Topical Tea Tree Oil for Hair Growth

Use tea tree oil and never have to shave again. (Photo by Koshyk)

Fat camp (i.e. my attempt at gaining weight) is still running, but since I haven't been able to weigh myself lately, I don't have anything too interesting to write about.

Instead, I've begun a new experiment that uses tea tree oil - yes, the same magic ingredient that seems to have done nothing for my teeth. I'm sure it has some antibacterial properties, but the toothpaste that I used is clearly no miracle product. Last week the dentist was scraping tartar from my teeth so intensively I thought she was mining for gold.

Antibacterial properties are apparently not the only properties tea tree oil has. There have been some studies that suggest that tea tree oil is antiandrogenic, which means it inhibits the effects of male sex hormones. In this study, kids using lavender and tea trea oils developed gynecomastia - that is, they grew breasts. Probably not something you'd want to have as a man, but antiandrogenics are very popular because of their potential to stop hair loss and/or increase hair growth in men.

At least, that's how they're supposed to work when applied to the scalp. On other parts of the body, it's a different game. I'm assuming that if it grows hair on the scalp through its antiandrogenic effects, it should do the opposite when applied to other areas. And why is that, you ask? Because the hair follicles on the scalp are "handled differently" by the body than hair follicles elsewhere (yes, this is my best scientific explanation for it). We've all seen men with hair everywhere else but the head.

To see whether these claims have any validity, I will conduct a rigorous examination of the effects of tea trea oil by rubbing it on to my right leg daily for the next month or so. I'm going to use sesame seed oil as a carrier oil. I will declare the experiment succesful if there is a difference in hair growth between my right leg and left leg (you know what I mean).

Or if I develop breasts.