As a child, many of you would have grown up with your mother rubbing in a handful of oil onto the scalp before taking a bath. Many would still be continuing with this practice as a matter habit, while others would have experimented with various hair oils that ‘promote growth’ or ‘reduce greying’. However, does applying oil improve hair density or prevent greying or put a stop to receding hairline – not necessarily, according to doctors.
Oil by itself won’t improve hair growth, rather massaging the scalp while applying it can stimulate growth. “Oiling the scalp and massaging it helps to improve the blood flow to the hair follicles and this can increase hair growth,” said Dr Shajeera Begum, consultant dermatologist and cosmetologist, Indira Gandhi Co-operative Hospital, Thalassery, adding that oiling the full length of the hair helps reduce breakage.
Hair growth depends on the person’s health and nutrition. “Hair growth or thickness depends on the nutrition the hair gets,” Shajeera added.
“There is no scientific evidence or trials that show applying oil on the head improves hair growth. Rather, there are only anecdotal evidences based personal experiences. Each of these cases may vary as their health conditions may vary at the time of starting to use the oil. For example, a woman during postpartum may have heavy hair loss. If she were to start applying oil then and notices hair fall has reduced after a period, it can’t be definitely attributed to oiling as postpartum stress can induce hair fall, ” said D r Shameer VK, assistant professor, Government Medical College, Kozhikode.
“Adequate and good nutrition, avoiding stress and getting good sleep is the best way to improve hair growth and reduce fall,” added Shajeera. “Stress on the body like strong and severe fever like typhoid, dengue, malaria, etc. can lead to excessive hair loss. Thyroid problems can also result in hair loss,” she added.
Nowadays, there are new treatment modalities like Growth Factor Concentrate (GFC) therapy and Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection. In GFC, a person’s blood is used to extract growth factors which are then used to stimulate the skin layer, which helps with regeneration and repair. PRP injection contains a mixture of concentrated platelets, including cytokines and growth factors, and has anti-inflammatory properties. For strong and radiant hair, it is important to maintain a healthy lifestyle by keeping a balanced diet that includes healthy fats, carbs, protein, vitamins and minerals your body needs every day. Those who go on a crash diet or consume low-calorie or low-carbohydrate diets sometimes experience thinning and brittle hair strands.
“Eating nutritious food is most common advice given to patients. They are also prescribed multivitamin tablets containing calcium, biotin etc. Another option is hair serum containing vitamins or nutrients, or medicated serums containing minoxidil,” said Shajeera.