This is what I think about brushes... the benefit doesn't have really to do with "blood flow", the benefit has to do with "sebum dispersion". You can try this yourself, too, and you could see some benefit pretty quickly, and frankly I think we ALL could benefit from using a boar bristle brush for extended periods of times. I've been lead to believe this over the past 15 years, and I'll explain why to the best of my knowledge...
From what we understand, sebum is SUPPOSED to be a great thing for hair. It makes the hair stronger, shinier, more full of life, etc. Well, we as MPB sufferers have hair that is documented to be thinner, rougher, etc, and excess sebum buildup occurs. What happens is this... follicles under duress produce hairs that are not ideal. Yes, they are thinner, but what is also happening is that the cuticles are jagged. The jagged cuticles means that sebum is not able to spread up and down the shaft of the hair like it is supposed to.
The result is twofold... first of all, the hair looks worse because it doesn't have enough sebum on it. You can pretty much spot that right off because limp, mpb hair does not look "wet and juicy" like a youngsters, for lack of a better term. It's thin, limp and dry looking. Also, there is the compounding effect of DHT-heavy sebum build up on the scalp. The worse the jagged cuticles get, the less the sebum spreads, the more buildup occurs, which makes the follicle less healthy, which makes the jagged cuticles get even worse, and so on and so on and so on.
So, a boar bristle brush DOES stimulate the blood flow to the scalp, that's a fact, but something with strong, abundant bristles like that DISPERSES THIS SEBUM. Here is a small one that is really similar to the one I bought at walmart:
Like I said, you can notice the difference pretty quickly. For the first three months or so that I was doing laser therapy, I used the brush A LOT. I'd actually set the timer for 20 minutes, and just brush, brush, brush. It didn't take really more than just a couple of uses to see that it was doing something positive. "Positive" enough to grow hair? I doubt it, but it still helps the overall situation. Perhaps it even encouraged results with LLLT.
Now, why don't I use it anymore? I can't.... I really think that the LLLT reduced my fibrosis so much that it just HURTS too damn much to use it like that anymore compared to what it used to feel like. Other antecdotal evidence to support the reduction of fibrosis theory -besides RESULTS- is that I used to be able to put on toppik and tolerate it all day. Now, it drives me crazy after about an hour, and I can't think about anything else but getting it off. I have greater sensitivity up there, and I don't think that's a coincidence with results.
Anyway, I think that everyone should go out and get one of these little guys. I don't see any negatives, and it truly does seem to disperse sebum pretty well.
-O.M.G.
