We Tested Out “Ant Egg Oil”

Did you know?! There’s a special protein found only in the eggs of a particular species of ant found in Turkey, that can painlessly and permanently stop (not just slow!) hair regrowth in places you’d rather not have hair.

Neither did we, and when we heard about it, we did our usual research, and discovered a startling secret.

…there probably isn’t.

We decided to dig deeper, and the plot (unlike the hair in question) thickens:

We could not find any science for or against (or even generally about) the use of ant egg oil to prevent hair regrowth. Not a peep. What we did find though was a cosmetic chemist who did an analysis of the oil as sold, and found its main ingredient appears to be furan-2-carbaldehyde, or Furfural, to its friends.

Surprise! There’s also no science that we could find about the effect of Furfural (we love the name, though! Fur for all!) on hair, except that it’s bad for rodents (and their hair) if they eat a lot of it. So please don’t eat it. Especially if you’re a mouse.

And yet, many ostensibly real reviews out in the wild claim it works wonders. So, we took the investigative reporting approach and tried it ourselves.

That’s right, a plucky member of our team tried it, and she reports:

❝ At first glance, it seems like olive oil. There’s something else though, adding a darker colour and a slight bitterness to the smell.

After waxing, I applied a little every few days. When the hair eventually regrew (and it did), it grew back thinner, and removing the new hairs was a strangely easy experience, like pulling hairs out of soft soap instead of out of skin. It didn’t hurt at all, either.

I had more of the oil, so I kept going with the treatment, and twelve weeks later there are very few hairs regrowing at all; probably there will be none left soon. Whatever’s in this, be it from ant eggs or wheat bran or something else entirely, it worked for me!❞

So in short: it remains a mystery for now! If you try it, let us know how it went for you.

Here’s the “interesting” website that sells it, though you may find it for less on eBay or similar. (Note, we aren’t earning any commissions from these links. We just wanted to make it easier for you to dive deeper).

Gut Health 101

We have so many microorganisms inside us, that by cell count, their cells outnumber ours more than ten-to-one. By gene count, we have 23,000 and they have more than 3,000,000. In effect, we are more microbe than we are human. And, importantly: they form a critical part of what keeps our overall organism ticking on.

Read all about it: The role of the gut microbiota in nutrition and health

Our trillions of tiny friends keep us alive, so it really really pays to return the favor.

But how?

Probiotics and fermented foods

You probably guessed this one, but it’d be remiss not to mention it first. It’s no surprise that probiotics help; the clue is in the name. In short, they help add diversity to your microbiome (that’s a good thing).

Read from the NIH: Probiotics: What You Need To Know

As for fermented foods, not every fermented food will boost your microbiota, but great options include…

• Fermented vegetables (sauerkraut, pickles, etc)
  • You’ll often hear kimchi mentioned; that is also pickled vegetables, usually mostly cabbage. It’s just the culinary experience that differs. Unlike sauerkraut, kimchi is usually spiced, for example.
• Kombucha (a fermented sweet tea)
• Miso & tempeh (different preparations of fermented soy)

The health benefits vary based on the individual strains of bacteria involved in the fermentation, so don’t get too caught up on which is best.

The best one is the one you enjoy, because then you’ll have it regularly!

Feed them plenty of prebiotic fibers

Those probiotics you took? The bacteria in them eat the fiber that you can’t digest without them. So, feed them those sorts of fibers.

Great options include:

• Bananas
• Garlic
• Onions
• Whole grains

Read more: Effects of Probiotics, Prebiotics, and Synbiotics on Human Health

Don’t feed them sugar and sweeteners

Sugar and (and, counterintuitively, aspartame) can cause unfortunate gut microbe imbalances. Put simply, they kill some of your friends and feed some of your enemies. For example…

Candida, which we all have in us to some degree, feeds on sugar (including the sugar formed from breaking down alcohol, by the way) and refined carbs. Then it grows, and puts its roots through your intestinal walls, linking with your neural system. Then it makes you crave the very things that will feed it and allow it to put bigger holes in your intestinal walls.

Do not feed the Candida.

Don’t believe us? Read: Candida albicans-Induced Epithelial Damage Mediates Translocation through Intestinal Barriers

(That’s scientist-speak for “Candida puts holes in your intestines, and stuff can then go through those holes”)

And as for how that comes about, it’s like we said:

❝Colonization of the intestine and translocation through the intestinal barrier are fundamental aspects of the processes preceding life-threatening systemic candidiasis. In this review, we discuss the commensal lifestyle of C. albicans in the intestine, the role of morphology for commensalism, the influence of diet, and the interactions with bacteria of the microbiota.❞

Source: Candida albicans as a commensal and opportunistic pathogen in the intestine

The usual five things

1. Good diet (Mediterranean Diet is good; plant-based version of it is by far the best for this)
2. Good exercise (yes, really)
3. Good sleep (helps them, and they’ll help you get better sleep in return)
4. Limit or eliminate alcohol consumption (what a shocker)
5. Don’t smoke (it’s bad for everything, including gut health)

One last thing you should know:

If you’re used to having animal products in your diet, and make a sudden change to all plants, your gut will object very strongly. This is because your gut microbiome is used to animal products, and a plant-based diet will cause many helpful microbes to flourish in great abundance, and many less helpful microbes will starve and die. And they will make it officially Not Fun™ for you.

So, you have two options to consider:

1. Do it anyway, and sit it out (and believe us, you’ll be sitting), get the change over with quickly, and enjoy the benefits and much happier gut that follows.
2. Make the change gradual. Reduce portions of animal products slowly, have “Meatless Mondays” etc, and slowly make the change over. This—for most people—is pretty comfortable, easy, and effective.

And remember: the effects of these things we’ve talked about today compound when you do more than one of them, but if you don’t want to take probiotics or really hate kombucha or absolutely won’t consider a plant-based diet or struggle to give up sugar or alcohol, etc… Just do what you can do, and you’ll still have a net improvement!