Just seen an advert for this stuff. What’s the idea behind that then?

Sposed to be good for baldies

Stimulate blood flow or something?

I think it is a test to see who the really gullible people are.

I saw that advert but was afraid to ask…..

Refreshes tired hair perhaps?!

I am just getting vision of people going around with wired hair. Would be quite funny if it was accurate.

Scalp has a good blood supply, possibly makes you feel more awake as the caffeine gets absorbed though the skin?

Just rub ground coffee into your head and stop pissing around with shampoo.

Utter bollocks marketing – it looks (deliberately of course) like a carton of motor oil or something.

Wired hair

Pubic?

German engineering… I’m sold!

ScotlandTheScared – Member
I think it is a test to see who the really gullible people are….

That’s easy find the smokers and select those who believe in horoscopes…

You’ve been watching the gadget show and the 12 min long ad breaks!

btw – zulus – I forgot to email you about those tyres 🙁

Makes your hair stand on end..

Apparently it’s ”german engineering for your hair”
Mullet in a bottle!!!

Utter bollocks marketing

Tried it?

Boots are stocking it and widly advertising the fact , I’d be surprised if they’d put their reputation on the line by selling total guff.

I can’t see it working

Boots are stocking it and widly advertising the fact , I’d be surprised if they’d put their reputation on the line by selling total guff.

Well they happily sell Homeopathic (sp) remedies so their reputation isn’t exactly what I’d call spotless. At least this shampoo actually has an active ingredient. Whether or not it is actually of any tangible benefit is another matter altogether.

saw the ad last night and noted that it was completely bereft of any benefit statement. The message was “if the Germans like it if must be good so buy some”

I can’t see it working

No? Expert on drug absorbtion through skin?

To obtain better insight into the robustness of in vitro percutaneous absorption methodology, the intra- and inter-laboratory variation in this type of study was investigated in 10 European laboratories. To this purpose, the in vitro absorption of three compounds through human skin (9 laboratories) and rat skin (1 laboratory) was determined. The test materials were benzoic acid, caffeine, and testosterone, representing a range of different physico-chemical properties.

…

All laboratories assigned the absorption of benzoic acid through human skin, the highest ranking of the three compounds (overall mean flux of 16.54+/-11.87 microg/cm(2)/h). The absorption of caffeine and testosterone through human skin was similar, having overall mean maximum absorption rates of 2.24+/-1.43 microg/cm(2)/h and 1.63+/-1.94 microg/cm(2)/h, respectively.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15135208

Lots of people have bought it, so it must be good. i.e. There is no actual reason to use this product, other than lots of other people do.

Interesting. There’s reasons why it would work but yet there was more people believed a hologram wrapped in silicon would work than this.

more people believed a hologram wrapped in silicon would work

?

Quite a few people believe that if you put an air plane on a conveyor belt…

I can’t see it working

No? Expert on drug absorbtion through skin?

I suppose is depends on your definition of “working” though.

1. Will the shampoo clean my hair? I’m prepared to accpet that without the need for any other info.

2. Will the Caffine be absorbed into my body? Again I’m fully prepared to accept this especially in light of the link from molgrips.

3. Will this product stop me from going bald? Here is where I have a problem. Surely the caffine absorbed into my skin will simply be carried round my body in the same way that caffine is when injested in the more ususal manner? Given that I drink a lot of coffee and I’m going bald, I’d like to see some sort of double blinded trial to determine this shampoo’s effectiveness in curing baldness. Given that it’s a cosmetic product however I’m going to bet that this hasn’t been done, depite it being a relatively easy test to accomplish.

Read all about it.. Read all about it.. STW in ‘chemicals cannot be absorbed through skin’ Shocker.

I guess I had better throw away any topical anaesthetic I have, including ibuprofen gel as well as deep heat etc, and might as well dip my hands in a bucket of liquid LSD, I am sure it will be fine.

1st google result. I think Canadians work the same as us, could be wrong though.

“How does a chemical enter my body through the skin?

Chemicals which pass through the skin are nearly always in liquid form. Solid chemicals and gases or vapours do not generally pass through the skin unless they are first dissolved in moisture on the skin’s surface.

The skin is the second most common route by which occupational chemicals enter the body. It consists essentially of two layers, a thin, outermost layer called the epidermis and a much thicker underlayer called the dermis. The epidermis consists of several layers of flat, rather tightly-packed cells which form a barrier against infections, water, and some chemicals. This barrier is the external part of the epidermis. It is called the keratin layer, and is largely responsible for resisting water entry into the body. It can also resist weak acids but is much less effective against organic and some inorganic chemicals. The keratin layer contains fat and fat- like substances which readily absorb chemicals which are solvents for fat, oil, and grease.”

Molgrips there was less doubting of the powerbands than this shampoo. Are they really claiming it helps baldness, that does seem a bit unlikely.

OK sorry I had no idea it was being sold to reduce baldness. I just thought it was a ‘wake up in the morning with super zing freshness of a MONSTER ™ infused shower gel.

I don’t think a caffeine shower gel will stop you balding.

Molgrips – I think you forgot to put the last sentence on that reference:

The variation observed may be largely attributed to human variability in dermal absorption and the skin source

and when the variability is greater than the mean you have to question the data….
Hair is ‘dead’ – no living cells so all shampoos do is fill in cracks/ strip off oils and make the hair appear shiny.
Caffine aint gonna do shoot.
Besides I’d rather enjoy another cup than rub it on my head. 🙂

I didn’t read that power bands thread, I thought it was about those great big elastic bands you use for exercises.

I did see a link with reference to baldness, the suggested that topical caffiene could block the action of testosterone on the hair folicles in male pattern baldness. Of course that mean you’d have to use it day in day out from the age of about 16 onwards 🙂

and when the variability is greater than the mean you have to question the data….

Why? Not necessarily true. There’s an enormous variability in lots of things, doesn’t make them false.

Hair is ‘dead’ – no living cells so all shampoos do is fill in cracks/ strip off oils and make the hair appear shiny.
Caffine aint gonna do shoot.

It affects hair folicles though which are very much alive.

Interesting that no-one’s noticed the values in that abstract I posted. If you work it out (I think) less than one mg of caffiene would make its way into the blood if you showered for an hour…

My real point was don’t be so stupid to dismiss stuff out of hand when you’ve no idea about the science and have done no research, not even 2 mins with Google 🙂

My real point was don’t be so stupid to dismiss stuff out of hand when you’ve no idea about the science and have done no research, not even 2 mins with Google

Is there any science behind the claim that using that caffine shampoo prevents baldness? All I’ve seen is marketing stuff and that link that you provided shows that caffine is abosrbed through the skin, it doesn’t make any claim as to the caffine’s ability to prevent baldness.

Molgrips that was my point – it was obvious you only did two minutes less than thirty seconds work on google…
You linked to a poor study that measured low amounts with large variability and was poorly controlled and then called everyone else ‘stupid’.
Yes lots of things are variable but if the test you are using to measure them has greater variabilty than the amount you need to measure; it doesn’t take a genius to realise you need a better test.

Just imagine if you wash your willy with it 8)

Is there any science behind the claim that using that caffine shampoo prevents baldness?

Er there was a study.. let me look:

(30 secs later)

Moreover, caffeine alone led to a significant stimulation of hair follicle growth

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17214716

magowen100 – you miss the point. I don’t care about the science, the point I was trying to make was that many of the posters above were being stupid by pronouncing on subjects that they didn’t know about, and hadn’t made any effort to find out even the slightest bit of info.

I have no idea if the shampoo works in reality (in either waking you up or preserving your hair), because I have not studied the science properly or tried it out.

Yes lots of things are variable but if the test you are using to measure them has greater variabilty than the amount you need to measure; it doesn’t take a genius to realise you need a better test.

Still not sure I agree. If the variability is random you can average it out can you not? And the error would cancel itself?

Androgen-dependent growth inhibition of ex vivo hair follicles from patients suffering from AGA was present in the human hair organ culture model, a constellation which may serve for future studies to screen new substances against androgen-dependent hair loss. Caffeine was identified as a stimulator of human hair growth in vitro; a fact which may have important clinical impact in the management of AGA

That study states that in people with AGA, caffine stimulates the growth of hair, but only concludes that it may have an impact in the management of that particular type of baldness. It says nothing about this particulr shampoo and isn’t even applicable if you don’t suffer from AGA. Hardly a ringing endorsment.

You have however succeded in pushing me further into the “it doesn’t work” camp, although as always with more and better evidence I’m willing to change my mind.

I’m going bald, maybe I should try it 🙂

You have however succeded in pushing me further into the “it doesn’t work” camp, although as always with more and better evidence I’m willing to change my mind.

Good man*

*other genders are available.

I don’t care about the science,

You linked to PubMed not me! 😆
FWIW I agree with you people can be too quick to say its rubbish when they have little evidence.
My point is that linking to ‘scientific’ publications gives people the wrong impression – as you rightly pointed out the amount of caffine absorbed through the skin was tiny and this wasn’t really picked up on; it shows that most people don’t actually read the information given. However that’s also exactly what you did in linking to such a poor study.
I guess my point is that you are obvioulsy an intelegent man but by not using your knowledge of science to screen the information you link to are you any better than those that go on ‘gut feeling’?
Oh and please don’t take this or my earlier replies as atagonistic – they’re not.

I’m rather hairy, waist-line length 😀
I’ll try it when I find it sold here.

However that’s also exactly what you did in linking to such a poor study.

Thankyou for your considered response 🙂

And yes I did not properly read the study or even the abstract, but the point I was making was that the information’s out there. I was mocking the knee-jerkers who were thinking they were clever. I knew people would think I was pro-caffienated shampoo too, because again people often don’t read stuff carefully or think about it 🙂 They are as bad as the people who fall for bad science to whom they feel so superior 🙂