Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Sas Holland on February 16, 2015 at 1:49am

Well Ann, i have been using Devacurl hair prducts and "the Curly Girl method" for nearly 2 years now. It means not using shampoo,conditioners and styling products with sulfates and parabenes and silicones anymore. My hair definetely improved, but I cannot say it slowed the FFA because I only know I have it from the diagnoses last august 2014. I have never felt anything at my hairline (like itching or flaking) or had any redness. I onlynoticed loosing my eyebrows over 10 years ago when I was 40, but since I never had much eyebrow hair, I blamed that on my age and never thought of a disease like FFA. I have always had a curly fringe so I never really noticed a receding hairline untill last year. I think now I have had FFA for over 10 years and it was very slowly. My biopsy now showed very little activity.
So I do believe in these Devacurl (and also Jessiecurl) products beiing good for my hair.

Good luck to you!
Sas

Permalink Reply by Alice on February 16, 2015 at 7:52am

Sas, I purchased a starter package of Devacurl products on Amazon but haven't used them yet. I'm a liitle concerned about how the "no poo" shampoo will work on my scalp, as it tends to be red, bumpy and very itchy. I was using Nature's Gate organic tea tree oil shampoo and condtioner, which helped my scalp but made my fine hair very dry. My hair has some curl, but not as much as in your photo.

Permalink Reply by Sas Holland on February 16, 2015 at 8:16am

Hi Alice,

As you know I have no experience with itchy, bumpy and red scalp, but the Devacurl No-poo and One Conditioner are very mild I believe. Much milder than Tea tree I believe, of which my beautician says that it is very aggressive for skin.

My husband also uses the One Conditioner for nearly 2 years and he had absolutely no curls, but very straight  (and not at all dry, like my curls) hair that used to get greasy pretty fast. Since he uses the One Conditioner almost every day (and washes with that) and only  once in 2 weeks the No-Poo, his hair is much less greasy, but not dry.

Maybe you can just try it once, but make sure that before you start using the CG (or no-poo) method you should first wash it one more time with shampoo that has Sulfate in it, (this is to remove the remaining silicones that have been building up in your hair from all the shampoos and conditioner and styling products you have been using with silicones), but make sure that shampoo  is silicone free!

From than on you can start washing your hair with the One Conditioner only and the No-Poo.

I wish you good luck Alice

Permalink Reply by Ann Wilson on February 17, 2015 at 10:15am

Thank you Sas!

Permalink Reply by Alice on February 16, 2015 at 7:47am

Ann, i don't blame you for being leery of using a lot of unproven drugs. I have been using spearmint, either as iced tea or in capsules,  to lower testosterone levels and believe it is helping. If you read reviews of spearmint on Amazon.com, there are many women who swear by it for symptoms of polyscystic ovarian syndrome, such as acne and facial hair. This is a natural alternative do drugs like Avodart. 

In addition to spearmint, I have also been using turmeric, ginger, and oolong tea for inflammation. You can read about these on The People's Pharmacy website. Oolong tea tastes like a strong green tea. I drink 2 cups every morning, instead of coffee or black tea. 

I do take plaquenil and use both minoxidil and and elidel (tiny amount on brows and hairline) daily and either betamethasone diproprionate or kenalog as needed for itchy. I think my scalp is itchier than most. Deciding what to use or not use isn't easy when there are no proven effective treatments.

Permalink Reply by Ann Wilson on February 17, 2015 at 10:27am

Thank you Alice! I will definitely look into spearmint and oolong tea! I have been researching the gut and how many illness or conditions are symptoms that the gut isn't functioning properly. One symptom of a leaky gut, noted by Dr Josh Axe, was the occurance of an autoimmune disease. Hmmmmm, FFA is an autoimmune disease.....maybe this is a cause? I don't know if anyone has put these two things together yet. But I personally know that I have a sensitivity to gluten, have rosecea, have had other skin infections, bloating ,brain fog, and am overweight. These all point to a problem in the gut. So I'm going to try to heal my gut and lose weight and see if my FFA slows of stops. Right now my FFA is only one my left side and is mild. I have also found some natural  hair products, Andalou Naturals Thinning hair system, that I am currently using. It does seem to thicken my hair but I haven't used it long enough to say it is working.

Permalink Reply by Alice on February 17, 2015 at 11:54am

Ann, I started drinking oolong tea after I read about it helping people with psoriasis, another autoimmune s

Permalink Reply by Alice on February 17, 2015 at 12:04pm

Thanks, Sas for the advice about using the Deva Curl products. I have been using an organic apple cider vinegar rinse periodically to rid my hair of build up from other products,  including minoxidil. I have been looking for something that will keep my from being dry without heavy conditioners that weigh down the curl,  especially since the curls make my hair appear fuller. I hope the Deva products work for me. Your hair looks very healthy in your photo.

Permalink Reply by Sas Holland on February 18, 2015 at 8:13am

Ann,

I also put leaky gut and FFA as an autoimmune disease together. I read a realy good book about it: "The Autoimmune Approach by PhD Sarah Ballantyne (otherwise known as "the Paleomom" on the internet.

After reading I started the autoimmune approach diet (A.I.P.) and did that for 5 weeks, which was pretty hard, because you cannot eat any dairy, eggs, nuts and seeds, nightshades like potatos, grains, pseudo-grains like rice, processed sugars. I basically only ate vegetables, meat, oliveoil and fruit. (fish is allowed, but I don't like it)

Since I don't have any symptoms like itching or redness it was hard to tell if my FFA improved or not in those 5 weeks. Aftyer 4 or 4 weeks you are supposed to add very slowly different kinds of forbidden foods to see if you react to it.

In the meantime I had my blood tested  for food intolerances (not allergies) (igG testing) for 360 kinds of food and I got a list back of forbidden foods for me. I now follow this diet, which is easier in a way because although I am not allowed wheat, I can eat spelt bread, so I can eat bread again. Also I can eat eggwhites agin, and certain nuts. I don't use any medication and want to try this diet for at least 6 monhts/1 year.

Permalink Reply by Sas Holland on February 18, 2015 at 10:28am

Alice,

yes I sometimes rinse after conditioning with apple cider as well. The whole curly girl  (CG) method is also not only about avoiding silicones, sulfates and parabens, but it is also a specific routine to treat your hair, which really made a huge impact on my hair, looking healthier and much better curl definition too.

 It's about not using a normal towel any more to dry your hair with after showering, but an old T-shirt instead, which is softer for your hair.

And after conditioning and rinsing, put some good gel in soaking wet hair (I use the Devacurl ultra defining gel or  "kinky curly curling custard"  And  scrunch that in your hair upside down in the shower, scrunching some water out. After showering scrunch it  with the old T-shirt with long sleeves to dry and put that shirt on your head like a bandanna/cap and let it sit there for about 10-15 minutes.

After that it is important not to touch your hair again with your hands or comb, until it is dry.  Otherwise it will get frizzy. (you can use  a dryer with a diffuser, but stop before it's completely dry and let it airdry till completely dry)  When it is completely dry you will have a wet-gel look, which I hate. But when you scrunch your hair with your hands the gel cast will break and disappear and frizz-free curls will come out:)

I can show you the difference  between this routine and how my hairdresser always dries it after cutting. She uses a siliconefree conditioner and puts some silicone free cream in it before drying it with her diffuser. While drying she keeps scrunching my wet hair with her hands which will add frizz. I  will upload  2 pictures here, the first one is after my hairdressers routine with a normal towel and blow-drying with her hands touching my hair and  the second one (with blue jacket) is where I have washed it myself again using the CG routine.

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• IMG_8477.jpg, 456 KB
• IMG_8010.jpg, 381 KB

Permalink Reply by Alice on February 18, 2015 at 1:11pm

Thank you, Sas, for the curls tutorial. I am looking forward to trying it. The Deva starter pack I bought has 4 different products in it, so I can experiment a bit with styling. The tips on eliminating frizz are very helpful, dince my newly sprouted minoxidil hair is grayer and frizzier than the rest. I'm a long way, I hope, ftom needing a wig or hairpiece but am interested in making my own hair look better.

Permalink Reply by DragonandFox on June 28, 2015 at 1:10pm

I'd like to return to this thread to see if anyone can contribute new info about what Shampoo's might help reduce the scalp inflammation.  I already use natural shampoo's that don;t have sulfates parabens or other harmful chemicals.

Just wondering if there's actually a natural ingredient that can contribute to reducing inflammation.  My derm told me he read Rosewater contributes to reducing inflammation on the skin so he said it was good I use it on my face and might want to spray some on the hairline.