The Era of the big Wig

Soon after the Middle Ages wigs became popular for women. Then in the 1600’s the flamboyant and incredibly vain King Louis XIV of France lost his hair from a severe illness and took to wearing gigantic wigs thus setting the fashion for most men of his day.

These enormous creations featured such items as cages with live birds and could weigh up to 20 lbs.!

By the 1700’s England made another contribution to bad hair loss concealers. This was the age of the long, curly, and powered wigs. Even today, English judges and lawyers continue this practice. Thus the expression for those in authority – “Big Wigs.”

The“Snake oil” Years

The early 1800’s is renowned in hair loss circles as the age of the con men. There were hundreds of so-called “hair loss solutions” and many lasted well into the late 1900’s.

These treatments were marketed by fast-talking “doctors,” skilled only in bravery and possessing nerves of steel considering they were conning hardened cowboys and outlaws!

The salesmen hawked their products from the safety of their side shows and “Wild West” spectaculars. They used endless tricks to get people to buy their products, including rubbing grease into their hair to make it look thicker.

The “Modern” Era of Hair Loss Solutions

During the past several decades, superstition, old wives tales, and guess work has gradually been replaced by science.

In 1939, a Japanese dermatologist, Dr. Okuda, published a revolutionary method in a Japanese medical journal that would lay the ground work for modern hair transplantation.

This method involved using hair transplant grafts to correct lost hair from various areas, including the scalp, eyebrow, and moustache areas. However, this study didn’t make an impact in the Western Hemisphere due to the interruption of World War II.

Hair transplants are born.

In the late 50’s one physician in particular, Dr. Norman Orentriech, began to experiment with the idea of relocating or transplanting the hair on the back and sides of the head to the balding areas.

Dr. Orentriech’s experiments showed that when bald resistant hairs from the back and sides of the head were relocated, they maintained their bald resistant genetic characteristic regardless of where they were transplanted.

This principle, known as “Donor Dominance”, established that hair could be transplanted from the bald resistant donor areas to the balding areas and continues to grow for a life time. This laid the foundation for modern hair transplantation.

During the 60’s and 70’s surgical hair restoration grew in popularity. However, the standard procedure used large grafts that were removed by round punches and often contained many hairs.

Completed Result after Multiple Sessions of Large Grafts

This now outdated technique could achieve a full look if a patient completed all planned sessions. However, a patient was typically limited in the manner they could style their hair.

Patients who stopped short of completing all planned sessions were left with hair loss solutions that looked obvious and unnatural.

Such uncompleted hair restoration results are some times referred to as “barbie doll hair” or “corn rows”.

Many who have had these older techniques now refine or complete their hair transplants with today’s very refined techniques to achieve a natural look that they can style in any manner.

From big wigs to surgical hair restoration

The Era of the big Wig

Soon after the Middle Ages wigs became popular for women. Then in the 1600’s the flamboyant and incredibly vain King Louis XIV of France lost his hair from a severe illness and took to wearing gigantic wigs thus setting the fashion for most men of his day.

These enormous creations featured such items as cages with live birds and could weigh up to 20 lbs.!

By the 1700’s England made another contribution to bad hair loss concealers. This was the age of the long, curly, and powered wigs. Even today, English judges and lawyers continue this practice. Thus the expression for those in authority – “Big Wigs.”

The“Snake oil” Years

The early 1800’s is renowned in hair loss circles as the age of the con men. There were hundreds of so-called “hair loss solutions” and many lasted well into the late 1900’s.

These treatments were marketed by fast-talking “doctors,” skilled only in bravery and possessing nerves of steel considering they were conning hardened cowboys and outlaws!

The salesmen hawked their products from the safety of their side shows and “Wild West” spectaculars. They used endless tricks to get people to buy their products, including rubbing grease into their hair to make it look thicker.

The “Modern” Era of Hair Loss Solutions

During the past several decades, superstition, old wives tales, and guess work has gradually been replaced by science.

In 1939, a Japanese dermatologist, Dr. Okuda, published a revolutionary method in a Japanese medical journal that would lay the ground work for modern hair transplantation.

This method involved using hair transplant grafts to correct lost hair from various areas, including the scalp, eyebrow, and moustache areas. However, this study didn’t make an impact in the Western Hemisphere due to the interruption of World War II.

Hair transplants are born.

In the late 50’s one physician in particular, Dr. Norman Orentriech, began to experiment with the idea of relocating or transplanting the hair on the back and sides of the head to the balding areas.

Dr. Orentriech’s experiments showed that when bald resistant hairs from the back and sides of the head were relocated, they maintained their bald resistant genetic characteristic regardless of where they were transplanted.

This principle, known as “Donor Dominance”, established that hair could be transplanted from the bald resistant donor areas to the balding areas and continues to grow for a life time. This laid the foundation for modern hair transplantation.

During the 60’s and 70’s surgical hair restoration grew in popularity. However, the standard procedure used large grafts that were removed by round punches and often contained many hairs.

Completed Result after Multiple Sessions of Large Grafts

This now outdated technique could achieve a full look if a patient completed all planned sessions. However, a patient was typically limited in the manner they could style their hair.

Patients who stopped short of completing all planned sessions were left with hair loss solutions that looked obvious and unnatural.

Such uncompleted hair restoration results are some times referred to as “barbie doll hair” or “corn rows”.

Many who have had these older techniques now refine or complete their hair transplants with today’s very refined techniques to achieve a natural look that they can style in any manner.

Brilliant Hair Loss Treatment, or is it a Scam?

ElectroTrichoGenesis (ETG), also known as Cosmetic TrichoGenesis (CTG), is a little known hair loss treatment that makes some very lofty hair growth claims. How does ETG work and is it really clinically proven to treat androgenic alopecia(genetic balding)?

How ElectroTrichoGenesis (ETG) Works

ETG is promoted as a safe, painless and non-intrusive. Treatment is administered via an “ergonomically shaped couch with a semi spherical hood” manufactured by Current Technology Corporation in Vancouver, Canada.

The patient reclines on the chair and the hood (with disposable liner) is placed over the head but does not make contact with the scalp. This special hood contains electrodes that deliver “specified pulsed electrostatic energy” delivered passively to the scalp by the low-level electric field generated within it.

ETG is believed to stimulate the regrowth of hair through the positive influence of the pulsed electrostatic field it generates. This field is said to stimulate “changes within the hair bulge and the follicle, stabilizing hair loss and stimulating new hair growth”. Patients receive a single 12 minute session weekly.

Is ETG Clinically Proven?

The following three studies on the efficacy of ElectroTrichoGenesis (ETG) as a treatment for thinning hair have been published in peer-reviewed journals:

Maddin, W. Stuart; Bell, Peter W.; James, John H. M. (1990).
"The Biological Effects of a Pulsed Electrostatic Field with Specific Reference to Hair Electrotrichogenesis". International Journal of Dermatology29(6): 446–450.

Benjamin, Benji; Ziginskas, Danute; Harman, John; Meakin, Timothy (2002).
"Pulsed electrostatic fields (ETG) to reduce hair loss in women undergoing chemotherapy for breast carcinoma: A pilot study". Psycho-Oncology11(3): 244–248

Maddin, WS; Amara, I; Sollecito, WA (1992).
"Electrotrichogenesis: further evidence of efficacy and safety on extended use". International Journal of Dermatology31(12): 878–80

According to the 36-week comparative, controlled study conducted on male subjects at the University of British Columbia and published in The International Journal of Dermatology, 96.7% of those treated experienced cessation of hair loss and/or hair regrowth. Decreased hair loss was seen as early as 4 to 6 weeks but many patients required more time for results.

The pilot study conducted on women undergoing chemotherapy for breast carcinoma and published in  Psycho-Oncology,showed that twelve out of 13 participants had good hair retention throughout the chemotherapy period and afterwards with no reported side effects.

As with the clinically proven medical hair loss treatments Rogaine (minoxidil) and Propecia (finasteride), ETG is said to be most effective in the early stages of balding.

Conclusion

Although the data put forth in this article seems to paint ETG as a clinically proven and highly effective hair loss treatment, it’s important to note that the procedure is not new. The studies referenced above were published more than 13 years ago. If ETG truly works to stimulate hair growth and suppress the advancement of hair loss, why has it not become a fixture in the world’s leading hair restoration clinics? Where are all the glowing, unbiased reviews?

With no reported side effects, there may be no harm in giving ETG a try if there is a provider in your area and the fees are reasonable. However, balding men and women are encouraged to consult with an experienced and reputable hair restoration physicianin order to diagnose the cause of their thinning hair and learn about the outstanding medical and surgical options available today.

Today it is a very refined outpatient procedure that can produce full and natural looking results, even after only one hair transplant session.

When performed correctly not even a hair stylist will detect that a person has had a hair transplant.

However, to achieve such natural results it is critical that the hair transplant procedure be "performed correctly". To do so requires a hair restoration clinic that can perform a follicular unit hair transplant at the highest levels of skill, experience, and dedication.

What it takes to create natural results.

A great hair transplant is the result of using a state of the art surgical procedure and performing it with great skill and artistry. Today the acknowledged "gold standard" in hair transplant surgery is called "Ultra Refined Follicular Unit Hair Transplantation".

This relatively new hair transplant procedure enables a patient to achieve extremely natural results because it recreates and mimics the way a person's hair grows naturally, hair for hair.

Recreating Nature Hair for Hair

To understand this procedure you must first understand how hair grows naturally.

If you look closely at naturally growing hair using magnification you will see that hair actually grows in groupings of one, two, three, and four hairs.

These naturally occurring hair groupings grow in irregular patterns on the scalp similar to trees growing in the forest. These groupings are technically referred to as "follicular units".

By relocating these carefully prepared and isolated follicular units, physicians doing "follicular unit hair transplantation" recreate a natural pattern of hair in the balding areas.

Follicular Unit Hair Transplant tough on the clinic but easy on the patient.

To do this properly is a very time consuming process. It requires a team of skilled and meticulous medical technicians working closely with the lead physician.

All our physician members perform this hair transplant procedure with excellent results. They are granted membership in the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians strictly based on their proven high level of experience, ethics, and skill in successfully performing this patient friendly procedure.

While the follicular unit procedure is more demanding upon the medical staff, it produces dramatic and life long advantages for the patient such as undetectable naturalness, rapid healing, and optimal use of their limited donor hair.

The Standard Hair Transplant, easy on the clinic but not on the patient.

Only a minority of hair transplant surgeons are committed to doing the follicular unit procedure properly. Many physicians continue to dissect grafts without regard to the integrity of the follicular units. Follicular units are often transected and damaged as donor tissue is cut to conform to the size of the recipient holes rather than to maintain the integrity of the follicular units.

Such common standard hair transplant procedures are quicker and simpler to perform than follicular unit hair transplantation from the hair transplant surgeon's perspective. The standard hair transplant procedure is also often more profitable for the clinic since it requires less staff time, training, resources, and skill. However, the results are generally suboptimal for the patient.

Respecting the Follicular Unit

Each follicular unit is surrounded by small glands, blood vessels, nerves, and a connective tissue sac making it a tiny self contained unit.

If these follicular units are damaged during removal or dissection, the hair may grow poorly.

Therefore it is important to cut only in the loose tissue between the follicular units to keep each follicular unit intact and avoid damaging it.

Instantly Provides the Appearance of a Full Head of Hair? Product Review

For many balding men and women worldwide, credible hair loss concealers like DermMatch are an important part of their daily routine. By utilizing concealers, individuals with thinning hair are able to increase the appearance of follicular density and recreate a thicker, fuller head of hair all with a single topical application.

Like any other hair loss treatment, concealers must be reviewed, clinically tested, and proven before receiving any endorsement from this website community. However, after reviewing both the product and patient testimonials on our open hair loss forum, one thing is clear: DermMatch is a dependable, hair loss concealer that has been proven effective by the overall patient community.

DermMatch: What is it and how it works.

Unlike other "sprinkle," "spray," or "lotion" concealers, DermMatch utilizes a patented "EZ Grip, EZ Reach" applicator to evenly distribute a hard-packed powder formula over a hair loss sufferer’s scalp. In addition to "matching" the patient’s scalp to their natural hair color (minimizing the contrast between scalp and hair, and truly concealing baldness), the DermMatch powder formula coats, thickens, and volumizes existing hair.

Because DermMatch minimizes the appearance of hair loss by matching scalp to hair tone, the product is available in 8 different shades, and creates an integrated, natural look for all hair colors and types. Furthermore, if consumers require a highly specialized color, DermMatch shades can be mixed to truly mimic the appearance of any complex hair tone. Additionally, because of the ease of the "EZ Grip, EZ Reach" applicator, DermMatch is particularly useful for recreating or matching shortly cropped hair, mimicking natural hairlines, and diminishing the appearance of previous hair transplant surgery scars.

The Benefits of DermMatch versus other Concealers

In addition to simple application and a natural appearance, DermMatch is extremely resilient, and can withstand excessive sweating, wind stress, and even full water submersion. According to the makers of DermMatch, the product’s all natural ingredients, including emollients, botanicals, and other organic elements, coat the hair and scalp, and protect from unwanted and unexpected stessors. By adding this level of protection, DermMatch will resist the running, flaking, and smudging associated with other, less effective concealers. Furthermore, because DermMatch does not contain any unsafe dyes or colorants, it will not dry/irritate the scalp or affect any new or existing hair growth.

Why DermMatch has become so popular and credible in the hair loss patient community

According to the makers of DermMatch, the product is useful for all hair loss sufferers (both male and female), and provides aesthetically pleasing results in patients with up to 80% decreases in hair density. Furthermore, DermMatch can be used with other proven hair loss treatments like Propecia (finasteride), Rogaine (minoxidil), and surgical hair transplantation. Because of its efficacy, usability, and popularity with hair loss sufferers, DermMatch is highly recommended to any individual seeking a quality concealer.

See what Real Patients are Saying about DermMatch on our Hair Loss Forum

For step by step instructions on how to apply DermMatch to thinning areas including photos and an in-depth discussion with other hair loss sufferers, visit the discussion topic "DermMatch (Pictures)". To see what other members and DermMatch consumers are saying, you are encouraged to use the "search" feature of our hair restoration discussion forum.

Scalp Med TV infomercials, like many hair loss products, claim to sell FDA approved hair loss products. Pictures, videos, and testimonies on television show hair loss sufferers regrowing hair even when men and women were completely bald. Is this really what balding people can expect from Scalp Med? Below we examine Scalp Med and unlock the mystery ingredients and whether or not any clinical proof exists that this hair loss solution can treat baldness.

Scalp Med includes 3 distinct products including topical Vitadil-5A for men or Vitadil-2A for women, topical NutriSol-RM, and Cortex Enlarger hair thickening spray.

Vitadil-5A for men or Vitadil-2A for women is a topical solution that contains the proven hair regrowth solution minoxidil, also found in Rogaine and Xandrox. It's also said to include a unique delivery agent formulated to increase the absorption of 5% minoxidil for men, 2% for women.

Scalp Med is a bit more vague as to the ingredients found in the NutriSol-RM topical and the Cortex Enlarger thickening spray. While NutriSol-RM topical is designed to add essential nutrients to the scalp for healthier hair, the Cortex Enlarger hair thickening spray's primary purpose is to temporarily fatten the hair follicles making hair appear thicker.

Scalp Med is upfront that the ingredients found in the NutriSol-RM shampoo and Cortex Enlarger hair thickener will not stop hair loss or cause hair regrowth.

Scalp Med also offers a detoxifying cleanser kit which includes a detoxifying shampoo called Panthenol-DX Scalp Detoxifier. This shampoo is designed to deeply cleanse the scalp without stripping the hair of its natural oils and nutrients. Unless your thinning hair is due to pollutants or toxins affecting natural hair growth, Panthenol-DX Scalp Detoxifier won't stimulate new hair growth. Scalp Med's Panthenol-DX does nothing to stop the natural progression of genetic female hair loss and male pattern baldness.

To supplement Scalp Med's hair loss treatment program, Scalp Med offers a Mega-Multi Vitamin to increase overall body health.

Scalp Med can legally claim that it's product contains an FDA approved ingredient since Scalp Med does contain minoxidil, which is a FDA approved topical treatment for hair loss. However, Scalp Med its self has not been granted FDA approval. Though Scalp Med's other products may work to promote healthy hair, it's the minoxidil that gives balding men and women any hope of restoring their hair.

Unfortunately, Scalp Med's marketing infomercials makes it appear that completely bald men and women have hope of regrowing a full head of thick and healthy hair. However, the words “Results seen are not typical” can be seen in small fine print at the bottom of your television.  Additionally, Scalp Med's website FAQ makes it clear that no non-surgical hair loss solution is proven to grow hair in completely bald areas.

There are several proven success stories that minoxidil can stimulate hair regrowth in areas of thinning hair. Therefore, Scalp Med's Vitadil-5A should be as effective as 5% minoxidil just as Vitadil-2A should be as effective as the 2% solution.

Scalp Med is about 3 times the cost of minoxidil. A two month supply of Scalp Med is approximately $160.00. Discounts are available if you buy in bulk. However, even in bulk, the net cost ends up around $64 per month as opposed to the $20 per month cost of Rogaine. Generic minoxidil costs even less.

Nizoral 2% is magnificent shampoo and a significant part of what's referred to commonly as the Big 3. The other two are the FDA approved and proven treatments Propecia (finasteride)and Rogaine (minoxidil). To date, Nizoral is the only shampoo on the market that can make the unique claim that it's proven to stop the formation of DHT. Its active ingredient ketoconazoleat 2% concentration has proven to be a moderate DHT inhibitor and has growth stimulating properties about as effective as Rogaine 2%.

This product includes 2%, the highest concentration of the active ingredient ketoconazole. To view the clinical abstract proving the effectiveness of ketoconazole in the treatment of androgenetic alopecia, view "Ketoconazole as a hair loss treatment". There is also a less concentrated 1% of Nizoral. To learn more, visit Nizoral regular shampoo.

We strongly suggest using Nizoral shampoo in addition to other proven treatments. Nizoral should be used 2 or 3 times a week to avoid dry hair and a flakey scalp.

On the off days, you may want to consider rotating Nizoral with other excellent shampoos designed specifically for thinning hair. See the recommended treatments section below for other shampoos we recommend.

Developing Realistic Expectations:

Men and women sometimes suffer from hair loss for different reasons. Thus, diagnosing its cause is necessary to facilitate and promote proper treatment.

Don't expect immediate results. It's recommended to use Nizoral in conjunction with other proven treatments for at least 6 to 12 months before determining its effectiveness. Documenting your progress with bi-monthly photos can help you determine whether or not Nizoral has been successful in helping you maintain existing hair.

To date, only surgical hair restoration is proven to grow hair in completely bald areas. You are invited to have a free virtual consultation with one of our prescreened hair restoration physicians.