As you see yourself balding, while others retain their hair, you may ask - why me?
The basic answer is – your hair loss is due to your genetic make up. Your thinning hair is not due to anything you have done, whether wearing too many hats, washing your hair too much or too little or any other hair loss myths. Alopecia or hair loss is primarily genetic and is referred to as "Androgenetic Alopecia" in the medical community.
Your hair's future is largely determined before you're even born. Your follicles have been genetically programmed as to when, where and how much baldness (if any), you'll experience in your lifetime. But the fate of your hair can be altered or compensated for with modern hair loss treatments.
Baldness is largely the result of certain hormones interacting over time with those hair follicles that are vulnerable to their effects.
Both men and women produce "male" hormones. The three most common are testosterone, androsteinedione, and dihydrotestosterone (DHT). Hair follicles, as well as the sebaceous glands, contain high levels of an enzyme called 5-alpha-reductase. This enzyme converts testosterone into DHT, via the blood. DHT is the source of most male pattern balding.
In some people, their follicles on the top of the head are genetically vulnerable to baldness. Over time, these genetically vulnerable follicles are acted upon by the hormone DHT. This hormone binds with the receptor sites of these vulnerable follicles and cause the hair follicle to weaken over time. Propecia is a drug that has been shown to slow the creation of DHT and can be helpful in slowing, stopping or in some cases, reversing hair loss when it is used early enough.
Hair grows naturally in cycles of approximately 3 to 8 years. At the end of the growth cycle, the hair shaft is shed from the follicle and a new hair grows. With thinning hair or balding, each successive growth cycle is shorter and the hair produced is thinner and finer. This is called 'miniturization'.
Men and women don't go bald overnight, it is a slow progression of thinning hair and hair loss that eventually produces baldness. In many cases, the balding has progressed to such a stage that hair loss treatment products aren't enough to reverse the balding process.
Few treatments have the dramatic effect of restoring hair like hair restoration surgery. Click here to learn more about hair restoration.
Not all hair loss is permanent. There are many causes of temporary hair loss that can be treated with diet, stress reduction and a visit to your doctor. Click here to learn about other causes of hair loss.
And rogenetic Alopecia, commonly referred to as 'genetic balding', is the main cause of male and female hair loss. This genetic 'programming' accounts for 95% of male hair loss.
For baldness to occur three factors need to be present:
1.The presence of and rogens, or male hormones.
2. A genetic pre-disposition to balding.
3. Time for the DHT to degrade the vulnerable hair follicles.
While they comprise less than ten percent of permanent hair loss, there are several other Causes of Hair Loss like stress, nutrition, health, age and hormones, that can cause temporary as well as permanent hair loss.
There are also several categories of treatments for hair loss which include drugs, topical lotions, hair care products, hair replacement systems and hair restoration surgery. To learn more about each, please visit our Hair Loss Treatment section.
Today hair loss sufferers have several legitimate and proven treatments for restoring their hair.
Over the past decade in particular, treatments for hair loss have made huge advances. Hair loss medication like Propecia (finasteride), Avodart (dutasteride), and to a lesser degree topical treatments like Rogaine often can stop or even reverse hair loss in most people.
However, neither Propecia nor Rogaine has been proven to restore hair in the frontal areas. Only hair restoration surgery has been successful in restoring hair in the frontal hairline area once it has been lost.
Done right, hair transplants are so natural that even a hair stylist cannot detect that a person has had a hair transplant. The days of the “corn row” or “Barbie doll” hair transplant are long gone.
Hair replacement systems or “hair systems” have also improved and become more refined. Those who are extensively bald and want to restore a full looking head of hair may find a hair replacement system to be appropriate.
There are also topicals, such as sprays and applications, which can do a surprisingly effective job of giving a person the appearance of having a much fuller head of hair.
Future hair loss treatments also hold the promise of making baldness a disease of the past.
Despite attempts by the FDA to regulate the promotion of hair loss products, balding men and women still need to be wary of the many questionable treatments that are often heavily advertised.
Each hair loss treatment has its advantages and disadvantages. We believe in empowering you with the tools and assistance to explore and evaluate all your treatment options. Ultimately the best hair loss treatment is the one that works best for you.
We encourage you to take your time and explore all your options before committing to any hair loss treatment.
Explore this and other web sites and compare notes with other hair loss sufferers about what does or does not work.
Our hair restoration discussion forum has over 180,000 searchable postings by other hair loss sufferers.
If you post your question or concern, typically several people will reply with helpful advice and suggestions.
To get expert medical advice and review all your hair loss treatment options, consider doing a free consultation with one of our quality member physicians.
To learn about our physicians, or to arrange a consultation, visit our physician finder.
Soon after the Middle Ages wigs became popular for women. Then in the 1600’s the flamboyant and incredibly vain King Louis XIV of France lost his hair from a severe illness and took to wearing gigantic wigs thus setting the fashion for most men of his day.
These enormous creations featured such items as cages with live birds and could weigh up to 20 lbs.!
By the 1700’s England made another contribution to bad hair loss concealers. This was the age of the long, curly, and powered wigs. Even today, English judges and lawyers continue this practice. Thus the expression for those in authority – “Big Wigs.”
The early 1800’s is renowned in hair loss circles as the age of the con men. There were hundreds of so-called “hair loss solutions” and many lasted well into the late 1900’s.
These treatments were marketed by fast-talking “doctors,” skilled only in bravery and possessing nerves of steel considering they were conning hardened cowboys and outlaws!
The salesmen hawked their products from the safety of their side shows and “Wild West” spectaculars. They used endless tricks to get people to buy their products, including rubbing grease into their hair to make it look thicker.
During the past several decades, superstition, old wives tales, and guess work has gradually been replaced by science.
In 1939, a Japanese dermatologist, Dr. Okuda, published a revolutionary method in a Japanese medical journal that would lay the ground work for modern hair transplantation.
This method involved using hair transplant grafts to correct lost hair from various areas, including the scalp, eyebrow, and moustache areas. However, this study didn’t make an impact in the Western Hemisphere due to the interruption of World War II.
In the late 50’s one physician in particular, Dr. Norman Orentriech, began to experiment with the idea of relocating or transplanting the hair on the back and sides of the head to the balding areas.
Dr. Orentriech’s experiments showed that when bald resistant hairs from the back and sides of the head were relocated, they maintained their bald resistant genetic characteristic regardless of where they were transplanted.
This principle, known as “Donor Dominance”, established that hair could be transplanted from the bald resistant donor areas to the balding areas and continues to grow for a life time. This laid the foundation for modern hair transplantation.
During the 60’s and 70’s surgical hair restoration grew in popularity. However, the standard procedure used large grafts that were removed by round punches and often contained many hairs.
Completed Result after Multiple Sessions of Large Grafts
This now outdated technique could achieve a full look if a patient completed all planned sessions. However, a patient was typically limited in the manner they could style their hair.
Patients who stopped short of completing all planned sessions were left with hair loss solutions that looked obvious and unnatural.
Such uncompleted hair restoration results are some times referred to as “barbie doll hair” or “corn rows”.
Many who have had these older techniques now refine or complete their hair transplants with today’s very refined techniques to achieve a natural look that they can style in any manner.
From big wigs to surgical hair restoration
Soon after the Middle Ages wigs became popular for women. Then in the 1600’s the flamboyant and incredibly vain King Louis XIV of France lost his hair from a severe illness and took to wearing gigantic wigs thus setting the fashion for most men of his day.
These enormous creations featured such items as cages with live birds and could weigh up to 20 lbs.!
By the 1700’s England made another contribution to bad hair loss concealers. This was the age of the long, curly, and powered wigs. Even today, English judges and lawyers continue this practice. Thus the expression for those in authority – “Big Wigs.”
The early 1800’s is renowned in hair loss circles as the age of the con men. There were hundreds of so-called “hair loss solutions” and many lasted well into the late 1900’s.
These treatments were marketed by fast-talking “doctors,” skilled only in bravery and possessing nerves of steel considering they were conning hardened cowboys and outlaws!
The salesmen hawked their products from the safety of their side shows and “Wild West” spectaculars. They used endless tricks to get people to buy their products, including rubbing grease into their hair to make it look thicker.
During the past several decades, superstition, old wives tales, and guess work has gradually been replaced by science.
In 1939, a Japanese dermatologist, Dr. Okuda, published a revolutionary method in a Japanese medical journal that would lay the ground work for modern hair transplantation.
This method involved using hair transplant grafts to correct lost hair from various areas, including the scalp, eyebrow, and moustache areas. However, this study didn’t make an impact in the Western Hemisphere due to the interruption of World War II.
In the late 50’s one physician in particular, Dr. Norman Orentriech, began to experiment with the idea of relocating or transplanting the hair on the back and sides of the head to the balding areas.
Dr. Orentriech’s experiments showed that when bald resistant hairs from the back and sides of the head were relocated, they maintained their bald resistant genetic characteristic regardless of where they were transplanted.
This principle, known as “Donor Dominance”, established that hair could be transplanted from the bald resistant donor areas to the balding areas and continues to grow for a life time. This laid the foundation for modern hair transplantation.
During the 60’s and 70’s surgical hair restoration grew in popularity. However, the standard procedure used large grafts that were removed by round punches and often contained many hairs.
Completed Result after Multiple Sessions of Large Grafts
This now outdated technique could achieve a full look if a patient completed all planned sessions. However, a patient was typically limited in the manner they could style their hair.
Patients who stopped short of completing all planned sessions were left with hair loss solutions that looked obvious and unnatural.
Such uncompleted hair restoration results are some times referred to as “barbie doll hair” or “corn rows”.
Many who have had these older techniques now refine or complete their hair transplants with today’s very refined techniques to achieve a natural look that they can style in any manner.
There are a variety of hair loss remedy "concealer" products that are applied to the scalp and/or hair in the thinning areas to mask a person's baldness and increase the look of fullness of thinning hairs. These products such as Toppik, Couvré, and Prothik can work surprisingly well at creating the illusion of fuller hair.
Some of our member physicians advise their hair restoration patients to use such hair loss remedy products to enhance the look of fullness in their transplanted areas. These products can also be used post operatively to hide the immediate surgery.
Toppik - Toppik is an effective, safe, and easy-to-use product that completely covers up the scalp's thinning areas.
Couvre - COUVRe is safe for men and women, easy to use, and is totally undetectable to the world's toughest critics.
Caboki - Caboki is comprised of a series of charged microfibers that, when applied to the scalp, tightly bind hair shafts and create a denser, fuller appearance.
DermMatch - DermMatch is a safe and easy way to cover-up thinning areas and instantly provides the appearance of a natural looking head of hair.
Nanogen - Nanogen is one of the fastest, easiest ways to conceal thinning hair and hair loss.
Prothik - Prothik does an exceptional job of adding thickness and fullness to thinning hair while reducing the contrast between thinning hair and the scalp.
Currently the only solution for regrowing hair, particularly in the hairline area, is hair transplant surgery, an advanced surgical hair restoration technique.
Done right, a hair transplant is so natural that even a hair stylist cannot detect that a person has had hair transplants.
The days of the "corn row" or "Barbie Doll" hair transplants are long gone.
To achieve such truly natural results requires a dedicated and highly skilled staff doing a state of the art hair transplant procedure. The state of the art micro hair transplant procedure that our member physicians perform is called "Ultra Refined Follicular Unit Hair Transplantation".
Hair transplant surgery involves relocating (transplanting) the bald resistant hair follicles from the back of the head to the balding areas on the top and front of the head.
This process is effective and will last a lifetime because the hair follicles taken from the back of the head are genetically resistant to baldness, no matter where they are transplanted.
This procedure is regarded by most hair restoration physicians to be the "gold standard in hair transplants". Learn more about this hair transplant procedure.
Because this very refined procedure is difficult to perform at the highest quality level only a minority of all hair restoration surgeons perform it successfully. Our member physicians have extensive experience performing this advanced and very refined procedure with excellent proven results.
Today, hair transplant surgical hair restoration is an out-patient procedure requiring only local anesthesia. Most patients are surprised by how little discomfort they experience during and after their surgery. Many patients watch TV or sleep during their procedure.
Hair transplant surgery is the only certain way of restoring significant amounts of hair in balding areas. View hair transplant photos of actual hair loss patients.
Sharing information in the Hair Loss Learning Center forum with patients who have successfully restored their hair is a good way to begin the process of selecting a hair transplant surgeon with a proven record of restoring a natural hairline. Online consultation can put you directly in touch with one of the world's top hair restoration physicians in your area who can help you assess your options.
Scalp Med TV infomercials, like many hair loss products, claim to sell FDA approved hair loss products. Pictures, videos, and testimonies on television show hair loss sufferers regrowing hair even when men and women were completely bald. Is this really what balding people can expect from Scalp Med? Below we examine Scalp Med and unlock the mystery ingredients and whether or not any clinical proof exists that this hair loss solution can treat baldness.
Scalp Med includes 3 distinct products including topical Vitadil-5A for men or Vitadil-2A for women, topical NutriSol-RM, and Cortex Enlarger hair thickening spray.
Vitadil-5A for men or Vitadil-2A for women is a topical solution that contains the proven hair regrowth solution minoxidil, also found in Rogaine and Xandrox. It's also said to include a unique delivery agent formulated to increase the absorption of 5% minoxidil for men, 2% for women.
Scalp Med is a bit more vague as to the ingredients found in the NutriSol-RM topical and the Cortex Enlarger thickening spray. While NutriSol-RM topical is designed to add essential nutrients to the scalp for healthier hair, the Cortex Enlarger hair thickening spray's primary purpose is to temporarily fatten the hair follicles making hair appear thicker.
Scalp Med is upfront that the ingredients found in the NutriSol-RM shampoo and Cortex Enlarger hair thickener will not stop hair loss or cause hair regrowth.
Scalp Med also offers a detoxifying cleanser kit which includes a detoxifying shampoo called Panthenol-DX Scalp Detoxifier. This shampoo is designed to deeply cleanse the scalp without stripping the hair of its natural oils and nutrients. Unless your thinning hair is due to pollutants or toxins affecting natural hair growth, Panthenol-DX Scalp Detoxifier won't stimulate new hair growth. Scalp Med's Panthenol-DX does nothing to stop the natural progression of genetic female hair loss and male pattern baldness.
To supplement Scalp Med's hair loss treatment program, Scalp Med offers a Mega-Multi Vitamin to increase overall body health.
Scalp Med can legally claim that it's product contains an FDA approved ingredient since Scalp Med does contain minoxidil, which is a FDA approved topical treatment for hair loss. However, Scalp Med its self has not been granted FDA approval. Though Scalp Med's other products may work to promote healthy hair, it's the minoxidil that gives balding men and women any hope of restoring their hair.
Unfortunately, Scalp Med's marketing infomercials makes it appear that completely bald men and women have hope of regrowing a full head of thick and healthy hair. However, the words “Results seen are not typical” can be seen in small fine print at the bottom of your television. Additionally, Scalp Med's website FAQ makes it clear that no non-surgical hair loss solution is proven to grow hair in completely bald areas.
There are several proven success stories that minoxidil can stimulate hair regrowth in areas of thinning hair. Therefore, Scalp Med's Vitadil-5A should be as effective as 5% minoxidil just as Vitadil-2A should be as effective as the 2% solution.
Scalp Med is about 3 times the cost of minoxidil. A two month supply of Scalp Med is approximately $160.00. Discounts are available if you buy in bulk. However, even in bulk, the net cost ends up around $64 per month as opposed to the $20 per month cost of Rogaine. Generic minoxidil costs even less.
