By Kevin Woo | Strong Health

 

Walk down any city street on a sunny summer afternoon and you’ll see a sea of men wearing baseball caps. You might assume they’re showing pride for their favorite sports team, and in some cases, you’d be right. But upon closer examination, you’ll notice that many cap wearers are hiding something. Actually, hiding nothing is a more apt way of putting it.

 

A lot of baseball cap wearers suffer from alopecia areata, the medical term for male pattern baldness. More than fifty percent of all Caucasian men will experience some degree of hair loss by age 50.

 

Treating hair loss (other than wearing a baseball cap) is difficult. Hair growth products haven’t proven to be consistently successful and merely changing shampoo and conditioner isn’t likely to yield good results. One surefire way to look your best is to implement a hair care system that cleanses, conditions and revitalizes your hair and scalp.

 

An Objective Nioxin Review

 

The Nioxin shampoo is among the leading hair enhancement products on the market. Its suite of shampoos, conditioners and scalp treatments meet the needs of men who experience male pattern baldness or thinning hair.

 

Nioxin hair care is a three-part system that deep cleans and conditions the hair, and revitalizes the scalp. The Nioxin system also blocks the hormone dihydrotestosterone (DHT) from getting into the hair. DHT is the cause of androgenetic alopecia, known more commonly as male pattern baldness. Nioxin products are used in upscale salons and many hairstylists to give clients thicker, fuller hair.

 

Shampoo For Thinning Hair

 

For men with male pattern baldness, a receding hairline, or those who have begun to notice a few more hairs on the pillowcase, it’s natural to find a way to stem the tide. Comb-overs look bad and surgery is scary (and possibly premature). So it makes logical sense to switch up your hair care products to see if they can kick-start the growth process.

 

Off-the-shelf shampoos probably won’t help you achieve your objectives. Shampoos such as ShapiroMD, Lipogaine are Procerin are good choices because, primarily, they remove DHT and are promoted as hair growth products, but their success is hard to quantify. While the removal of DHT is a good thing if you don’t change your grooming habits nothing will make your hair look better.

 

If you’re going to invest in off-the-shelf products it’s important to spend enough time to thoroughly wash your hair (grit that stays in your hair makes your hair look flat) and use a quality conditioner. Time spent on yourself isn’t wasted.

 

The Nioxin System For Hair CareBy contrast, Nioxin offers six system kits designed to meet the needs of men whose needs range from light thinning to progressed thinning. Each system combines a deep cleanser, therapy conditioner, and scalp treatment. Nioxin products enhance hair, not grow hair. Your hair will look thicker and more full after using Nioxin’s system kits.

 

The Nioxin cleanser is like shampoo. Users apply a quarter-size dollop and gently massage the solution through your hair making sure to cover your entire scalp. It’s a good idea to go through this process slowly to give your hair a deep clean.

 

The conditioner is applied to smooth the hair and revitalize the shine. The conditioner should remain on your head for one-to-three minutes. After rinsing out the conditioner, the scalp revitalizer is applied generously to ensure that your hair and scalp receive the full benefit of the solution. The scalp revitalizer is the crown jewel of the Nioxin system kits. The revitalizer is full of good proteins that attach to your hair and the result is hair that looks more full.

 

The scalp treatment is a “leave on” product (in other words, you don’t rise it out). The revitalizer adds thickness to your hair and strengthens the hair shaft. To ensure that the revitalizer isn’t removed it’s best to towel dry your hair and forget you own a dryer. In addition to the system kits, Nioxin sells products for specific needs. The products include styling gels and spray, hair masques, deep conditioners, instant fullness dry cleanser, advanced system kits, and scalp recovery products for those who need help with managing flakes and dry scalp.

 

The most important thing about the Nioxin system kits is they take time to gain results. Many people view washing their hair as a chore. They don’t have time to stand around for three minutes before it’s time to apply another liquid. When using the Nioxin system it’s important to carve out five or six minutes to give your hair a message. The payoff will be the ability to walk around with a fuller head of hair.

 

Ninety percent of Nioxin customers who follow the system’s guidelines report more dense looking hair within a month although anecdotal responses indicate that it can take three-to-six months to notice a significant change. In most cases, Nioxin users will see a difference within a month and improvements as time goes on.

 

Does Nioxin Work?

 

Nioxin products are designed to make existing hair look thicker, fuller and dense. The products are excellent at removing dirt and other contaminants that weigh down hair. Some hair care experts believe that Nioxin’s deep cleaning solutions help rid the scalp of oily secretions that have high levels of DHT, the chemical that is thought to be a primary cause of baldness.

 

Nioxin products are used by clients who want to improve the look of existing hair by thoroughly cleaning the hair and scalp; removing unwanted chemicals that get embedded in the hair; increasing the width of thinner hair; preventing damage near the hair roots, and reducing hair breakage.

 

By comparison, if you are experiencing male pattern baldness and you invest in cheap store brand shampoos and conditions it’s not likely that they will thoroughly clean your hair. The remaining dirt and grease will weigh down hair and draw even more attention to your baldness. If you have thinning hair, skimping on hair care products will exacerbate the problem.

 

Other Options for Men With Thin Hair

 

There are several options for men who have thinning hair. The choices can be divided into two camps: invasive and non-invasive. Invasive procedures include outpatient surgical procedures such as Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE). With the FUE procedure, hair follicles are removed from “the donor site” – typically your back or the side of your head – and transplanted where your head hair used to be.

 

A robotic system is used to perform the perform graft dissections. The surgery takes a day, it’s “virtually painless,” and leaves no scaring along the forehead.
If you’re in the market for a simpler solution, most men opt to pick a product off the shelf and hope that it will work. These solutions come in the form of liquids, foams, shampoos, hair growth supplements and vitamins. The most commonly used products are Minoxidil and Rogaine.

 

Is Nioxin Safe?

Nioxin has been in business since 1987. In 2008, Proctor & Gamble bought the company. There have been no known concerns with Nioxin products.

 

What Are the Nioxin Side Effects

 

Some new users have reported that they see patches of red on their scalp after application of the treatment product. This is normal. The redness is usually caused by niacin, which is a chemical in the scalp treatment. In the vast majority of cases, the redness will go away in an hour.

 

While it might seem antithetical, Nioxin users might experience hair loss during the first few weeks of use. Not to worry. The Nioxin products are helping the scalp to rid itself of thin and brittle hair that was likely to fall out anyway. If the condition lasts for more than two-to-three weeks, see your dermatologist.

Other irritants that might occur during the first few weeks of use include:

 

• Itching
• Flaky scalp
• Redness
• Swelling or tenderness of the scalp
• Unusually dry hair
• Hair loss

 

There are a lot of chemicals in Nioxin products and one, selenium sulfide, can cause minor allergic reactions. If any of these symptoms last more than a month, see your doctor.

 

Where to Buy Nioxin

 

Nioxin is considered a premium product. Its product line can be purchased at upscale salons, online or at select retailers. When you decide to buy it’s important to know whether your hair is coarse or fine, and whether or not you have chemically treated or natural hair. This process will help determine the right Nioxin products for you.

 

Final Thoughts

 

Male pattern baldness arrived at about the time the mirror was invented. Well, almost. The mirror was invented in 1835 and it wasn’t until the early 1900’s that men began noticing their receding hairlines. Prior to the early 20th century, having male pattern baldness or total baldness was exceedingly rare. It is plausible that prior to widespread use of mirrors men who lost hair content and unaware.

 

If we are to believe that male pattern baldness is a fairly recent phenomenon that actually puts to rest the notion that women carry the baldness gene. The baldness gene didn’t suddenly appear in the early 1900’s. So, is male pattern baldness an invention of an advertising industry that wants to sell billions of dollars worth of hair maintenance, hair care, and hair growth products? You’d have to be a madman to follow the logic.

 

The truth is, there isn’t a universally accepted reason for alopecia but it’s reasonable to assume that our polluted environment, the chemicals we’re exposed to, stress, anxiety and a host of other day-to-day concerns are largely to blame for early baldness. For those who have early baldness, some men use the Nioxin system kit to maximize the look of their hair, wipe away toxic chemicals, dirt, and grime, and soothe the scalp to make their hair look and feel thicker and more full.