One of the most common recommendations for hair care is head massage. Often there is a statement about the benefits of this procedure for hair growth. We decided to check if this is so.

Information about the benefits of head massage for strengthening hair can be found most often on glossy sites magazines. On YouTube one of video At the time of publication, more than 1.5 million views scored about the massage of the head. Also, the relevant recommendations are invariably present at sites specialized medical clinics - cosmetic and Trichological.

In 2016, a group of Japanese scientists, which included the employees of the department of plastic, restoration and aesthetic surgery of the Japanese medical school, spent study On the effect of head massage on the general condition of the hair: their thickness, growth and density. The experiment was attended by nine healthy men from 25 to 45 years old, who for 24 weeks made a daily standard four -minute head massage.

The subjects massaged only one arbitrarily selected part of the head in order to compare with the part that is not susceptible to massage. The authors of the study measured the total amount of hair, their thickness and growth rate at the very beginning of the experiment, then after four weeks, 12 weeks and after 24 weeks.

The first parameter studied by scientists is the density of the hair, that is, their number per square centimeter:

The second object of study is the thickness of the hair:

For 24 weeks, the thickness of the hair in areas underlying the massage increased from 0.085 mm to 0.092 mm. In the control areas, this indicator has not changed.

The third parameter is hair growth:

As in the first case, scientists did not find a direct dependence between the massage of the head and the hair growth rate.

So, Japanese researchers came to the conclusion that massage helps to increase the thickness of the hair, explaining this with an increase in blood circulation intensity. In addition, one of the reasons may be mechanical stimulation of cells dermal papilla. Mechanical stretching leads to a displacement of the subcutaneous tissue, including the cells of the dermal papilla. Stretching forces, as follows from laboratory tests, change the expression of genes associated with the hair growth cycle, this is proved and others research. However, the authors of the article admit that a temporary reduction in the amount of hair after 12 weeks is also associated with massage-heterogene hair (that is, in the stage of regression, in other words, prone to loss) due to mechanical exposure can be easier to fall out.

They came to the same results and American Researchers: scalp massage increases hair thickness. In addition, they clarified that massage has a positive effect on the stabilization of hair loss and the resumption of their growth.

Thus, the studies prove that the head massage strengthens the hair. However, scientists emphasize that the objects of the experiment were men who did not suffer from androgenic alopecia, that is, premature baldness. There are no reliable scientific data for women or men with alopecia.

Images on the cover and inside the publication: Wikipedia