Hair Loss Treatments? Which hair loss products work?

When I first started losing my hair in my mid twenties, I really became concerned. The year was 1995. I was finishing up my last year of college and I noticed from a group picture that I had taken with one of my marketing classes that my hair line was receding. Yikes.  I really had to start thinking about some type of hair loss treatments since my dad was bald. It was in my genes. There was no avoiding it.
  Anyway, it took me a while to overcome the denial, and I really had to address the fact that my genetic code was not going to allow me to escape from losing my hair.  On the positive side, I was actually one of the fortunate ones. Some of my males friends had lost a lot hair - to the point that they were crowning and it was very obvious they would be completely bald by the time they were in their mid to late thirties.  It was really time for me to think about some type of hair loss treatments.  Remember, this was 1995, and Rogaine and Propecia were not quite as ‘accepted’ as they are right now. Actually, even today, most men don’t advertise that they use these products. We just know that they are common due to increased market share over the years for these products. So I had to ask myself at the time - which hair loss products work? And, which hair loss treatments are best for just a slightly receding hairline?
  The first thing that I discovered was that these hair loss products were not cheap. Back then, it cost a few hundred bucks a month. Here are a few hair loss products I researched back then:

(1) External products applied to the balding areas of the scalp
   From the late 1970’s through January of 1996,  lotions or creams that were applied to the balding areas were only available by prescription only. Aside from surgery, these lotions were really the only type of hair loss product available. In the 1970’s, these topical lotions were being used as an internal medication for high blood pressure. One of the bizarre side of effects of this internal drug was that it had the ability to reverse or slow down the balding process. If applied externally to the balding areas which still had ‘peach fuzz’ on it, a 2% solution of minoxidil was shown to be able to start the hairs growing longer and becoming thicker again. The results were only prevalent in a small number of men. In other words, it just didn’t work for everybody. It was only known to have cured or stifled hair loss in the ‘crown’ area. The worst part of all of this it that all of the hair loss reversal or hair loss prevention that these lotions produced would be all reversed within 60-90 days if you stopped using the product. At the end of the day, I realized that I would have to use this hair loss product for the rest of my life. Another yikes.

(2) Oral medications
  An oral drug was first introduced in the 1980’s as a treatment for an enlarged prostate. It was not until the mid 1990’s that this drug was first considered a hair loss product or a remedy to hair loss. It came in pill form, which made it very simple to take and allowed you to avoid taking or applying medication to the scalp on a daily basis. It seemed like the best hair loss treatment on the market. After further research, I discovered that the drawback or major side effect to taking this oral  medication was that it was shown to decreased libido in men. It is not generally prescribed to women because it is known to cause birth defects in unborn male infants.  As a person who doesn’t like to take medications, I was not interested in experimenting with this kind of hair loss treatment.

(3) Shampoos, mousses, and vitamins, toupees and wigs
   Before topical lotions and oral medications, there were shampoos, mousses, and vitamins that people took to slow down hair loss or grow new hair. As a pragmatic person, I was pretty sure these products were not valid and my hair loss treatment options beyond that would be toupee or even a wig.  These two hair loss products or carpets on my head were not an option.
  In the end, I decided not to do anything about my hair loss until eleven years later. My decision was to have a hair transplant in 2006.  Now my first thought about a hair transplant was ‘bad hair plugs’. But the reality was that hair transplant surgery had come a long way.

If you want to know more about my hair transplant surgery, the costs of hair transplantation, how to choose a surgeon, and some celebrity hair transplants, visit my blog at Hair Transplant Facts. I even posted some before and after photos.  If you are going to move forward with a transplant, my site will provide you some very good insight.  Gone are the days of ‘hair plugs’. Hair loss treatments are not permanent unless you actually have surgery. Once you have the surgery, there is no more need for hair loss products.

Hair transplantation is more common than you think

  If you are at the point to where you are about to make a decision about your hair loss solution, you definitely want to take the time to get some information. So here you are and you have decided to have hair transplant surgery. In my opinion, hair transplantation has come a long way and really is not what it is perceived to be.
  Generally, when one thinks of a hair transplant, they think of seeing some guy in a shopping mall, and embarrassingly, it is obvious he had a hair transplant. His hair line looks like a doll head of hair and it looks awful. This is unfortunate because the art and technology for hair transplantation has come a long way in the last twenty to twenty five years. Bad hair transplants are rare these days and if you do happen to get a bad hair transplant, it can be corrected by a better surgeon afterward.
  Yes, there are bad hair transplants out there. However, there are many, many men out there who have had hair transplantation surgery. These men have had great results, and nobody even knows they had a hair transplant. Why, because a good hair transplant is not identifiable. It looks good, and it looks natural. We only notice the bad hair transplants.
  Let’s face it. This is a vain society. Many men have tried the over the counter potions like Rogaine, Regenix, and Propecia, which is an oral medication you take daily. The problem with these methods is that once you discontinue using these products, the benefits are reversed and any hair that was possibly restored or saved will be lost. This obviously is a problem and far from a permanent solution. Some men in recent years have just gone the opposite direction by shaving their entire heads. This approach to hair loss has become quite en vogue in the last twenty years when celebrities like Michael Jordan and Bruce Willis starting sporting a shaved and shiny dome.
But aside from the guys that are shaving their heads, many men really want to find a permanent solutions to hair loss and the answer is hair transplantation surgery. Shaving your head takes a lot of guts and doesn’t look good on just anybody.
  I myself have had a hair transplant. I had it done in 2006, and it was the best thing I ever did. I was 35 years old at the time and I had 1200 grafts done for a total of $5,400. My hairline was receding, but I hadn’t lost the majority of my hair yet. My goal was to combat the progression of the hair loss and get it done while I still had the majority of my hair. This was almost four years ago and my grafts look great and natural. Mind you, my expectations were realistic. I didn’t end up with a full head of hair like Elvis Presley or Jay Leno. My goal was to have some hair to work with as I got older. Now that I am approaching forty, I am so happy that I did it because as we get older, is it difficult all by itself to stay young looking aside from hair loss.  If you are curious to see my results, you can see them on my site. On my website, I have posted some before and after photos. See for yourself the subtle difference that has been quite pleasing to me.

If you want to know more about the whole process of hair transplantation surgery, I have written a number of articles about Hair Transplantation Surgery. This site gives a breakdown of the steps of the surgery itself, the costs of hair transplantation, how to choose a surgeon, and some celebrity hair transplants so you can view for yourself how common they. The site is a must read! Gone are the days of hair plugs. Hair transplant surgery is here to stay.