Does Circulation Affect Baldness

This one has been around since the 1st century when salves and regimented exercise was used to promote hair growth in Roman citizens. Of course this didn’t work and led to much more scientific baldness cures such as pigeon droppings and goat urine, all with the purpose of increasing blood flow to the scalp. One would have thought with 1500 years of unreliability that this theory would have gone away but it’s more persistent than a telemarketer.

In the early part of the century, with the advent of electricity, baldness cures became ‘scientific.’ Doctors around the world were prescribing electro-shock treatments for the scalp that would increase circulation and blood flow to the scalp for this was the cause of baldness. Even today there are products that tout their ability to increase circulation to the scalp with their cutting-edge laser technology. Unfortunately circulation or flow of blood in the scalp has nothing to do with baldness.

 Baldness is caused by the conversion of testosterone into DHT, a hormone that damages and shrinks hair follicles. Not only does the flow of blood to the scalp have nothing to do with hair loss but we know that people who suffer from baldness have more than adequate circulation in the scalp because of the very high success rate of hair transplants, a procedure that requires blood circulation to work. If you’re thinking of buying a product that promises to cure baldness, and relies on technology that can increase circulation to the scalp, just ask yourself whether you want to purchase a product whose descendants are Roman salves made of goat urine and pigeon droppings.