Pomegranate peel juice for hair loss

[saskia_madding]

I know this sounds crazy. Heck, I thought it was crazy when I heard it. But I have to share this story.

I have a friend at work who is originally from Morocco. She heard that I henna my hair and got all excited about getting me some henna straight from Morocco because she thinks it is much better than the stuff you can get here in North America. So when her family came for a visit for the holidays, she brought me henna to try out. I haven't had a chance to use it yet, but I'm definitely curious. :D

She was explaining to me the different procedure that Moroccan women use when hennaing their hair. She casually mentions that the henna is made to be really runny using lots of liquid, and that the liquid they use is pomegrante peels boiled in water. Apparently they do this do decrease the hair loss from hennaing.


Whoa, whoa, whoa. Back up the train. What?!

She repeated that the women boil pomegranate peels in water and then use the water in their hennas, and the main reason for doing this was to avoid hair loss. She told me that this mysterious liquid shrinks pores (she encouraged me to try it on my hand to see th results) and therefore when you use it on your scalp, it shrinks the pores around your hair follicles and your scalp will therefore hold more tightly onto the hair.

I thought this was crazy, but I lose a lot of hair so I'll try pretty much anything.
I didn't try it with henna, but I decided to incorporate this into my next wash. I wash with borax and water, so instead of using plain water, I used pomegranate peel water with the borax.

I hadn't washed my hair in 4 days and I have really bad scalp problems. If I'm too lazy to wash my hair for four days, I start losing hair by the handfuls. It's really bad. I got into the shower and began losing the normal amount of hair. I put in the borax/pomegranate peel mixture on my head and left it for a few minutes like I normally do to give the borax time to work.

Usually when I rinse and then comb out my hair after that, I lose TONS of hair, especially if I haven't washed my hair for four days. But this time, I lost maybe 1/4 the normal amount. SERIOUSLY. I was frikkin' FLOORED.

I am going to incorporate this into every wash day now. I'm also going to see about maybe making a tiny eyedropper with the pomegranate peel water in it so that I can apply it nightly before bed.


Has anyone else ever heard of this? Has anyone ever tried this?

[serious]

I've never heard of using pomegranate peel juice in the henna mix, but I have tried the henna from Morocco, it was a great stuff!!!

[ktani]

I have never heard of it for that but when I started to drink too much pomegranate juice promoted for heart health, I got very uncomfortable symptoms assciated with too much phytoestrogen intake.

Upon researching, I discovered that pomegranate does contain fairly high phytoestrogen levels.

For those avoiding estrogens in food or the application of them on skin, I would avoid large amounts of the juice from the peel. Too much phytoestrogen is not recommended for those avoiding estrogens.

Phytoestogens in pomegranate peel
http://abs.lacdr.gorlaeus.net/publications/2900

ETA: When my mom was first recovering from breast cancer, she was on a hormone blocker to block phytoestrogens in food.

[Diamondbell]

That sounds interesting saskia madding - I have to try this at least once ! :D

[saskia_madding]

Thanks Ktani, that is really interesting stuff!

I don't understand - why are phytoestrogens being blocked in post cancer treatment if the article indicates that "various parts of the pomegranate fruit (Punica granatum; Punicaceae), e.g. seed oil, juice, fermented juice and peel extract, have been shown to exert suppressive effects on human breast cancer cells in vitro"?

Also, I personally am not too worried about the use of the pomegranate peel water in hair care. I wash my hair twice a week and henna once a month. I use two tiny bits of peel in the water when I boil a fairly large amount. It's not like I'm juggling pomegranate juice from 20 cartons.

[ktani]

Thanks Ktani, that is really interesting stuff!

I don't understand - why are phytoestrogens being blocked in post cancer treatment if the article indicates that "various parts of the pomegranate fruit (Punica granatum; Punicaceae), e.g. seed oil, juice, fermented juice and peel extract, have been shown to exert suppressive effects on human breast cancer cells in vitro"?

Also, I personally am not too worried about the use of the pomegranate peel water in hair care. I wash my hair twice a week and henna once a month. I use two tiny bits of peel in the water when I boil a fairly large amount. It's not like I'm juggling pomegranate juice from 20 cartons.

You are most welcome!

It is controversial.

http://erc.endocrinology-journals.org/cgi/content/full/13/4/995
"there is experimental evidence for both a promotional and a protective effect of phytoestrogens on breast cancer, but at the present time it is impossible to reconcile dietary/supplement exposure with epidemiological and experimental studies."

[saskia_madding]

So basically, no one really knows anything. :rolleyes: It's good to keep in mind though. I really appreciate the links. :)

I have decided that I won't be using it when I'm not showering or hennaing. I tried putting it on my scalp this morning and my super finicky scalp kind of freaked out and got itchy. My scalp gets itchy over almost everything, so I'm not too surprised. But I will still use it when washing my hair and doing henna treatments. I'll keep this thread posted to see if it works a second time.

[ktani]

So basically, no one really knows anything. :rolleyes: It's good to keep in mind though. I really appreciate the links. :)

Not exactly. There is evidence both ways. That is not in the category of unknown.

For someone with estrogen dependent cancer, on doctor's advice of course, and in making one's own choices, to me it would be logical to avoid certain foods and skin applications, if there is the slightest chance they can promote such a life threatening disease.

It is about amount and frequency, a common theme. I would rely on doctor's advice and research updates, discussed with the doctor or specialist about one's own case.

http://foodforbreastcancer.com/news/pomegranate-compounds-inhibit-aromatase-and-reduces-breast-cancer-cell-proliferation
"The safety and efficacy of consumption of large amounts of pomegranate juice, pomegranate seed oil and pomegranate extract needs to be confirmed in large scale clinical trials."

[Alvrodul]

This was interesting, Saskia! I am fortunate in that I don't have a problem with hair loss - however the last couple of months have been extremely stressful for me, and while the stress has eased up some, it is not gone. Certainly a bit of preventive care won't hurt.:)
And I happen to have a pomegranate in the fridge.:D

[CaityBear]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I just threw out some pomegranate peels and I'm doing my henna Wednesday. I would've totally tried that! I seem to lose a lot of hair and I kind of hate having thin hair. :( I know people don't mean it as a bad thing or as anything, but if I have my hair in a bun and then take it down people always say "OMG your hair is so long! You'd never tell from your bun!" But I hate hearing that. :( I want thicker hair...

BUT I do have another pomegrante in the fridge waiting to be eaten so maybe next time. :P

PS I also heard aloe vera gel is supposed to help with hair loss. I read about applying it to the scalp after washing, sit for 15 minutes then rinse.

[christine1989]

This is why I love LHC...where else could you get tips like this?! I don't lose a huge number of hairs but I'm still going to give it a try because no one likes losing hairs in any number. :)

[Igor]

My unscientific two cents are that I am not sure contracting pores would be able to ”hold the hairs in”, but then again, I never personally hennaed and I haven’t read up on henna knowledge for that reason :shrug:

Also, I would worry about the change in PH and what kind of enzymes the pomegranate peel juices contains. Some enzymes are good for chopping protein molecules in pieces, which is definitely not something I would want to happen in my hair. Would boiling manage to damage those enzymes into not working anymore?

[saskia_madding]

Ha! I totally agree about LHC - I've heard some wacky things on here, but most of them were really useful to me. That's why when I heard this from the woman at work, I had to share it here!

Caitybear - Aloe vera gel, eh? Hm. I'm going to do some googling tomorrow are see what I come up with about that. I used to have way thicker hair than I do now and I really miss it. I know what you mean about small buns - people tell me that all the time too and I also hate it!