I’ve noticed my hair thinning and hairline receding since I was about 25 or so.
I’ve been using Collagen and Biotin “thickening” shampoo but never noticed any difference. My dad swears by some pills he started taking.
What’s Lemmy think? Is he just paying for pills that are placebo effect?
As per my cosmetologist friend, those thickening products are great! At thickening the wallets of the company.
They’re not any better than a good conditioner.
Same with the pills that aren’t prescription.
It’s not that they don’t do anything at all, it’s that they don’t do anything a healthy diet and decent hair care can’t do. Now, if your diet is shit, those supplements can fill gaps. And, if you’re using shit hair products (and by that I don’t mean inexpensive, it’s about how they’re made and what’s in them), those extras can help if you’re willing to pony up for them instead of finding a good sulfate, paraben free products.
Seriously folks, just avoiding sulfates will improve the health of your hair. Parabens are more about overall health, what with cancer suspicions. Phthalates aren’t great either. Shit with “ethicone” as part of the name are bad for hair, but you don’t really see them on shampoos much any more.
In general, everyone should look up the chemicals in anything they put on or in their bodies, there’s a lot of shit used as preservatives or for other uses in cosmetics and skin/hair products that really shouldn’t be in them.
But for basic hair care, sulfate free is likely to be on the packaging in big letters, so that’s easier to find. Parabens aren’t always advertised the same way, but can be. So avoiding one or both of those requires no more effort than looking at the bottle.
Any recommendations on brands?
Eh, based on what I’ve been told by cosmetologists, brand is a matter of what smells best to you, when it comes to shampoo.
I personally favor aveeno and hask since they’re inexpensive, smell good, don’t irritate my skin, and are easy to find at pretty much any store that carries shampoos and conditioners to begin with. Just check labels.
Garnier has several options available last time I looked. I think dove does too. But I don’t personally use those brands, so I can’t say anything about them beyond them having sulfate and paraben free options.
I got nothing when it comes to higher dollar brands since the only time I’ve used them is when they were free samples. But I can not tell a difference between any of them other than scent. My beard and hair are in good shape across the board since my homie gave me the advice to switch sulfate free, no matter the brand.