So I came across some interesting articles, inspired by a look at SouthernTease's blog. I revisted the idea of using coffee for hair growth. It seems caffeine stimulates hair follicle growth.
The study isn't complete and I believe they're still developing a topical application, but the idea's interesting!
I work for my school's dining services and I throw coffee out every night. Now I'll save the caffeine, mix it with my new shea butter and use it on my scalp. Better yet, I'll try infusing coffee into an oil. We'll see how that turns out.
I'll experiment on myself to see if this works!
Studies:
Study proves caffeine in shampoo does penetrate to the hair follicle
Posted on April 3rd, 2007 in Hair Loss News, Hair Loss Studies by admin | 1,333 Views |
Caffeine is being used as an ingredient in some hair loss shampoos. The reason for this is that an in-vitro study was done where follicles were treated with a caffeine solution and it was found that caffeine blocks the effects of a DHT, the hormone that causes Male Pattern Baldness and damages the hair follicles
Dr Fischer, who conducted the first trial, took scalp biopsies from 14 men in the early stages of hair loss. He extracted the hair follicles and then placed them in test tubes with solutions containing different levels of caffeine. The follicles that were being treated with caffeine saw their average growth increase by around 46 per cent and the life cycle of the hair extended by 37 per cent, when compared to the control group.
This study prompted some manufacturers to add caffeine to their hair loss products.
In this study, researchers in Germany wanted to see if topically applied caffeine could be delivered to the follicle when being part of a shampoo.
According to their study they were able to prove that after 2 minutes of shampooing, the caffeine in the shampoo was able to penetrate into the scalp via the hair follicles and stratum corneum (the outermost layer of the skin).
This proves that shampoo is an effective delivery vehicle for caffeine, provided that it’s left on the scalp for 2 minutes or more.
Follicular Penetration of Topically Applied Caffeine via a Shampoo Formulation.
Full study:
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/118530586/HTMLSTART