My experiment using topical lugols solution on scalp for baldness

[blue_lotus]

I have male pattern baldness but its more like diffuse thinning. regardless, I still have the classic fibrotic, calcified feeling scalp that has a distinct "crunchy" feeling whenever I use a dermstamp on it. I had previous experiments using 2% lugols solution and a dermastamp to successfully improve the appearance of scars on other parts of my body so I felt confident trying this out on my scalp as well. my goal here has been to basically use lugols solution to exfoliate my scalp and allow the hair follicles to grow in a healthier, less fibrotic environment. a few key points here:

*ive been doing this experiment for three months now, although its taken that long to perfect the protocol. in terms of the time ive been doing this protocol in a fully effective manner its more like one month
*for the first month or so I was using a dermastamp and lugols, now im just using lugols
*using the dropper I apply lugols to my entire scalp; in case youre wondering it takes a few minutes and is quite messy
*I apply lugols for a week or two and then take a week off. I do this so that theres time for the dead layer of skin to completely peel off
*I gently remove the dead skin at the end of every week by running a thin comb through my hair while in the shower

observations so far
===============
-lugols solution is terrific for helping slough off the top layer of skin. in the past when I used something like minoxidil it would consistently produce large skin flakes after using it for a week or so; I interpreted the skin flakes as being pieces of exfoliated scar tissue. when using lugols solution im getting a much larger quantity of skin flakes and they seem to be thicker too
-dermastamping is now hit or miss; unsurprisingly my scalp is more sensitive after exfoliating it so often with lugols solution
-when I apply lugols solution to my scalp I get this familiar burning/tingly sensation that I get when I apply lugols to scars
-unfortunately I havent noticed any hair regrowth yet, but it might just require more time. I believe that removing scar tissue from my scalp is just part of the equation; I might need more time for the hair itself to start regrowing. alternately after doing some more heavy exfoliation with lugols solution I might try using minoxidil again to see if its more effective
-in the front part of my scalp it actually looks like my hair is thinner than usual which worries me. I have considered the possibility that applying lugols might be damaging my hair follicles instead of helping them. however since starting this experiment ive started cutting my hair shorter than usual in order to make applying the lugols solution easier, so this could be a plausible explanation. im sure you know how difficult it is to gauge the actual condition of hair sometimes when treating baldness

does anyone else here have any experiencing using lugols solution on the scalp? does anyone know if its possible that it could be bad for the hair follicles? my own personal experience is that after doing moderate dermastamping and applying lugols solution for weeks on end my hair looks basically the same (although underlying scalp is less "shiny" now, implying the loss of scar tissue). so I know that applying lugols solution to your hair is reasonably safe, like I said my only doubt is the front part of my scalp but that could be due to cutting my hair shorter than usual so... any feedback is welcome!

 

[Santosh]

It changes the iris color of those using it for lashes.
I guess it could discolor the skin you use it on.

Oral minoxidil sounds safer.

 

[blue_lotus]

It changes the iris color of those using it for lashes.
I guess it could discolor the skin you use it on.

Oral minoxidil sounds safer.

ehhh, I dont want to try oral minoxidil. the concept of using lugols iodine to intensely, yet safely(?) exfoliate the scalp interests me a lot. I think theres a lot of potential here yet strangely I havent found much on the internet about it, just a few scattered posts here and there. im assuming most people never try this because lugols stains so much

 

[steel_reserve]

An anon on 4chan said he put lugols on his balls and he grew a brow ridge. Try it out and lmk. #orangeballs

 

[blue_lotus]

An anon on 4chan said he put lugols on his balls and he grew a brow ridge. Try it out and lmk. #orangeballs

im assuming youre joking about this. anyways my balls are not my scalp so yeah...

 

[Vinny]

I have male pattern baldness but its more like diffuse thinning. regardless, I still have the classic fibrotic, calcified feeling scalp that has a distinct "crunchy" feeling whenever I use a dermstamp on it. I had previous experiments using 2% lugols solution and a dermastamp to successfully improve the appearance of scars on other parts of my body so I felt confident trying this out on my scalp as well. my goal here has been to basically use lugols solution to exfoliate my scalp and allow the hair follicles to grow in a healthier, less fibrotic environment. a few key points here:

*ive been doing this experiment for three months now, although its taken that long to perfect the protocol. in terms of the time ive been doing this protocol in a fully effective manner its more like one month
*for the first month or so I was using a dermastamp and lugols, now im just using lugols
*using the dropper I apply lugols to my entire scalp; in case youre wondering it takes a few minutes and is quite messy
*I apply lugols for a week or two and then take a week off. I do this so that theres time for the dead layer of skin to completely peel off
*I gently remove the dead skin at the end of every week by running a thin comb through my hair while in the shower

observations so far
===============
-lugols solution is terrific for helping slough off the top layer of skin. in the past when I used something like minoxidil it would consistently produce large skin flakes after using it for a week or so; I interpreted the skin flakes as being pieces of exfoliated scar tissue. when using lugols solution im getting a much larger quantity of skin flakes and they seem to be thicker too
-dermastamping is now hit or miss; unsurprisingly my scalp is more sensitive after exfoliating it so often with lugols solution
-when I apply lugols solution to my scalp I get this familiar burning/tingly sensation that I get when I apply lugols to scars
-unfortunately I havent noticed any hair regrowth yet, but it might just require more time. I believe that removing scar tissue from my scalp is just part of the equation; I might need more time for the hair itself to start regrowing. alternately after doing some more heavy exfoliation with lugols solution I might try using minoxidil again to see if its more effective
-in the front part of my scalp it actually looks like my hair is thinner than usual which worries me. I have considered the possibility that applying lugols might be damaging my hair follicles instead of helping them. however since starting this experiment ive started cutting my hair shorter than usual in order to make applying the lugols solution easier, so this could be a plausible explanation. im sure you know how difficult it is to gauge the actual condition of hair sometimes when treating baldness

does anyone else here have any experiencing using lugols solution on the scalp? does anyone know if its possible that it could be bad for the hair follicles? my own personal experience is that after doing moderate dermastamping and applying lugols solution for weeks on end my hair looks basically the same (although underlying scalp is less "shiny" now, implying the loss of scar tissue). so I know that applying lugols solution to your hair is reasonably safe, like I said my only doubt is the front part of my scalp but that could be due to cutting my hair shorter than usual so... any feedback is welcome!

Congrats for your determination

 

[abnerdoubleday]

How is this going? I would imagine the lugol's could be diluted to achieve the desired effects without overloading your body. 2% smeared over a surface area as big as the scalp sounds like a lot of iodine.

 

[catharsis]

I am very interested in the results of your experiment @blue_lotus !

I never had luck with topical lugol's on the scalp and it actually led to an increase in calcification and hair loss when I used it. At the time, I was coming out of a problematic apartment and I've been able to track the hair loss to: less sleep, more stress, and bad digestion (sometimes the emulsifying gums in your masa ARE causing problems and you're not superman).

I really hope you achieve results from this @blue_lotus as this would be helpful to a lot of forum members. I, for one, am resigned to high-dose aspirin, sunlight, sleep, lots of coffee, and those scalp massages to keep my thinning at bay. I have seen drastic improvement when taking time away from stressful environments or doing the above therapies. Maybe you can get benefits too.

 

[blue_lotus]

How is this going? I would imagine the lugol's could be diluted to achieve the desired effects without overloading your body. 2% smeared over a surface area as big as the scalp sounds like a lot of iodine.

too soon to tell so far. you bring up a fair point though; I havent experienced anything negative by doing this so far but now im kind of wary. still, I feel like topical absorption is significantly less than oral absorption. I cant imagine somebody getting an iodine overload through topical exposure but I could be wrong about this

I am very interested in the results of your experiment @blue_lotus !

I never had luck with topical lugol's on the scalp and it actually led to an increase in calcification and hair loss when I used it. At the time, I was coming out of a problematic apartment and I've been able to track the hair loss to: less sleep, more stress, and bad digestion (sometimes the emulsifying gums in your masa ARE causing problems and you're not superman).

I really hope you achieve results from this @blue_lotus as this would be helpful to a lot of forum members. I, for one, am resigned to high-dose aspirin, sunlight, sleep, lots of coffee, and those scalp massages to keep my thinning at bay. I have seen drastic improvement when taking time away from stressful environments or doing the above therapies. Maybe you can get benefits too.

im extremely surprised to hear that you had an increase in calcification and hair loss, can you elaborate more on this? did you also experience the same exfoliation + tingly/burning effect when you used lugols on your scalp?

 

[bendis]

have you tried eating sugar in tremendous amounts whenever and however you like. It's the most effective cure for me ever for this problem. I had this issue even at teenager years and although I'm a woman I got to the point of baldness at some point

 

[catharsis]

too soon to tell so far. you bring up a fair point though; I havent experienced anything negative by doing this so far but now im kind of wary. still, I feel like topical absorption is significantly less than oral absorption. I cant imagine somebody getting an iodine overload through topical exposure but I could be wrong about this


im extremely surprised to hear that you had an increase in calcification and hair loss, can you elaborate more on this? did you also experience the same exfoliation + tingly/burning effect when you used lugols on your scalp?

When I used 2% lugols on my scalp, it was about half a dropper (10 drops) to 2 full droppers full on different parts near the front of my hair (in between hair strands on the scalp, not on top of the hair). I did feel this tingly/burning effect but it was also coupled with a tightening feeling. Nothing related to exfoliating. Some studies show that iodine can have an apoptotic, antiproliferative, and differentiating effect in cells. In the case of wanting to promote hair growth, I think the antiproliferative effect could be detrimental to hair growth but I am not knowledgeable enough on the topic to comment (differentiating could be positive). Will come back in a week or two with more to comment (hopefully).

 

[blue_lotus]

When I used 2% lugols on my scalp, it was about half a dropper (10 drops) to 2 full droppers full on different parts near the front of my hair (in between hair strands on the scalp, not on top of the hair). I did feel this tingly/burning effect but it was also coupled with a tightening feeling. Nothing related to exfoliating. Some studies show that iodine can have an apoptotic, antiproliferative, and differentiating effect in cells. In the case of wanting to promote hair growth, I think the antiproliferative effect could be detrimental to hair growth but I am not knowledgeable enough on the topic to comment (differentiating could be positive). Will come back in a week or two with more to comment (hopefully).

thats interesting that you never experienced the heavy sloughing off of dead skin that I experienced. how long did you do it for? also was the increase in hairloss permanent or temporary?

are you doing this experiment again now? thats how I understood the bolded part

have you tried eating sugar in tremendous amounts whenever and however you like. It's the most effective cure for me ever for this problem. I had this issue even at teenager years and although I'm a woman I got to the point of baldness at some point

hahahaI wish this worked for me. I drink soda all the time, I love sweets but I still have this problem. whats the mechanism behind this?

 

[catharsis]

thats interesting that you never experienced the heavy sloughing off of dead skin that I experienced. how long did you do it for? also was the increase in hairloss permanent or temporary?

are you doing this experiment again now? thats how I understood the bolded part


hahahaI wish this worked for me. I drink soda all the time, I love sweets but I still have this problem. whats the mechanism behind this?

Yeah, 0 skin cell turnover or removal of dead skin. Just thinning. I did it for about 2-3 weeks and dosed once every 3 days. It's hard to say whether or not the iodine treatment caused temporary or permanent hair loss; it could have spurred growth in the following months but I was implementing other therapies at the time. I am not trying the topical iodine again for some time but maybe in a different environment in the future. The week or two comment was about coming back to this thread with a more thorough theory as to why topical iodine could help or hurt hair growth.

 

[bornamachine]

@blue_lotus by which method did yoi arrive to conduct this experiment? What logic is behind iodine/iodide on skin?
I've heard of people using onion juice before.

 

[rooz7939]

Thanks for the post. I'd be interested about how things have been going for you since you started, or if you continued and if so, did you see any positive results? I was thinking about starting something similar, but my angle was mostly to reduce any potential fungal overgrowth with Iodine.

I don't think I'll be doing the derma stamping (I'm assuming it's somewhat similar to derma rolling) as I had terrible experience derma-rolling, I actually had one of my worst periods of hair loss with derma rolling. Later on I concluded that maybe it increased the scarred tissue rather than reducing it, I mean in order for the tissue to repair itself, it has to be healthy in the first place and not inflamed. Or at least that was my logic; maybe some topical progesterone might actually help?

 

[ddjd]

I have male pattern baldness but its more like diffuse thinning. regardless, I still have the classic fibrotic, calcified feeling scalp that has a distinct "crunchy" feeling whenever I use a dermstamp on it. I had previous experiments using 2% lugols solution and a dermastamp to successfully improve the appearance of scars on other parts of my body so I felt confident trying this out on my scalp as well. my goal here has been to basically use lugols solution to exfoliate my scalp and allow the hair follicles to grow in a healthier, less fibrotic environment. a few key points here:

*ive been doing this experiment for three months now, although its taken that long to perfect the protocol. in terms of the time ive been doing this protocol in a fully effective manner its more like one month
*for the first month or so I was using a dermastamp and lugols, now im just using lugols
*using the dropper I apply lugols to my entire scalp; in case youre wondering it takes a few minutes and is quite messy
*I apply lugols for a week or two and then take a week off. I do this so that theres time for the dead layer of skin to completely peel off
*I gently remove the dead skin at the end of every week by running a thin comb through my hair while in the shower

observations so far
===============
-lugols solution is terrific for helping slough off the top layer of skin. in the past when I used something like minoxidil it would consistently produce large skin flakes after using it for a week or so; I interpreted the skin flakes as being pieces of exfoliated scar tissue. when using lugols solution im getting a much larger quantity of skin flakes and they seem to be thicker too
-dermastamping is now hit or miss; unsurprisingly my scalp is more sensitive after exfoliating it so often with lugols solution
-when I apply lugols solution to my scalp I get this familiar burning/tingly sensation that I get when I apply lugols to scars
-unfortunately I havent noticed any hair regrowth yet, but it might just require more time. I believe that removing scar tissue from my scalp is just part of the equation; I might need more time for the hair itself to start regrowing. alternately after doing some more heavy exfoliation with lugols solution I might try using minoxidil again to see if its more effective
-in the front part of my scalp it actually looks like my hair is thinner than usual which worries me. I have considered the possibility that applying lugols might be damaging my hair follicles instead of helping them. however since starting this experiment ive started cutting my hair shorter than usual in order to make applying the lugols solution easier, so this could be a plausible explanation. im sure you know how difficult it is to gauge the actual condition of hair sometimes when treating baldness

does anyone else here have any experiencing using lugols solution on the scalp? does anyone know if its possible that it could be bad for the hair follicles? my own personal experience is that after doing moderate dermastamping and applying lugols solution for weeks on end my hair looks basically the same (although underlying scalp is less "shiny" now, implying the loss of scar tissue). so I know that applying lugols solution to your hair is reasonably safe, like I said my only doubt is the front part of my scalp but that could be due to cutting my hair shorter than usual so... any feedback is welcome!

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