Doctors warn against mixing shampoo and birth control for TikTok trend
Another day, another bizarre TikTok beauty hack.
As part of the latest trend, users have been adding crushed birth control pills to their shampoo to make their hair fuller.
TikTok user @uwubrat has been credited with starting the trend back in July after hearing the advice from her mom.
@uwubrat Trying to grow my hair out for like 2 years now lol #hair #hairgrowthtips #hairgrowthjourney #birthcontrol #hispanicmoms #fyp
♬ Stunnin’ (feat. Harm Franklin) – Curtis Waters
Commenters were both shocked she was “wasting” birth control like that and eager to try it. Some even said it worked.
“This is ridiculous. I’ll be trying it immediately,” one user wrote.
“Done this in the past and I highly recommend,” another said.
That inspired other TikTok users to try it out.
@joules_rose I heard #birthcontrolpills in your shampoo is supposed to helps with hair growth
#somehoemessedupmyhair#fyp#birthcontrol#hairgrowthtips
♬ Elevator Music – Bohoman
The whole theory is based on the fact that estrogen, which is present in hormonal contraceptives, can promote hair growth. While that’s technically true, this is not the way to go about it.
Dr. Shirin Lakhani, an aesthetic physician who works for Elite Aesthetics, was one of the doctors who told Daily Mail why this seemingly clever hack just won’t work.
“The viral trend for adding hormonal contraceptives to shampoo in a bid to make hair grow longer won’t work,” she explained. “Hormonal contraceptives are not designed to be absorbed transdermally and the skin is an otherwise impermeable barrier.”
Simply put, your hair isn’t going to absorb this medicine because it wasn’t designed to work that way. You have to swallow these pills to reap their benefits.
She recommended simply adding more foods rich in biotin and vitamin B to your diet if you’d like to see more hair growth. Try sweet potatoes, carrots, pumpkins, spinach, kale, whole grains, almonds, fish and dark, leafy greens.
If you enjoyed this story, read about another TikTok trend experts are warning against.
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