Balding Bob Says: Hey Beauty Brains, I’m enjoying your website but you never have any questions from guys. So here’s your first 
one: Do all those hair loss products really work? I need to know!
The Brains Respond:
Bob, the sad truth is: No. Those products don’t really do much. Unless you’re talking about the only two drugs that are currently approved by the FDA for combatting hair loss/promoting hair growth: Minoxidil and Propecia.
Minoxidil, trade name Rogaine, is a topically applied liquid that does work in a limited number of cases. But even then it only works partially. You can read more about it here at the National Institute of Health’s site.
Minoxidil (mi-NOX-i-dil) applied to the scalp is used to stimulate hair growth in adult men and women with a certain type of baldness. The exact way that this medicine works is not known.
If hair growth is going to occur with the use of minoxidil, it usually occurs after the medicine has been used for several months and lasts only as long as the medicine continues to be used. Hair loss will begin again within a few months after minoxidil treatment is stopped.
Propecia, on the other hand, is an oral drug, originally designed to treat enlarged prostate glands and it has been shown to have some efficacy against hair loss. If you want to take a pill everyday for the rest of your life, it might be a viable option. Read more about Propecia here.
Now, read this next statement very carefully:
THERE IS NO OTHER HAIR LOSS TREATMENT THAT HAS BEEN PROVEN TO WORK!
Get it? That means that all the other products like Scalp med that advertise that they control hair loss or that they increase hair growth DON’T WORK. They’re not clinically proven - even if they SAY they’re clinically proven, the FDA doesn’t recognize them. By the strictest sense of the law, these products are unapproved drugs and are therefore illegal. But the FDA is busy approving new cancer medications (thankfully!) and so they don’t have a lot of resources to spend on ferreting out manufacturers who make hair growth claims on radio or on the internet. (Have you noticed that you don’t see these commercials on major TV networks?)
Just so you know, most of these products claim to work by blocking DHT , the cholesterol-like material that is purported to clog folicles and inhibit hair growth. Unfortunately, the biology of hair growth is not that simple, and there is no solid evidence to show that topically applied DHA blockers actually stop you from balding. So let the buyer beware!
A good source for more basic info on this subject is Men’s Health.about.com.
And if you want to see some very cool cutting edge hair loss technology, check out this article on gene therapy.
‘Nuff said.
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hassan Says:
Revivogen is better at blocking DHT than propecia. rogaine is o.k but it doesnt block DHT, therefore it doesnt get to the root cause of hair loss. unfortunatly Revivogen is not get available in the U.K. its a shame
john connelly Says:
I took oral minoxidil for many years and believe it retarded my advancing baldness. Now my new MD won’t subscribe it and will not say why. Meanwhile I’m losing more and more hair everyday. I’m in the process of changing MDs but the VA really doesn’t like that. Frankly I’m searching the web fo illegally obtaining it. Whadiya think?
ropa Says:
Hi
I am 26 years old I have been having a problem with my hair falling off at the sides for a very long time. im 27 years old so that should not be a problem of age, the problem is that it grows but keep falling off. I’m short of tricks to do and the worst thing is that its really hard to style my hair and i have tried some creams but they have not worked but when i started using IHT-9 Herbal Hair Regrowth Shampoo, wow, it really works and actually regrowing my hair. Im getting my hair back IHT-9 Shampoo is really a miracle for me. thanks to IHT-9 herbal hair shampoo.
hair growth products Says:
I’ve had great success with propecia, with hair re-growth and all. Although the hair loss begins again as soon as you stop taking it. Also it didn’t do much for re-growth around the temple area. Mainly the top of the head. Anyways nice article!