Cayenne has been used both as a food and for its medicinal properties for thousands of years. The main ingredient in cayenne peppers is capsaicin, but they also contain vitamins A and C, as well as carotenoids and flavonoids. Cayenne has become a popular treatment for hair growth and there are several clinical studies that show it has some promise for that use.
What Is Cayenne?
Capsicum frutescens, more commonly called cayenne pepper, is a shrub that grows in tropical and subtropical climates. Cayenne peppers are hollow and turn red, orange or yellow when they are ripe. Cayenne pepper comes in several different forms, including raw, as a dried powder, as a topical ointment or in capsule form. For hair growth, the most popular use of cayenne pepper is as a topical agent, which is administered to the area where the hair growth is desired. Topical cayenne should not be applied to an open wound or dry, cracked skin. Speak to your doctor before using cayenne pepper.
Homemade Cayenne Hair Treatments
In the book, "Herbal Home Remedies: Natural Health, Beauty & Home Care Secrets" by Jude C. Williams and Jude Todd, several recipes using cayenne pepper as a hair growth tonic are presented. The first calls for 2 tsp. of cayenne pepper to be mixed with a cup of olive oil. The solution is then massaged into areas where hair is thinning. The second calls for a mixture of a 1/4 cup of cayenne and 1 cup of vodka. After sitting for two weeks, strain the solution and massage it into the scalp in the morning and in the evening.
Capsaicin and Minoxidil
At the European Hair Research Society's 2001 Conference in Tokyo, three researchers from the Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine in Korea made a presentation on their study, which looked at the effects of capsaicin in combination with minoxidil, which is the only FDA-approved topical hair-loss treatment.
Test mice were broken into four different groups: a control group; two groups that received either minoxidil or capsaicin; and a final group that got a combination of capsaicin and minoxidil. The researchers concluded that capsaicin induced the growing phase of the hair-growth cycle quickly and also sustained linear hair growth.
Capsaicin and Isoflavone
Another study, which appeared in the October 2007 issue of "Growth hormone & IGF research," looked at the effects of giving oral doses of capsaicin and isoflavone for a period of five months to a group suffering from alopecia, the medical name for hair loss. At the end of the five-month period, the results showed that 64.5 percent of those receiving capsaicin and isoflavone showed an improvement in hair growth compared to 11.8 percent of those receiving a placebo. The researchers concluded that the combination of capsaicin and isoflavone might increase Insulin-like growth factor-1 in hair follicles, which would promote hair growth.
References
- "European Hair Research Society"; Effect of Coapplication of Capsaicin and Minoxidil on the Murine Hair Growth;Won-Soo Lee, et al.; 2001
- University of Maryland Medical Center: Cayenne
- "Jude's Herbal Home Remedies: Natural Health, Beauty & Home Care Secrets"; Jude C. Williams, Jude Todd; 1992
- "Growth Hormone & IGF Research"; Administration of Capsaicin and Isoflavone Promotes Hair Growth by Increasing Insulin-like Growth Factor-I Production in Mice and in Humans With Alopecia; N. Harada, et al.; October 2007
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