Should You Mix Lush Shampoo With Onion Juice?
Submitted by Beauty Brains Blog
Nicole’s lost on Lush: I received a solid shampoo by Lush (Godiva, to be exact) as a gift and decided to put it to use. Within days of starting this new shampoo, I noticed an increase in hair loss! I’ve since stopped using this solid shampoo and my hair loss has lessened. However, I’d still like to find out some reasons why it would increase my hair loss in the first place!
The Left Brain replies:
This Lush soap provides no conditioning so it’s possible that you were having more hair breakage because of that. But if you did use a conditioner, then it’s really hard to say exactly what caused your temporary problem. Researchers still don’t totally understand what causes all the different kinds of hair loss. In fact I just read a report about one specific condition that causes patches of hair to fall out. It’s called alopecia areata.
What is patchy hair loss?
Alopecia areata is characterized by patchy hair loss. That means hair falls out in some parts of the body but not others. In extreme cases, patients can lose all of their scalp and body hair.
Most people are affected before the age of 20 when they start to get localized patches of baldness. Often the condition reverses itself and the hair growth gets better over time, although hair loss often returns. It’s estimated that this condition affects almost 2% of the population to some degree.
What causes it and what can you do about it?
Scientists believe that alopecia areata is caused by the immune system attacking the hair follicle. Sometimes stress is a triggering factor. While there are several treatment options, none have been proven to be effective:
- Steroids (both topical and oral drugs that slow down the immune system to protect the follicle from attack)
- Photodynamic therapy (Exposing skin to light; like suntanning using a different wavelength)
- Minoxidil (Rogaine; stimulates follicle activity)
- Onion juice (one small, unpublished study showed that onion juice regrew hair in half of the test subjects with mild alopecia areata. This is an interesting “natural” solution that requires more study.)
The Beauty Brains bottom line
Without more experimenting it impossible to prove Lush was responsible for your hair loss. But if are concerned about patchy balding, beware of unproven treatments.
