Hair loss treatment options

If you’re losing hair, there are treatments that can help stop it, or even replace your lost hair in some cases. Hair loss treatment options include:

• Hair loss tablets:

  • Propecia (branded finasteride)

  • Generic finasteride

  • Nourkin Woman

• Hair loss shampoos:

  • Regaine for Men (branded minoxidil)

  • Regaine for Women (also branded minoxidil)

  • Alpecin Caffeine Shampoo

• Hair transplants

Many hair loss treatments work better when you first start losing hair, compared to when you’ve lost a lot of it.

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How do hair growth tablets work?

Similar to hair loss shampoos, you can take tablets with active ingredients that help block the hormones causing your hair loss. These include:

• Propecia

• Generic finasteride

• Nourkin Woman

Both Propecia and generic finasteride have the same active ingredient, finasteride, but Propecia is the branded version.

The way these tablets work is they block a hormone called dihydrotestosterone (DHT). DHT is produced by everyone, but especially by adult men who have male pattern baldness. DHT basically tells hair cells on your head to stop growing and eventually kills them off altogether.

So by blocking DHT, finasteride tablets can help the hair cells to grow more effectively and help them last longer before they are gone for good.

Nourkin Woman contains the fish extract Marilex, along with some extra plant-based hair supplements. There’s some research showing that the ingredients in Marilex can help improve hair loss in women.

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How does hair loss shampoo work?

Hair loss shampoos are over the counter treatments that contain chemicals to help undo stop and reverse hair loss. One type of hair shampoo are ones that have either minoxidil or finasteride in – chemicals that blocks the hormones responsible for causing hair male-pattern loss. Another type are caffeine shampoos like Alpecin which are meant to encourage hair growth.

Do they work? Studies do show that minoxidil and finasteride do work to improve hair loss and help some of your hair grow back. But for caffeine shampoos, it’s not as clear. Some research shows that caffeine could slow down hair loss, but not definitely help it to grow back.

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How do hair transplants work?

A hair transplant is where you take hair cells (follicles) from one part of your body, and put them where you want hair to grow. In most cases this means taking it from somewhere on your body and popping it on your head to combat baldness.

A hair transplant is not the same as a skin graft – you don’t take a big area of skin and stick it to your scalp! You take small groups of hair cells (1 to 4) and move them like that instead.

When you get the transplant, you can just get a local painkiller injected so you don’t have to be asleep. You can sometimes also get sedated, which means you’re still awake but less likely to be bothered by the transplant going on.

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Can you cure hair loss?

This really depends on the cause. If it’s male pattern baldness then unfortunately there’s no permanent cure. Ongoing treatment can help slow the process and hair transplants can provide long-term relief from baldness but there’s still no cure that can guarantee your hair stays where it is.

On the other hand, if your hair loss is related to stress, health conditions, or medications, then if could be ‘cured’ if the cause is taken away. Telling the difference can be tricky but the main thing that indicates it’s baldness is your hairline begins to go higher up your head (receding hairline) and your hair loss is focused around the crown (very top) of your head.

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What else can you do to stop hair loss?

Apart from tablets, shampoos, or transplants, there’s not a lot you can do for male pattern baldness. For other hair loss causes the treatment depends on the cause. There are things that you could try which some people believe might work, but where there isn’t enough evidence to say for sure, including:

• Amino acids:

  • Cysteine

  • L-cystine

  • Lysine

  • Methionine

  • Arginine

• Capsaicin

• Curcumin

• Garlic gel

• Melatonin

• Onion juice

• Procyanidin

• Pumpkin seed oil

• Rosemary oil

• Saw palmetto

• Vitamin B7

• Vitamin D

• Vitamin E derivatives

• Zinc

• Acupuncture

• Aromatherapy and massage

• Electromagnetic stimulation

• Hypnotherapy

• Psychotherapy

• Ultraviolet light therapy

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Sources

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