Today, we outline the best shampoos (and conditioners) to treat trichotillomania. We believe the following recommendations will be the best candidates to repair your hair. You can stop wasting time trying one useless product after another and get your hair back, pronto!
What is Trichotillomania?
According to Google, trichotillomania is a compulsive desire to pull out one’s hair, with the most frequent places being the scalp and eyebrows, while the eyelashes are exceptionally affected.
This condition is present in between 0.6-1% of the total population.
Trichotillomania is considered to be within the obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) umbrella. However, treatment with OCD medications have been unsuccessful thus far.
60% of individuals with trichotillomania report that they have another ongoing psychiatric disorder (e.g. depression, anxiety, social phobia, OCD, impulse control disorders, or substance use). (Source)
Causes of Trichotillomania
There is no one clear-cut cause, but experts believe its a combination of genetic and environmental factors:
Even though stress isn’t a disorder, it is often a huge cause of trichotillomania.
Genetics might be one of the causes. If you know of someone in your bloodline that might have this condition, it may have been passed on to you.
Early teens: Trichotillomania usually develops around ages 10-13. If this happens during that age, it usually does not stop and is a lifelong disorder if left untreated.
Best Shampoo & Conditioner for Trichotillomania
1. Max Green Alchemy: Scalp Rescue Shampoo & Conditioner
Pros
- Removes the dryness and itchy scalp by applying a cool layer on top of your head. Healthy hair + minimized irritation feeling leads to less pulling of the hair
- Earthy, minty scent
- Natural ingredients vs. some of the other hair care products out there
- Cleans hair well without stripping natural oils away
Cons
- Limited selection of scents, and this minty one may not be your preferred
- Is not a solution for dandruff if that’s what you were looking for
When you’re in the shower, make sure you massage the scalp with your fingertips, for at least 5 minutes. Not only is it extremely healthy for you, it also promotes hair growth (to an extent). This stimulates blood flow.
Use warm water – hot water burns the scalp, is bad for thin hair, and weakens the cuticle (outer layer of hair).
Treat your scalp and the first half inch of your hair with utmost care. It is like the foundation of a flower bed, the soil of your hair. Massaging your scalp is analogous to raking “fluffy, aerated soil to grow healthy plants” (Source)
Giving your hair the best chance it has to be perfectly healthy reduces your urge to constantly pick at unhealthy hairs.
Runner Ups
2. Briogeo: Scalp Revival Charcoal & Coconut Oil Shampoo & Conditioner
For those with lots of hair:
- In order for this shampoo to work: Make sure you aren’t just putting the shampoo on your hair. Make sure it actually covers the entirety of your scalp. Apply a bit of shampoo to small areas of your scalp at a time until it is fully covered.
Pros
- Don’t take my word for it, try it first: You can go to sephora.com and try their sample packs before you commit to buying the large bottles
- The shampoo does its job – eliminates dandriff and itchiness from scalp
- Even though some complain about the size of the jar, it should last several months
- A slight minty/fresh smell
- Eliminates greasiness – no greasy scalp after wash
- Coconut oil is beneficial to skin and hair health
Cons
- Comes in a jar and not a liquid squeeze bottle like the others
- Even though this works for the majority of consumers out there, consistency is an issue, as some feel like it did not do its job at all, and increases dryness. Therefore, this can only be tested on an individual by individual basis, hence why we recommended the sample packs from Sephora.
- Not the cheapest shampoo
3. Ds Laboratories: Revita Shampoo & Conditioner
This comes with a shampoo and a conditioner together unlike the options above.
Pros
- Before we begin, this shampoo and conditioner set is very expensive. However, many people have said that this worked, so we are obligated to share this choice if none of the cheaper options work.
- Hair loss is expected to stop.
- New hair growth is expected to looks healthier and fuller than before (noticable difference in texture and volume of hair)
- Does not dry the hair out
- Keeps scalp healthy
- Unscented, which is a positive for many that don’t like residual smells after showering
Cons
- Expensive
- Again, this will have to be evaluated on a person-by-person basis. For most people, this works. However, for some people, it stops hair from falling out but does not spur regrowth. For others, there was no noticeable improvement at all.
Best Natural Hair Growth Product
Pure Results Nutrition: Powerful Hair Plus Vitamins
After pulling all your hair out, we are obviously going to try to find you something to help regrow your hair back. Look no further.
Pros
- Should stop hair loss before you finish using the first bottle
- Your hair should become noticeably stronger than when you did not use this product. Some customers have said that their hair won’t fall out even when they pulled on it.
- No noticeable side effects
- Tiny pills make it very easy and manageable to swallow
Cons
For the overwhelming majority of people, this product works. However, I wouldn’t be very transparent if I guaranteed that this product will definitely be 100% effective for you. Since we all have different genes, there is always a risk that this product is ineffective for some people.
Products to Avoid
Paul Mitchell: Tingle Tea Tree Special Liter Duo Set
For Paul Mitchell’s shampoo and conditioner, the cons unfortunately outweigh the pros in this particular case. The pros include: Curing itchy scalp as well as dandruff, and having a nice tea tree smell and subtle (positive) tingling sensations in your scalp.
Cons
- Poor packaging is by far the largest complaint; things may be leaking
- Strips everything from your hair; the good (oils) and the bad (dirt)
- This one can be contended, but many people are calling this a fake version of the real product. Please let us know if you used this before and can confirm that this is not a knockoff. Otherwise, we will opt for the other wiser choices above.
- Tip: You might want to try the one officially listed on Paul Mitchell’s website here, as opposed to the Amazon choice.
Nioxin System 2
Cons
- Avoid this one as well
- Based on our research, this product is misleading: It does not stimulate hair growth. It only gives your hair more volume (aka. makes your existing hair to appear to be “thicker”).
- Do not use if you are allergic to sulfate or silica
- Company does not fill up the bottle all the way
- Overall, it is ineffective for most people. Please let us know if we are incorrect in our evaluation of this Nioxin System.
Tip: There has been better feedback on the Ulta Beauty site here – this might be better than the Amazon choice.
Other Treatment Options
On MayoClinic, it says that you can train yourself to not pull your hair out by doing a “Habit Reversal Training.” That’s literally telling a cigarette smoker to just “stop smoking.” However, there has been studies that show that training for this Habit Reversal is very effective. (Source)
For example, make it very difficult to get to pulling your hair. Studies have shown that for people quitting social media such as Facebook, putting the Facebook app in a very difficult obscure place on your phone decreased usage by like 95%. (I will need to link to the credible source for this, dont worry!)
In addition, parents of children & clinicians should avoid using guilt to try and control their child’s hair pulling behaviors.
Medications
There are currently no medications approved by the FDA. However, your doctor may recommend N-acetylcysteine (amino acid that influences neurotransmitters related to mood), antidepressants (5-HTP, clomipramine), and olanzapine (not available over the counter).
N-acetylcysteine
Here is a research paper that describes N-acetylcysteine effectiveness as a possible treatment (pictures below). Complete regrowth was observed after introducing N-acetylcisteine 1,200 mg/day during 3 months, with no adverse side effects reported.
Even though the example above had the patient taking 1200mg per day, I would probably take the lower dosage one first and see if the lower dosage is already effective before transitioning to higher doses. I am not a doctor though.
Links to the 600mg, 1000mg choices on Amazon here.
Antidepressants
Antidepressants have shown to be effective, but often the patient does not adhere to taking the drug on a regular basis and relapses into hair pulling.
Olanzapine
Ask your doctor about this medicine since it is not over the counter.
Based on this research paper, olanzapine proves to be effective for 85% of patients in this study. 85% is pretty high, show that this is indeed, effective. (why isn’t this an approved drug already, FDA?)
