Hair trouble, please help

Hey everyone,

I have a slightly strange question regarding my hair. I hope you guys can help.

Basically, I took medication for my acne (roaccutane for 6 months, and then 3 years later, minocycline for about 4 years) and it seems to have affected my hair and scalp. My scalp is now pretty flaky and my hair is now very dry, brittle and wiry!

I have always had thick and curly hair but the medication (which I have stopped for nearly a year now) has made my hair extra dry and wiry and impossible to control. It basically looks like a big fluffy wig sitting on my head, the hair refuses to grow down and instead insists on growing up (I've attached a picture of me) so it always looks like the hair is sitting on my head. A weird thing that I have noticed is that if I leave my hair grow for 2 or 3 months and then have it cut, it returns to how it use to be before the medication and is manageable again, but a few days later it will suddenly return to this mess of hair.

Does anyone have any idea how I could get my hair to stay how it is after I have it cut or if anyone has any recommendations on products to use to make my hair healthy again? I have tried all sorts of products - cheap/expensive/prescription and all sorts of types - leave in conditioners etc but nothing works. I wash my hair every other day, normally with either a Tony & Guy shampoo and separate conditioner or with a Trevor Sorbie combo - not sure if their any good.

Please help, any comments would be appreciated.

Kabert, thanks for the reply. I will give that shampoo a go... I have been reading through the posts about high quality shampoos and conditioners and I thought that the better shampoos were the slightly more expensive? And that the head and shoulders brand was abit harsh on hair espeically if your hair was already dry?

TheHoff, I saw your post (not sure why you thought you should delete it) and its made me think I should research the effects of minocycline more. Thanks.

I think Im going to try and purchase a decent shampoo and conditioner for dry hair. Try and make it look healthy again!

Sartorian, Thanks for the response. I've never really thought that maybe its just nature taking its course and my hair is just changing as I get older (the grey hairs are starting to show themselves!! Arrr!).

stuartSan, thanks for the reply. I have actually shaved my hair to a number 4 all over because it was annoying me. Ive noticed that I have powdery flakes on my scalp, probably just a case of dry scalp, which is keeping moisture from getting to my hair so im trying to sort that.

fg0d, i had a dry face and really dry lips almost throughout my course of accutane. Also my eyes were dry which made wearing my contacts a nightmare. It wasnt until the last couple of months into the course that my face started to clear up, when when it finally kicked in effect, my face was completely spotless!! The dry hair also came into play in the last couple of months of treatment so try to take extra care to look after your hair and keep it healthy!