A man who was encouraged to drink his own urine by his girlfriend for health purposes has said the controversial practice made his hair grow back.
Brian Offenburger, 56, started dating 30-year-old Ruby Karyo in January this year, and had never thought to drink his own urine before.
Meeting Ruby changed all that though, after she told her balding boyfriend about ‘urine therapy,’ which she has been practicing since she was 19 years old.
Brian, a machine operator, was already beginning to go bald when he met Ruby eight months ago and made the decision to share her lifestyle.
Ruby claims that after just two months of drinking his own wee consistently each week, Brian didn’t just stop balding – his hair actually started to grow back.
The sales representative explained:
We have before and after pictures to prove it. He started seeing the difference about a month ago, after being consistent.
Having been drinking her own urine and rubbing it on her face for more than a decade, Ruby claims the practice has improved her skin and overall health in ways which other medications and moisturisers never could.
Ruby, from Glen Burnie, Maryland, said she first heard about urine therapy when she was 19 years old, when her dad told her she should use it on her face and body if she wanted to become a beauty queen.
Now, it’s part of her daily routine which sees her rubbing her morning wee onto her face and using it like a moisturiser. ‘You can leave it on for a couple of hours, or leave it on all day,’ the mum-of-one explained.
She continued:
For the first few days your face might look a bit raw, because all the impurities will come out, but then it will become clear. It’s good for healing scars and pimples.
I pee into a travel spray bottle and then spray it into my hands and then rub it onto my face. I also drink about five ounces of morning pee about twice a week.
It can lower blood sugar and cholesterol and help diabetes. My skin glows when I use it, I took a break from it a while back and my skin began to look dull. I feel younger and I look younger when I use it.
The 30-year-old says she wants to bring light to the fact that you don’t have to use all the chemicals which are in shop-bought products.
Although she is aware that most people ‘don’t want to talk about it,’ with many laughing when she tells them about her unusual routine, Ruby remains adamant that everything urine contains is ‘essential’ for the body and should be ingested in some form.
She explained:
People do think it’s strange at first but when I explain how great I feel they become more interested.
I would not tell lies to people, I would not tell them to try something that is bad for them, this actually works.
Before anyone goes and tries this at home though, it’s necessary to ask whether urine therapy is actually good for you – or whether it does more harm than good.
The thinking behind the practice is that when we eat excess vitamins, they come out in our pee. Instead of letting them go to waste down a toilet somewhere, the theory is consuming it again will recycle these vitamins in a way when you put them back into your body.
However, many doctors agree drinking urine is not actually good for you because it is essentially a waste product and is made up of a mix of water and other things your body has already worked hard to get rid of – so putting it back into your body is not something you should be doing.
Furthermore, as per Glamour Magazine, the belief that urine is sterile is just a myth; the moment your wee passes through the skin, it becomes contaminated by bacteria which could actually result in harm if ingested.
In fact, Dr Zubair Ahmed told BBC Three ingesting this bacteria can lead to ‘serious complications’ – but even if it didn’t, there’s no medical evidence to show urine therapy benefits your health in any way.
He explained:
There is no evidence at all that ingesting these substances has any health benefits. While drinking a small amount of urine is unlikely to be hazardous to your health, there is not enough modern evidence of its efficacy to suggest drinking it is healthy.
Not only that, but there’s absolutely no solid proof drinking your own wee will help with hair growth in any way.
So anyone thinking of doing so, please don’t try this at home.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).