Hair Loss Treatment

For many years, hair loss treatment consisted mainly of sham items that con artists would travel from town to town trying to sell. Then Rogaine revolutionized the world of hair loss products, as it became one of the first products with scientific evidence backing up its claims of hair restoration. In the decades since Rogaine first wowed the world, many new products and courses of treatment have appeared on the market. Now as ever, though, effective remedies are few and far between. So how can you make sure you get the best hair loss treatment available? How can you distinguish an imitation from the genuine article?

A good hair loss treatment is one that, like Rogaine, has been demonstrated scientifically to work. To that end, make sure your doctor or your dermatologist approves of any product you buy; she or he may be able to prescribe something for you, or at least steer you towards a product you might not otherwise have found on your own. Effective treatments also take the individual person and his or her situation into account; there's not really one course of treatment that will work well for everyone. And your treatment should be gentle, and not irritate your skin. You don't want to walk around with a burning scalp, for instance, just because you're trying to boost your hair growth.

Specially-medicated shampoos can work well. You'll want a product that will supply nutrients directly to the scalp and to the hair follicles, and one that will reduce any chemicals, such as the hormone dihydrotestosterone (DHT), that impede the growth of hair. (It may surprise you to learn that DHT is often cited as the number one cause of hair loss in men.) In addition, a good shampoo completely clears away materials like dirt and sweat, which collect on the scalp and clog pores and prevent hair from growing to the fullest extent possible. Finally, the best hair loss shampoos will strengthen your individual hairs all the way down to their roots. After all, you don't only want a lot of hair, but hair's that's full, hair that has a healthy sheen to it.

Maybe your doctor will decide that the right hair loss treatment for you should involve oral treatments. An oral treatment could be a prescription drug such as Propecia, which works to lower the body's level of DHT. Or an oral treatment could be something as simple as an herbal green tea, in order to provide your body with a greater supply of the nutrients it needs to produce healthy hair. Another option is laser light treatment, which can be done in several sessions right in a dermatologist's office, using handheld devices that aren't intrusive and that cause only a minimum amount of soreness afterwards.

In some cases, however, a scalp simply won't ever regrow hair. A hair follicle that's become inactive will stay inactive no matter what you might try to do to it, and male pattern baldness cannot be fully reversed by medicine or herbs, at least not at this time. In such cases, therefore, a person is limited to two basic options: a toupee and hair transplant surgery. Now, the art and science of toupee-making have come a long way, and for many people hairpieces do represent the best hair loss treatments available, especially when considering the expense and recovery period involved in a hair transplant operation. Still, some people reject outright the very notion of wearing a toupee. If you're one of those people, then make an appointment to see a hair restoration professional to learn if this surgery is a viable option for you.