HeadOn® is marketed as a homeopathic headache relief product. The medicine has a consistency similar to lip balm and comes in a large tube. It is composed primarily of wax with small amounts of white bryony and potassium dichromate providing the claimed medicinal properties. Rubbing the product on the forehead is supposed to relieve pain. Controversy surrounds the product as, According to the Better Business Bureau in the United States of America, the makers of the product have not been able to prove that the product works.
The makers of HeadOn® claim that small amounts of white bryony and potassium dichromate can stop a headache because they contain the elements that cause the ache in the first place. They claim the same of iris versacolor, which is in the migraine version of HeadOn®. Many conventional doctors do not believe these elements are responsible for headaches and that the amounts in the product are too diluted to have an effect anyway. The company bases its formula and the veracity of its claims on evidence collected from the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States.
HeadOn® has been the focus of some controversy. In 2010, it made a list of the fifty worst inventions, primarily due to doubts that the product had anything more than a placebo effect. The television advertisement for HeadOn® consists of the product name and usage instructions being repeated three times while a model smooths the medicine on her forehead. There is no mention of what the product does, as the company could not make the claim without potentially being accused of false advertising. The commercial has drawn so much attention that it is now the subject of several parodies.
Miralus Healthcare, the company that first developed HeadOn® developed several other pain relief products that come as a balm in large tubes. ActOn® is meant to be used for joint pain; PreferOn® is supposed to help make scars fade; and RenewIn® is formulated to help with the flexibility, comfort, and mobility of the joints. As with HeadOn®, there has been no evidence that these products are effective.
In 2008, HeadOn® was purchased by the American company Sirvision Inc. The company announced that the product had a new formula that had ingredients proven to be effective. There has been no evidence supporting these new claims.
