Helping hair with herbs

In recent years, growing concern about potential short- and longterm side effects of pharmaceuticals and conventional medical treatments have led to an increase in popularity of alternative medicines and herbal therapies. This trend affects all aspects of medicine, including increased interest in seeking herbal remedies for hair loss.

It’s important to remember that “natural” doesn’t always mean “harmless.” Also, there’s no way to be sure exactly how much herbal remedy is in a purchased product. Herbal products supposedly containing the same amount of medication have been found to vary considerably under testing.

Herbals aren’t like FDA-approved medicines, and few herbal remedies have been studied in a controlled fashion for hair loss. Many are advertised as miracle treatments with little evidence to support the claims that they’re either safe or effective. This doesn’t mean that they don’t work to regrow hair, just that there’s not enough scientific evidence to support that claim. The bottom line is this: Before you decide to ingest or topically apply something to any part of your body, including your head, don’t assume that product is safe just because it’s labeled “natural.” The following sections get into a number of alternative medicines. Our goal in sharing this information isn’t to advocate the use, or disuse, of these products but merely to present them in as scientific a manner as possible.

Saw palmetto

Saw palmetto is a small plum plant endemic to the southeastern United States. It’s believed that the medicinal properties of the plant come from its brown-black berries. Native Americans used saw palmetto to relieve urinary symptoms in older men who had difficulty urinating. Over the years, several studies have documented the effectiveness of saw palmetto in the treatment of benign prostate gland enlargement (BPH), and it’s used quite frequently in Europe.

Saw palmetto has also gained popularity as an herbal remedy for androgenic alopecia, or male pattern baldness, although there’s far less scientific evidence that it works to prevent hair loss.

Although the exact mechanism isn’t fully understood, several basic research studies have demonstrated that saw palmetto blocks the enzyme 5-alpha-reductase, which functions to convert testosterone to DHT, the male hormone responsible for male pattern baldness.

Only one study examining saw palmetto to treat male pattern baldness has been published in the medical literature. In this small study, six out of ten subjects with androgenic alopecia who received saw palmetto benefited from the treatment. This is far too small a study to draw any conclusions on whether saw palmetto actually works to treat pattern hair loss.

Saw palmetto has several potential side effects. The most common are mild and include abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting, and constipation. Men taking saw palmetto have also reported erectile dysfunction, breast tenderness or enlargement, and loss of libido.

If you’re taking hormone medications for hair loss, such as Propecia, you shouldn’t take saw palmetto because combining these two may increase the way your body reacts to them. You also shouldn’t take saw palmetto without medical supervision if you’re on blood thinners, and the use of saw palmetto by pregnant or nursing women should be avoided as there has been no safety testing in this population.

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Helping hair with herbs

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