| Author | Message | ||
     MG New member Username: Marigold Post Number: 1 Registered: 07-2009 |
I received your scalp exercise CD last week. Even before I got it I felt the muscles moving at the front of my head as well as at the back of my head. But I wanted to be sure I was doing it right rather than waste weeks doing it incorrectly. (I am doing it for my facial muscles--particularly the upper face--not for hair growth.) I will say that I cannot get my scalp to move as much forward as yours, but mine does move forward. So your CD confirmed that I am doing it correctly, and it demonstrated what my objective should be: getting my scalp to move as much forward as possible and to do it naturally without forcing it. (In both instances, the CD is well worth the $25.) Perhaps after a few weeks of practice I will get a little closer to where you are, considering you’ve had years of practice. We shall see. My main purpose for writing you today is to commend you on your graciousness, which is evident in the cover letter that came with your package. In paragraph one you commented that the package might not seem to be worth the $25. In paragraph two you asked that I overlook your "faults" about which others have complained: namely, that your "writing style is abrasive" and that you "tend to inject humor at the wrong time." I only got as far as paragraph two and decided to tell you this: Thomas, NEVER apologize to anyone for being who you are. More likely than not, the apparent "sensitive nature" of the complainers is a front for deep issues. These types of people will pick at the straw in another person's eye and ignore the rafter in theirs. I tell you this from personal experience. There is nothing wrong with a little abrasiveness to get one's point across. And I have no complaints about an offbeat joke here and there if it's in good taste--especially if it makes an otherwise boring lecture into an entertaining, yet informative, experience. You are original, and you are sincere. That is what comes across. You don't want to fix something that's not broken; now do you, Thomas? So stay as you are. One last thing, I read the few negative comments on your hair-loss reversible website, in the Testimonials area. Every now and then one of them popped up among the overwhelmingly positive comments. I consider those people killjoys for whom the program did not work for one reason or the other. They have an axe to grind, you see. With one exception, they all had one thing in common: they had the audacity to encourage others not to do the program. All of a sudden they--bald-headed and all---have become scalp and hair experts to the point where they can advise others. Follow their ridiculous advice and what are the alternatives? Do nothing and continue going bald or continue seeing one's facial muscles and skin collapse? Get hair transplants or take hair growth medication that has unknown side effects years down the road? Go to plastic surgeon to have one’s face butchered? Or does one take the healthier route by trying a non-invasive program such as this one, which has a good track record for success and has no harmful side effects even if it fails to grow hair? That is the decision each person must make. No one can decide for any of us--unless we allow them to. | ||
| Thomas Hagerty Board Administrator Username: Admin Post Number: 164 Registered: 05-2006 |
MG: You wrote, "All of a sudden they--bald-headed and all---have become scalp and hair experts to the point where they can advise others." I'm a ballroom dancer. One thing I notice at the ballrooms that I've been to is that as soon as a guy has had two or three lessons in dancing he feels he has the right to "advise" the women he dances with. He makes them feel inadequate and he makes them feel that he is doing them a favor just asking them to dance. The same is true of a minority of guys who post messages on my hair loss site. They read one or two articles on hair loss and all of a sudden they are experts giving advice to people who still are in the dark. And the advice is usually pathetic. The large majority of guys who post messages on my hair loss forum, though, are sensitive to other peoples problems. They are just trying to help out. In your profile you said your were a budding author. I wonder what kind of writing you're doing. I just had a book published that I'm proud of - The Psychology of the Winning Horseplayer. Place your mouse pointer over the cover and then click on "Back Cover" on the dropdown menu. There I am at Beulah Park Racetrack in Columbus, Ohio trying to pick a winner. My face still looks halfway decent. It's fun to write a book and it's fun to see it sell. My book has a niche market so it is selling. But if you are trying to write fiction, you might have a hard time of it. One technical hint - Microsoft Word 2003 is a lot better than the newer version. It's a pleasure to work with once you set up your style. And indexing is a snap. "So your CD confirmed that I am doing it correctly, and it demonstrated what my objective should be: getting my scalp to move as much forward as possible and to do it naturally without forcing it." Concentrate more on the occipitalis muscles at the back of your head by perhaps holding this contraction for a few seconds on each repetition. This is the muscle that prevents lines from forming in the forehead and keeps the eyebrows high. You actually might get some lines in your forehead in the early months of doing the SE even if you are doing it correctly. These will vanish as you continue to do the exercise. | ||
| MG New member Username: Marigold Post Number: 2 Registered: 07-2009 |
Thomas: I am aware that horizontal lines will be exposed on the forehead as a result of the facial muscles building and exposing them. I have been doing another facial building program called Flexeffects for a few months now (http://www.flexeffect.com), and that was one of the warnings. My understanding is that as the facial muscles build, it pushes up and exposes preexisting horizontal lines that are presently hidden by loose skin. (In other words, the horizontal lines were already there but were hidden by loose skin.) Eventually, the pumped up facial muscles cause the skin to tighten. This tightening of the skin causes newly exposed horizontal lines to flatten out and eventually vanish. This all makes sense, because my facial skin is no longer tight as in my youth. Since I began doing Flexeffects, horizontal lines that were barely discernable are now quite obvious but are starting to widen. The "exposure" of the horizontal lines is actually a sign of progress. By the way, check out the before and after photos of this fellow who has been using Carolyn Cleaves' method. His turkey neck problem all but vanished, as did his deep horizontal forehead lines (http://www.carolynsfacialfitness.com/robert). I ordered Carolyn's program last week along with yours, and am now doing both programs simultaneously because your program has stuff that hers does not, and visa versa. I am also doing some of the facial exercises from Flexeffects. All three programs are valid. My book is non-fiction. I will try Amazon.com and a few other websites and see what business I can drum up. By the way, how did your audience find you? What I mean is, what did you do to bring them to your book? Any suggestions you can pass on will be appreciated. I have read numerous how-to books on self-publishing and tried almost all their suggestions, to no avail. You can read a free sample chapter of my book by going to my website: http://www.bpb-inc.com. When you get there, click on the EPIPHANY eBOOK button, and it will take you to the PDF download of the sample chapter. The book jacket shows me at age 14. If you were to read the entire book you would understand why I felt compelled to use that particular photo of myself on the book jacket. | ||
| Thomas Hagerty Board Administrator Username: Admin Post Number: 166 Registered: 05-2006 |
MG: You expressed it well: "This tightening of the skin causes newly exposed horizontal lines to flatten out and eventually vanish." At least I think that's what happens when a person does the scalp exercise correctly for a period of time. Lines do make people look older so anything to diminish or eliminate them is a plus. I think the scalp exercise is a much bigger plus than botox. I read a half dozen pages of your book and liked what I read. But I was worried about what might happen to you if I continued. I know how brutal kids can be (and adults too). I lived many years in Mexico and was amazed at the delight kids there took in tormenting cats and dogs. The kids in Belize are probably no different. I never intervened to protect the animals. It would have done no good. "By the way, how did your audience find you?" I was actually surprised that my audience did find me. There are evidently effective marketing strategies but I never studied the articles. I am listed in the Gambler's Book Store's catalog. This has helped sales. Some people sell their books though eBay. I never tried this. It might be something to look into though. | ||
| MG New member Username: Marigold Post Number: 3 Registered: 07-2009 |
Thomas: My only regret is that I was not aware of facial exercises until a few months ago when I discovered Flexeffects.com. I am very encouraged by your photos because they provide concrete evidence that this really works. Fortunately for you, your journey in facial exercises began as a teenager--before the damage to your face was done. In effect, you took preventative measures. Most of the people on your discussion forum must undo years of damage. And you know the old saying: "Prevention is better than cure." We have to cure the problem, and that will take time and consistent effort--far more effort than would have been involved in taking preventative measures. I hope you will find the courage to read the entire Chapter 1 of my free EPIPHANY eBook at http://www.bpb-inc.com. The entire Chapter 2 is also part of that same PDF. I urge you to grit your teeth and read both chapters. If you read both chapters, you will find that the book is not merely about my life story--although I do give some background info about myself in both chapters, since it is my memoirs. EPIPHANY discusses many controversial issues including child sexual molestation, false religious teachings, racial bigotry in the USA and its role in imprisoning over a million black men, police brutality, abortion, etc. (Chapter 2 goes into detail about abortion.) The book has dozens of respectable, mainstream reference sources in the footnotes to back up my statements. By the way, I am already being threatened with a lawsuit for libel by one of the individuals whose true name I used in EPIPHANY. (He called me at work and informed me of this on July 13, 2009. He happens to be an attorney.) All of the names of people that are mentioned in EPIPHANY are their actual names. I refuse to use fictitious names in a non-fiction book. And since the ultimate defense against libel is truth, I hope to win all such lawsuits filed against me. Of course I will wind up having to pay defense attorneys. But everything has its price. If I were to back down and change the names to fictitious names and make compromises because of threatened lawsuits, I would pay the price of not being able to live with myself. I would despise myself. If I lose in court, so be it. I will lose on my terms. I will lose with dignity. But I will not back down or make compromises on core issues. There is such a thing as self-respect. Once one loses self-respect, one loses everything. I will try eBay, iOffer, and Amazon, as well as swapmeets for getting the EPIPHANY off the ground. | ||
| Thomas Hagerty Board Administrator Username: Admin Post Number: 167 Registered: 05-2006 |
MG: I'll post a message here on either Monday or Tuesday giving you what might be helpful information on getting Epiphany off the ground. If you do decide to go with my suggestion about publishing, you'll have to do some proofreading and editing. In the few pages I read I found some errors. When I wrote my book there were errors too that I did not find after going through it at least three times. Other people found the errors. It really is hard to find your own mistakes and typos. | ||
| MG New member Username: Marigold Post Number: 4 Registered: 07-2009 |
I am sure there are errors throughout EPIPHANY that I overlooked--and I have read it numerous times. I am so familiar with the context of the book that I read right pass the typos. A couple years ago, I got several people to help me with the proofreading by assigning two chapters to each person--because I kept missing my own errors. Since that time, I have done a great deal of rewriting, which means I must start from scratch with getting people to help me with the proofreading. I will see if I can find a few qualified people willing to proofread. One of my previous proofreaders has since died. Two of the others are attorneys at the same law office where a third attorney has threatened me with a libel lawsuit for naming him in the book. (The deceased proofreader was the wife of the attorney threatening to sue me.) So that amounts to three proofreaders that are gone. If all else fails, I will have to do my best and proofread EPIPHANY slowly. I will watch for your helpful information next Tuesday. Thanks for taking the time to write me. | ||
| Thomas Hagerty Board Administrator Username: Admin Post Number: 169 Registered: 05-2006 |
MG: I want to give you an example of two errors I found in the first pages of your book. The first one really isn't an error but I think it weakens an otherwise strong Foreword. You concluded your paragraphs with, "But where there is life there is hope." Sometimes a rhetorical or proverbial cliche can lighten up a dull paragraph but it usually just lulls the reader to sleep. In the same Foreword you used a proverbial cliche to your advantage. This was effective but in general you have to be wary about using threadbare phrases. On page 2 you wrote, "I was a few feet pass Guerra's Store..." You meant "past" I think. I'm not being picky here. You have an excellent writing style and a keen ability to observe detail, so all this shouldn't be messed up with silly, correctable errors. If you're not happy with BPB publishing, try BookSurge. I am absolutely satisfied with the job this company did with my book. It's up to you, though, to make your copy and your cover look great. BookSurge will also offer you sound ideas on marketing. You will see your book on Amazon.com in weeks if you publish with this company, which means that you'll have to write a potent short description (under 1000 characters) to go with the Amazon listing. I spent two days hammering out my short description. You have the book. Now you need to find your audience. It takes work and a little bit of luck. A favorable review from Oprah wouldn't hurt.  | ||
| MG New member Username: Marigold Post Number: 5 Registered: 07-2009 |
Thomas: Thanks for the book publishing suggestions. BPB,Inc. is my self-owned publishing company that I incorporated in 2003. Publishing companies are notorious for taking large chunks from book sales and giving authors just a small percentage (15% or a little above that). So I will stick with self-publishing until I learn the ropes. As far as my use of the statement "I was a few feet PASS Guerra's Store" (instead of "a few feet PAST Guerra's Store"), that was deliberate. I have had mixed feelings with the both the words PASS and PAST for a while, because neither is wrong when used as a VERB in reference to distance. But for some reason, readers sometimes think PASS is incorrect for distance. The word PASS can be used both as a noun and as a verb. When used as an INTRANSITIVE verb, the word "PASS" means "to go or move forward." Notice definition #1 at this website: http://www.yourdictionary.com/pass. At the same website, when used as a TRANSITIVE verb, the word "PASS" means "to go by, beyond, past." (When you get to the website noted above, scroll down to the TRANSITIVE definitions, and notice definition #1.) I may decide to not use either PASS or PAST and simply use the word BEYOND. This way, readers will not think my grammar is off in that instance and everybody can agree on the word BEYOND. | ||
| Thomas Hagerty Board Administrator Username: Admin Post Number: 170 Registered: 05-2006 |
MG: I'm not really a stickler for the fine points of grammar either. It's always better to be natural than to be correct according to standards most people never heard of - unless you're writing a Ph.D dissertation. With BookSurge I get over 40% on every book sold. I can live with this. Most of these publishing companies give you almost nothing though. | ||
| MG New member Username: Marigold Post Number: 6 Registered: 07-2009 |
40% is not bad. If my self-publishing efforts fail, I will approach BookSurge. I have been doing the Scalp exercise #5 most days for at least 15 minutes, ever since I got your CD about a week ago. Some days I do it twice a day for 15 minutes. I am also doing the Carolyn Cleaves program that I got a week ago. In addition, I do several of the exercises from FlexEffects.com. I realize it will be at least 6 months to a year before the muscles at the back of my head (the occipitalis muscles) are strong enough to START pulling and tightening the facial muscles, thereby smoothening out the skin on my upper face and forehead gradually. Six months to a year is not an unreasonable amount of time to begin to see results, considering that one is correcting years of damage. Still, I cannot help feeling impatient to see results. It depresses me to look in the mirror and see what I allowed years of stress to do to my upper face. I did this to myself. The horizontal lines on my forehead are bad enough. But it is the vertical lines and muscle bulges between my eyebrows that are the most troublesome, because those cause me to look angry--and older than my biological years. How I do wish I had known about your program a year or two ago. My facial skin itself is not wrinkled. It is the muscles underneath the skin--particularly on my forehead and between the brows--that are causing the skin to fold, with the result that it makes me look old. | ||
| Thomas Hagerty Board Administrator Username: Admin Post Number: 171 Registered: 05-2006 |
MG: "The horizontal lines on my forehead are bad enough. But it is the vertical lines and muscle bulges between my eyebrows that are the most troublesome, because those cause me to look angry--and older than my biological years." The scalp exercise will help you with this problem. I've seen the horizontal and vertical lines diminish and then disappear when people do the scalp exercise correctly - and this doesn't take a year. Gaining control of the epicranial muscles, especially the occipitalis muscle at the back of the head, definitely gets rid of muscle contractures. Contractures are permanent contractions of certain muscles. Look at the faces of John Kerry or George Bush when they are speaking. John Kerry's eyebrows are perpetually knitted giving him those vertical lines; George Bush's frontalis muscles are perpetually contracted giving him those horizontal lines in the forehead. Both of these men have bad facial posture. Take a look at President Obama, a example of good facial posture. MG, make a special attempt to hold the contraction of the occipitalis muscle when you are doing the scalp exercise. Holding this contraction a second or two will build up this muscle. A strong, toned-up occipitalis muscle is the key to good upper-face posture. | ||
| C M New member Username: Ceeme Post Number: 130 Registered: 06-2007 |
MG, you're an awesome writer and I cannot wait to read the sample of your book to which you gave a link. May I interject here and point out that the definition of PASS that you directed us to doesn't define PASS as being the same as PAST, but rather defines it as being the same as TO GO PAST. In other words, the beginning of the sentence "TO GO..." applies to all the words that follow. That is, PASS means: - TO GO BY - TO GO BEYOND - TO GO PAST - TO GO OVER - TO GO THROUGH Which would mean that in that sentence where you used it, you are saying "I was a few feet to go past Guerra's Store." If that is how you would have written the sentence had you used PAST instead, then I guess you have not changed the meaning. But otherwise I as far as I know PAST and PASS cannot be used interchangeably without other words being added to one to get the meaning of the other. Sorry to jump in when you were not even speaking to me but I am passionate about language and while I doubt I could write as beautifully as you do, I couldn't help seeing where the definition you pointed out could have been confusing and therefore hoped I could shed some light on it. | ||
| MG New member Username: Marigold Post Number: 7 Registered: 07-2009 |
C M: This is a public forum; therefore, your comments are welcome. By the way, my first name is Marigold. I don't know how I ended up with the initials MG as my screen name. I did not select MG. Thomas Hagerty must have assigned it to me. In my book I wrote: "I was a few feet pass Guerra’s Store when I came upon the boy tormenting the frightened girl." Thomas felt that my use of the word PASS in that sentence was an error and that I should have used the word PAST instead. He was trying to be helpful, kind soul that he is. As I explained to him, the word PASS is a noun as well as a verb. When used as a verb, the word PASS refers to movement BEYOND something. So C M, you and I are in agreement on the definition of PASS when it is used as a transitive verb. I hope you get a chance to read the two sample chapters on my website. If you do run across typos or grammatical errors that I overlooked, be sure and let me know. I have several people that I am lining up as proof readers here at my job. I hope to have the book in print by this coming October. (I will start off with a small print run as I don't want to get stuck with hundreds of unsold books. Writing the book was only half of the problem. Getting it into the public consciousness so people will buy it is the next challenge.) | ||
| Thomas Hagerty Board Administrator Username: Admin Post Number: 172 Registered: 05-2006 |
C M: Read some pages, or better yet, the two sample chapters of MG's book. How does anyone make it from Belize, that little sliver of land on the Yucatan Peninsula, to Los Angeles? This could be a movie. Of course Halle Berry would star in it without a hair out of place. You wrote, "I am passionate about language..." When I was writing my book about gambling I didn't stop to correct mistakes - and I made many. I just kept moving forward fast trying to stay with the flow. The correction came later and it was hard. It really is tough seeing your own mistakes. I'm glad I had a perceptive friend to help me. Marigold, I changed your real name to MG because I didn't think you wanted your full name to appear in the discussion forum. | ||
| C M New member Username: Ceeme Post Number: 132 Registered: 06-2007 |
Hi MG: Thanks for being so gracious and accommodating my meddling. In the sentence you wrote, you aren't using PASS as as a transitive verb but rather as a preposition which I don't believe it could ever be. The correct word would be PAST as Tom suggested. In order to see what I mean about the word needing to be a preposition, let us consider other prepositions and replace the word in question with them. Examples of prepositions: INSIDE, INTO, OUTSIDE, BEHIND...etc "I was a few feet INSIDE Guerre Store when I came upon the boy tormenting the frightened girl." If we tried to use a verb there, the sentence would not sound correct. (BTW, what makes a verb transitive is having a direct object. Intransitive verbs do not have direct objects.) Examples of verbs that could be transitive: CLEAN, DIRECT, THROW, BECOME...etc None of those words would sound right in that sentence if you were to put them in the spot in question. (Sometimes substituting a word with another whose part of speech you are sure can help confirm the correct part of speech that should be used.) Did I make it clearer why PASS is incorrect in your sentence? (I tend to get so wordy and end up confusing matters! LOL) The preposition BEYOND would work nicely if you just don't care for the word PAST. | ||
| C M New member Username: Ceeme Post Number: 133 Registered: 06-2007 |
Tom, I'm looking forward to reading Marigold's book when I get home. If it's got the same rhythm she has in her posts, it should be quite a joyous ride. And boy, do I know how hard it is to see one's own mistakes! I work in direct marketing and letters we write have to be proofread by at least 4 people from different departments just to try to avoid the familiarity that leads to missing self-made errors. I am notorious for typos and sometimes I don't see them until it's too late to edit. *screams* | ||
| MG New member Username: Marigold Post Number: 8 Registered: 07-2009 |
C M, thank you for the clarification on transitive verbs. I will follow yours and Thomas' advice and accept that PASS should be replaced with PAST. (I will replace it with BEYOND--as I previously told Thomas--since I feel uncomfortable with the word PAST.) I will begin proofreading the entire EPIPHANY manuscript this weekend. Thereafter, I will print the text and start handing out chapters to people at my job for additional proofreading. (Most of my proofreaders are attorneys; one is the office manager. So their grammar and syntax should be up to par.) By the way, C M, I must warn you that EPIPHANY is controversial. I step on a great many toes and confront very strong issues head on. I provide respectable footnote references to back up my statements as much as possible, so readers will see that I am not merely stating my opinions. THOMAS: You will recall that I told you in my initial message that you should never apologize to anyone for being who you are and that if "sensitive" people consider your writing style to be abrasive, that is their problem. Personally, I never try to sugarcoat truth in order to win popularity contests. That has been my premise for a long time. When one sacrifices truth, one sacrifices oneself in the process. (When I say "truth," I am referring to what one believes to be truth.) THOMAS: On the matter of the scalp exercise, I have been doing it at least a week now. Over the last couple days I've notice slight pain to the muscles on my forehead--but only while doing the scalp exercise or if I wrinkle my forehead. The pain disappears when I relax the forehead muscles (by not wrinkling my forehead and engaging them). Is this a good sign? Is this an indication that the forehead muscles are being broken in? I experience the same thing if I have not gone running for months. For the first two weeks, my legs are sore until they are broken in. I hope this is a good sign in terms of the scalp exercise and that the forehead muscles are simply responding to being worked out. In that case, as with my limbs, I expect the slight pain to disappear after a couple weeks. | ||
| Thomas Hagerty Board Administrator Username: Admin Post Number: 173 Registered: 05-2006 |
MG: Sometimes you'll feel pain in the frontalis muscles till these muscles get used to the work. The pain you'll feel in the occipitalis muscles while you're doing the exercise is usually more intense. I can still feel this pain if I do the scalp exercise while exercising on a leg press machine. It's the buildup of lactic acid in the muscles. But as your muscles get used to the scalp exercise they will hurt less and less - this will take several months or more. | ||
| MG New member Username: Marigold Post Number: 9 Registered: 07-2009 |
Okay. So it's normal reaction and nothing to worry about. I don't feel anything to my occipitalis muscles, though. You indicated in a message to someone else that if there is no pain to the occipitalis muscles, it means it is already in shape. By the way, Thomas, did you know that Carolyn Cleaves has hand exercises that will keep the hands from showing the signs of aging? Go to her website at this link: http://www.carolynsfacialfitness.com/natural-beauty-tips-for-your-hair-and-nails When you get there, scroll down to the bottom of the page and she will demonstrate how it's done. | ||
| Thomas Hagerty Board Administrator Username: Admin Post Number: 175 Registered: 05-2006 |
MG: Are you sure that you are getting a strong contraction in your occipitalis muscles? Everyone tells me that they experience pain in this muscle for at least a few months when they are doing the scalp exercise right. I experienced a lot of pain in the first months of doing the exercise. Maybe this was because I was doing it too much. Of course I was doing this exercise to grow hair, not to improve my face. I was 19 years old at the time and losing my hair. The scalp exercise solved the problem. I like Carolyn Cleaves. She always has good ideas about health and physical fitness and she presents these ideas in a charming way. It's hard to believe she's now in her 60s. Years do move on. She shampoos her hair once a week with a non-alkaline shampoo. I do the same. Overshampooing is not good for the hair. I wish you would go to the library and check out Paula Begoun's Don't Go Shopping For Hair-Care Products Without Me, 3rd Edition. Read Chapter Eight - "For Women of Color." I wonder if products like the ones she writes about still exist. | ||
| MG New member Username: Marigold Post Number: 10 Registered: 07-2009 |
I wash my hair twice a week with a paste made from organic Ayurvedic powders. (I do it when I'm showering.) Then to make sure I have removed all of the powder particles, I then immediately wash it with an organic shampoo blended 50/50 with organic aloe vera gel. Until two months ago, the front of my head was going bald as a result of stress and not eating sufficient protein, and I had a terrible case of dandruff. The ayurvedic recipe put a stop to the dandruff and began to regrow my hair and covered my gray hairs with natural color--as opposed to synthetic dyes that are unhealthy. I also take vitamin supplements that are important to hair and nails. I do not feel any pain in the occipitalis muscles, although I feel my entire scalp moving and my ears also move with the contractions. The front of my hair moves forward as demonstrated on your CD (not as much as yours, but it definitely moves forward whenever I engage the occipitalis muscles). I was able to engage these muscles from day-one. So I don't know why I feel no pain to the occipitalis muscles when I do it. | ||
| Thomas Hagerty Board Administrator Username: Admin Post Number: 176 Registered: 05-2006 |
MG: "The front of my hair moves forward as demonstrated on your CD (not as much as yours, but it definitely moves forward whenever I engage the occipitalis muscles)." There is a slight optical illusion on the video CD I sent you. Some people tell me that it looks like the scalp is moving forward when the occipitalis muscles are contracted. The scalp does not move forward when these muscles at the back of the head are contracted; the scalp moves backward. Place your hand on the top of your head about an inch back from your hairline. Now contract your occipitalis muscles. If you are really contracting them, you will feel the scalp moving backward. If you place your hand on the crown area of your head, you will not feel any backward movement. The crown area is back about five inches from your hairline. "Until two months ago, the front of my head was going bald as a result of stress and not eating sufficient protein, and I had a terrible case of dandruff." The American diet usually has enough protein. Are you sure your hair loss was triggered by lack of protein and stress? Stress can trigger a form of hair loss called telogen effluvium (TE) but this is rare. Lack of iron in the diet of premenopausal women can definitely trigger TE though. Women on vegetarian diets especially have problems because of extremely low serum ferritin levels. The normal serum ferritin levels for women are between 12 and 150 nanograms per milliliter (ng/ml). But if you are in the low normal values - 12 to 20 ng/ml - it's hard to recover from TE. Of course I don't know what your diet is like. If you eat red meat occasionally you probably have no problem with low serum ferritin levels. By the way, a doctor will not give you a serum ferritin test unless you ask for it. | ||
| MG New member Username: Marigold Post Number: 11 Registered: 07-2009 |
Thomas wrote: "The scalp does not move forward when these muscles at the back of the head are contracted; the scalp moves backward." "Place your hand on the top of your head about an inch back from your hairline. Now contract your occipitalis muscles. If you are really contracting them, you will feel the scalp moving backward." Thomas, you are correct. The occipitalis muscles pulls the scalp backwards. The forward movement of the hairs at the front of the head is caused by the frontalis muscles. However, the forward movement of the hairs at the front of the head becomes more exaggerated (or more obvious) when the occipitalis muscles are contracted simultaneously with the frontalis muscles. I think this is because the frontalis muscles and the occipitalis muscles are in conflict--and this conflict makes the movement of the hairs in the front of the head more obvious or more exaggerated when both sets of muscles are contracted simultaneously. I did not realize this until today when I read your latest post. I tried placing the hands at the front of the scalp when I engaged the occipitalis muscles, but I still could not distinguish the downward pull of the scalp by doing that. Then I decided to "disobey" you and instead pressed down my fingers over both occipitalis muscles during contraction. Sure enough, I felt my fingers being pulled downwards, towards the back of my head. I should also mention that even when I try to only engage my frontalis muscles, the ears still move up and down and I am still able to feel slight backwards movement of the occipitalis muscles--which indicates they are moving involuntarily. As for the matter of my problem with baldness, I did much research that confirms it can be caused by insufficient protein or even stress. One such website that confirms this is this one: http://hubpages.com/hub/Baldness_Causes_and_Prevention I went to the Vitamin Shoppe and informed a clerk there of my problem when I discovered it several months ago, and one of the first things she asked me was: "What do you have for breakfast in the morning? Lack of protein has been known to cause baldness." I immediately began drinking protein shakes every morning. (I use an organic protein shake. The cheaper ones have an artificial sweetener that is unhealthy.) The clerk also recommended that I start drinking Shen Min, which is a multivitamin with a the hair loss ingredient called "He Shou Wu (Fo-ti)". When I informed her of the long list of vitamins I take, she told me that in that case, I need to take only the "He Shou Wu (Fo-ti)" rather than the Multivitamin in which it was contained (Shen Min). So I purchased only the He Shou Wu (Fo-ti) by itself and added it to my list of other vitamins that I take daily. 3 to 6 He Shou Wu (Fo-ti) daily is the recommendation. To make a long story short, I began making protein shakes every morning after the woman informed me that lack of protein can cause hair loss, and I also take at least 3 He Shou Wu (Fo-ti) capsules daily along with my other vitamins. Within two weeks my hair stopped falling out. By the time I added the Ayurvedic herbal washes two months ago, this was the icing on the cake. The Ayurvedic treatments have cured my dandruff and covered my gray hairs in a most pleasing manner and revived my hair. My hair is now quite thick--which I have not seen for years. It is growing back in a healthy manner and the bald spots are almost completely gone. Since it takes an entire year to grow back 6 inches of hair, I simply have to be patient and continue with my daily protein shakes, my He Shou Wu (Fo-ti) capsules and other daily vitamins, my ayurvedic herbal washes, and of course your scalp exercise. By the way, if anyone wants the Ayurvedic recipe that I use, let me know and I'll post it. | ||
| Thomas Hagerty Board Administrator Username: Admin Post Number: 177 Registered: 05-2006 |
MG: "However, the forward movement of the hairs at the front of the head becomes more exaggerated (or more obvious) when the occipitalis muscles are contracted simultaneously with the frontalis muscles." Many people have written to me about contracting the frontalis muscles and occipitalis muscles simultaneously. They assume that that is the correct way to do the exercise. Even though I stress the words alternating contractions, this concept is probably too hard to grasp. The frontalis and occipitalis are antagonistic muscles - they work against each other. Both of these muscles are connected to the galea, so when they are simultaneously contracted there is stasis - a state of static balance - nothing moves. I think contracting both of these muscles at the same time is counterproductive. The whole purpose of the scalp exercise is to get the scalp moving, which in turn: 1. Keeps the muscles toned up and pliable But I encourage experimentation. There may be other ways to do the scalp exercise that are beneficial. I learn a lot from messages on this forum from people who disagree with me. | ||
| MG New member Username: Marigold Post Number: 12 Registered: 07-2009 |
Thomas wrote: "The frontalis and occipitalis are antagonistic muscles - they work against each other. Both of these muscles are connected to the galea, so when they are simultaneously contracted there is stasis - a state of static balance - nothing moves." In that case, Thomas, I must NOT be contracting the frontalis and occipitalis muscles simultaneously. As I told you in my last post, I distinctly feel my fingers being pulled downwards toward the back of my head when I engage the occipitalis muscles. So clearly, I am contracting the occipitalis muscles at a different time than the frontalis muscles. Therefore, I must correct my earlier conclusion, as follows: The frontalis muscles pull the scalp forward, along with the hairs at the front of the head. When the occipitalis muscles at the back of the head are contracted, they pull the scalp backwards. When the occipitalis muscles are released and immediately followed by the contraction of the frontalis muscles--which pull the scalp forward--this immediate and opposing frontal movement of the scalp (from the backwards pull by the occipitalis muscles to the frontal pull of the frontalis muscles) gives the optical illusion that the hairs at the front of the head have moved much further forward on the face than normal--like a rug or a cap, as one person previously noted. Is my new conclusion correct? | ||
| Thomas Hagerty Board Administrator Username: Admin Post Number: 178 Registered: 05-2006 |
MG: Your revised description is right-on. I always find it helpful when I'm confused about a problem to write it out as clearly as I can. The scalp exercise isn't rocket science but it does cause some confusion. I think you've got it now. | ||
| MG New member Username: Marigold Post Number: 14 Registered: 07-2009 |
Thomas, I was thinking about your August 4 post in which you said I am supposed to feel pain in the first couple months when I contract the occipitalis muscles. Recall that I reported not feeling any pain during their contraction. It got me to thinking that I am probably not contracting the occipitalis muscles correctly. Today I started trying to isolate the occipitalis muscles to see if I could contract them without engaging the frontalis muscles. But try as I did, there was still a very small upward pull of the skin on my forehead. Is that what is supposed to occur? I mean, you did say that the occipitalis muscles would tighten the upper face by pulling the skin back. So is it okay for me to have just those slight movements to the upper face? | ||
| Thomas Hagerty Board Administrator Username: Admin Post Number: 182 Registered: 05-2006 |
MG: When you contract (isolate) your occipitalis muscles, the skin on your forehead should pull back and tighten. It's a good idea to concentrate on the occipitalis muscles till you are absolutely sure you are getting a powerful contraction. To be sure you are getting this contraction, place the tips of your fingers firmly over the occips - the two muscular slips you see in the anatomical drawing. Now contract these muscles. You should feel them strongly bunching up under your fingers. If you don't feel them bunching up, you still need work on gaining complete control of them.  |
