Homeopathy and Treatment of Hair Loss

While the medical establishment does not endorse homeopathic treatments for any disease, proponents claim great results treating hair loss.

Long before the modern hair loss treatment clinic, and long before the modern hair transplant surgery, and long before hair loss drugs like Rogaine and Propecia were thought of, what did the individual suffering from hair loss do? Aboriginal cultures had their medicine men or women. China’s school of Oriental Medicine has its theories and natural approaches. So does the alternative medicine approach of homeopathy.

Can homeopathic remedies be used to treat hair loss? Some say yes, indeed it does, while others scoff. Before dismissing it outright, the person suffering from one form or another of alopecia should understand the background.

Ever since the birth of homeopathy, in 1796, it has been considered a controversial form of medicine. It flourished for about 50 years in the US and Europe, and likely found early acceptance because other forms of medicine, such as bloodletting, were woefully ineffective. The homeopathic method is to consume or apply infinitesimally small amounts of substances known to cause disease as a curative. In shorthand it is described as “like cures like.”

Claims for and support of homeopathy as a cure for hair loss range widely. Many specific remedies, which often address underlying causes, are suggested on websites promoting it. They include the following:

Arnica – This enhances blood circulation, which is associated with healthy hair growth all around.

Calcara Carbonic – Widely prescribed for people whose hair is prematurely greying, subject to tangling, and brittle dryness.

Floricum Acidum – Suggested for people with alopecia areata, or who have experienced syphilis or other illnesses.

Natrum Muriaticum – For hair loss stemming from crusty scalps and other skin disorders, as well as hormonal imbalances due to menstruation and post-partum (childbirth), this remedy derives from sodium chloride. Another remedy, Pulsatilla Pratensis, is also recommended for women who’ve recently borne children (signs that the individual will benefit from Pulsatilla Pratensis include a lack of thirst and urgency to breathe fresh air).

Psorinum – As the name might suggest, this is to treat baldness caused by psoriasis, eczema, and other skin conditions that can lead to hair loss.

Silcea – Made of sandstone and human tissue, it is believed to strengthen hair follicles while also moisturizing the hair.

The last homeopathic medical school in the US closed in 1920 as modern, mainstream science-based treatments for diseases became more popular. But the practice found a revival in the 1970s with the New Age movement, probably due to its rejection of all things chemical, increasing sales of homeopathic medicines by a factor of 10 in that decade. WebMD, a respected source of healthcare and medical information in the digital age, reports that use of homeopathy for non-life-threatening conditions such as allergies, migraines, and premenstrual syndrome, nausea, coughs, and colds, seems to be without ill consequence. The site recommends not using a homeopathic approach for asthma, cancer, and heart disease, or as a vaccine substitute.