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This insightful article was written by “PanamaJimmy”, an active member of our hair loss forum and social community.

I’ve seen lots of ads lately for a hair loss product called Provillus. They claim it has an FDA approved ingredient for regrowing hair. Is this product legit?

Provillus  does contain an FDA approved ingredient for hair loss. The ingredient, minoxidil, is one many balding men and women are already familiar with. Each application of Provillus consists of a tablet and topical solution.

In a nutshell, most everyone agrees there are no new “miracle breakthrough” ingredients in Provillus making it a successful hair loss treatment. In fact, the angle being worked upon the consumer is as old as consumerism itself, and can be summed up in a word: marketing. If you believe that taking existing products and combining them makes a product more effective than the sum of its parts, then Provillus may be for you.

Fact: there are only two hair loss drugs  approved by the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA). These drugs are Rogaine (minoxidil) and Propecia (finasteride).  Therefore, anytime someone claims a hair loss product contains an FDA approved ingredient, it must be one of these two drugs. Let’s start at the beginning of the hair loss drug timeline for a clear understanding of why these two drugs have been proven and FDA approved to treat baldness.

Minoxidil, the first FDA approved hair loss drug, first entered the market in a tablet form under the name Loniten in the 1970s. Upjohn produced this vasodilator to treat severe high blood pressure. However, doctors noted an interesting side effect in many patients: a marked increase in hair growth! In the 1980s, Upjohn packaged a 2% strength topical solution of minoxidil and called it Rogaine, which is now perhaps the most recognized name in the industry. When the patent expired in the early 1990s, many generic forms of minoxidil hit the market, forcing prices downward. At this time, Pharmacia introduced the first 5% strength solution. These events spurred an increased adoption in both male and female sufferers of androgenetic alopecia, a.k.a. pattern baldness. Interestingly enough, although studies show a significant percentage of minoxidil users experienced hair regrowth, the actual scientific reason minoxidil stimulates hair growth is still unknown.

The only other hair loss drug approved by the FDA is Propecia, which includes the active ingredient finasteride and suppresses the production of DHT (Dihydrotestosterone). DHT is the hormone responsible for male pattern baldness. Due to potential hormonal issues that DHT brings to the table, this drug cannot be taken by women or children.

What some find interesting about the Provillus website, is that it is oddly incomplete as to the list of ingredients. Nowhere is it mentioned that there is a 5% strength solution of azelaic acid. This information had to be obtained from other sources.

Let’s take a close look at the ingredients in Provillus.

Each applicaton for Men contains the following ingredients:

Topical Solution

• 5% strength solution of minoxidil
• 5% strength solution of azelaic acid

Tablet

• Vitamin B6 (as Pyridoxine Hydrochloride – 5 mg
• Biotin – 5 mg
• Zinc (as Magnesium Oxide) – 15 mg
• Saw palmetto (Serenoa repens fruit) 1500 mg
• Plus a proprietary blend of:
• Nettle  (Urtica dioica)
• Gotu Kola (Centella asiatica)
• Pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima, seed)
• Eleuthero Root (Eleutherococcus senticosus)
• Uva-Ursi (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, root)
• Muria Puama (Ptychopetalum olacoides)
  • Other Ingredients: Gelatin, Rice Flour, Mangesium Stearate, Silicon Dioxide, Maltodextrin, and good old H2O

Each application for women contains the following ingredients:

Topical Solution

• 2% strength solution of minoxidil
• 5% strength solution of azelaic acid

Tablet

• Vitamin B6 (as Pyridoxine Hydrochloride – 5 mg
• Biotin – 5 mg
• Zinc (as Magnesium Oxide) – 15 mg
• Horsetail Silica
• Para-aminobenzoic Acid (PABA)
  • Other Ingredients: Gelatin, Rice Flour, Mangesium Stearate, Silicon Dioxide, Maltodextrin, and good old H2O

Provillus is simply a mix of minoxidil, azelaic acid, vitamins, minerals, and herbs. Unproven in the clinical market place, azelaic acid is the wildcard in this product.

Azelaic acid is a naturally occurring substance found in wholegrains that has mild antibiotic properties to help “clean” the skin. Many doctors have recommended it to clear up acne and rosacea. Azelaic acid is said to be a potent inhibitor of 5-alpha-reductase, which creates DHT in human skin when combined with testosterone. Thus, the theory goes, the less DHT created, the less hair loss will occur. Azelaic acid has not been approved by the FDA.

Since Provillus contains a 5% strength minoxidil solution (2% for women), there seems to be no reason why it wouldn’t be at least as effective as minoxidil alone. However, is it worth the risk to take a product with clinically unproven ingredients? Do the particular ingredients above and beyond minoxidil and the manner in which they are mixed cause Provillus to be an especially effective solution to hair loss?

Two additional pieces of information important to consider are the cost of the product (about $50 for a month’s supply), and the reputation of the company producing Provillus. You may want to do your own research into the owner of Provillus, HealthBuy.com, and take a look at the reviews of their customer service and reputation.

If the consumer expends the most minimal effort in research, it becomes readily apparent that Provillus, effective or not, is nothing new. It is also nothing new that companies rely on the fact that a very small minority of consumers actually take the time to do proper research. Is it the manufacturer’s fault then, if a large number of consumers (large enough, at least, for a tidy profit) happen to believe that Provillus is a technological breakthrough in treating baldness?

By sticking with the proven treatments of finasteride and minoxidil, hair loss sufferers not only receive the benefits of proven results, but can also save a substantial sum of money.

Read more about Provillus by visiting “Can Provillus Stop Hair Loss?”

Panama Jimmy

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Bill Seemiller
Managing Publisher of the Hair Transplant Network, the Hair Loss Learning Center, the Hair Loss Q&A Blog, and the Hair Restoration Social Network and  Enhanced Forum
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