Niacinamide is one of the hottest whitening ingredients in recent years, and all kinds of "small light bulbs" and "small white bottles" on the market are the essence of niacinamide.
But there has always been a legend on the rivers and lakes that using niacinamide essence will... Hairy. This question has also become one of the most frequently asked questions I usually ask in the skincare clinic, and my response is usually:
Use it, use it with confidence!
I don't know how this problem became popular, but it is not just a question for Chinese consumers, but it is put into various forums and discussion groups in the United States, Europe, and Japan, which is a hot topic.
Niacinamide has been used for decades, and has even been used in some hair growth fluids and anti-shedding fluids, but it has never been regarded as a hair-promoting substance by mainstream academics, why?
Because the real hammer is not enough~
This topic also has to start from another topical drug "minoxidil".
It is a commonly used medication for the treatment of androgenic alopecia in men and hair loss in female forms. Although it is effective for partial hair loss and has been used clinically for many years, it is interesting how it works, and the mechanism is still unknown.
A famous paper in 2001 attempted to explore its mechanism: minoxidil acts on dermal papillary cells, maintaining a blood supply to dermal papillae, which is a hotbed for hair follicle development [1]. This hypothesis is currently the most widely accepted potential mechanism.
Image Source: References [ 1 ]
The first pot of niacinamide was born from this. Since minoxidil can promote hair growth by "maintaining blood supply", can niacinamide with a certain "vasodilation effect" also bring more blood supply, provide more nutrition, and promote hair growth to the dermis nipples?
This seems like a very reasonable assumption. But how strong is the vasodilatory effect of nicotinamide?
Very weak.
Compared with the precursor substance that synthesizes it, niacin, the vasodilator effect of niacinamide is the five slags.
Previous studies in female hair loss have found that niacin may have a certain hair growth effect [ 2 ] , although niacin is a precursor to the synthesis of niacinamide , but it can not be directly deduced from the conclusions of the niacin test conclusions that niacinamide has this effect.
The "real hammer" on the Internet - niacinamide essence blushes as soon as it is used, but this may not really be a pot of niacinamide. There are some reasonable guesses, such as,
The raw material of niacinamide of the product is not pure enough, and the proportion of niacin mixed in is high;
Although niacinamide itself is mild in nature, some people still have a stimulating reaction that causes them to blush;
A small number of sensitive skin, its own vascular nerve function is in a highly sensitive state, the weak vasodilation effect of niacinamide can indeed promote the occurrence of facial flushing and so on.
Since the hypothesis of vasodilation may not be valid, another speculation has emerged that niacinamide can also upregulate vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and promote hair growth, just like minoxidil. But a new study [3] was published last year that denied this claim.
The article also concludes that niacinamide neither promotes hair growth nor causes hair loss.
In fact, this is not the first article to verify the effect of niacinamide on hair, there was a paper in 2015, originally wanted to study the effect of topical adenosine in the treatment of hair loss, using niacinamide emulsion as a control group, and finally found that niacinamide as a control group had no effect on hair density [4].
Image Source: References [ 4 ]
Since the above principles are untenable, why are so many people surprised that "I really grow hair after using it"?
Some possible speculations:
After the skin becomes white, the previously unnoticed hairs (which are present in themselves) suddenly become eye-catching;
Widely circulated concepts of psychological implying blessing;
The first and second superpositions make you say, "I'm really hairy."
But everything can not be said to be too dead, although the above research does not support nicotinamide "long hair", but based on the clinical we have received a large number of consultations about this, we do not rule out that there may indeed be such a phenomenon, but more rigorous confirmation and demonstration is needed to explore which groups of people this problem will occur, what is the mechanism of occurrence, and what factors are related to it, etc., which is also a problem to be solved in the future.
Then again, since it's all over the place that niacinamide can really make you hairy, why don't doctors use it on the scalp to grow hair? Why doesn't the "bald girl" hurry up and use it on the top of her head?
The effect is so good, the world has never been bald again.
Finally, to quote a sentence from a chat with Dr. Chen Yulan, even if niacinamide promotes hair growth?
Scientific review of the First Affiliated Hospital of the Third Military Medical University
Dr. Chen Qiquan, Dermatologist
Supervising Producer Ding Brother No. 42
bibliography
[ 1 ] Marubayashi, Azusa, et al. "Minoxidil-induced hair growth is mediated by adenosine in cultured dermal papilla cells: possible involvement of sulfonylurea receptor 2B as a target of minoxidil. " Journal of investigative dermatology 117.6 ( 2001 ) : 1594-1600.
[ 2 ] Draelos ZD, Jacobson EL, Kim H, Kim M, Jacobson MK. A pilot study evaluating the efficacy of topically applied niacin derivatives for treatment of female pattern alopecia. J Cosmet Dermatol. 4:258-261 ( 2005 ) .
[ 3 ] Oblong, John E., et al. " Topical niacinamide does not stimulate hair growth based on the existing body of evidence. " International Journal of Cosmetic Science ( 2020 ) .
[ 4 ] Watanabe, Y., et al. " Topical adenosine increases thick hair ratio in J apanese men with androgenetic alopecia. " International journal of cosmetic science 37.6 ( 2015 ) : 579-587.
[ 5 ] Olsen, E.A., Dunlap, F.E., Funicella, T., Koperski, J.A., Swinehart, J.M., Tschen, E.H., and Trancik, R.J. A randomized clinical trial of 5% topical minoxidil versus 2% topical minoxidil and placebo in the treatment of androgenetic alopecia in men. J Am Acad Dermatol. 47:377- 385 ( 2002 ) .
Source: Dr. Lilac