Why Lemon Juice Won’t Improve Hair Growth

In a lively article extolling the virtues of lemons as a treatment option for multiple ailments, a magazine in Kenya has recently declared lemon juice as a good remedy for hair loss.

The article, in Eve Woman magazine, states that lemons can play a big role in the lives of health-conscious people, and goes on to explain how lemon juice can add shine to hair, cure dandruff and prevent split ends. While there may be some truth to some of this, the article’s bolder claims namely that lemon juice can prevent thinning hair and also encourage hair growth are perhaps a little wide of the mark.

Not clinically proven

Anecdotal evidence can of course be an important way of identifying “left-field” treatment options, but the efficacy of lemon juice as a cure for hairloss has almost certainly never been clinically proven. Lemon juice as a natural hair loss remedy seems to have something of an “old wives’ tale” feel to it, putting it alongside the popular myths that garlic rubs and onion juice reversing baldness (they don't).

The Eve Woman article states that to prevent thinning hair, you should mix lemon juice, vinegar, ground black pepper and powdered cumin seeds and apply to the hair. “The juice also thickens the hair since it stops hair from falling while encouraging new hair to grow,” says the writer.

Options such as this are often explored by people with hair loss before they turn to a specialist clinic for expert help. Belgravia is unware of any clinical data that shows natural remedies like this to be effective at stopping hair loss conditions. The reason this type of data from reliable research studies is unlikely to exist is chiefly because there are some rather profound things going on when a person starts losing their hair.

Primary causes of thinning hair in women

When a woman is diagnosed with Telogen Effluvium, a far from uncommon condition that predominantly affects females, the body is responding to some kind of perceived environmental or biological “threat”, such as childbirth, severe stress or extreme dieting. This causes a blip in the hair growth cycle; around three months after the trigger incident extra hair will shed from all over the scalp and regrow again naturally in no longer than six months.


If the condition is more extreme and lasts for longer than six months it is typically Chronic Telogen Effluvium. Whilst the hair will regrow naturally from both these temporary conditions, specialist treatment can help to accelerate the regrowth process.

Female Pattern Hair Loss, a genetic condition that affects millions of women worldwide, yet is far less talked about than its male counterpart. This hereditary condition causes hair thinning around the top of the scalp, making the parting appear wider and often causing the temples to thin. It is caused by an inherited sensitivity to a testosterone by-product called DHT which causes the hair follicles to gradually shrink over time. This displays outwardly as increasingly thinner hair and heightened shedding although in women this condition rarely leads to total baldness.

Whilst lemon juice may help blondes to go blonder in the sun, it will not treat any of the above  nor other conditions which can affect women, predominantly Traction Alopecia which causes hair loss that tends to be more patchy and receding than 'thinning'. This is caused by the regular wearing of tight hairstyles that then damage the follicles.

If you are concerned about thinning hair, it is always wise to visit a hair loss specialist as soon as possible. That way you can be quickly diagnosed and, where necessary, have a bespoke hair loss treatment course tailored to your level and pattern of shedding. Even just finding out why they're losing more hair than usual can be a huge relief for many women, not to mention finding out that there are clinically-proven products and supportive advisors that can help them.