Potassium Iodide / Iodine for the Growth of Hair

albion

Iodine has some promising effects relating to hair loss:
It is anti-fibrotic, a decalcification agent, anti-histaminergic, anti-estrogenic, it seems to synergize with Calcium, and of course it is a potent anti-fungal and anti-parasitic agent. All of these properties should confer on iodine a potent capacity for hair growth. There even exists a patent for a basic topical Iodine hair-growth formula composed of Lugol's in a carrier gel.

It is surprisingly hard to find clean anecdotes on Reddit or elsewhere regarding topical iodine; mostly just people on r/tressless using Betadine as part of their derma-rolling protocol (huge confound in the derma-rolling studies is that Iodine is used as a disinfectant either pre- or post-intervention... Think about that).

Has anyone run experiments on themselves with topical Iodine for hair growth?

albion

@albion Guys sorry for the chat GPT level writing here, I am estrogenic as of late and brain fogged... I hope my point still translates

thyroidchor27

I've only tried oral. Does iodine really need s carrier agent? I thought it was absorbed decently enough but maybe not efficient enough for norwooders

albion

@thyroidchor27 When I do topical I typically use a carrier fat. It helps with spreading the mixture. Also, I like the thought of potentially delivering iodolipids straight to the scalp. I apply the mixture for an hour or so then wash off. There's quite a bit of benefit for fat alone on the scalp, as a toxin absorber.

Mossy

@albion
I have a quote in my notes, from the Ray Peat Forum, about using iodine and iodide for hairloss:

"Applying Lugols' mix of iodine and potassium iodide directly to the spot before bed (and stopping B5) grew all the hair back in 4-5 months. If you dissolve some aspirin in hot water and baking soda and then apply it on your scalp that will help too. It will stop the prostaglandins associated with micro-inflammation."

I don't know if this link is accurate, but this is what I had next to the quote: https://raypeatforum.com/community/threads/please-help-me-with-my-hair-loss.33796/\"

I also have a couple more quotes about Iodine and hair, from the same t Forum:

"When your body burns all proteins for energy. You lose hair. This is why on t3 some people will lose tons of hair or on iodine. This is not AGA or androgenic alopecia. this is protein wasting hairloss."

"I have been taking SSKI for over 16 years ,I don't remember why I went to my Doctor to get a prescription for it but he gave me one and said years ago they put it in bread,so it wouldn't hurt me. I take 10 drops a day . After one year my color came back . I have red hair and I'm 80 years old and I'm not gray."

I had this link next to the first quote of the above two: https://lowtoxinforum.com/threads/the-extrathyroidal-role-of-iodine.42658/#post-702394\

albion

@Mossy Thank you. I have heard of people on Reddit magically curing their gray hair from Iodine (and they didn't seem like Curezone nuts, just: "can someone explain this" type posts).