• Introduction
• Scams in history
• Scam tactics
• Common claims
• How do they get away with it?

Introduction

In the long history of alopecia there has been an equally long history of "miracle" cures. Ancient Egyptians developed a wide variety of treatments for baldness such as a concoction of fat from a lion, a hippopotamus, a crocodile, a goose, a snake, and ibex, to be liberally applied to bald skin! Cleopatra's baldness cure for Julius Caesar was a compound of ground up burnt domestic mice, horse teeth, bear grease, and deer marrow (Kligman 1988). Maybe it did not cure baldness but with that smelly decomposing compound on your head people did not hang around you long enough to notice how much hair you had lost! Throughout history there has been no shortage of people proffering the ultimate cure and guaranteeing a luxuriant head of hair.

From past times and the present day there must be thousands of recipes for baldness. Dogs' urine, spider webs, egg yolks, cow saliva, German army horse salve, practically anything organic has been quoted as a baldness cure at sometime, somewhere, by someone. Books with instructions to improve hair growth also abound. These books may be bought at considerable cost and frequently involve mediation or physical exercises such standing on you head to increase blood flow to the scalp. Sometimes technical wizardry is employed such as the use of suction pumps applied to the scalp to increase scalp blood flow.

While there are numerous products for hair loss past and present, very, very few have truly been proven to actually work. The effectiveness of a drug or exercise is difficult to evaluate without subjecting the product to a classic double blind study with a test group and a control group. Most baldness cures have never undergone valid scientific testing to prove their worth. Half truths, pseudo science, and obscure, untraceable supporting evidence is frequently associated with wonder cures for hair loss. Most of these cures are of course just plain scams. People with few morals wanting to get rich quick see bald people as a way to a fast buck. If you are willing to spend your money there will always be people willing to provide a product. It’s the law of supply and demand.

There are many websites and advertisements in glossy magazines offering the latest jolly wheeze artistes have conjured up to "cure" baldness. This page is devoted to helping you identify these scams and schemes and avoid wasting time and money. In theory it would be best to simply provide a list of questionable cures and companies involved but in practice this is impossible. The authorities have all but given up on trying to monitor and regulate these operations. I don’t provide a list of scam products and/or websites for three reasons:

First, many of these scam products, advertisements, and web sites do not last very long. Whoever is behind these schemes will regularly change the name of their company, the name of their product, switch advertisements, and/or may even physically move their operation around the country. On the web much the same applies. The web site owner may shut down and open another web site every few months under a different name. I assume they do this to keep a step ahead of the authorities.

Second, it would be very difficult to draw up a comprehensive list, there are so many of these advertisements and web sites and some of the more amateur sites are quite difficult to find (thankfully). A couple of hours surfing revealed several web sites that I would consider scams but I am sure there are many more.

Third, even though the advertisement or web site may be making entirely false claims for their snake oils, the manufacturers could still attempt a court action against me for criticism of their product. They may have no hope of winning their claim but the cost of litigation would be too much for a poor person like me (awww!).

Scams in history

Scams abound and scams for selling baldness cures are an ever popular source of income. Some of the more infamous scams were invented in the early to mid part of this century. Western science was heralded as the answer to all the world population’s problems. People believed almost unquestioningly in modern science. Scam artists capitalized by dressing up their miracle cures in scientific clothes. Rather than providing pills and potions the sharks produced elaborate technological equipment that would provide this miracle cure. Pseudo principles of electricity or vacuums were made up to support the new technology. Perhaps the most widespread and frequently used baldness cure scam ever was based on the domestic vacuum. A helmet was put over the scalp and sealed with a rubber gasket to form an airtight chamber. A vacuum pump was then switched on. This scalp vacuuming was claimed to do a variety of things according to different manufacturers. The vacuum sucked impurities out of the hair follicles, it unclogged pores permitting hair growth, or the vacuum literally sucked the hair fiber from inside the scalp skin. The most popular explanation was that it stimulated the scalp and increased blood flow. This it certainly did. After the treatment, individuals had very red scalps as the result of a giant suction blister!

Electro scalp stimulation was another popular treatment available from hair stylists and cosmetologists. Applying “Farradaic” electrical current was supposed to stimulate hair follicles to keep growing healthy hair fiber. Unfortunately every so often there are occasional attempts to revive similar types of quack treatment. Both the vacuum and electro stimulation miracle cures are found in different guises around the world today, usually provided by up market alternative health clinics.

Pills and potions are the old favorite. Pills and potions are cheap to produce, easy to store and ship to the customer. They can contain entirely innocuous substances but occasionally such items have been found to be quite dangerous. When schemers say they want to keep the ingredient secret to protect their product from their competitors they could be hiding some important health facts from you.

Scam tactics

There are different scam tactics and many different ways to present a snake oil product for hair loss. However, several common themes can be seen in many stings and most of them appear on swindlers web sites and advertisements.

Weasel words and phrases. It must be said that most of us use weasel words and phrases to cover ourselves when writing letters and reports, the advertising industry uses them all the time. You will even find weasel words used by me on this web site when explaining inconclusive points. However, deceiving web sites for alopecia products often use more than their fair share of weasel words. There are many weasel words to watch out for; may, possible, could, might, should, potential, many, if, etc. and these are incorporated into phrases that have a familiar ring from web site to web site.

Our product will work for you IF you follow the instructions
Our product promotes hair regrowth for MOST people
We have MANY satisfied customers etc.

Play the underdog. It is in human nature to want the underdog to win just once. Racketeers can play on this by making you believe they are "David" to the authorities and officials "Goliath". A number of deceiving web sites claim their product has been ignored by the established dermatological community. A few web sites even display copies of letters apparently posted to the Federal Drug Administration or dermatological organizations decrying their rejection of this or that wonder cure. We can identify with the little man struggling against the faceless giants of government, tax collectors, or scientific bodies. Con artists will use our weaknesses to their best advantage. The Federal Drug Administration has investigated around 250,000 claims for products that regrow hair. All but two have been rejected as worthless.

Money back guarantee. The money back guarantee is a popular method of gaining your trust. You can’t fail to loose can you? If it does not work you can send it back and obtain your money. Many businesses use this practice particularly when trying to promote a new and unfamiliar product. However, they also know that very few of us bother to ask for our money back on a substandard product, the time and hassle is apparently too much for most of us. Con artists know this too and use the money back guarantee knowing most people will simply throw their product in the trash when it does not work. Other fraudsters won’t leave anything to chance. They may offer a money back guarantee but then tell you must use the product for several months to see if there are any results. In several months time their web site and contact details may no longer be valid. Of course some may simply outright ignore your demands for your money.

Confiding in you. Every one likes to feel they know something another person does not. It gives us a feeling of superiority. Tricksters can play on that by pretending to give you preferential treatment or make you feel they are letting you in on a secret that other people do not know. Many scam web sites tell you they have some secret cure from the nether regions of Europe or China that western medicine does not’t know about. You would feel great if you could walk up to your dermatologist point to your lovely full head of hair and tell him/her where to put their less than perfect treatments. Swindlers will draw you in with advertisements of cure all information booklets for sale just to you, exotic ingredients most people have never heard of, or secret passwords to special areas of their web sites that "reveal all".

Play on peoples’ desperation. The perfect mark for a con artist is the person who wants to believe. There are many individuals who want to believe there is a simple cure for baldness. In their desperation to find that cure they ignore many of the warning signs in a scam. A con artist capitalizes on an opportunity and with the majority of the world’s population experiencing androgenetic alopecia, fraudsters see a major chance to make money.

They infer ideas but don’t make direct claims. They try to implant an idea that your own mind expands upon and draws an (incorrect) conclusion. They allow you to believe what you want to believe. They may not directly claim their product grows hair but they use suggestive phrases to plant an idea and then allow you to convince yourself that their product will cure your baldness.

Attempt to associate themselves with reputable ideas and people. One or two web masters of snake oil selling web sites have had the gall to Email me and ask for me to link to their web site or even to place an advertisement on this web site. They may use legitimate or logical scientific explanations for how their product works. They may use the names or pictures of famous people to promote their product not necessarily with the individual’s consent.

Avoid any blind comparison of their products with other products or placebos. You can only examine how good or bad a product is by comparing it to a gold standard or to another product that you are familiar with. If the product seller refuses to comment on how effective it is compared to a standard or a well known brand ask yourself what they are hiding? If it is as good or better they would surely tell you loudly and clearly.

Avoid giving specific statistical information on success rates. When con artists claim hair growth, ask yourself how much hair growth exactly? Potentially they could mean the growth of a single hair fiber. Perhaps they mean a cosmetically unacceptable vellus hair growth (baby hair). If they claim hair regrowth find out what kind of regrowth (what type of hair), how quickly it grows, what area it grows in, how dense it is, and how long it lasts. Most clinical trials for hair growth drugs will involve empirical evaluation. An area of scalp is selected and then the hair density and growth rate is monitored throughout the study. This information is compared to results for other people and it is also compared to a control group that received a placebo to obtain a true statistical evaluation of the product. All of this generates a lot of statistical data at least some of which should be available to the consumer.

Claims of professional publication. Some scam artists claim they have scientific journal publications to their name to reinforce their professional and reputable standing. These claims may simply be false and you can check with scientific journal databases to be sure (a free one called PuBMed is available from the NIH available at; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi ). Other journals are obscure and it may be difficult to confirm any publication claim. Of course those that do not give you specific reference you can check are immediately suspect.

However, claims of journal publications may actually be true. There are good scientific journals and there are bad ones. Some journals do not properly review research papers submitted to them or may not review them at all. They are simply accepted at face value. Other journals may be fooled by false research information. Fabrication of scientific results is possible and occasionally occurs even among true professionals.

Professional qualifications. I notice from looking at scam web sites that when the supplier claims professional qualifications they are usually not in the field of dermatology. They frequently choose chemistry as their professional field. This gives an air of being an outsider, someone who may know something that dermatologists don’t. Chemistry is a respectable field and suggests someone with the knowledge to make up that elusive miracle drug.

Schemers charge a large sum of money for their products. Partly this is because they know people are desperate enough to pay ridiculous sums of money in the vague hope of regrowing their hair. However, professional advertisers know that selling a product at a cheap price can give it an unfavorable image among potential buyers. More expensive equates to better quality, better able to do the job, a more prestigious product. We as buyers are not used to cheap products especially when it comes to hair and skin products. Cheap immediately suggests to us inadequate and substandard and we might ask what’s the catch? Schemers know this and pitch their product at a price high enough to convince people it is a quality product but low enough for most people to take the risk of buying a product they know nothing about.

Elaborate expensive web sites/advertisements. Some scam web sites or advertisements are truly a work of art. Some web sites can be very complex with little actual information, all gloss no substance. Their slick presentation simply takes your breath away. You are so impressed that it helps you believe their incredible claims. These schemers are using professional advertisers tricks to convince you to buy their product. As part of this they may blind you with science and big long unexplained words, even make up their own words and classifications.

One web site that appeared in 1996 and unfortunately is still running is a very glossy, well presented scheme selling a certain compound to treat just about all forms of alopecia. The trickster has given an in depth explanation of how his product works that is very detailed and based on his own apparent research into baldness as a professional chemist. He describes a mechanism of baldness using his own made up words and phrases. A classic example of pseudo scientific mumbo jumbo. Reading the comments from people in Usenet news groups the web site clearly does what it is intended to do. People do not understand the explanation but they are so impressed that some have bought the expensive product.

Personal recommendations. Usually scam web sites or advertisements emphasize personal letters of recommendation for their products. It is possible that these letters are entirely false or the individuals were paid to make these claims but it may be that the letters are actually real unrequested testimonials from satisfied customers. Then it must be a legitimate product that actually works right??? Wrong!!!

First, most alopecias are not a gradual progressive hair loss. Most, including androgenetic alopecia, develop in spurts and then stop. There may even be some improvement for a short time before the hair loss begins again. Someone using a hair growth product might falsely attribute this slow down or temporary reversal to the use of the compound. Once their letter is on file there is no way they can retrieve it should the long term use of the product reveal that it is actually entirely worthless.

Second, people who want to believe will believe. When real drug companies test products for hair regrowth they run at least two methods of analysis side by side. One method is entirely empirical evidence. They mark an area on the volunteer’s head and count the hair density in the area before and after treatment to see if there is improvement. The other analysis method they run is more subjective. They give a questionnaire to the volunteer and ask how the volunteer tester perceives the drug is working. Most human trials of drugs for alopecia are classic double blind studies involving a group that receives the drug and another control group that receives an innocuous placebo compound. No one knows whether they are using the drug or placebo. Frequently what is found is that volunteers on the drug or placebo indicate they believe they have regrowth of hair, but when comparing their positive comments to the hair count/density data it is revealed there is no actual improvement and there may even be a deterioration. Call it optimism or an over active imagination, it is an important factor for professional advertisers and scam artists.

Third, one or two people may really have hair regrowth, but out of how many that tried the product? Testimonials from five people with hair regrowth out of ten people who used the product is a 50% success rate. Testimonials from five people out of a thousand who used the product is a 0.5% success rate.

Common claims

A brief search of the Internet provided a list of amazing claims. Some of the more common ones are listed below.

Instant hair growth. Hair is one of the fastest growing tissues that the body makes but it still takes at least several days if not weeks for hair growth to be visible from hair follicles. Research in alopecia areata involves looking at hair follicles where there is no hair fiber produced because the hair follicle is in "suspended animation". Such hair follicles can sometimes be released from their sleeping state with just a single drug application. However, even though the hair follicle immediately starts production of a new hair fiber, it still takes at least two weeks before that hair fiber becomes visible on the scalp surface. Where hair follicles are in a mess, as with androgenetic alopecia, it will take several months for the hair follicle to get its act together and start growing fiber.

Cleaning and unclogging the pores releases hair fiber trapped underneath the scalp. Apparently the claim is that the openings of hair follicles get clogged with sebum. This clogging stops the hair fiber from getting out. The fiber then grows under the skin. Removing whatever is plugging the hair follicle will release the hair growing underneath. If hair was growing underneath the skin it would effectively be an ingrowing hair. This would result in extensive inflammation for anyone with areas of hair loss. Also, alopecias have been researched by taking skin biopsies from volunteers with the condition. These biopsies are then processed histologically for analysis under the microscope. In the long history of alopecia research there has never been any evidence of alopecia from hair being trapped under the skin due to pore clogging.

Unclogging pores allows the hair follicle to breathe. Apparently the claim is that hair follicles need exposure to air in order to grow hair. Hair follicles so not need exposure to air. Hair follicles receive their nutrients and oxygen from the blood stream as with any other living body tissue. In some experimental research procedures hair follicles have been transplanted to internal areas of the body such as into the kidney. The hair follicles successfully grew without the need for exposure to the skin surface.

Alopecia is due to poor blood circulation. The shark then goes on to offer a product that will improve blood circulation and thereby promote hair regrowth. You want to improve blood circulation to your scalp? I will tell you an easy and cheap method. Go down to your local food supermarket. Buy yourself a big packet of extra hot curry powder. Mix it with a little vegetable oil and water. Apply it liberally to your scalp. If that does not’t improve your scalp blood supply nothing will (don’t take my flippant comments seriously, this is not a recommendation!!!). Ask yourself this. If lack of blood circulation was the cause of androgenetic alopecia then why would hair transplants work? In transplantation, hair follicles are taken from the back of the head and placed in the areas of supposed poor blood circulation. You would expect the transplanted hair follicles to wither and die in their new blood deficient environment if the poor blood circulation environment hypothesis was correct. They do not and hair transplantation is a very successful procedure when done properly.

This cure was kept secret by the dermatological establishment so that they won’t be put out of business. Another frequent claim. The statement immediately makes the reader feel he/she is an informed consumer. It seems to make sense. A cure would put dermatologists out of business right? Wrong. Most dermatologists do not exclusively consult on alopecia. Patients with alopecia are probably in the minority in most dermatology clinics.

If there was a miracle cure who would be in the best position to make most money from it? Dermatologists of course! Administering that cure, even a one time application cure, would most likely be done by dermatologists. Given most people desperately want to keep or get back their hair, they will pay a large amount of money to a dermatologist who would then make a nice profit. Even with a permanent cure there will still be a constant stream of people with alopecia walking thorough the dermatologist’s door as the next generation grows up and develops hair loss. A legitimate example would be hair transplantation. It works very well and for some people can be a one time treatment. Hair transplantation is a highly profitable venture for any dermatologist.

This amazing cure has come from eastern Europe/India/China/etc. Miracle cures from obscure European, middle eastern, Chinese etc. places makes it virtually impossible to find independent evidence to confirm the claim. It explains why we haven’t heard of the cure before, because it has been tucked away in a remote corner of the planet. It seems more convincing because we hope other forms of medicine (Chinese, Indian etc.) have the answers to problems western medicine does not. I do not reject other forms of medicine out of hand, herbs and similar can be very powerful drugs. However, a scam artist will play on your understanding of nonwestern medicine to advance his/her cure.

Photographs. Some scam web sites have numerous photographs to demonstrate just how much hair regrowth their product gives. The camera never lies right? Wrong!!

First, several sites have before and after pictures of individuals who are clearly undergoing hair transplantation, and not very good hair transplants at that. The hair plugs from transplanting are clearly visible and the pictures simply record the growth of hair after the surgical procedure. It is possible the pictures were actually scanned from a dermatologist hair transplant book or were obtained from a transplant clinic. Some clinics operating in poorer parts of Europe, Asia and Africa are less than scrupulous in protecting patient confidentiality and who obtains their photographic records.

Second, changes in hair styling and or use of cosmetic hair thickeners will change the look of the hair density. One or two before and after photographs simply show someone with a short hair cut and then a few weeks later with longer hair to cover the bald areas.

Third, The angle of the head at which the photo is taken is important. Looking along the top of the head rather than down on it will show an apparently dense crop of hair in someone with a diffuse hair loss. Looking down on the top of the head of the same person may show the distribution of hair to be quite sparse.

Fourth, there are some technical aspects of taking portrait photographs that alter the look of a person and their hair density. Using zoom lenses photos can be taken of the same person to fill the camera frame but with the photographer at different distances from the subject. The further away the photographer the less reflected light on the skin between hair shows up in the picture. The photographer may use a flash. This will provide an intense light that bounces off the skin from in between hair making the individual look very bald. Using a polarized filter on the camera reduces this reflected light and allows any hair present to become more obvious in the photograph. In the same vein the color of clothing and background is also important in determining the amount of light reflected onto the head and into the camera

Some before and after photographs are clearly taken within a few minutes of each other, the model does not even bother to change his shirt!

How do they get away with it?

There’s one born every minute that’s how. We have all been scrammed, myself included. Some schemes are extremely clever, if only the people behind it put their intelligence to more positive use. Some people with hair loss are desperate and they are willing to listen to anyone who claims they have a cure. On the face of it hair loss is a simple problem and that must mean there is a simple answer right? Given the millions of dollars drug companies have spent and are spending on alopecia research I think a simple answer would have been identified by now. Hair loss is a very complex mechanism and involves input from various body organs, genetics, and the environment. A cure for alopecia with 100% success will be very complex.

The authorities only have limited finances and simply can not keep up with all the new schemes. The schemes have to be identified, the claims for the product have to be analyzed, the scam artist behind the claims has to be found. It takes time and money to build a case and take someone to court.

With specific reference to the Internet, there is of course no effective regulation of web sites. Given web sites are available worldwide there is no international law available to stop impossible claims for miracle cures. With no Internet regulation, web surfers are easy prey for the sharks.