Chili powder and Cayenne powder

[Icanbeatthis]

Hey!

I recently bought some organic chili and cayenne powder (spices), would you guys think this could have a negative effect on hair?

I love spicy foods and just want to make sure it's not something that could potentialy hurt my hair.

Thanks!

[lund]

I think this has been discussed here on this board before. Some of the members reported negatives with Cayenne for hair. It is kind of a bummer as cayenne is so useful otherwise.

It is possible that the increased blood circulation abilities of Cayenne exacerbates the already fragile hair environment with ppl prone to this problem - whatevern in the blood is hurting the hair, if more gets there, it would not be productive...

[johnt]

I wonder if it's circulating dht? Regardless, it seems strange that the phenomenon is occurring in some people since improved circulation is a positive thing for many aspects of health. I've been on about 6 grams of 100 h.u. cayenne per day for about 4 mos now and haven't noticed any shedding, but then again, I am on the complete IH Regimen and that, I feel, really helps deal with the damage dht has on the hair.

[jksl]

I think this has been discussed here on this board before. Some of the members reported negatives with Cayenne for hair. It is kind of a bummer as cayenne is so useful otherwise.

It is possible that the increased blood circulation abilities of Cayenne exacerbates the already fragile hair environment with ppl prone to this problem - whatevern in the blood is hurting the hair, if more gets there, it would not be productive...

Some? I only remember one person claiming that it did harm...

[CausticSymmetry]

A lot has been written about cayenne. I have tried it on numerous occasions both topically and internally. Personally I do not think it helped to any measure that I could detect. Theoretically a small dose would be helpful and since cayenne is a CB1 receptor blocker I had thought it would fight neurogenic inflammation. Based on experience with it during stressful times I didn't feel that it worked in that capacity.

Here is an interesting study on its effect on alopecia areata (this includes photographs).

http://www.nature.com/jidsp/journal/v9/n1/full/5640137a.html

[lund]

Perhaps this explains why Cayenne is problematic for hair...

A hot new twist to hair biology: involvement of vanilloid receptor-1 (VR1/TRPV1) signaling in human hair growth control.Bodó E, Bíró T, Telek A, Czifra G, Griger Z, Tóth BI, Mescalchin A, Ito T, Bettermann A, Kovács L, Paus R.
Department of Physiology, University of Debrecen, MHSC, 4012 Debrecen, Nagyerdei krt. 98., Hungary.

The vanilloid receptor-1 (VR1, or transient receptor potential vanilloid-1 receptor, TRPV1) is activated by capsaicin, the key ingredient of hot peppers. TRPV1 was originally described on sensory neurons as a central integrator of various nociceptive stimuli. However, several human skin cell populations are also now recognized to express TRPV1, but with unknown function. Exploiting the human hair follicle (HF) as a prototypic epithelial-mesenchymal interaction system, we have characterized the HF expression of TRPV1 in situ and have examined TRPV1 signaling in organ-cultured human scalp HF and outer root sheath (ORS) keratinocytes in vitro. TRPV1 immunoreactivity was confined to distinct epithelial compartments of the human HF, mainly to the ORS and hair matrix. In organ culture, TRPV1 activation by capsaicin resulted in a dose-dependent and TRPV1-specific inhibition of hair shaft elongation, suppression of proliferation, induction of apoptosis, premature HF regression (catagen), and up-regulation of intrafollicular transforming growth factor-beta(2). Cultured human ORS keratinocytes also expressed functional TRPV1, whose stimulation inhibited proliferation, induced apoptosis, elevated intracellular calcium concentration, up-regulated known endogenous hair growth inhibitors (interleukin-1beta, transforming growth factor-beta(2)), and down-regulated known hair growth promoters (hepatocyte growth factor, insulin-like growth factor-I, stem cell factor). These findings strongly support TRPV1 as a significant novel player in human hair growth control, underscore the physiological importance of TRPV1 in human skin beyond nociception, and identify TRPV1 as a promising, novel target for pharmacological manipulations of epithelial growth disorders.

[CausticSymmetry]

lund - When this study came out I had noticed that they literally bathed follicles in Capsaicin for a period of time, a much different effect than from ingesting it. But nevertheless, from trying it topically (it was not destructive nor beneficial) and from internal dosing, it did not seem to provide any benefit, maybe even a negative.

I guess one question is how much Capsaicin is required to activate TRPV1? It is dose dependent, but channel TRPV1 channels in human hair follicle be activated taking it orally?

[lund]

Well, is not SLS activate TRPV1 as well, and a such bad for your hair? And that amount of SLS in your shampoo and conditioners/detergents are not oozing in quantity, right?

It appears that TRPV1 activation is dose dependent - more you take it more it activates. Researching this, I was merely looking to see how cayenne can be linked to hair - and atleast there appears to be a direct link via TRPV1 (to me).

Taking 1/4 to 1 spoonfulls of the hottest of Cayenne peppers is no joke - certainly this seems to be a therapeutic dosage to me. Interestingly the mechanism involves Ca+ channels, something folks here are looking at as well.


Surfactant-Induced TRPV1 Activity—A Novel Mechanism for Eye Irritation?

The pain receptor transient receptor potential vanilloid type 1 (TRPV1) has been reported as one of the key components in the pain pathway. Activation of the receptor causes a Ca2+ influx with secondary effects leading to neurogenic inflammation. Here we report specific activation of TRPV1 by detergent-containing hygiene products measured as intracellular Ca2+ influxes in stably TRPV1-expressing neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells. Children products marketed as "painless" (containing lower concentration of detergents), and conditioners (without detergents) did not induce specific TRPV1 activation. Furthermore, low concentrations of the detergent sodium lauryl sulfate dose-dependently induced Ca2+ influxes that could be addressed to TRPV1. [b]

[The Natural]

I think this has been discussed here on this board before. Some of the members reported negatives with Cayenne for hair. It is kind of a bummer as cayenne is so useful otherwise.

It is possible that the increased blood circulation abilities of Cayenne exacerbates the already fragile hair environment with ppl prone to this problem - whatevern in the blood is hurting the hair, if more gets there, it would not be productive...

Some? I only remember one person claiming that it did harm...

That was I. I also stated that cayenne, in lower dosages, may not have a negative effect. I was taking 1 -2 450 mg. of cayenne pepper a day. Maybe it was too much. And if recall correctly, there were others (years ago at Regrowth.com) with a similar experience to mine: accelerated loss hair.

[CausticSymmetry]

lund - Very interesting about SLS and TRPV1

[hapyman]

Some? I only remember one person claiming that it did harm...

I posted here a little while back and reported excessive shedding too. Not sure if it was a "beneficial" shed but I didn't want to stick it out and about 1 week after stopping my shedding slowed.

Could there be any truth to the increased blood flow could actually be detrimental?

[hadrion]

I'm stuck on cayenne. I had cluster headaches for months and upon introducing cayenne they have disappeared so I can't drop it.

[lund]

hadrion - that's a shame, in the alternative medicine community cayenne has been nothing short of a miracle find (based on the experiences and cures reported) - however, atleast there appears *some* evidence that it might not be so good for hair. But again, we do not know how much is detrimental - perhaps a good protocol would be to titrate the dosage down until your symptoms reappear and keep your dosage a little above that - some trial and error to find your threshold...

Also, have you experienced any continued shedding over the course?

[ppm]

How come? In studies, capsaicin and isofalvone have been shown to grow hair in about 50% of subjects. Even so with raspberry ketone (mimicking capsaicin).

[lund]

[quote="hapyman"]

...Could there be any truth to the increased blood flow could actually be detrimental?

I think atleast one angle of hair shedding on cayenne researchers have proved is via the TRPVI activation - which is nothing to do with increased circulation. Now are there additional factors involved due to increased circulation, it is possible...