Complete Guide To The Best And Worst Hair Loss Treatments (Updated For 2023)

"Hey, did you know you have a bald spot?"

I was 17 at the time, and my classmate at school just asked me this question in earshot of everyone else in the room.

Burning inside with embarrassment, I tried to laugh it off, diverting attention away from myself in any way I could.

That memory has stuck in my mind for the last 15 years. It marked the start of my long journey down the road trying to figure out how to stop my hair loss.

And for anyone else out there who's had a sudden realisation that they are in fact losing their hair, you'll know how embarrassing and painful it is.

To make matters worse, most doctors don't have a clue what's really causes hair loss. They're trained to tell you that it's genetic and there's nothing you can do about it except taking a testosterone-blocking pill that comes with a chance of serious side-effects for the rest of your life.

But it's not their fault. That's why they're trained to do, and they don't know any better.

Unfortunately the online community isn't much better. 

The problem is that there's so much contradictory information. And the reason for that is that hair loss is not straightforward. In fact, it's very complicated. 

I know this first hand because I've been trying to figure out what's really going on with hair loss for the last 15+ years.

The good news is that there is actually a simple explanation for hair loss.

And how to reverse it. 

It also explains why most all hair loss treatments available today do not produce much hair regrowth. 

(HINT: The problem is that they treat the symptom - losing hair - rather than the thing that is actually causing the hair to fall out in the first place... more on this later)

Once I understood this, I went from struggling with my own hair loss for 10+ years, to quickly regrowing my hair line and no longer worrying about losing hair. 

And now it feels great to know that my hair is going to continue to get thicker and healthier with each passing year, rather than thinner.

So today, we will explore what really causes hair loss, and we'll also compare the best and work hair loss treatments. so that you can get the same confidence that I have.

And at the end of the article, we'll give you a step by step guide for the most effective, cheapest and easiest hair growth regimen.

You do not want to miss it.

What Really Causes Hair Loss

Pattern hair loss is the result of one thing: Reduced blood supply to the hair follicles.

You see, lack of blood means lack of oxygen and nutrients.

And when this happens the hair follicles slowly starve, causing them to wither away (miniaturize), and eventually die.

This is why hairs tends to get thinner over time, and easily fall out. They are literally being starved.

But what causes this reduction in blood supply in the first place?

After 10 years of research, what we've discovered is that there's a very unique process that happens in the scalp that causes the blood supply to slowly get cut off. 

The culprit is inflammation (from stress, poor diet, infections and scalp tension).

The unique aspect of this inflammation is that when DHT is present at the same time, it causes the scalp tissue to harden.

And as the scalp tissue hardens, it constricts the blood vessels, reducing the amount of blood they can carry to the follicles, starving them until they eventually die.

Sounds complicated, but actually it's quite straightforward once you understand it.

Here's a diagram showing the process:

So if you want to regrow your hair there's four things you need to do:

1. Stop inflammation by eliminating its four causes 
2. Block DHT in the scalp
3. Heal the scalp tissue to restore healthy blood supply for the long term
4. Increase blood flow RIGHT NOW

If you do all four of these, your hair will naturally regrow.

This is so important to understand.

It also explains why most people quickly lose what they've managed to regrow once they stop using a treatment. If the tissue is not healed and healthy blood supply not restored, then the follicles will quickly become starved again without on-going help.

With this diagram in mind, we can use it to assess how hair loss treatments work.

For example, we know Minoxidil is a vasodilator, which means it temporarily increases blood flow.

So it helps the follicles to grow hair by temporarily providing them with much-needed oxygen and nutrients. 

But as soon as you stop using Minoxidil, the follicles begin to starve again, and eventually the hair falls out.

If you only use Minoxidil then you're essentially just delaying the inevitable. 

In order to produce long term gains (and avoid having to use Minoxidil for the rest of your life), the single most important factor is healing the tissue in order to restore healthy blood supply.

So we can now rank hair loss treatments by whether or not they do this, and how much of the other parts of the hair loss process they address.

Scalp massages

If you are using a treatment, but it doesn't do this, you will never be able to stop using it without losing all your gains.

This is why microneedling and scalp massages work so well. They restore healthy blood flow LONG TERM by helping the scalp tissue to heal itself.

PRP - you’re literally injecting blood into your scalp

Laser Caps - The heat induces vasodilation (more blood flow), and the infrared light helps the tissue to heal from inflammation.

Finasteride - Stops the inflammation from causing the tissue to harden, which would normally cut off blood supply.

Hair transplant - Places healthy hair follicles into the scalp tissue. As the tissue heals, the body connects it to a adequate blood supply, but the balding process starts over again.

The ultimate hair regrowth regimen targets each factor.

Here's an example:

• Cut out processed foods and vegetable oils
• 2% Ketoconazole shampoo
• Topical with vasodilators, anti-inflammatories and DHT blockers
• Scalp massages
• Use a Dermaroller once per week
• Scalp brush