II. All About Hair loss in Men

There are many different conditions that can cause hair loss, such as vitamin B deficiency or thyroid issues. If your hair loss were a symptom of a medical condition you would most likely have other symptoms like fatigue. But just to be sure it is recommended that you go to your doctor for a check-up and some blood work to rule out other illnesses.

In the U.S. alone, by the age of 35, hair loss effects over 66% of men to some degree.  With that said, if you are losing your hair, the most likely diagnosis is Male Pattern Hair Loss or Androgenetic Alopecia. Male Pattern Hair Loss accounts for about 95% of hair loss in men.  This condition is the gradual miniaturization of your hair follicles and the shortening of the hair growth phase. This condition continues to progress until the hair follicle becomes dormant. It can start anytime but is usually seen in people in their late twenties to early thirties.

Hair grows in phases. Each phase varies in elapsed time. Hair has a growth phase called anagen, which is when the hair is constantly growing. Then you have the transitional phase called catagen, which is when the hair stops growing and transitions to the last phase. The last phase is the resting phase called telogen, which is when the hair stops growing and falls out. Under normal conditions, after the hair is pushed out the cycle starts over, but when someone is suffering from Male Pattern Hair Loss the grow phase becomes less and less and the resting phase becomes longer until there is no growth phase, rather the hair follicle becomes dormant.

There are two types of the 5a-reductase enzyme, Type 1 and Type 2. Type 2 is responsible for two-thirds of the circulating DHT in the body and Type 1 is responsible for one-third. Type 1 is found in the sebaceous glands of the skin including the scalp. Type 2 is the enzyme that is found in the hair follicles. In men with Male Pattern Hair Loss, the scalp contains miniaturized hair follicles and increased amounts of DHT as compared to a male with lots of hair. In addition, it has been shown that people with a 5a-reductase deficiency don’t have Male Pattern Hair Loss.

So one would believe that if you could stop the DHT from being produced you could stop the hair loss. That concept has proven itself true.  There are two ways to treat hair loss, you can block the production of DHT and you can stimulate the hair follicle to grow hair.  Most of the treatments on this website does both, which is what you want.  It’s interesting to note that first two products FDA approved for hair loss, Finasteride and Minoxidil, were being used to treat an enlarged prostate and blood pressure and genius researchers realized the people on these medicines were growing hair.  Those two products were the start of my hair loss journey, but in time other products and processes have evolved, which was lucky for me because over time I had to make changes as existing products became less effective for my hair loss.

III. Clinically Proven Treatments for Hair Loss in Men

There are hundreds of treatments for hair loss. This website has researched numerous treatments and the ones listed here I consider to be the best of the best. You can read about my experience with each product at the bottom of each product page. All of the listed treatments have undergone clinical trials to help prove that they do what the maker says they should do and they pass my 10 Question Criteria. There are three products that are backed by FDA clinical trials, they are Finasteride 1mg pills, Minoxidil, and HairMax Laser Comb. However, all of the products I test and recommend are well-researched products.

All of the treatments discussed on this website don’t work for everyone. There is no one treatment that works for everyone.  There are products on this website that didn’t work for me but I have seen the results in others.  In addition, treatments may become less effective over time, which I have also seen in myself.  But by medicine standards, these treatments are highly successful, well over a 70% success rate for all of them. But since they don’t work for everyone, it means there still may be other causes of hair loss that we haven’t identified yet.  That is another reason why it is important to go to your doctor for a checkup to make sure you don’t have something else going on that could be causing the hair loss.

As you learned in my hair loss story, you are able to be on multiple treatments at the same time. When not testing products, I usually use Finasteride 1mg pills, a topical formulation like the Azelaic Acid Formulation, Nutri-Ox Shampoo & Conditioner, and the Darsonval Violet Ray. What you try is your decision because they are all good products.  If you are young and just starting to lose your hair then Finasteride pills would be a good option to start.  If you want to do a little more then also buy a medical device like the HairMax Lasercomb or the Darsonval Violet Ray.  If you are older and fear the side effects of Finasteride pills then try one of the over-the-counter topical products or one of the prescription topical formulations.  I use Finasteride pills and a topical formulation because I have been treating my hair loss for a long time so the effectiveness of the products has lessened so I had to be more aggressive.   There is no need to use more than one topical formulation at a time, I don’t recommend using more than one topical formulation nor would any of my tele-medicine doctors recommend you to be on more than one topical formulation.  My general recommendation is one treatment (either Finasteride pills or a topical formulation), a shampoo and conditioner like Nutri-Ox, and a medical device.

If you have a treatment that is not listed here it doesn’t mean it doesn’t work. It just means we didn’t list it because it didn’t meet our listing criteria or we didn’t realize it existed. If you have successfully used a treatment that is not listed here please email us and we will research the treatment.

The treatments listed below that have a star next to them are available for sale on 4hairloss.org.  You will see that I don’t sell individual bottles of any hair loss treatment, I sell in 90-day supplies.  I do that because if you are only going to give a product 1 month 1 bottle to see results you are wasting your time and money.  You should give any hair loss treatment at least three months to see results.  If you haven’t noticed any results in 3 months then it is time to try another product, but never give up, no product works for everyone.  In addition, the price of the prescription products includes an online consult with a doctor, which is required for the prescription products.

Any male is able to get on Finasteride pills and Minoxidil or any other treatment for that matter. But the question remains, does their age and the amount of hair loss determine if they will have side effects or if a treatment will work? Drug companies give us clues from their actual clinical studies to these questions. But the answer is yes; your age and your stage of hair loss determines the best treatment for you.

Most drug studies used participants that had mild to moderate hair loss. Looking at the Norwood Hamilton classification system, most define mild to moderate hair loss as people that are in stages IIa to IV or maybe V. Hair loss beyond those stages doesn’t mean these drug treatments can’t work, I have seen them work on more extreme cases, but we really can’t confirm or deny that because it has never been a detailed focus. But based on what we have seen many experts would agree that these drug treatments are only so effective because once a hair follicle dies there is no bringing it back.

It is interesting to note that my competition, that only sells Finasteride pills and minoxidil markets to men 35 and under, so for them age is a determining factor on the success of these treatments with no side effects.  The reason they market to men 35 and under is because Finasteride pills can cause sexual side effects like erection problems.  Men above 40 have a much higher chance of having an issue with Finasteride pills because as you age your hormone levels decrease so the likelihood of having erection problems without taking Finasteride pills increases with age.  And that is the reason I sell over-the-counter and prescription topical hair loss treatments, so people that don’t want to or can’t use Finasteride pills have an option that works just as well.

The goals of treatments for mild to moderate hair loss are to stop any further hair loss to save what hair you have and try to regrow hair in lost areas. These treatments are highly successful and worth your time.

The goal of treatment for severe hair loss is to give those that already lost their hair a second chance at having hair once again.  Again, let me reiterate that anyone can try any of the treatments I carry on this website no matter how much hair loss you have.  However, if you are bald and the hair follicles on your scalp have died the chances of success on these products is low because once a hair follicle dies there is no bringing it back.  However, I have seen men that were pretty bald but they still had fine peach fuzz on their scalp and did have some success with the treatments I carry on this website.  But for those that had no luck with the prescription or over-the-counter products I carry you can try one of the treatment options below and you don’t have to be completely bald to use these treatments.  If that is your situation you may be a great candidate for Hair Club or hair transplants to fill in those thin or bald areas.