Regaine & Shampooing

This article explains why it's important to use the correct shampoo with Regaine

In most cases, Regaine should be used twice daily. For hygiene reasons, most people shampoo their hair quite frequently. However, this causes a bit of a problem. Do I shampoo my hair before using Regaine, or afterwards?

Shampooing before Regaine

If you shampoo your hair before using Regaine, you run the risk of one of the ingredients of the shampoo interfering in some way with the Regaine. The most common ingredient that is known to interfere with Regains is dimethicone. Dimethicone is a silicone-based compound that has a lubricating, moisturising effect. When added as an ingredient in a shampoo or conditioner, the lubricant action helps to de-tangle the hair, and also to emulate the effect of any natural oils that you may have washed out of your hair. Dimethicone has a slippery feel and makes your hair feel nice, and lovely and shiny. Dimethicone is a common and safe chemical that is completely harmless as far as we know.

However, Dimethicone does cause a problem for users of Regaine. This is because dimethicone has a tendency to coat the scalp, and hence stopping Regaine from being absorbed into the scalp.

In this case, it's worth switching to a shampoo that does not contain dimethicone. You may also like to try Alpecin, which is also designed for Regaine users. Alpecin also contains caffeine which has been shown to help protect the hair from DHT-related damage (see here).

If you are a regular user of Regaine and shampoo or condition your hair before using it, it's worth looking at the ingredients on the bottle of shampoo/conditioner to see whether it contains dimethicone. If so, you may not be getting the most out of Regaine. Note that dimethicone is also often known as simethicone, dimeticone, simeticone or other similar names. If your regular shampoo does contain dimethicone, you may wish to switch to Alpecin for better uptake of Regaine.

Shampooing after Regaine

If you shampoo your hair after applying Regaine, you run the risk of washing the Regaine out. It is best to leave Regaine on the scalp for as long as possible before shampooing the hair. If you can apply Regaine first thing in the morning, then wait for an hour or two before shampooing, then that would be idea.

Alternatively, you can shampoo last thing before you go to bed. So you can (say) apply Regaine at 7am and 7pm, and shampoo your hair at 10pm before going to bed.

Regaine does not make a shampoo version of it's popular hair loss treatment, but Regaine compatible shampoos are available from other companies.

If you are looking for a shampoo to use with Regaine, we recommend Alpecin Caffeine Shampoo C1 and Alpecin Double Effect Shampoo from the Alpecin hair loss range.