Cuticura Soap (by Mike Grant)

My interest in castile soap came from my daughter's hospital experience. To help treat her scalp which had gotten to the point of medical crisis, she asked to have her head shaved to keep her from pulling long enough for her scalp to heal. The nurse specialist used castile soap to lather her scalp for shaving. The relief was so overwhelming, that she elected to keep her head shaved for the next six months, long after her scalp problems were resolved.  The curiosity was that dry shaving her head either with a clipper or electric shaver would not produce the relief of having her head shaved with soap and a razor, even though the difference in how close the hair was cut was virtually nil. When I mentioned to John about what the barber was doing, he remembered it was surprising similar to scalp treatment he found in the medical literature using Cuticura soap. So we tried just lathering her head with the soap lather used by the barber and the same steam towels without shaving. The procedure produced a considerable amount of relief without sacrificing the hair.   The soap we used was Campbell's liquid shave cream, which is essentially pure coconut oil, which produces the abundant lather, treated with potassium hydroxide to produce a liquid, rather than solid, soap. As part of my recent trial I sent out samples of this soap, along with the Cuticura mentioned in the abstract John found, and the Conti castile soap, similar to what was used in hospital.  The Cuticura seems to be most effective by my survey. The Campbell's barber soap and castile soap both share a relatively high pH. The high pH inhibits yeast growth and reduces the oiliness of the skin which seems to associated with so-called "hot spots".  A liquid soap is more convenient and avoids possible contamination of a bar soap through repeated use. I found the bar soap can be grated with a cheese grater to produce a semi-powder which is more convenient to apply. For those who prefer a liquid soap, you can add the powder to distilled water a little at a time until the last bit just fails to dissolve. This is the saturation concentration and assures a relatively constant percentage of dissolved soap.  This mixture can be used just as a regular shampoo.  Two latherings are recommended. One is just a brief washing to remove dirt and oil. The second is a thorough lathering which is allowed to remain on the scalp for 5 to 10 minutes. Messaging the scalp during this time can be very soothing and beneficial. Soaps, unlike deterrents, may produce a film in hard water due to the formation of insoluble salts of the fatty acid with dissolved calcium and magnesium in the water. This film readily dissolves with a slight acidic rinse of dilute distilled vinegar or lemon juice. This somewhat undermines to goal of raising the scalp pH. There are types of water conditioners which avoid formation of the film without lowering the pH.   I do not have ttm myself , so I cannot verify the effectiveness of these routines. For that, I need the many kind people who are helping me in this regard. In consideration of them, as well as of my daughter previously, I always evaluate the safety and comfort on myself prior to asking anyone with trich to try them. I found out the regimen makes my scalp feel good even without trich.  It may be only chicken soup, but that isn't bad. Chicken soap can work wonders sometimes. If you are a parent, please consider this for your child. The benefits may go well beyond and beneath your child's scalp. It provides tactile stimulation, comfort, love, and acceptance. The time you spend massaging you child's scalp can be some real quality time in a quiet place away from the TV to talk with your child.

Just a suggestion.

Mike