so it seems by reading the board that there are people who are paid off to say that some of these products to "remove" or "slow down" hair work.. is there anything at all that works that you have tried?

*dazed and confused*

I don't know of any of that stuff actually working for what the consumer believes it will do. If anyone around here knows different, fill us in. Just keep in mind that we may send the representatives of the Skeptical Advisor over to confirm your results

There may be a promising hair growth inhibitor on the horizon. Researchers at Columbia University have identified a protein called DSG4 that breaks down the structure of hair. Trials of a topical lotion are supposed to begin next year.

At least this is not an IGIA product.

RJC2001

RJC, I've been posting about this work done by Dr. Angela Christiano for some time now and people don't want to seem to get excited about. One can conclude from this that it must be a very significant find because I don't think she'd be starting these clinical trials if it weren't. Christiano has been working on curing alopecia for a long time now and she has yet to start any kind of trials for that. I believe that curing male pattern baldness is her ultimate goal but I know she must be a lot closer to having a permanent hair inhibitor. I recently emailed Dr. Christiano from Columbia U. and received a very nice response. There was nothing earth shattering but curing excess hair is definitely a concern of hers by reading her response. The name of the company that will be doing these clinical trials is Skinetics Bioscience LLC. I would really like to be able to interview her on the potential of a permanent hair inhibitor treatment being available in the next few years. I really find it amazing that we don't have one already.

The market for such a product is tremendous, consequently, if there is money to be made in it you can be sure there are drug companies working on it to produce a pill. It is bigger than the VIAGRA market and patients will spend all they have to keep from losing their hair.

One big problem is the fact most of this problem is genetic. The other causes include diseases that involve hormone problems. There are so many different causes that the possibility of a single treatment is remote. Drug companies will only look for solutions that involve the chronic use of some medication in order to get the repeat business. A machine is expected too work fast and last long or the expense of treatment is great.

When it comes to stopping hair growth the same criteria must be met...fast results and long lasting results. That is what happened to Vaniqa. It was long lasting but the cost and inconveience of daily use made it impossible for patients to continue using it.

My personal doctor is the one who invented Vaniqa and he has another product that will make hair grow but the same problems are present. It requires continuous use and multiple applications per day plus it is prohibitively expensive. It just is not worth it for patients.