Demodex: The predator-looking bacteria walking around on my oily scalp! (101 Haircare Review)

Two weeks ago, I was invited to visit a hair centre to get a scalp analysis and treatment. I thought to myself -- Why not, since my scalp isn't at its optimum especially after I bleached my hair. 5 times.

The beautician proceed to scrape out some scalp cells from my head.

And boy, to my horror(!!!!!!) I found out I got this ...

EIGHT (8!)

LEGGED

BACTERIA

CRAWLING ON MY SCALP!

┗┐ヽ(′Д、`*)ﾉ┌┛

Click play to see crawling eight legged creepy crawly bacteria!

IT IS ACTUALLY ALIVE ZOMG FML!

So what is this Demodex actually?

To sum it up --

Demodex Folliculorum, also know as Demodicids, are a species of tiny mite that some researchers have recently identified as a profound contributor to hair loss. While we believe that there are other factors affecting those with hair loss, such as diet, genetics, and chemical laden hair care products, many researchers attribute this microscopic critter with much more than just a small role in the plight of hair loss. Demodex has also been called “face mite” as it has been commonly associated with various skin complications of the face, such as Acne Rosacea, blackheads, and other skin irritations.

Varying in size from .1mm to .4 mm long, it lives in your pores and hair follicles, typically on your scalp, cheeks, nose, eyebrows and often in the roots of your eyelashes. Demodicids have worm-like attributes, with tiny claws, and scales over the whole of its body so that it may better anchor itself in the hair follicle. An individual female may lay up to 25 eggs in a single follicle, and as the mites grow, they become tightly packed. When mature, the mites leave the follicle, mate, and lays more eggs. During the day, Demodex mites remain feeding within the follicle. At night, they emerge onto the surface to mate, and eggs are laid into follicles so that the newly hatched larvae may feed on sebaceous oils.

Source: http://www.jashbotanicals.com/articles/demodex_folliculorum.html

I also learned about how unhealthy my scalp was. It was about Stage 3 in severity. And I suffer from oily scalp (because of the little critter!).

Microscopic view of my hair strands, which is super unhealthy and breaks easily because it has loss its cuticle scales. (You know, those shampoo TV adverts that shows the wavy surface on each strands? Yes I have almost no more of that thus why its super unhealthy now.)

Here above is a comparison between my oily scalp versus a healthy one. Typically a healthy scalp has about 2 or 3 strands of hair growing out from each pore but mine has been reduced to one and this is a bad thing because each pore has a max limit of hair growth and if I don't treat this fast enough, I may have bald spots on my head :(

So I begin my treatment with a ginseng shampoo wash. I personally dislike the scent of it but hey, if its gonna be of great help to my scalp then I'm all for it!

Next is applying herbal stuff onto my scalp. Smells a bit traditional Chinese medicine!

And a steamer was used to open up my scalp pores and let the good stuff sink in more efficiently.

After that, another round of rinsing my hair then applying more herbal stuff directly onto scalp, at every direction!

The herbal stuff for my scalp for second round.

I was treated to some good herbal red dates tea too! This is to improve my blood circulation.

Last but not least, a rinse and conditioning at the sink!

And a blow dry to finish off the treatment!

MY VERDICT

Overall, I got really panic when I saw that eight legged bacteria on the microscope lens, because the sample was directly taken out from my scalp and I witnessed it with my very eyes!!! That instantly opened my eyes on how unhealthy my scalp was, and made me realize that if I don't take care of my scalp, I may have bald spots soon (and I definitely don't want that)!!!

To sign up or not to sign up?

Honestly the staff here are not pushy towards me, because I guess they know I was there for a blog review. I'm not quite certain about the price but I'm guessing it's in the thousands range for full package.

In terms of knowledge, I have definitely learnt a whole lot from this visit alone. About my current scalp condition and what needs to be done to fix it.

I'm very tempted to go through the whole course but unfortunately this company is leaning towards the non-sponsorship type so oh wells. I'm not willing to part with a huge chunk of money at the moment as I have so many other commitments at hand. I'm not being paid to review this outlet therefore I'm telling my experience as it is :)

If you are tempted to go get a free scalp analysis, feel free to check out the website and their list of outlets around Malaysia --

www.101hair.com.my

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