What Can You Do For Hair Loss?

Whether you’re male or female, no one wants to lose their hair. We’ll discuss the facts about hair loss for each gender separately. 

For men:

If all the men in your family are bald and you don’t want to be, the best way to keep hair from falling out is minoxidil (aka Rogaine). But you need to start using minoxidil early—as soon as you notice thinning. Or just start in your 20s and don’t stop. Minoxidil only works on living hair follicles. Your hair follicles may become dormant (they’re taking a nap) but if they remain inactive for a long time, they die. This is why minoxidil only works on someone with fairly recent onset of hair loss. If you’ve been bald for ten years, don’t waste your money. You may be a candidate for hair transplant but that is a different (and expensive) specialty that I know little about. If you are using minoxidil, be careful not to let it drip to places you don’t want excessive hair.

I recommend buying Kirkland brand. You can buy it without a Costco membership on Amazon for a fraction of the cost.

For women:

There are lots of variables, mostly cultural and genetic. 

If you lose hair around pregnancy, don’t worry, it’ll grow back in a year. If you wear a hijab, the constant friction can cause hair loss. If you’re black, chronic tight weaves are the most likely culprit (especially edges). The ideal thing to do is eliminate the cause. This isn’t always an option. In that case, try to limit the stress on your follicles. For example, if you aren’t ready to give up weaves, you can try getting looser, shorter braids (less tension and weight). The thing to know is short-term hair loss is usually reversible. Long-term hair loss is not. Minoxidil has been around since the 80s and is still the best product to stop hair loss. It will help if the thinning hasn’t been a problem for too long (years) and you remove the cause. As I said above, I recommend Kirkland brand because it costs MUCH less.

If you opt to use minoxidil, you should know that you can use 5%, even if it says “For Men.” Products made for women are sometimes much lower strength. This is because women are more likely to complain of hair growing in unwanted places (like on their face). The solution is simple, do NOT let minoxidil drip to places you don’t want excess hair.

If you see a dermatologist, you may be offered scalp injections. Steroids are injected directly into the scalp to decrease inflammation. This treatment is only indicated for some types of hair loss. Just like with minoxidil, this will only help if the follicles are still viable (they are sleeping not dead). How do you know if your follicles are viable? A dermatologist can do a scalp biopsy to find out. If this isn’t an option, all I can tell you is I never had a patient with more than 10 years of hair loss who had viable hair follicles—I did lots of scalp biopsies.

Overall, whether male or female, minoxidil is still the best thing to stop hair loss. Luckily it can be purchased inexpensively online. It’s important that you’re patient and persistent. It takes several months to work. It can actually make things appear worse during the first six weeks. This is normal! The hair that falls out was already in the process of shedding. It will grow back thicker and stronger. The keys to success are early intervention, persistence, and protecting you scalp from unnecessary stress. On the downside, if you stop using minoxidil your hair will likely revert back to how it was, depending on the cause.