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The Times - Body and Soul, Hair gone today, back tomorrow

Sunday 24 February 2008 4:11 PM

IT WORKS FOR ME BIOSTHETIC AROMATHERAPY

In search for a cure for Baldness, one City boy discovered ‘biosthetics’. It performed miracles, he tells Emma Mahony

Working in the City, Tim Price’s preferred hairstyle at the beginning of 2002 was a slicked-back Gordon Gekko look. At 27 years old, he had no reason to fear losing his hair earlier than the average male, over half of whom are affected by hair loss after 40, even if there was male pattern baldness on both sides of the family. But when a flatmate tactfully pointed out ‘Oi mate, you’re going bald’, he started to worry.

‘It was distressing, I found myself looking at my mates’ heads to see if they were losing hair too’ says Price. The bald patch on his head grew bigger. One day, in 2003, he found himself counting 48 hairs going down the drain.

Price typed the words ‘hair loss’ into Google and was hit by a bewildering array of products and treatments. As with the common cold, a cure for baldness is the holy grail for many pharmaceutical companies and new products appear annually in the shops. He was concerned that his hair loss might get worse with some of the chemical treatments on offer and was ‘too scared to consider electrical currants or transplants’. He could find little in the way of natural alternatives until one day he heard a radio advert for hair loss at The Hale Clinic, in Central London. He reached for the phone.

The treatment on offer was called ‘biosthetic aromatherapy’ and was developed by a French biologist, Marcel Contier, in the 1940s. It involves the application of essential oils to acupressure points on the scalp to correct and control the underlying cause of hair loss and to encourage self-healing. There are about 3,000 practitioners in Europe.

At Price’s first consultation with Peter Bannister, a master Biosthetician, at The Hale Clinic, strands of his hair were examined under a microscope to see the effect of hormones and lack of vitamins and minerals on the hair bulb. Then from a range of 18 shampoos in the Biosthetic range, Bannister, who started out as a hairdresser 30 years earlier, selected the most appropriate to treat Price’s condition.

‘I was at my lowest point when I met Peter Bannister’, says Price. ‘By then my scalp was looking red, and although I washed my hair every day with baby shampoo, within hours it would be greasy again. My hair was changing; in some places it was course, in others flyaway’. Bannister said that Price was suffering from increased sensitivity of certain hair follicles to dihydrotesterone, the hormone known to cause male-pattern baldness. We are all born with between 90,000 and 120,000 hair follicles on our heads, about 1,000 hairs per square inch (6.5sq cm). The length of time each hair lasts is between six months and five years.

Alcohol, food additives, tobacco, medication, toxins from pollution are all secreted through the scalp, as well as stress hormones, and if the scalp loses the ability to rid itself of these toxins, they can get back into the hair and attack it,’ claims Bannister. His methods involve detoxifying the scalp to create a healthier environment for the hair to grow.

Biosthetic aromatherapy treatment usually involves seven weekly sessions. At every session Bannister would massage oils, which included camomile, bergamot, thyme and witch hazel, into the acupressure points of Price’s scalp, ending each of the sessions with a neck massage, which Bannister claims helps to eliminate toxins. Price was then sent home with special shampoos to use four times a week, which he would massage into his dry hair and leave for several minutes to deep-cleanse before rinsing out.

‘Within months, I noticed that my scalp didn’t itch so much,’ says Price. ‘It no longer felt hot or tight.’ Most importantly, his hair began to grow back. ‘It would start with a small red spot, followed by a downy hair, which would fall out and be replaced by thicker hair.’ Now, two years later, Price claims his hair is back to normal and he feels more confident.

However, not everyone is convinced by this method. Marilyn Sherlock, the chairwoman of the Institute of Trichologists, says: There is no clinical evidence to prove the things that Biostheticians claim.’ She is not sure that Price’s case really was male-pattern baldness; it might perhaps have been some other scalp disorder. ‘If there is a scalp disorder that clears, then that can enable hair regrowth to come out but not for male-pattern baldness,’ she says.

Although Price says progress has been slow and gradual, he is ‘happy not to see my hair going down the plughole’. And the Gordon Gekko look? I’m looking forward to trying that again’.

The bald truth

What is it? Biosthetic aromatherapy is a natural method developed by the French biologist Marcel Contier, which involves the application of essential oils (natural plant oils obtained by distillation) to acupressure points on the scalp to correct and control the underlying cause of hair loss and encourage self-healing, before any feeding or stimulation of the hair.

Suitable for men, women and children with psoriasis of the scalp, eczema, alopecia, sensitive skin, thinning hair, dandruff, dermatitis and male-pattern baldness.

Cost As treatment is personalised, costs vary between £450 and £750 over a six month period. In most cases a combination of home and clinical treatments is recommended. An initial one-hour consultation is £70.

Contact Peter Bannister, the Hale Clinic, 7 Park Crescent, London, W1
(01277 824295; www.trichology.uk.com).
For a list of Biostheticians, write to Regina Eaton, the secretary of the British Biosthetic Society, 21-22 Cross Street, Preston, Lancashire. Or e-mail her at michaelregina@eatons.fsbusiness.co.uk

WHAT’S THE EVIDENCE?
DR TOBY MURCOTT

Can biosthetic aromatherapy halt male-pattern baldness?
There is little published research. One study in 2003, on 93 patients at the University of Montpelier, France, suggests that aromatherapy oils might help. They had regular massages with essential oils followed by low intensity electro-magnetic pulses. This combined approach appeared to work better than placebo. It is, though, different from Price’s treatment.

Could it help other hair loss conditions?
There is research that suggests that conventional aromatherapy may be effective for alopecia areata, a disease which attacks the hair follicles, causing hair loss. A 1998 trial of 86 patients, at the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, found that massage with aromatherapy oils produced an improvement in 44 per cent of the patients, compared with 6 per cent receiving a dummy treatment.

Is it the essential oils?
Essential oils contain hundreds of plant chemicals so even if, say, thyme used in both the above trials on Price, was the active ingredient, it’s impossible to say which chemical made the difference without further research.

Dr Toby Murcott is a former BBC science correspondent.

This article was first published by the Times Newspaper.

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