List your successful strategies for thicker hair

[NordicPandi]

What has helped you to have thicker hair?

I've gained over 1/2 inch in circumference over the last few months :happydance:
There are a few things I've changed since coming to LHC. I now use a satin pillowcase and wear my hair in a protective do (most nights) for sleep.

Much less frequent heat styling and no blow drying. More gentle detangling and wearing my hair up more often.

Using Lugol's iodine on my scalp. I've put it on my boyfriend's scalp as well and can see lots of baby hair sprouting. It's more effective than the Rogaine he has used for years.

I used DE for a while as well and got a great growth spurt.

Oh, and thinking happy thoughts more often than stressful thoughts. I do think this is important. I went through a stressful period and noticed my hair falling out :(

I'm not sure what has contributed the most, but it has been great to learn so much from the forums here. It's weird to think that I knew so little about my own hair for so long!

I thought my hair was destined to be really thin, and I'm soooo excited to see a gain in circumference!! I just bumped from a i to a ii. Thank you Long Hair Community! :)

[Monkey962]

I've never heard of using iodine for regrowing hair. My hair's been growing noticeably faster using monistat twice a week, but it hasn't done much to regrow or thicken up my hair. Where can I get some?

[Fingolphin]

What has helped you to have thicker hair?

I've gained over 1/2 inch in circumference over the last few months :happydance:
There are a few things I've changed since coming to LHC. I now use a satin pillowcase and wear my hair in a protective do (most nights) for sleep.

Much less frequent heat styling and no blow drying. More gentle detangling and wearing my hair up more often.

Using Lugol's iodine on my scalp. I've put it on my boyfriend's scalp as well and can see lots of baby hair sprouting. It's more effective than the Rogaine he has used for years.

I used DE for a while as well and got a great growth spurt.

Oh, and thinking happy thoughts more often than stressful thoughts. I do think this is important. I went through a stressful period and noticed my hair falling out :(

I'm not sure what has contributed the most, but it has been great to learn so much from the forums here. It's weird to think that I knew so little about my own hair for so long!

I thought my hair was destined to be really thin, and I'm soooo excited to see a gain in circumference!! I just bumped from a i to a ii. Thank you Long Hair Community! :)

Do be careful with that stuff (Lugol's iodine). It is known to have relatively high toxicity and it's not the safest form of iodine to take.

[Katze]

Treating my hair more gently (giving up bleach and dye, only blowDAMPing instead of drying and using the curling iron, no hairspray) means that my hair is growing in thicker than it ever has.

I did take biotin for a while and it stopped my postpartum shed, and I am finding that a generally healthy lifestyle as well as some special vitamins (Cellagon, for you Europeans) really help my overall health, which is reflected in my hair's thickness.

[Mesmerise]

Nice work! I will have to investigate iodine, as I'm trying a lot of stuff to thicken up my hair which went through massive shedding (and wasn't that thick to start off with so I couldn't afford to lose that much). At the moment I'm using castor oil a couple of times a week on the roots (kinda icky but has good results for some lol), and have been taking MSM, biotin, EPO and colloidal silica (but only for a week or so, so far... too soon to see results). I'm also going to try to eat peanut butter every day (which has been reported to be good) and which shouldn't be hard to do, but I keep forgetting lol.

Iodine may be a good supplement to that?? I will have to learn more about it! I have some odd areas on the sides of my head where the hair is quite thin and patchy, so not sure what's going on there (maybe some kinda scalp damage from previous mistreatment) but I'd like to see if I can get the hair to resprout from areas that obviously once had more hair! I'd like to have solid ii hair again if possible!

[Sundial]

For me, taking iron supplements made the biggest difference in reducing shedding. There was a thread somewhere about hair loss which mentioned that insufficient iron can cause hair to fall out. Since I have mild thalassemia and am slightly anemic, I gave it a try and even DH has noticed a difference in the amount of shed hairs he finds in the shower

[scorpio_rising]

Do be careful with that stuff (Lugol's iodine). It is known to have relatively high toxicity and it's not the safest form of iodine to take.

Hi Finglophin!
Do you have a source for this information you can share, please?
I have taken Lugol's for years at the direction of my doctor and I've never heard or read anything indicating it's toxic or not particularly safe. I'm pretty diligent about researching anything I put in or even on my body, so I'm interested.

And OP, it's inspiring that such simple steps have shown you such great improvement! Well done! :cheer:

[Fingolphin]

Hi Finglophin!
Do you have a source for this information you can share, please?
I have taken Lugol's for years at the direction of my doctor and I've never heard or read anything indicating it's toxic or not particularly safe. I'm pretty diligent about researching anything I put in or even on my body, so I'm interested.

And OP, it's inspiring that such simple steps have shown you such great improvement! Well done! :cheer:

I'd have to search a little more, but here's a little blurb from Wikipedia:

It was also used at one time as a first line treatment for hyperthyroidism, as the administration of pharmacologic amounts of iodine leads to temporary inhibition of iodine organification in the thyroid gland, a phenomenon called the Wolff-Chaikoff effect. However it is not used to treat certain autoimmune causes of thyroid disease as iodine-induced blockade of iodine organification may result in hypothyroidism. They are not considered as a first line therapy because of possible induction of resistant hyperthyroidism but may be considered as an adjuvant therapy when used together with other hyperthyrodism medications.
Because of its availability as a drinking water decontaminant, emergency use of it was at first recommended to the Polish government in 1986, after the Chernobyl disaster to replace and block any intake of radioactive 131I, even though it was known to be a non-optimal agent due to its somewhat toxic free-iodine content.[5]. Other sources state that pure potassium iodide solution in water (SSKI) was eventually used for most of the thyroid protection after this accident.[6] There is "strong scientific evidence" for potassium iodide thyroid protection to help prevent thyroid cancer. Potassium iodide does not provide immediate protection but can be a component of a general strategy in a radiation emergency.[7]
Historically, Lugol's iodine solution has been widely available and used for a number of health problems with some precautions.[8] Lugol's is sometimes prescribed in a variety of alternative medical treatments.[9][10]

May I ask what benefits you have received from it personally? Did it affect your hair growth?

[Fingolphin]

Here's some more from Wiki:

Elemental iodine is an oxidizing irritant and direct contact with skin can cause lesions, so iodine crystals should be handled with care. Solutions with high elemental iodine concentration such as tincture of iodine and Lugol's solution are capable of causing tissue damage if use for cleaning and antisepsis is prolonged.
Elemental iodine (I2) is poisonous if taken orally in larger amounts; 2–3 grams of it is a lethal dose for an adult human.
Iodine vapor is very irritating to the eye, to mucous membranes, and in the respiratory tract. Concentration of iodine in the air should not exceed 1 mg/m³ (eight-hour time-weighted average).

[Firefox7275]

Wow you have had great results, Nordic Pandi! :D I am getting less shedding but it's too early to notice a change in thickness. For me it's treating my hair more gently, primarily hiding my ends instead of playing with them constantly. I've also been more gentle with brushing and during colouring and leaving my hair loose at night (silk sleep cap will be the next purchase).

[Rocket22]

I would love to gain some thickness, but not to be a downer but I don't understand how people can gain much thickness in a few months? In my mind it would take quite a long time for any new hairs to reach a ponytail like a year or so to get true measured thickness. Or if you were able to plump up the hair that was already existing? I don't know but I would give anything to have thicker hair.. Us thin hair gals and guys really can only do so much and genetics are the rest.

[brunetka]

I've decreased how much I shed by giving up blow drying and generally treating my hair better (oiling, washing gently, towel drying gently, braiding at night when I remember). I think that using henna may have also plumped up my individual strands. Taking biotin seems to be good for my hair growth rates, but I don't know if it's helping with thickness as well as length. I use MegaTek too, but the jury is still out on that one. If I am getting new growth from any of this, it will probably take quite a while before it grows out long enough to make my overall hair thicker.