth shampoo, minoxidil, ketoconazole shampoo, rosemary/castor oil/tea tree oil topical massages, oral castor oil.Just last month added (will take a 1-2 months or more to determine if these are helping): Diclofenac, regrowth vitamins, gua sha stone as a tool to better massage and move blood around in the scalp, probably will help relax any tight head muscles which can cause hairloss. The gua sha stone is amazing, anyone going the scalp massages route should definitely get one.
And only microneedle at 0.5mm, it's been studied and the depth with the most benefit is 0.5mm. Check out that Youtube video by Perfect Hair Health I linked above.
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Used the diclofenac 4 times now, no side effects whatsoever. Using 1/4 - 1/2 the upper body dose amount from the dose card.
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@Hearthfire
Good news. -
I am trying a more natural route and looking into rosemary/hibiscus tincture
as an alcohol tincture, it may wor kbetetr than the oils
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@wester130 Some studies have shown rosemary as effective as minoxidil, definitely a good bet. Some people reported tea made from the leaves as effective. I'm using the oil. I'm having good regrowth, but since I'm doing so many other things I can't say if it's the rosemary. I think it's helping. I can definitely feel it has an effect on the scalp after using it.
Also, diclofenac update: Still no side effects. Still using same dosage. Every other day/every few days.
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@Hearthfire @wester130
I've tried rosemary throughout the years, and I have it on a reminder to use again. Any thoughts on why the tincture or tea would be more absorbable than the oil?@Hearthfire Good news on the Diclofenac.
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I don't know, what's the thought process @wester130 ?
Maybe you can leave it in longer than the oil since it isn't as messy and potently fragrant. I can only do one hour or two with the rosemary oil. Stuff is strong.
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@Hearthfire you use rosemary essential oil? do you dilute it?
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Sometimes I mix it with castor oil. Sometimes I just do the rosemary and massage/gua sha. Depends on what I have time for. It's harder to wash the castor oil out of your hair than the rosemary oil.
I also make a homemade shampoo using Dr Bronners castille soap, and I put some rosemary oil in that along with other ingredients that are good for regrowth.
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@Mossy the oil is problematic and too strong
many people used rosemary water, the tincture would work just as well
mix with green tea tincture too, combined with once weekly dermastamping
a rosemary/hibiscus/green tea tincture would be interesting
this person used water,
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@Hearthfire coconut oil seems really nice for hair as well. the guy who i learned the rosemary reccomendation from actually switched to peppermint oil because apparently it is even better.
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@sushi_is_cringe makes sense
mint has commonality with anti histamines
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All I've seen is that everyone says rosemary is better, including the Perfect Hair Health youtube channel IIRC. With peppermint, there were some studies done on mice that showed regrowth, but no studies on humans that I'm aware of. Rosemary was studied on humans and shown to be as effective as minoxidil.
I do think peppermint is beneficial. It's antifungal/antibacterial and increases blood flow. It's in the Dr Bronners castille soap I use as shampoo, so I get rosemary and peppermint. Both bases covered.
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@Hearthfire, @wester130, @sushi_is_cringe
Good information. I kind of like the potency aspect of the rosemary oil, assuming that it is indeed more potent, in the hopes that it will produce better results. But, for going to work and being out in public, the water based makes sense. But maybe in this case more potent smelling doesn't necessarily equal more effective.Coconut and peppermint oil have been talked about and used for as long as I can remember; so, could be beneficial to add those in as well, like Hearthfire does. I've used that entire combination throughout the years: castor, coconut, rosemary, and peppermint. I've also used lavender, eucalyptus, and cedarwood. I do remember a few years back cedarwood was being talked about for hair growth.
One oil that was really talked about quite some time back was emu oil. It's really hard to know if these are legitimate pro-hair ingredients or if industries promoted them, in an attempt to make money.
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not sure about emu oil, seems pointless, greasy too
I would do alcohol tinctures of rosemary, mint and green tea.
optional extras: hibiscus, neem, licorice, all as alcohol tinctures
menthol can work as well as many anti inflammatory drugs
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interesting study on menthol,
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0026286216300401?via%3Dihub
interesting study on licorice too
licorice/mint/rosemary would be interesting
