Hair loss feels like it’s a bigger thing now than ever been before, and it’s one of those things that doesn’t get spoken about much in society. Nobody will outright say this, but going bald kind of sucks. It’s one of those rare things in life that everyone feels comfortable making fun of, even though it can have a profoundly devastating effect on someone’s life.
Bald jokes are common, and while some people rock the bald look, it’s not for everyone. You may love your hair and feel like it’s a big part of who you are, in which case you are quite eager to find hair loss treatments at the first signs of thinning – or receding at your temples. Now, you’ve probably already bought caffeine shampoos and who knows what else to slap on your head, but topical treatments like this don’t work at all. No shampoo will ever regrow lost hair follicles, no matter how good the marketing spiel is.
Instead, you should look into the following treatments if you actually want to reverse hair loss:
Hair Transplants
A hair transplant works by taking healthy hair follicles from another part of your body and placing them in your balding areas. Most of the time, the hair comes from the back of your head if you’ve still got enough healthy follicles there. It’s a surgical procedure, and the presence of healthy follicles in the balding areas encourages further growth.
Many success stories prove this works – just look at virtually any celebrity or famous sports person who was balding in the last ten years. However, it’s not for everyone. Hair transplants won’t work if you are already severely bald and are usually best for people with receding hairlines and minor bald patches.
Laser Therapy
Medical-grade lasers can be used to beam into your scalp and promote blood circulation that activates the capillaries and blood vessels in the area. As a consequence, this encourages your inactive hair follicles to “wake up” and start absorbing nutrients. This means the follicles now have the capacity to regrow hair and thicken your scalp, while also preventing further hair loss.
This treatment is mainly useful in the very early stages of hair loss, and is often combined with medical treatments like Finasteride. Finasteride is a medication that reduces the hormone responsible for hair loss in male-patterned baldness, and it’s proven to slow down hair loss and encourage more growth.
PRP Therapy
PRP (platelet-rich plasma) therapy is a fairly new method that starts with taking blood. A sample will be taken from you – much like any normal blood test – and then your blood is sent through a machine that concentrates the platelets, allowing them to be injected right into your scalp.
Your platelets revive dormant hair follicles and boost hair growth, reversing hair loss. It only really works when the follicles are dormant, not completely dead. You also need multiple sessions to see true results, but it is promising.
The bottom line is that you can’t rely on shampoos or topical treatments to deal with hair loss, as it’s a genetic/medical issue. Proper treatments exist, so consider visiting a hair loss clinic to ask about the options and determine which one will be the most effective for you.
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya
