Durk Pearson has been recommending supplementing with taurine for hair loss for decades. This is he says, because taurine down-regulates the oxidation of Cysteine to taurine, leaving more cysteine for the hair, improving both its growth rate and shaft diameter. 

      L’Oreal, as we previously reported, found that taurine inhibited fibrosis and the effects of Tgf-b on the hair follicle seen in MPB. Following are two recent abstracts that lend even more support to the usage of oral Taurine as a hair loss treatment.

Oral Supplementation With Taurine in the Treatment of Women With Hair Fragility
      Tosti, Antonella; Vincenzi, Colombina; Starace, Michela; Pazzaglia, Massimiliano; Department of Dermatology University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of oral supplementation with daily Taurine 150 mg + Catechin 75 mg + Zinc 15 mg (Inneov Trico masse) in the treatment of women with fine hair, hair fragility and decreased hair thickness.

      Materials and Methods: The study involved 20 women patients aged from 20 to 68 years (median age 45) who presented to us with fine hair and decreased hair thickness. These women had to take Inneov Trico masse tablets, twice a day, for 6 months.

      Assessment was carried out using standardized global photograph of the scalp and measuring, with videodermoscopic images, hair diameter of a target area. – Videodermoscopic images were acquired by computerized polarized-light videomicroscopy Dermoscope DDS(r)Dermascope 2.0 Software (for measuring hair diameter)- The target area was a patch of ten hairs. During the first visit the researcher cut hair of the patch. The hair were collected and exanimate too at month 2, 4 and 6. Results: In 11/12 patients that have terminated the 6-month’s study, the evaluation of the average of the hair diameter showed increase (from 0,040 to 0,045 μm). Six other women have interrupted the study to 4 months, 4 patients showed a good increase of the hair diameter (from 0,040 to 0,043 μm).

      Conclusions: Our study suggests that oral supplementation with Taurine in association with Catechin and Zinc may be helpful in the treatment of woman with hair fragility.

Int J Cosmet Sci. 2006 Aug;28(4):289-98.

Protective effects of taurine on human hair follicle grown in vitro(1).

Collin C, Gautier B, Gaillard O, Hallegot P, Chabane S, Bastien P, Peyron M, Bouleau M, Thibaut S, Pruche F, Duranton A, Bernard BA

L’Oreal Recherche, Clichy, France.

      Comment: Taurine is a naturally occurring beta-amino acid produced by methionine and cysteine metabolism. It is involved in a variety of physiological functions, including immunomodulatory and antifibrotic. Taking advantage of the ability of human hair follicle grown in vitro to recapitulate most of the characteristic features of normal hair follicle in vivo, we studied (i) taurine uptake by isolated human hair follicles; (ii) its effects on hair growth and survival rate; and (iii) its protective potential against transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta1, an inhibitor of in vitro hair growth and a master switch of fibrotic program. We showed that taurine was taken up by the connective tissue sheath, proximal outer root sheath and hair bulb, promoted hair survival in vitro and prevented TGF-beta1-induced deleterious effects on hair follicle.

      Given the incredibly low cost of L-Taurine, its`amazing that EVERYONE with any kind of a hair concern isn’t loading up on this simple amino acid.