Barry's tricopherous was first made available in the late 1840s by "professor" Alexander C. Barry. Barry actually started out as a wig maker in New York and as far is known never actually received a degree or the official title of professor. Barry's Tricopherous was a good money spinner for Barry but he sold out to a Thomas Barclay in 1871. Barclay continued selling the product until at least 1906.

The ingredients of Barry's Tricopherous were; 97% alcohol, 1.5% castor oil, and 1% tincture of cantharides (spanish fly). Irritant drugs such as cantharides or, in some other products of the day, capsicum were thought to stimulate the scalp by increasing the blood supply to the dermal papillae.

Barry claimed that "The affinity between the membranes which constitute the skin, and the hair which draws its sustenance from this triple envelope is very close. All diseases of the hair originate in the skin of the head. If the pores of the scalp are clogged, or if the blood and other fluids do not circulate freely through the small vessels which feed the root with moisture and impart life to the fibers, the result is scurf, dandruff, shedding of the hair, grayness, dryness and harshness of the ligaments, and entire baldness, as the case may be. Stimulate the skin to healthful action with the Tricopherous, and the torpid vessels, recovering their activity, will annihilate the disease. In all affections of the skin, and the substrata of muscles and integuments, the process and the effects are the same. It is upon the skin, the muscular fiber, and the glands, that the Tricopherous has its specific action, and in all affections and injury of these organs, it is a sovereign remedy."