Scalp massages can be beneficial for stimulating the vessels beneath the skin's surface and increasing otherwise paltry blood flow. They can also help nutrients including the proteins that serve as your hair's building blocks get to your follicles more efficiently, enabling them to create healthier hair again.
There are a variety of methods available for the regrowth of hair follicles, from using medication to massaging your scalp to stimulate your hair directly. Currently, the most effective way to reactivate your hair follicles is by using medication, such as finasteride and minoxidil.
Massage Your Scalp
This opens up and prompts the blood vessels to supply more oxygen and nutrients to your hair follicles, boost metabolism in the papillae at the base of your hair follicles, etc. You can consider using lukewarm olive oil, coconut oil, sweet almond oil or castor oil for massage.
"ACV unblocks follicles in the scalp so that strands have freedom to thrive," Ruggeri says. (Note: If you do use dry shampoo, Ruggeri advises spraying it on the mid-lengths of hair, rather than the roots, to prevent clogging the follicle).
When your hair follicles are dead, they do not regrow hair. You can inspect your scalp and look for signs of hair growth. Even if you only see thin hair patches or fuzzy texture, your hair follicles are still alive and will continue to renew themselves.
It depends. “If a follicle has closed, disappeared, scarred, or not generated a new hair in years, then a new hair wouldn't be able to grow,” Fusco says. But if the follicle is still intact, yes, it is possible to regrow the hair—or to improve the health of the existing thinner hairs.
New research has allowed scientists to generate new hair follicles — those tube-shaped pores that hug the strand and root of a hair — in vitro in a lab. It's a development that experts say can open pathways for better hair loss treatments in the future.
If you damage your hair follicles after an injury, they can repair themselves and your hair will grow back. It could take up to four years before you see new hair growth out of damaged hair follicles, depending on the severity of your injury.
Minoxidil. One very good medication to reactivate dormant hair follicles is minoxidil. Applied regularly to the scalp, minoxidil can re-grow hair that has completely stopped growing. The only caveat is that once you start taking it, you'll have to keep taking it indefinitely.
There are many ways to repair damaged hair follicles naturally. Adding iron, B vitamins (particularly B6), omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin E, and zinc into your diet can help to repair damaged hair strands. Scalp massages with essential oils like peppermint or rosemary can keep hair follicles healthy.
Folliculitis is often caused when hair follicles are infected with bacteria, commonly Staphylococcus aureus (staph). It may also be caused by viruses, fungi, parasites, medications or physical injury. Sometimes the cause isn't known.
A sitz bath can soothe clogged hair follicles in the groin and buttocks area. You can make one at home by mixing salt or sodium bicarbonate in the bath. Drugstores also have small plastic sitz baths that sit on your toilet seat.
Simple baking soda may help open roots. Add two teaspoons (10 mL) of baking soda to a cup (240 mL) of lukewarm water and then stir until the baking soda dissolves. Pour the mixture over your head and work it into your scalp using your fingertips. Let it sit for a couple of minutes before rinsing.
Hair Type Considerations
"Peppermint oil helps to stimulate your scalp and hair follicles, but it should not be used for those with a dry scalp or brittle hair. It works best if you have oily hair and scalp," says Panton. However, Isfahan says that it's suitable for all hair types.
Tea tree oil
It also prevents dryness and dandruff. Because it helps the scalp absorb nutrients efficiently and stimulates dormant hair follicles, tea tree is the best oil for hair growth and thickness.
But even though some of your hair follicles may eventually go dormant and stop producing new hairs altogether, these sleeping follicles are not a lost cause. Regular scalp massages and topical hair products with the right stimulating ingredients can effectively wake them up and trigger hair production again.
One role vitamin D plays is stimulating new and old hair follicles. When there isn't enough vitamin D in your system, new hair growth can be stunted. Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to alopecia, the autoimmune condition that causes bald patches on the scalp and other areas of the body.
Hair growth can often be traced to testosterone, a potent male hormone. Both sexes produce testosterone in their bodies, but to different degrees, of course. Testosterone stimulates hair growth on the face and body. Generally, the more testosterone, the faster and coarser body and facial hair will grow.
If the hair follicles are at an initial stage of damage, the growth phase of hair can come back. However, if it has been a long time since the hair follicles have been dormant or have died, there stands a rare chance of reviving them.
Androgens—such as testosterone (T); dihydrotestosterone (DHT); and their prohormones, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) and androstendione (A)—are the key factors in terminal hair growth.