February 26 2007, 2:34 pm PT | Posted in: Drugs + Drugs (Cause Hair Loss) + Hair Loss Causes
Just received this email from a man asking a question I’ve never been asked before….
I was told to get a birth control, grind it and put it in a bottle of shampoo, and it would make my hair thicker. Would that work?
I have a few questions…
- Who told you this?
- What do you think? Take an educated guess…
- How would you (being male) get a hold of birth control pills? You’d need a doctor’s prescription, unless you take the pills from your girlfriend/wife. In that case, instead of hair you would probably end up with a baby.
No — birth control pills used topically will not thicken hair. There may be a misconception that since hair loss is related to the male hormone DHT that a female hormone agent such as birth control pills may work. This is NOT true.
Paid advertisements (not an endorsement):
I’ve been putting birth control pills in my shampoo for almost 2 months now and people have been telling me that my hair looks thicker or otherwise commenting that my hair looks better. Most of these folks have no idea what I’m doing differently and several were commenting in order to find out what I was doing different so they could do it.
Now, I’m female and middle-aged but I heard about this from my hair stylist and my massage therapist, both of whom had said they knew other women doing this. Whether the pills ARE getting something to the roots of my hair or not, I don’t know. If it’s just a placebo effect, hey, fine! So long as others objectively see the difference, that’s all that matters to me.
I went to my doctor and she actually prescribed me birth control pills for that purpose. So, YES I am sure that it works. I used my shampoo with the pills in it this morning for the first time. My hair use to come out so bad, especially after washing it, and after I used the shampo with the pills in it, almost no hair came out!! And this was after the first time! Try asking your doctor about it.