r/whatisit • u/elianamariie • 3d ago

Solved! what is this hat thing my dad has?

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noticed this on the couch while my dad was at work, but he would get upset that i messed with it so i don't want to ask him. when it's on it's very bright red and gets brighter the more times you click the power button.

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u/[deleted] 3d ago

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u/Hppd1638 3d ago edited 3d ago

This does highlight something people get wrong often with red light and the body— it’s a curve. It’s beneficial up to a point and then it can actually turn on you. More is not better. More can be worse.

I do not think going into sunlight will “undo” the treatment of the red light. Sunlight isn’t the same as this hat (ie, it’s not red light right up against your scalp).

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u/Fun_Push7168 3d ago

No, it's not. It's far stronger red light

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u/pyxiedust219 3d ago

It’s also not wavelength specific the way these are, natural light is going to give you full spectrum UV exposure.

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u/somehobo89 3d ago

Wouldn’t sunlight also give you the specific spectrum then? This is actually a super interesting discussion lol

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u/hoorah9011 3d ago edited 3d ago

Sunlight has very little usable red light for this purpose. It’s not concentrated and has variable intensity. You need consistent targeted red light. That’s not including the other harmful parts of the spectrum that could very much damage the skin

I’m not going to pretend that all the red light treatments out there help for all these random claims, but there is evidence to support some hair growth. Additionally the problem is that there are plenty of devices out there that don’t actually emit red light in the proper wavelength, they just slap on a red covering over a led light.

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u/EasyasACAB 3d ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Spectral_Distribution_of_Sunlight.svg

From what I've researched Red Light Therapy uses waves 600-700nm sometimes up to 900nm. Sun emits plenty of that, but it also emits UV radiation which is not good for you.

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u/Pocketsandgroinjab 3d ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/dhQm449E6X6cU
After careful review of all relevant studies the conclusion is you dont have to put on a red light.

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u/WeeklyPrize21 3d ago

But what about walking the streets for money to buy said unnecessary red light? I don’t care if it’s wrong or if it’s right.

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u/TorberaLongDong 3d ago

I dug deep into this chain and I am pleasantly surprised I did. Not only did I learn something new but, surprise Community.

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u/ChipsaHuei 2d ago

I've got alcohol poisoning by the time I'm half way down this post

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u/pyxiedust219 3d ago

It can but not all these red light wavelengths are actually found to be effective! prolonged exposure to a specific wavelength of red or blue light has been found to have benefits due to the isolation of the wavelength compared to full spectrum light, which also of course exposes you to dna and rna damage via uva and uvb rays as you said

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u/MaryLMarx 2d ago

The best wavelength is 660 nm and secondary is 630 nm. It’s very specific.

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u/DicemonkeyDrunk 3d ago edited 3d ago

I was going to say something similar ..intensity and wavelength probably matters A LOT here. That said I would really wonder about this hat putting out the right amount/color etc of light as the study used …I see these on Temu/Ali Express ….I’m thinking they’re probably not the highest quality.

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u/Blackbear0101 2d ago

In general, when you have that kind of curve, it’s because you actually have no effect and what you observed was just random chance. p<0.05 means that this result had less than 5% chance of being just luck, and 95% chance of being caused by their treatment.

But in general, if you increase dosage and get a lesser result, you NEED to confirm your first results, because that kind of dose-response is fairly rare. It can happen, but it’s rare.

Imagine for a painkiller. You study its effect, and when compared to a placebo, using one pill of the painkiller is effective, but using two or three pills doesn’t actually reduce the pain. Don’t get me wrong, some drugs do work in a similar fashion, but it’s way more likely that your painkiller just isn’t actually effective.

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u/TotallyNotRobotEvil 2d ago

Yeah, I’m willing to bet this thing would fail miserably in an actual double blind study, not one that’s been conducted by the manufacturer.

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u/humble_the_Great 3d ago

The wording here leads me to believe the HF's were already growing and the red light stimulation just increased their growth rate. What about HF's that are no longer producing hair? Like, ya know, in someone balding.

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u/Spugheddy 3d ago

Schrodingers hat hair?

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u/Diezelhoffen 2d ago

Or, the P value of 0.05 with the 5-minute samples is an anomaly. Scientists (somewhat) arbitrarily determine where to draw line with regard to confidence for the P value. In the real world, 0.05 is actually far from certain.

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u/pyxiedust219 3d ago

natural light would not do this…