Natural Solutions for Hair Loss: Effective Remedies for Regrowth - Ted's Q&A

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TED'S OPINION REGARDING TEA TREE OIL

Posted by R on 08/04/2007

Dearest Ted, I found your email on earthclinic and for the past few months I have been consulting the site to help cure my hair loss. I am a 30 year old female and have been experiencing hair loss since the age of puberty (15 years old). My once fantastically thick hair is now a quarter of what it used to be and I have turned to natural remedies to solve it as every other traditional/pharmaceutical product did not work.

About 7 months ago I started an aryuvedic treatment with natural oils and pastes applied to the hair overnight. This is working very well and I have noticed a good reduction in hair loss of long hairs; however, I am still loosing a substantial amount of short, fine, baby hairs. As I suspect that my hair loss is perhaps hormonal, as well as due to the my very oily, itchy scalp and plugged hair follicles (a lot of times I see the hair fall out with a big oily hair bulb attached) I began using zinc as you suggested for three weeks (5 out of 7 days). This did not seem to work that well for me and I didn't notice a great reduction in oiliness. So I began using your mixture of Aloe, Tea Tree and Lavender Oil once a week in addition to the aryuvedic treatment that I had been using (aryuvedic oils 2 nights a week, tea tree oil mixture once a week).

This has done a lot in helping the itchiness of my scalp, as well as reducing some of the oiliness. However, I applied it last night and noticed to my horror this morning that I was able to pull hairs out of scalp if I gently ran my hands through my hair. What I have noticed is that the once oily hair bulb attached to the root of the hair is now dried out and on some hair strands I can see that dried skin from the follicle has dislodged itself and is moving down the hair shaft. Could it be that the tea tree oil has dried out the oily bulb and I am loosing the entire hair strand because it is no longer connected to the scalp? I have not heard of this problem while reading the other testimonials on earthclinic and I thought to contact you for your advice. I have also been doing a final rinse with white vinegar diluted in water and this has also helped the condition of my scalp. I have finally been able to manganese sulfate which you suggest and will start this next week. One other note, I was not able to find pure aloe vera gel, the one I purchased has some tea tree oil and vitamin E mixed in, although I am adding more tea tree oil to it when applying - I hope this has not affected the treatment.

Ted, I want to thank you in advance for any suggestions you have for me and your opinion regarding the tea tree oil. I have read some of your feedback on the site and I would like to commend you on your great work. You give hope to all those who have almost given up on finding a cure for their ailments. I wish you the best of luck in all you do. With kindest regards.

Replied by Ted
Bangkok, Thailand
391 posts

Actually it is both vitamin C and manganese. As to the hair bulb being dried out, that might come from excess use of tea tree oil and other topical formulas. If done way too much, those can also lead to some hair loss. I usually do it for fungus conditions rather than hair loss when using lavender or tea tree oil.

The hormonal issue to hair loss is at issue, but which hormone is that, I am not too certain, but I suspect it has something to do with growth hormones as certain medications to stimulate hair growth such as minoxidil have certain properties of human growth hormone. Although certain other amino acid supplements such as glycine, glutamine, and vitamin B3 niacinamide for example can cause the body to raise human growth hormones to if taken before sleep. Glycine are usually 2000-4000 mg, glutamine is about the same, while niacinamide is about 200-300 mg. Most human growth hormone are produced during the sleep, which is why those are taken during sleep.

It is important to realize that nitric oxide production is also necessary for hair growth and some vitamin C is needed to enchance manganese absorption, as well as vitamin C itself, such as rose hips is a common remedy around my house needed to stop hair loss. It is taken anywhere from 1000 mg to 3000 mg. If 3000 mg, then it is likely to be 1000 mg 3 times a day. Manganese sulfate, is taken from anywhere between only one day at 25 mg to about 5 days and usually I would top taking them once the hair stops falling. Generally speaking I take it only as needed basis, but some people liked it so much they continue to take a while longer because sometimes manganese have a good effect on depression and helps improve the mood.

Generally I excess oils and fatty acid blocks hormone functions and 1 tablespoon of granulated lecithin can help emulsify the fat to reduce the excess oils and fats that tends to congest the liver preventing detoxification and also may initiate hair loss.

Now generally speaking, two supplements that has helped me with hair loss is the vitamin C and the manganese, but vitamin B complex are also synergistic.

It's really difficult to cover all aspects of why hair loss since the I got results, however, to stop hair loss using tea tree only a couple of applications were generally sufficient, such as one to three. I wouldn't likely to overdo it, and most often one single application were sufficient in most cases. However, if the tea tree does not resolve itself, generally I will look at other obvious factors such as vitamin C and manganese.

As to while the scalp continues to produce oils, it is also quite often excess dietary fats and liver trying to remove the excess oils and vegetable oils in the body as one possible issue. Therefore, I would try to avoid meats, fried foods, and stick to complex carbs (pasta, spaghetti, rice), vegetables and fish (a good clean one!) while avoiding deep fry, stir fry and go with baked and boiled.

Hair also needs a fair amount of protein for normal growth, so fishes usually help, and sometimes amino acid supplements. There are also biotin 10 mg/day which is a form of vitamin B which seems to help with hair growth.

In some instances, not everytime, taking baking soda with lime such as 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda and one whole lime in 1/2 glass of water taken twice a day, once in the morning and once before bedtime can also helps with the capillary circulation as alkalizing tends to expand microcirculations to the hair resulting in somewhat more thicker hair. Certain Southern Indians also use coconut oil application applied lightly and has helped them with thicker hair, of course, they don't apply them heavily.

In general I wouldn't try to use too much topical application if it's not working after a couple of tries, as long term use such as 10 applications in a row for example will obviously damage the scalp. A damaged scalp can often lead to problems with the hair since it is the scalp that holds the hair together.


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