One thing that worked for me over the years was a nettle extract. I have experienced increased hair fall during certain periods of my life. First time was during my teenage years. I did not think much of it as it was not so obvious. My did try few things. Cut my hair short and used some herbal hair tonics. It lasted probably year or so and I forgot all about it. The second time I have experienced more noticeable hair loss was during my pregnancies. By then I have suspected that this is due to the hormonal changes. Again I have used hair tonics and tried to be more gentle to my hair. I bought a good brush, did not wear tight pony tails, used herbal shampoos and and avoided hair colour. It also stopped and I did not have to think about hair loss for a while. Until now.
I have noticed my hair is started to get thinner and is falling out more easily. As I have experienced this before I did make the connection with the hormonal changes straight away. I take it like a message from my body that says: “pay attention to your hair”. And I try. Unfortunately I cannot get the hair tonic that I have used years ago as they do not produce it any more. I have tried some other shampoos, hair masks and tonics but unfortunately they did not work. I remembered that my step father used to rinse his hair with nettle extract. When he was in his 30’s his hair started fall more significantly and got really worried. He did go to see doctor and a skin specialist. They gave him some specialized shampoos but they did not make much difference. He was really miserable. To us it was funny because he still had full head of black hair and nobody would guess his problem. My granny was a very kind soul and she always took all problems to her heart. She has talked to her friend – an experienced herbalist – and he had a simple advice:”Buy nettle, boil it in a water like a tea and when finished washing your hair, rinse them with it.” Granny hesitated to tell my step father because he was not into that stuff at all. He was and engineer and did not like any “mambo jumbo” like herb cures etc. He would often make fun of these things and did not ever consider them as an option. However, when he run out of all his options he thought he will give it try. Granny got a pack of dry nettle that would last for a month. At first nothing was happening. We stopped asking him about the results and got bored with making jokes about it. It was only when has similar problem with hair falling out I remembered this. My step father has a full head of hair even now. Although he is mostly grey, he is not bald and does not have any balding patches. To my surprise he did tell me that ever since my granny advised him on the nettle extract he uses it religiously. Ideally ever two weeks or at least once a month. He keeps on buying dry nettle leaves for more then thirty years!
I was amazed and decided to give it try. Where I live nettle is not a common herb and the only nettle I was able to get were tea bags. But anyways, it is still a nettle right? I have boiled 2 sachets in a liter of a water and when it cooled down I used it as a rinse. I have done that once a week for about a month. And the result? My hat goes off to this wonderful herb! The hair fall reduced after 2 weeks and then stopped after one month. I was delighted! It worked. I did not think that after so many years I will find an answer literally on my doorstep.
One important note though. The rinse is quite dark and can stain your bathtub. The extract is not strong enough to colour the hair. At least I did not notice any change in colour [I have dark brown hair]. Sometimes I am too busy or too lazy to prepare the nettle rinse and usually within a month the hair fall increases again. That means that nettle does not cure but it reduces or stops the hair loss temporarily.
Boil 1 liter of water. Add 2 sachets of nettle tea. Let it stand until lukewarm. Use as a last step when washing your hair. Rinse hair and gently massage in. Do not rinse with water. Repeat twice a week for at least one month to see results.
I should add that the nettle tea is usually recommended to beat tiredness and to clean blood. Many herbalists believe that nettle is better for the body than coffee. Unfortunately I do not like the taste of it. To me it is bit too grassy so I am sticking to a good cuppa of coffee…
Update: 2019 – Zinc supplement seems to help.
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