Ingredients to combat gray hair
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free skin care · Thu Nov 26, 2009 10:59 pm

Externally - strong sage tea used as a final rinse can help bring back hair colour, as can strong nettle tea

Internally - nettle tea, blackstrap molassess and brewers yeast. A strong infusion of nettle tea will help nourish the adrenal glands as well as providing easily assimilated minerals such as calcium and iron.

Blackstrap molassess has high levels of b group vitamins and iron.

Brewers yeast has high levels of b group vitamins along with valuable minerals such as selenium and chromium that are in short supply in our regular diet.

I lost most of my hair when I was 12 due to leukaemia. Taking brewers yeast made it grow back. Despite the fact that used to take a daily b group tablet, my hair has never been particulary good and in the last year, although I haven't gone grey, it has lost some of its colour all over and become less rich and vibrant in colour. I stopped taking brewers yeast because I hated the taste as a kid.

However I decided to bite the bullet and start taking it again. 5 days a week I take a desertspoon of it mixed in a small amount of water with around 1/4 tsp of vitamin c. The vitamin c actually masks some of the taste. Anyway within 3 weeks of taking this I had two people comment that my hair was looking darker and thicker, and another two people comment on how good both my skin and hair were looking. It's now been about two months since I've been taking it and my hair definitely does look richer in colour, also I don't seem to be getting any dandruff now (had mild dandruff for 20 years). Also brewers yeast taken internally hs known to help normalise oil, helping both oily and dry skin.

I've come to the conclusion that nutrients in food are just that much better absorbed than those in tablets and even if you don't like the taste, just chug it down, make a nasty face and follow with some fresh water. No big deal.

free skin care · Fri Nov 27, 2009 3:20 am

How interesting luckylouie! Thanks for posting about the brewers yeast and the nettle tea. They are going to be next on my trip to the health food store. Might be a while though - I've currently got a whole mountain of things that I'm taking!

Fri Nov 27, 2009 6:06 pm

Looks as if SA's Gray hair serum with methionine sulfoxide reductase (MSR) has been released:
http://www.skinactives.com/product/detail.aspx?prodID=190

free skin care · Fri Nov 27, 2009 6:14 pm

Thanks for the post luckylouie, that's quite inspiring! Have you checked nutritional yeast and compared to brewers yeast? I may be mistaken but I think it has the same properties, but the taste is much more tolerable IMHO.

DM

free skin care · Sat Nov 28, 2009 3:36 pm

Nutritional yeast isn't as readily available in Australian health food stores, not that many stock it, so I just get the brewers yeast. I have tasted nutritional yeast and yes it is a bit milder but not so much that I will go out of my way to find a store that stocks it.

free skin care · Mon Nov 30, 2009 4:56 am

Thanks havana and luckylouie for all the info. I will definitely be trying the yeast.

Sorry DM that you had the same bad experience.

free skin care · Wed Dec 02, 2009 5:52 pm

I've read lots of testimonials over at the Earth Clinic website about blackstrap molasses helping gray hair.
When I worked in nutritional supplement retail, I had a number of older customers got results with the Chinese herb He Shou Wu or Fo Ti. It nourishes the kidney/adrenal meridian which, in Traditional Chinese Medicine, can manifest weakness with graying or falling hair. I had results with stopping thyroid related hair loss.

Another herb that could be helpful is called Pueraria Mirifica (from Thailand). It's supposed to help gray hair as well as skin and hormone health.

Fri Dec 04, 2009 3:22 am

I've just come across something herbal called Pepperié. I'm a new member and can't seem to post a link. But google it - it's a US-based operation. They're very nice people and will answer any questions.
A lady on another forum was using it and after 7 weeks the greys at her temples were returning to their former colour. The darker colour starts reforming in the hair follicle. So it looks as though you CAN restore hair colour to some extent. This Pepperie stuff is great for conditioning too - both hair and scalp.

Another thing you can use to restore hair colour is egg white, applied to the areas you want to treat. I tried this - it's messy and gloopy - and it did seem to help around the temples. Then I got lazy Rolling Eyes

free skin care · Fri Dec 04, 2009 6:06 pm

Hey piglet - have you tried the pepperie yourself yet?? Am I understanding this herb is
processed in US and can be bought in US?? Thx DiPhx

free skin care · Sat Dec 05, 2009 6:15 am

hzzyjane wrote:

I've read lots of testimonials over at the Earth Clinic website about blackstrap molasses helping gray hair.
When I worked in nutritional supplement retail, I had a number of older customers got results with the Chinese herb He Shou Wu or Fo Ti. It nourishes the kidney/adrenal meridian which, in Traditional Chinese Medicine, can manifest weakness with graying or falling hair. I had results with stopping thyroid related hair loss.

Another herb that could be helpful is called Pueraria Mirifica (from Thailand). It's supposed to help gray hair as well as skin and hormone health.

This is a really dumb question, I'm sure, but is the blackstrap molasses taken internally or applied on the hair (because all I can think is YUK!!).

free skin care · Sat Dec 05, 2009 7:17 am

Skippie,
You just gave me my morning chuckle, either way internally or externally and my mind says YUK! LOL
Thanks for the smile! Smile

DM
PS not laughing at you just thinking of what a mess externally or getting fat as a house eating home made bread to get enough down! Rolling Eyes

free skin care · Sat Dec 05, 2009 7:58 am

LOL, DM. I didn't even think about how awful it might taste.

free skin care · Sat Dec 05, 2009 8:09 am

Skippie wrote:

LOL, DM. I didn't even think about how awful it might taste.

I've only used it in baking bread, but the smell alone to me at least, well let's just say I was never even tempted to lick it off my fingers! LOL
DM
Shock

free skin care · Tue Dec 08, 2009 6:36 am

I've purchased Blue Lotus Extract from Garden of Wisdom to add to my shampoo. Don't know if this is even close to lotus flower essential oil, but I'm going to try it out.

Tue Dec 08, 2009 6:46 am

I think you're meant to take the BSM internally. Some people have taken chelated copper too with good results for the greys.
You could try using amla powder or oil as well. It's a great conditioner and is said to darken hair. I think it's used in ayurvedic medicine (?).
I tried sage and it didn't work at all. But I have very dark thick hair and my greys aren't stubborn, especially round my face.
I've ordered my next 3-month supply of the pepperie stuff. I'm on month 2 now. I haven't got any new greys, and the current greys 'seem' less noticeable. But nothing wildly fantastic to report so far. It's nice to use, though. And makes hair really shiny, which is all good Smile

free skin care · Tue Dec 08, 2009 7:19 am

Skippie,

The Blue Lotus Extract is from the same plant so close in that sense. Essential Oils are more potent and concentrated than extracts. Essential
Oils are usually steam extracted the other methods are solvent extraction and effleurage. Basically just leaving the pure oil essence of the plant. Extracts are less concentrated most commonly the plant material is soaked in alcohol or water for a period of time then strained leaving the extract, some evaporate off the alcohol and put it in a glycerin base that is why you see both alcohol free and alcohol based liquid extracts in the health food store. They will have the concentration shown on the bottle 1:1 1 part extract to 1 part base 2:1 2 parts extract to 1 part base. Dry extracts should show some concentration as well.

So after my lesson on the two, your extract should be fine, you will need to use more extract than an essential oil to achieve the desired benefits.

I hope this helps!

DM

free skin care · Tue Dec 08, 2009 4:54 pm

Thanks, DM - I appreciate the explanation as I really had no idea. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

free skin care · Tue Dec 08, 2009 5:51 pm

Skippie wrote:

Thanks, DM - I appreciate the explanation as I really had no idea. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

I am glad it was coherent! Typed that out while waiting for coffee today! LOL

I will keep fingers and toes crossed for you!
Keep us posted!

DM

free skin care · Wed Dec 09, 2009 7:30 pm

Hi Skippie - keep us posted on the blue lotus extract as I order from GOW a lot. It's something that is reasonably priced so let us
know. The skinactives is a bit pricey to experiment with. Is the blue lotus supposed to stop new gray hairs or restore gray hair to their original color - time will tell after you use it for a while! Thx DiPhx

free skin care · Wed Dec 09, 2009 8:09 pm

DiPhx wrote:

Hi Skippie - keep us posted on the blue lotus extract as I order from GOW a lot. It's something that is reasonably priced so let us
know. The skinactives is a bit pricey to experiment with. Is the blue lotus supposed to stop new gray hairs or restore gray hair to their original color - time will tell after you use it for a while! Thx DiPhx

Hi,
Not Skippie but I posted this on page one it is a scientific study but has answers you are looking for.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:80/pmc/articles/PMC2721149/

HTH
DM

free skin care · Thu Dec 10, 2009 6:20 am

DiPhx wrote:

Hi Skippie - keep us posted on the blue lotus extract as I order from GOW a lot. It's something that is reasonably priced so let us
know. The skinactives is a bit pricey to experiment with. Is the blue lotus supposed to stop new gray hairs or restore gray hair to their original color - time will tell after you use it for a while! Thx DiPhx

DiPhx, I'd be happy if it did either. I don't have a lot of gray right now and I'd like to keep it that way for a little while longer. I'll be sure to keep you posted.

Quote:

I think you're meant to take the BSM internally.

Thanks, piglet, for the clarification on the BSM.

free skin care · Fri Dec 11, 2009 11:14 am

Hi,

One lady on the Russian Forum claims that Bay Essential Oil helped her mom to restore the hair color. She used 1 drop in the DIY hair mask for general hair health and noticed a difference after about five (5) month of use.

Hope it helps.

free skin care · Fri Dec 11, 2009 2:40 pm

Hey DM and Skippie - thx so much for the info and study on blue lotus oil. It sure sounds promising!
Skippie - let us know how often you use it, and how you apply it. Am assumeing the hair needs to be washed after the appliction - slowing down the gray and even eliminating part of it would be wonderful! Another arsenal int he anti-aging category!! DiPhx

Tue Dec 15, 2009 2:51 am

The blue lotus extract/essential oil sounds really interesting. How are you applying it? I'm thinking it would be most effective to rub an amount (how much though??) into the scalp to let it filter into the hair follicle.

Perhaps the lotus extract could be added to an oil treatment.

I'll look into Bay Essential Oil too - that's a great tip, thanks.

I should also stock up on nettle tea. Thx for that, LuckyLouie

free skin care · Sat Dec 19, 2009 7:51 am

piglet wrote:

The blue lotus extract/essential oil sounds really interesting. How are you applying it? I'm thinking it would be most effective to rub an amount (how much though??) into the scalp to let it filter into the hair follicle.

Perhaps the lotus extract could be added to an oil treatment.

I'll look into Bay Essential Oil too - that's a great tip, thanks.

I should also stock up on nettle tea. Thx for that, LuckyLouie

Piglet,

I added the lotus extract to my shampoo. I don't think I'm getting much if any benefit from it though, because I wash the shampoo out so quickly. Plus, it made my shampoo a little watery. I think adding it to an oil is a great idea. If I ever get around to making doba's lemon spray, I think I'll add some to that.

DM,

I recently read about someone adding blackstrap molasses to their coffee and thought it sounded like a good idea to try. I'm going to pick some up today and give it a try. Maybe it won't be so hard to get down that way. Laughing

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