Melatonin

[kamisama]

anyone tried this orally or topically before?


Topical melatonin is found to be effective in the treatment of hair loss.

Melatonin increases anagen hair rate in women with androgenetic alopecia or diffuse alopecia: results of a pilot randomized controlled trial.

Br J Dermatol. 2004 Feb;150(2):341-5

BACKGROUND:
In addition to the well-known hormonal influences of testosterone and dihydrotestosterone on the hair cycle, melatonin has been reported to have a beneficial effect on hair growth in animals. The effect of melatonin on hair growth in humans has not been investigated so far.

OBJECTIVES:
To examine whether topically applied melatonin influences anagen and telogen hair rate in women with androgenetic or diffuse hair loss.

METHODS:
A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study was conducted in 40 women suffering from diffuse alopecia or androgenetic alopecia. A 0.1% melatonin or a placebo solution was applied on the scalp once daily for 6 months and trichograms were performed to assess anagen and telogen hair rate. To monitor effects of treatment on physiological melatonin levels, blood samples were taken over the whole study period.

RESULTS:
Melatonin led to a significantly increased anagen hair rate in occipital hair in women with androgenetic hair loss compared with placebo (n=12; P=0.012). For frontal hair, melatonin gave a significant increase in the group with diffuse alopecia (n=28; P=0.046). The occipital hair samples of patients with diffuse alopecia and the frontal hair counts of those with androgenetic alopecia also showed an increase of anagen hair, but differences were not significant. Plasma melatonin levels increased under treatment with melatonin, but did not exceed the physiological night peak.

CONCLUSIONS:
To the authors' knowledge, this pilot study is the first to show that topically applied melatonin might influence hair growth in humans in vivo. The mode of action is not known, but the effect might result from an induction of anagen phase.

[OverMachoGrande]

Yeah, one of the first threads I ever made at the old site we used to post in (that's now a shill forum) was on this topic, and there were a few other threads that got pretty long. Here is one of them, resurrected from archive.org: http://web.archive.org/web/200605090045 ... =6&t=15116

A lot of people had tried this as a topical... and got zip, zero, nada. Unfortunately, that old forum had and still has very many problems, arguably the "second worst" of them being that if you make a post or a thread, it'll probably be gone forever in a matter of a year or two due to horrendous, negligent server maintenance practices. I personally lost several thousand posts, had to reregister at least a couple of times, and when I think about the body of knowledge and thousands of hours of work that was just WASTED by all of us putting it on that ridiculous site, it makes me both angry and sad!

As an internal, I take it quite a bit -I'm a lifelong insomniac. I've taken it internally both when my hair loss was as it's most aggressive and now when I've [hopefully] stopped it, so I really don't think it plays any sort of role -for me at least.

But yeah, many of us tried it as a topical for extended periods. One big problem, by the way, is that any pre-made topical is meant for consumption so it has sugar in it -which means that it's really sticky, and you don't want it on your hair. I can't remember what I did to solve that because this was possibly five years ago. I might have mixed my own, but I think I actually found a brand that was pretty much melatonin and alcohol.

Anyway, I think the comment at the end of the article...

The mode of action is not known, but the effect might result from an induction of anagen phase.

...could be right, and I don't think it has anything to do with androgens or anything, but I just don't think it did enough to have any sort of real impact, by the way. I think that this treatment was a "miss".

Oh, a little off subject... I think that Zix might possibly work with some of us by increasing the anagen phase as well. That could possibly explain why some of us shed much less when using it.

[Jacob]

One big problem, by the way, is that any pre-made topical is meant for consumption so it has sugar in it -which means that it's really sticky

If it were a pre-made topical it wouldn't have sugar on it..at least not if it were made right

I think with so many things it's not going to do much on it's own..but it's another good ingred to have in a topical.

[kamisama]

ic, thanks for the info guys