Essential oil/magnetic pulse ANDROGENIC Alopcia study

Forgot about this study years ago, but thought I’d take another gander at it, and one stat jumped out at me. First the little abstract:

Essential oils and low-intensity electromagnetic pulses in the treatment of androgen-dependent alopecia
Journal Advances in Therapy
Publisher Springer Healthcare Communications
ISSN 0741-238X (Print) 1865-8652 (Online)
Issue Volume 20, Number 4 / July, 2003
DOI 10.1007/BF02850093
Pages 220-229
Subject Collection Medicine
SpringerLink Date Friday, March 28, 2008

PDF (116.8 KB)

Essential oils and low-intensity electromagnetic pulses in the treatment of androgen-dependent alopecia
J. P. Bureau1, P. Ginouves2, J. Guilbaud3 and M. E. Roux4

(1) University of Medicine, Montpellier, France
(2) Avignon, France
(3) Paris, France
(4) Saint Louis Hospital, Paris, France
(5) 39 Rue de Berri, F. 75008 Paris, France

Abstract This double-blind randomized study vs placebo in healthy male and female volunteers demonstrates the positive biologic effect on hair loss and hair regrowth of a pulsed electromagnetic field in combination with essential oils administered according to a regular treatment schedule of 26 weeks. Mean hair count comparisons within the groups significantly favor the treatment group, which exhibited a decrease in hair loss in 83% of the volunteers and a more than 20% hair count increase over baseline in 53% of patients. The process exhibited no side effects or untoward reactions. The histologic examination correlated with the clinical study. A parallel immunohistochemical examination showed an increase in the proliferation index, and when the expression of Ki67 (a cell proliferation marker) is increased, the mitoses are barely visible in the histologic examination. The rationale of this phenomenon is considered to be due to an electrophysiologic effect on the quiescent hair follicle.

A over 20% increase over baseline for 53% of the essential oil study respondents? . Fluridil’s study claimed an 11% increase in haircounts over baseline at nine months. Fluridil, a rationally designed topical agent for androgenetic alopecia: first clinical experience - PubMed. But that was for everybody in the study, not just the top half of responders

When minoxidl and ketoconazole 2% shampoo were studied, after 6 months of using the treatments, the hair density of the Nizoral group went from 250 to 296 hairs per square centimeter; an increase of of 18%. In the minoxidil group, the increase was 11%, from 276 to 306 hairs. Both ketoconazole and minoxidil increased hair shaft diameter by 7%. Even though the sample size in this second experiment was very small, this looks like a very promising result.
http://inhumanexperiment.blogspot.com/2 … th_12.html
These are all the people who took part in the studies however, not just the top 53% of responders. If you took the top 53% of ketoconaozle 2% responders, the increases in haircounts would surely be higher than 18%, but it is indeed still impressive to consider.

So the hair count increases were “over 20%”, 18%, 11% , and 11%.

My take…somebody who was using minoxidil could easily put one milliliter of cedarwood, one milliliter of lavendar, and one milliliter of rosemary into their minoxidil sprayer and almost assuredly be none the worse for the trouble. Those oils are extrememly cheap. I have a feeling that nizoral’s effects on prostaglandins probably make adding the thyme essential oil uneccessary. I really doubt “electromagnetic pulses” have all that much of an effect (where do they come up with this stuff?) and most all the postive benefit from that 26 week study was attributable to those oils. Whats encouraging was that 83% of the test subjects had a decrease in hair loss, so it was effective for almost 85% of the people who tried it.

If you consider the fact that in the Scottish Alopecia Areata study, 44% of people using the essential oils had a positive response (with no magnetic razzle-dazzle going on), one can almost be assured that using the 3 or 4 primary essential oils certainly wont be bad for their hair. A few drops of these in a shampoo, or put in their minxodil almost assuredly couldn’t hurt.