The relatively recent arrival of the German Alpecin shampoo into the UK market has drawn our attention to the possibly beneficial effects of caffeine on the health of our hair follicles. British Research now indicates that it is far from as simple as that though… in fact, caffeine is also capable of negatively affecting the health of our hair. We take a closer look.
Alpecin Shampoo
This German product was launched into the British market with great fanfare and a loud message… Caffeine is good for hair loss… with 50% of all men and women suffering from hair loss by the age of 50 the market is a large one, no doubt this is why they get to make such extravagant claims about it’s popularity. Their website claims that the beneficial caffeine works its way to the root of the hair even when the shampoo is rinsed out, along with the claim that the caffeine works it way to the root within two minutes of application – left on for longer than two minutes the caffeine, they claim, can actually penetrate the scalp. To be fair the claim is substantiated by some work done at the Berlin University clinic, Charite. They firmly established, using a novel measuring method, that caffeine is absorbed into the hair follicle and through the scalp. Their evidence for caffeine promoting renewed hair growth seems a little more sparse.
Caffeine Kick
So what is behind the extraordinary growth in the sales of Alpecin? It could just be an extremely smooth marketing campaign, or maybe it is simply nice smelling or leaves the hair feeling good. If it is the claim that it helps with hair loss then a publication in the British Journal of Dermatology will be great reading for users of the popular shampoo.
The published research revealed that concentrated doses of caffeine had been shown to reverse the affects of testoserone – it is proven capable of triggering and sustaining new growth.
This exciting news is tempered with the additional information that earlier in the same research they discovered that higher concentrations of caffeine were capable of achieving the reverse effect, it could actually restrain hair from growing.
By their own admission the research needs to go further for a full understanding of the role caffeine can play – but they are onto something for sure.
HIS Hair Clinic – Right Here Right Now
We know that promises of a new solution for hair loss are almost a daily occurrence, for anyone recently developing hair loss and scouring the net for answers it can be bewildering. Here at HIS Hair Clinics we provide a perfected treatment that delivers a totally convincing full head of hair, buzz-cut. Which, we hope, means you can afford to wait for the magic pill.
