Believe me, we are no strangers to hair loss ‘solutions’. If you have started to lose your hair, you no doubt have been spending hours glued to google, trying to find something, anything to help regrow your hair. Look, there is a lot of bulls**t out there when it comes to hair loss treatments. Before we get into the different treatment options available, and finding a treatment that may work for you, a word of advice. It’s important that you see a doctor to figure out what type of hair loss you have, to know how to effectively treat it. To get to know the different types of hair loss, you can read our blog post here.

**We are in no way doctors who are able to give you advice on what treatments to follow. Please consult a doctor before trying any medical treatments. We are speaking completely from our own experience.

Minoxidil

You have probably seen this medication during your search for a solution. Minoxidil is probably the most popular, and most successful, treatment for hair loss. So what is minoxidil? Minoxidil is actually a blood thinning medication that comes with the side effect of hair growth. It isn’t exactly known why minoxidil causes hair loss, but it is commonly used nonetheless. There’s a lot of good scientific evidence behind seeing results from using minoxidil. Most people use minoxidil as a topical treatment, which can be applied directly to the scalp, but you can also take it orally as a pill.

Many women, and men, report some hair regrowth after using Minoxidil. Results are very varied with some saying that their hair has totally regrown, whilst others see absolutely no difference or more hair loss.

Is Minoxidil the Right Hair Loss Treatment for Me?

This is a difficult question to answer. What we do know about minoxidil is that it works best for people who have Androgenic Alopecia. Other forms of hair loss aren’t very responsive to Minoxidil.

How Long Do I Need To Use It?

Minoxidil is a lifelong commitment. You need to be applying it every single day, or else if you do regrow some hair, that hair will fall out again. Additionally, you must be on birth control when using minoxidil, as ingredients in the medication can cause birth defects.

When Will I See Results?

It can take anywhere from 3-6 months before you begin seeing results.

Are There Any Side Effects?

Some people don’t experience any side effects. Personally, I couldn’t use minoxidil for very long at all. As soon as I applied it I had an intense burning sensation on my scalp. Many people also experience irritation on their scalp, as well as sensitivity to sunlight and dry skin. In more severe cases, people have reported feeling nausea, swelling, chest pain, weight gain and heart palpitations. If you are using minoxidil and experience any of these severe effects, seek medical attention.

Laser Therapy

Ah, laser cap therapy, the hair loss solution I spent $2000 on and saw no results 😂 Look, I’m not saying that it won’t work for you, but make sure you exhaust EVERY other option before hopping on this train.

Laser cap therapy is essentially a cap which you put on your head which uses red light therapy to stimulate hair growth. You have to use the laser cap 3 times a week for half an hour each time. For me, after using this cap for a whole year, I saw absolutely no change in my hair. I don’t think it made my hair worse, but it certainly didn’t make it any better.

Could Laser Therapy Work For Me?

If you are in very early stages of your hair loss, a laser cap might help preserve and strengthen the hair that you have. If your hair loss is more progressive, you might want to consider other options.

Are There Any Side Effects?

You may experience headaches, a burning sensation, scalp redness and itchiness from using laser caps.

Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) Injections

Another of my favourite incredibly expensive treatments 😂 This one is talked about A LOT in the hair loss community. I’ve heard some fantastic success stories! But I do wonder whether these ‘success’ stories are coming from women with a Telogen Effluvium and their hair would have grown back anyway.

So what are PRP injections? Do you remember a couple years back when Kim Kardashian and other celebs went viral for having a ‘vampire facial’? Where they extracted blood from their bodies and used it on their faces? That’s essentially what PRP is. So I guess, if you want a ‘celebrity experience’ then this is a great option 😂 PRP injections are meant to stimulate your hair follicles to cause them to grow. For me, I spent $2500 to be in the exact same position as I was to begin with.

Could PRP work for me?

The best candidates for PRP are those with androgenic alopecia. However, there is a long list of people who can’t get PRP. For example, if you are on blood thinning medication, a smoker or a heavy alcohol drinker, you cannot have PRP.

How Many Treatments Will I Need?

Usually, you will have to have 4-8 treatments initially, and then once every twelve months.

Are There Any Side Effects?

You may experience pain in the area of treatment. In more severe cases, you may get a blood clot.

Hair Growth Shampoos and Conditioners

If you rifled through my medicine cabinet, you would find hundreds of half used bottles of these ‘magic’ hair growth shampoos and conditioners. It seems like new hair growth products are coming out every single day, and there was a time where I needed to try them all. Let me tell you the truth about hair growth shampoos and conditioners.

There are some brands out there that are genuinely great for your hair. They help keep the hair that you do have strong and healthy. In terms of making more hair grow back? Eh, not so much. There are a couple brands of these ‘magic’ shampoos that I still use today. Not because I think they are going to grow back my hair, but because they are fantastic for the hair that I do have.

There are other brands out there that are just straight up SCAMS. What I find terrible about these brands is that they have ‘created’ a product that doesn’t help your hair, slapped on a super high price tag, and targeted women who are incredibly vulnerable. That makes me MAD. Even worse, some of these products actually make your hair fall out more. Sometimes I’ll see ads for these companies and wonder how on EARTH they are still around.

My advice when it comes to products? Have a chat to your hair stylist about high quality salon-grade products they recommend for keeping your hair healthy. Everyone has a different hair type, so finding one that works well with yours will help maintain and strengthen the hair you have.

Hair Growth Vitamins & Gummies

There are so many companies that sell different vitamins and ‘gummies’ specially to help your hair grow back. Do they work? Well, yes and no. If you have genetic or diagnosable hair loss, this probably isn’t the option for you. These hair growth supplements are good for people who may have weak or brittle hair and want to strengthen it. Vitamins can help with getting thicker hair, but if you have a hair loss condition, like Androgenic Alopecia or Alopecia Areata, they won’t be very effective for you. Plus, you can just as easily go out and buy these supplements from your local shop, without having to spend extra money on exorbitantly priced vitamins. Most commonly, these supplements are just biotin with some added flavoring.

However, if you are going to try these vitamins and gummies for hair loss, be careful. Make sure you read the ingredients and understand what is actually in them. A lot of the time these products are complete scams that can actually have a negative effect on your overall health.

Home Remedies

I can’t go a day without someone saying to me ‘have you tried rosemary oil????’ So let’s talk about home remedies. There is some science to back up home remedies working for hair growth. There’s a lot of them. Rosemary oil, onion juice, aloe vera, beetroot juice, fenugreek seeds, aromatherapy, pumpkin seed oil, etc. etc. etc. I’ve probably been suggested to put every single food on my head at this point 😂 These at-home remedies can work for very, very slight hair loss. It definitely isn’t going to work for any genetic forms of hair loss. So many people will tell you ‘but this worked for me!!’ and sure, I bet it did. But it’s more likely than not that they had Telogen Effluvium or a non-genetic hair loss.

I’ll admit, I spent my fair share of time researching the best home remedies for thinning hair. I’ve tried most of them. I remember feeling like a kid again, making little potions at my kitchen bench, rubbing all sorts of things onto my scalp. Did I see any results? Well, I did kind of like when my hair smelt like rosemary and cucumbers for a few days, but DEFINITELY hated it smelling like onion juice for a WEEK!

You can give home remedies a shot. If you don’t have any allergies to what you’re putting on your head, it is most likely safe. But don’t expect to have luscious, long locks overnight.

Alternative Hair

Gosh, I wish I found this one sooner. Of course, you know how much I LOVE being able to wear hair. I think after such a long, exhausting journey through trying so many different things to treat my hair loss, it was a much needed breath of fresh air.

For the first time, a hair loss solution was actually easy, non-invasive and did EXACTLY what it said it would. Medications and treatments just weren’t right for me. They were super harsh on my body and just plain tiring. I literally never saw any results from other treatments. Toppers? I put one on and instantly my hair was thick, long and goddam GORGEOUS!

Toppers and wigs are, and you can’t argue this, the ONLY hair loss solution that works 100% of the time and doesn’t require much effort. Toppers changed my life. I used to spend so much time worrying about how to get my hair to grow back. Which hair loss treatment would actually work for me? I’ve finally found that.

Because I had such a terrible time with other hair loss treatments, I want to save other people the time and money (oh my gosh, so much money 😢). If you want to try other treatments, that’s totally your decision, and I wish you all the best! I hope it works for you better than it did for me. But if you’re ready to try alternative hair, I’m here to chat always.

Click HERE to find out more about toppers and HERE for more info on wigs.