Investigation of hair growth promoting ability of herbal gel containing Zingiber officinale

In East Asia, Zingiber officinale has been used traditionally to stimulate hair growth. In the present investigation, extraction of the powdered rhizomes of Zingiber officinale was carried out using alcohol: water (1:1), water, and alcohol. Preliminary pharmacognostic evaluation of various phytoconstituents was done by various chemical tests. Obtained extracts were studied for their antifungal activity against Aspergillus niger and Candida albicans. The further herbal gel of 5% of extracts of Zingiber officinale and 5% minoxidil (standard) were prepared using carbopol 934 as a base. Prepared formulation (F1-F4) were evaluated for various parameters like pH, viscosity, spreadability, homogeneity, stability studies, drug content, in vitro release, skin irritation, and in vivo hair growth activity. Amongst the prepared formulations, a gel containing hydroalcoholic extract (F1) showed better spreadability, homogeneity, optimum viscosity, nearly neutral pH, faster release, produced negligible erythema and edema, was stable at different temperature. It was found that gel (F1) showed better results on the length of the hair strand (28mm), which was nearly equivalent to the standard solution of minoxidil (25mm). Conclusively, the hydroalcoholic extract of Zingiber officinale could be used to improve hair growth.