Using TCM gentiana for treating hair loss is a good example

What is gentian root(Long Dan Cao)? Medicinally it refers more than just one species in the genus Gentiana. In other words, Long Dan Cao mainly means the dried rhizome and roots of Gentiana manshurica Kitag., Gentiana scabra Bunge, Gentiana triflora pall, and Gentiana rigescens Franch. Other names include Chinese Gentian Root, Gentiana, Radix Gentianae, and so on. For better medicinal properties, it’d better be harvested during spring and autumn. And it should be cleaned, dried, cut into sections before the use. And now it can be used in many different ways, such as gentian root supplement, tincture, tea, powder, liqueur, capsules, and so on.

Gentiana scabra is a perennial herb, 1 to 2 feet in height. Leaves are opposite; lower leaves are small, scaly, and 2 to 3 pairs; middle and upper leaves are lanceolate, with dark green top surface, pale green lower surface, 3 distinct veins, and no petiole. Tubular bell-shaped blue flowers grow on the tip of a branch or at axillae that is close to the branch. Fruits are oblong, slightly flat, two-lobed when ripe, and with numerous small seeds. Rhizome is short, yellowish brown or pale yellow, and clustered with many slender roots.

Gentian root health benefits
As for illustrating how this herb works, using gentiana for treating hair loss is a good example. In modern society, accelerated pace of life and increased work stress can lead to mental burdens and then baldness. It is a challenging task to cure general hair loss, let alone the alopecia universalis, which can causes the falling out of all body hair, such as the eyebrows, beard, eyelashes, pubic hair, and armpit hair. And worse than that, the gradually rising mental stress would in turn aggravate this condition and thus hair loss sufferers end up finding themselves in a vicious circle.

Zhang Yuping, a researcher in Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese, found that the clinically alopecia patients share a distinct characteristic – the hyperactivity of liver-fire. From 2000 to 2003, she used dried gentian root to treat 6 cases of alopecia universalis. All of them have ever received Western medicine treatment but shown no improvement. After 2 courses of treatment (30 days each), combining with external lotion, all body hair began to grow; after 6 courses of treatment, sparse hair occurred; after 12 courses of treatment, the hair became thicker and alopecia universalis was cured. And she summarizes that the treatment of hair loss should follow the rules of deficiency syndromes mixed with excess ones, eliminating pathogen, and strengthening vital qi.