Nail Rubbing For Hair Growth: The Basics of Balayam Yoga and Why We Are Skeptical

You all are going to think I lost my mind, and if you do, that’s OK, because I get that a lot, sometimes. Maybe you won’t say I am crazy; maybe you will chastise me for suggesting just any old thing for some hair growth. Well, if you let me choose the route you take, I would suggest you just eat some popcorn and chalk this up to being at the very least interesting.

Nail rubbing is the act of rubbing your nails together in order to achieve thicker longer hair. The correct name for it is Balayam yoga, and it is resides in Indian culture. Yes I know it sounds off, but I was just as curious and side eye prone as you are, so I did a little digging.

We might believe we know everything about the human body based on science and technology and as such, there has to be a logical explanation for this practice.

What I found is that people believe the nerve ending in our finger tips are connected to our scalp. Hair growth is caused from scalp stimulation, so most of us like to massage our scalp, do the inversion method and well, some people rub their nails together.

According to bollywoodshaadis.com

It is claimed that when you rub your fingernails, you stimulate your brain to send a signal to adult stem cells to revive the dead or unproductive hair follicles. Rubbing fingernails also increases blood circulation to your scalp, which strengthens your hair follicles and in turn prevents hair fall or greying.

However, no scientific research has been conducted to substantiate these positive claims of Balayam.

This sort of thing reminds me of Chinese acupressure, which is based on the very notion that there are specific pressure points on our body that are connected to various paces in our body, and we can stimulate them depending on where pressure is applied.

Not everyone believes in acupressure though, but many of us would try it if desperate enough – I mean, what do we have to lose? Personally, I think that is the best attitude to have about nail rubbing.

How to do it?

It is easy really: put your all your nails together, left and right hand and move it around, ensuring that each finger matches, the only fingers not involved are the left and right thumb. Apparently, if you rub those two together, you will get facial hair and I would much rather not rush that process.

Do this for 10-20 minutes daily, and you probably will not notice any results until about 4 months in.

That is a long time for anyone to rub anything together but if I am respectful of other people’s cultural practices; 10 minutes is a small sacrifice for such huge claims.

Who should not do this practice

According our research, there are a few individuals who cannot practice Balayam: people with high blood pressure should not do it because it can worsen their condition. Additionally, if you are pregnant you should avoid it because it can cause uterine contractions or high blood pressure. It also is said to cause drowsiness, which means it is probably best to do it before bed.

Why I am skeptical

The thing that I do not get is that Balayam can supposedly prevent hair loss – the question is how? Hair loss or baldness can be caused from a variety of different things: it can be hereditary; based on stress; physical tension on the scalp; hormonal levels; poor diet, and other factors. The question is, can it sort through all those issues and fix the result which is hair loss? Chances are that it can’t, or Rogaine* would not have as much popularity as it does.

Maybe it is just for someone who does not have any underlying issues, but is looking for slight improvement, so all things being “normal”, you can improve hair growth, prevent grey, and reduce hair fall.

Another thing that can cause skepticism is that there is no scientific research that can substantiate the claims of the practice, and even though science cannot predict everything, it is enough for someone to safely say, “Hey, I don’t believe it will work.”

My other issue is the notion of trying to speed up hair growth in normal individuals which when you take a critical look at the process of growth, is never the problem in the first place.

We say it all the time: if you are a healthy person, then your hair will grow. What we find the most difficult is retention. I am here to tell you that no matter what you rub together, there is nothing other than great hair care and hair practices that can fix retention.

The good news is that Balayam has no side effects, so if you are not pregnant and you do not have high blood pressure, it doesn’t hurt to try. For me, well, I will just stick with mini twists.