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"HairlossSucks Teams with
Hairloss-Reversible.com"
August 3, 2001 - Los
Angeles CA
In an attempt to continue expanding our
affiliations and growing our newsletter distribution to reach more
people, HairlossSucks has recently affiliated with hairloss-reversible.com.
They will be distributing the HairlossSucks newsletter to their
users, and joining the already growing newsletter affiliations we
have begun creating across the web.
This web site is very similar to the beginnings of
HairlossSucks. It's a noncommercial, information-based web site
run by a private party. Tom Hagerty, founder of hairloss-reversible.com
contacted us recently expressing interest
in helping bring our newsletter to his users and exchange
information with us. We had the opportunity to speak with Tom
quickly about his site, his interesting yet harmless
"approach" to treating his own hair loss (which he himself
is first to admit is a little odd!), and a couple other
things. Enjoy...
HairlossSucks: Tell us about your site and what prompted you to put it together?
Tom
Hagerty: When I was much younger I had hair-loss problems. This led me to the medical
libraries. I wanted to share some of the knowledge I got there in an
entertaining way with other people with hair-loss problems. Hair loss, especially for younger men and older women, is a serious subject. Gratuitous humor does not often carry the day around the hair restoration clinics. There are no smiles when a person feels rejected because of looks rather than of content. As the reader will probably gather by now, I had problems with my hair loss. I was more angry than hurt though. What was that line from Taxi Driver? “Are you talking to me?” That’s the way I felt. When I finally got my hair into good condition, my anger vanished. One quick item about getting interested in hair. It is no secret, when you are losing your hair you become interested in hair in a hurry. Probably most scientists and doctors doing research or specializing in the treatment for hair loss had their own hair problems.
HairlossSucks: What are the goals for your site? What do you hope to accomplish with it?
Tom
Hagerty: I want to give people up-to-date information on many aspects of hair loss
like the biology of the follicle, treatment options, new products and
clinical trials. I also enjoy getting feedback from visitors to my site who
offer me new ideas.
HairlossSucks: What are some of the features you have on your site?
Tom
Hagerty: The sections of my site that I'm proudest of are the pages on stem cell
research, the psychology of hair loss, and my "eccentric" approach to hair
loss.
HairlossSucks: Tell
us about your eccentric approach to treating your own hair loss Tom
Hagerty: The core idea for my approach is what I call the scalp exercise. The basic exercise is accomplished by the alternating contraction of the frontalis and occipitalis muscles. The frontalis muscles are at the front of the head; the occipitalis muscles are two muscular slips at the back of the head. These muscles are connected by a tendonous membrane called the galea. When these muscles are alternately contracted, the whole scalp moves.
The scalp exercise does three things:
1. It quickens the blood flow to the whole epicranial area. By epicranial area I mean the skin on the scalp; the layer under the skin, which is called the subcutaneous layer; and beneath this, the muscles and the galea.
2. It strengthens the walls of the capillaries in the subcutaneous layer that nourish the hair follicles.
3. It increases the flexibility and elasticity of the whole scalp. There is a positive correlation between a tight scalp and male pattern baldness. “Scalp tension is etiologic of MPB.”
The exercise seemed to stabilize my hair loss, or at least I thought so. I was naively optimistic. Nothing really happened for probably six to eight months, but still I kept doing the exercise every day. The reason I kept doing the exercise is that it made my face look tighter, more muscular. But after eight months my hair did start to grow back slowly. Those fine (vellus) hairs that were in the receded temporal area of my scalp were gradually being replaced by thick (terminal) hairs. There was nothing dramatic in this. The process was slow, but that was OK. I saw progress and I was satisfied. HairlossSucks:
What kind of results have you seen as far as your hair, using your approach? Tom
Hagerty: My frontal hairline was receding quite a bit when I was in my late teens
although I had no bald spots. Now at 70 (my birthday is in two weeks) I have
thick dark hair just slightly gray on the sideburns. All the males in my
family were bald in their early thirties. I attribute my full head of hair to
the scalp exercise which is the core idea of my approach. HairlossSucks:
Have you used any of the
approved treatments for hair loss as well? Tom
Hagerty: I have not used the
two FDA approved drugs or anything else but if I needed to, I would use
Propecia and possibly, in the future, Dutasteride as an adjunct to the scalp
exercise. HairlossSucks:
Why did you seek to join with
HairlossSucks? Tom
Hagerty: When I found HairlossSucks.com
I spent nearly a half day there. I read through many scientifically oriented articles, lingered in the Discussion Forum, and
enjoyed the Gallery of Before
& After Photos. I knew as soon as I stopped by the site that I could
learn a lot here.
Editors
Note:
Scalp stimulation via muscle
contractions or light massage to treat hair loss is not a foreign
concept. Several legitimate treatments out there make use of
increasing blood flow (in part) to help stimulate hair growth. The truth
of the matter is, almost anything can stimulate growth in the short
term. It's only the proven treatments which have been shown to do
it for extended periods of time. Hair growth stimulated from
increased circulation has validity for short term growth, and its
possible that continued stimulation may continue to show short term
results repeatedly for extended periods of time. There just
aren't any studies to lean on for this.
The responsible consumer considering
Tom's approach will supplement the FDA approved treatments with
it. As with anything, your risk increases when you put all
your eggs in one basket.
It should be noted that Tom and his
site both support the use of proven treatments for hair loss,
including Propecia, Rogaine, and others. The vast majority of hairloss-reversible.com
content is grounded in good clean scientific information on
everything from Propecia, to Proscar, to Rogaine, to the future of
stem cell research. The section on Tom's own method for
treating himself is summarized at the bottom with a disclaimer that
he's not a doctor, and he makes no claims as to its efficacy for
others. The main message is "Your Mileage May Vary",
and he is very responsible by communicating his personal opinions in
this light. Most importantly, the site contains scientifically
based information and an unbiased tone, which makes it an
enjoyable read for us and hopefully for you.
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