I have yet to completely lose my crowning glory but if there is something I can do about it now, I most definitely will. You see, I have fallen victim to HIV (hair is vanishing) but it is only now that I have become concerned, since noticing that my hair is visibly getting thinner.

With the many choices currently available in the market, I am constantly faced with the dilemma of choosing which product to try.  All of them claim to solve hair loss and promote hair growth, but I have also done my homework by researching online, reading many forum threads and comments from other people talking about the products they have tried, their effectivity and, of course, their affordability. Many people swear by the products they use but despite this, I had been hesitant to try any of them simply because, besides being quite pricy, these products can actually do even more harm than good.

Through my countless searches online, I stumbled upon the term “alopecia,” which is described by the web site MedicineNet.com as the medical term for baldness. Apparently, the problem of thinning hair and baldness has been a global concern for millions of people. There are approximately 40 million men and 20 million women in the United States alone affected by tragic hair. Although there are currently no available statistics on the exact number of Filipino men and women suffering from alopecia, the number could only be rising according to Dr. Rica Mallari, head of the Dermatology Center Hair Unit of St. Lukes Medical Center.

“More and more Filipinos, both men and women, are affected by hair loss. The causes of excessive hair loss can be a myriad of things but the most common factors are hereditary disorders, illness, major surgery, hormonal problems, child birth and delivery, medications, infections, stress, air pollutants; even too much exposure to sunlight may cause excessive hair loss,” said Dr. Mallari.

Male pattern baldness is the receding hairline of men from the forehead upwards and back, or the thinning or falling out of hair from the crown of the head, leaving a hairless area in the middle part of the head, while leaving only the sides and lower part of the back with hair. Women likewise have their own kind of pattern baldness but instead of starting either on the forehead or on the crown, theirs is excessive hair loss on the whole scalp, eventually leaving them completely bald if nothing is done to remedy it.

Just recently, I was invited to the launch of Novuhair, an all herbal-based product touted to promote hair growth and completely stop hair loss. Novuhair consists of a two-in-one pack—a shampoo and topical scalp lotion. Both the lotion and shampoo contain herbal components widely known for their benefits on the scalp and hair.

Novuhair is the only brand in the market which uses a unique combination of hair growth stimulators, such as virgin coconut oil, panax ginseng, centella asiatica, zingiber officinale, aloe barbadensis and biotin. Peppermint, lemon grass, rosemary and lavender oils round up the all-natural ingredients of Novuhair.

Mae Velilla, president and CEO of Nutramedica, product developer and exclusive distributor of Novuhair (www.novuhair.com), introduced the product to the local market just last year and has since gotten very positive consumer feedback.

“We are proud to say that Novuhair is the only product available in the country today that successfully solves hair loss problems. Our thousands of users will attest to its effectivity.  With continued use of Novuhair, it effectively accelerates blood circulation in the scalp promoting hair growth. By maintaining the moisture and providing nourishment to the hair and scalp, it also eliminates dandruff, inflammation, and scalp itchiness. It even stops hair from turning white,” said Velilla. The products are currently being exported to Hong Kong and the US, and will soon be exported to Europe, Singapore and the Middle East.

Dr. Mallari said she tested the Novuhair shampoo and topical scalp lotion in a clinical trial last year. The test proved very promising and even showed a 100-percent success rate among all the test subjects. All of them experienced no progression of hair loss and a decrease in hair shedding after using the product for only two months.

More important, no side effects were experienced by the subjects.

Now, all that is left for me to do is finally try it and pray that my scalp grows a new full head of thick hair.