Link to the study: http://www.omicsonline.org/2155-9554/2155-9554-3-138.php
RisingFist has recently dug up a study claiming that it can achieve regrowth through scalp massage. While this is quite a claim, the study itself is extremely well conducted (though lacking a bit in terms of preciseness of wording and result evaluation). Additionally, it provides explanations for some things that had been previously unexplained.
Due to these two facts - adding to the puzzle in a very reasonable way, and quite interesting claims - I want to put it up for discussion. I will provide an introduction and context for the study in this post.
The publications's approach is to study one of the most well known observations of male pattern baldness: A thickening of scalp skin due to fibrosis. Scalp fibrosis is one of the few things that seems to be a constant factor among all male pattern baldness sufferers. Theories regarding its consequences are: (1) that fibrosis is what then squeezes follicles until they can no longer push out new hair while also trapping the new hair below surface, (2) destroys BAT (brown adipose tissue) which supplies follicles with nutrients (through andiogenesis) and thus starves them to death, (3) kills off local metabolism, thus not only no more new nutrients, but also no metabolising and disposal of sebum, DHT, etc.
Additionally, there has been one study which ahs found that bald people have dome-shaped scalps, higher foreheads, and so on. In general, their scalp is deformeed and looks as if it was higher, known to many as an "egghead". This was also observed by many hairloss sufferers, most often cited as the reason why they cannot pull off a shaved look as their headshape, being too "eggy", just does not work.
A theory regarding the change in shape of male pattern baldness sufferers' heads was that the local DHT triggers skull bone growth, which then stretches and squeezes all tissue above. While possible, this is highly unlikely, and has not been confirmed in any way.
The study found by RisingFist, which this thread is about, went about researching what actually changes the head shape of male pattern baldness patients. The extremely valuable finding is that the head shape is not due to bone growth, but indeed due to accumulated hard, thick tissue creating a dome-like head shape. In effect there is then a big difference between skull bone and head shape. It continues to reason that the hard tissue also hinders "grease" from being transported away (mostly through the skin), which then accumulates in the scalp tissue and creates a toxic environment for the hair follicles. The unspecifiness of "grease" here is one of the weak points of the study, as the flow and composition of this "grease" could have been researched as well.
The study goes on to reason that if the hard, thick tissue is resolved, hair may grow again.
Most interestingly, the study finds that through regular, long (20 minutes per day twice) and thorough scalp massages, study participants were able to break down this kind of tissue and reduce the dome shape of their heads significantly. The change in scalp tissue thickness was confirmed through an infrared camera, and was measured in mm.
What's even more supprising, though, is that they were able to regrow hair after the dome/egg shape was reduced through massages.
The study's methodology and reasoning is extremely good. They establish a pressure model which completely explains the pattern in which male pattern baldness happens. Additonally, they measure scalp thickness in depth and thermal profile to support their findings.
On the downside, the evaluation part of their claimed treatment results is very short - it features only one subject - , and "grease" is never really explained. Perhaps the effect of the massages and the reduction of the fibrotic tissue is indeed another and has nothing to do with grease. Nonetheless, successfully breaking the thick tissue is a breakthrough (haha), not only for cosmetical reasons. However, the photos provided for evaluation definitely show hair regrowth.
As the author has provided his email address, we can maybe request more evaluation data, such as more photos, hair count data, etc.
I urge everyone to take a look at the figures provided by the study, as they explain the egg shape of many baldiies' heads and also show that this can be reduced through massages.
I dont know if the claims of regrowth are true, but I will add these daily massages (20 mins twice) to my regimen and see if I can reduce the dome-ishness of my head, which indeed increased as baldness progressed.
RisingFist has recently dug up a study claiming that it can achieve regrowth through scalp massage. While this is quite a claim, the study itself is extremely well conducted (though lacking a bit in terms of preciseness of wording and result evaluation). Additionally, it provides explanations for some things that had been previously unexplained.
Due to these two facts - adding to the puzzle in a very reasonable way, and quite interesting claims - I want to put it up for discussion. I will provide an introduction and context for the study in this post.
The publications's approach is to study one of the most well known observations of male pattern baldness: A thickening of scalp skin due to fibrosis. Scalp fibrosis is one of the few things that seems to be a constant factor among all male pattern baldness sufferers. Theories regarding its consequences are: (1) that fibrosis is what then squeezes follicles until they can no longer push out new hair while also trapping the new hair below surface, (2) destroys BAT (brown adipose tissue) which supplies follicles with nutrients (through andiogenesis) and thus starves them to death, (3) kills off local metabolism, thus not only no more new nutrients, but also no metabolising and disposal of sebum, DHT, etc.
Additionally, there has been one study which ahs found that bald people have dome-shaped scalps, higher foreheads, and so on. In general, their scalp is deformeed and looks as if it was higher, known to many as an "egghead". This was also observed by many hairloss sufferers, most often cited as the reason why they cannot pull off a shaved look as their headshape, being too "eggy", just does not work.
A theory regarding the change in shape of male pattern baldness sufferers' heads was that the local DHT triggers skull bone growth, which then stretches and squeezes all tissue above. While possible, this is highly unlikely, and has not been confirmed in any way.
The study found by RisingFist, which this thread is about, went about researching what actually changes the head shape of male pattern baldness patients. The extremely valuable finding is that the head shape is not due to bone growth, but indeed due to accumulated hard, thick tissue creating a dome-like head shape. In effect there is then a big difference between skull bone and head shape. It continues to reason that the hard tissue also hinders "grease" from being transported away (mostly through the skin), which then accumulates in the scalp tissue and creates a toxic environment for the hair follicles. The unspecifiness of "grease" here is one of the weak points of the study, as the flow and composition of this "grease" could have been researched as well.
The study goes on to reason that if the hard, thick tissue is resolved, hair may grow again.
Most interestingly, the study finds that through regular, long (20 minutes per day twice) and thorough scalp massages, study participants were able to break down this kind of tissue and reduce the dome shape of their heads significantly. The change in scalp tissue thickness was confirmed through an infrared camera, and was measured in mm.
What's even more supprising, though, is that they were able to regrow hair after the dome/egg shape was reduced through massages.
The study's methodology and reasoning is extremely good. They establish a pressure model which completely explains the pattern in which male pattern baldness happens. Additonally, they measure scalp thickness in depth and thermal profile to support their findings.
On the downside, the evaluation part of their claimed treatment results is very short - it features only one subject - , and "grease" is never really explained. Perhaps the effect of the massages and the reduction of the fibrotic tissue is indeed another and has nothing to do with grease. Nonetheless, successfully breaking the thick tissue is a breakthrough (haha), not only for cosmetical reasons. However, the photos provided for evaluation definitely show hair regrowth.
As the author has provided his email address, we can maybe request more evaluation data, such as more photos, hair count data, etc.
I urge everyone to take a look at the figures provided by the study, as they explain the egg shape of many baldiies' heads and also show that this can be reduced through massages.
I dont know if the claims of regrowth are true, but I will add these daily massages (20 mins twice) to my regimen and see if I can reduce the dome-ishness of my head, which indeed increased as baldness progressed.
