Crazy Cures

• A traditional treatment for androgenetic alopecia involved being licked by a cow. It has now been revealed that cow saliva contains low concentrations of epidermal growth factor, a chemical that can promote hair follicle activity.
• Dog urine, spider webs, egg yolks, cow saliva, and German Army horse salve have all been promoted as cures for alopecia.
• A Doctor at a major hair-loss institute in England says the best way to avoid going bald: drink a lot of alcohol. It is possible that drinking alcohol to excess blocks hair loss - either that or when your are drunk you just don't care.
• A popular quack treatment for androgenetic alopecia in Japan recommended washing hair with a bottle of special shampoo while listening to a CD of Mozart.
• Cleopatra proposed a baldness cure made from ground up burnt domestic mice, horse teeth, bear grease, and deer marrow to treat the baldness of Julius Caesar.
• Ancient Egyptians developed a wide variety of treatments for baldness such as a concoction of fat from a lion, hippopotamus, crocodile, goose, snake, and ibex to be liberally applied to bald skin.
• The great Greek doctor Hippocrates treated his patients' baldness with pigeon droppings.
• Aristotle used a topical application of goat’s urine to remedy his own baldness.
• In 1886 when Henry Baily registered a trade mark for the famous Seven Sutherland Sisters' "hair tonic" the preparation was listed as containing borax, salt, quinine, cantharides, bay rum, glycerine, rose water, alcohol, and soap. An analysis conducted in 1896 by a medical journal found the hair grower contained 56% water of witch hazel, 44% bay rum, salt, hydrochloric acid, and trace amounts of other salts such as magnesia.
• An Ayurveda guru in India recommends headstands to increase blood flow to the scalp, coupled with an herb called bhringaraj, which is supposed to counter an imbalance in one of the three Indian life forces. The guru is bald.
• In both India and China meditation and headstands are traditional baldness cures.
• One traditional Chinese medicine for baldness involves applying a mixture of dried and ground up animal testes and herbs.
• Romans tried to cure baldness with a concoction made from sulphur, tar, and urine from various animals of the Mediterranean.
• The famous Barry's Tricopherous was first made available in the late 1840s by "professor" Alexander C. Barry. Barry actually started out as a wig maker in New York and as far is known never actually received a degree or the official title of professor. The ingredients of Barry's Tricopherous were; 97% alcohol, 1.5% castor oil, and 1% tincture of cantharides (Spanish fly).
• Irritant compounds such as cantharides or, in some other hair growth products of the 1800s, capsicum were thought to stimulate the scalp by increasing the blood supply to the hair follicle.
• The Federal Drug Administration has investigated around 250,000 claims for products that regrow hair. Only three have so far been passed with FDA approval, 2% minoxidil, 5% minoxidil, and Propecia.