MONTOLI MARTA1*, RIGANO LUIGI2, LIONETTI NICOLA1, CASATI STEFANO3, SERGI DOMINIQUE4
*Corresponding author
1. LabAnalysis S.r.l., Milan, Italy
2. Dr. Luigi Rigano, Cinisello Balsamo, Italy
3. Department of Materials Science, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
4. Alpha Santanol Pty, Australia

Abstract

Heavy hair loss and reduced hair density represent for all humans problematic and impacting conditions on daily life. Causes are to be found in genetics factors, hormone imbalance, stress and exogenous factors causing inflammation. The use of natural Santalum album (sandalwood) oil for fighting hair loss is poorly supported by scientific literature.
The aim of our study is to investigate the anti-hair loss property of sandalwood oil through an in vivo test. The pure sandalwood oil was introduced into a hydro-alcoholic lotion to be daily applied to the scalp for three months, at two different concentrations (0.1 and 0.5% w/w) on volunteers (both gender) suffering from androgenic alopecia. The evaluation and quantification of results was performed by the photo-trichogram method.
The efficacy of the oil is proven by statistically significant improvements in percentage of anagen hair (increase) and percentage of telogen hair (decrease) with lotion at 0.5% of Sandalwood Oil.
Despite the remarkable cost due to its unique preciousness, essential oil of Santalum album seems a very promising material for reestablishing the scalp equilibrium.

INTRODUCTION
Hair life cycle involves the alternation of three phases: anagen (growth), catagen (rest), and telogen (fall). The average duration of this cycle varies from 2 to 7 years.
Baldness or androgenetic alopecia (AGA) is defined as a slow transformation of large scalp terminal hair follicles to shorter and thinner hair with a much shorter anagen phase (hair miniaturization) (1, 2).
AGA hits 50% of men and up to 40% of women at some stage in their lives: men typically present it with recession of the hairline at the temples and hair loss at the vertex, while women normally have diffused thinning across the entire upper part of the scalp (3).
Besides genetic factors and age, the main aspects that adversely affect hair growth are hormone imbalance (high testosterone, high cortisol, unbalanced thyroid hormone), stress and exogenous factors causing inflammation (pollution, sun exposure, excessive use of hair bleaching or dyeing products) (4, 7). Prolonged follicular inflammation contributes to the onset of alopecia (8).
The subsequent steps of AGA occur in the bulbs of the frontal and vertex region. Anagen phase time decrease ...