What Hair Regrowth Product or Treatment Is Best For You?

Hairloss is a troubling condition for anyone suffering from it. The problem with hairloss is that it can appear overnight with no apparent cause. For some people it's a gradual process and for others it's far more rapid with the first noticeable appearance of hairloss sometimes happening almost overnight. For years there was nothing much you could do about about hairloss except maybe get a hairpiece to cover up the problem. Fortunately times have changed and there's lots of information on hair regrowth products available and you should be able to find a solution to your hairloss problem that works for you fairly easily.

The type of hair regrowth product you'll wind up using will depend on the cause of your hairloss in the first place. If your hairloss is caused by genetic causes (you inherited it from a parent) then you can take a look at the over-the-counter and prescription treatments used to cause this type of hairloss.

If your hairloss has other causes such as stress, chemical imbalance or an allergic reaction then you'll need to get advice from a trichologist or your family doctor first to find the cause of the problem itself. For example if your hairloss is caused by stress then removing the cause of the stress will correct it with little or no medication needed. Always get the advice of a medical professional before starting any type of hairloss treatment.

So what are the most common hair regrowth products on the market?

Minoxidil
This is the great grandpappy of all hairloss treatments and was first introduced about 20 years ago. Minoxidil is also known as Rogaine/Regaine and is manufactured by a company called Upjohn. When it first came onto the market it looked like minoxidil would be the answer to the prayers of hairloss sufferers all over the world.

The issue is that minoxidil alone can't regrow hair on a totally bald head (it can be used in conjunction with other treatments to achieve this though) and is designed to be used by men although there is a female version of Rogaine also available.

Minoxidil is available in strengths of 2% - 15% and is usually available over the counter in a liquid format. Do seek a doctors advice before you start to use Rogaine though - it can have some side effects. Never take Rogaine orally (drinking it or taking it in tablet form as minoxidil).

Spironolactone
This drug is normally used to treat hirsuitism (excessive body hair) in women but during tests it appeared to have the opposite effect on men where it helped to regrow hair in certain test subjects. To treat hairloss spironolactone should be used topically in a very low concentration. A trichologist or doctor will be able to help you with the correct dosage and also to check if the treatment is suitable for you. Men should never take spironolactone orally (in tablets).

Finasteride
This product is also known as Propecia and was the first medication released that deals with hairloss at its source - in the scalp tissue itself. Up to this point all hairloss treatments were lotions or creams that were applied to the scalp. The problem with this is that some of the hair regrowth treatment would evaporate during application or get soaked up by existing hair and basically be wasted. Finasteride gets right into the blood stream and combats hairloss from the inside out.

Initial trials with this product were very promising and when it's used with Rogaine it can provide a real 1-2 punch to hairloss with many users regrowing most (sometimes all) of the hair they've lost. Finasteride again is designed to be used only by men.

Finasteride should only be bought on prescription through your doctor - there's a lot of fake finasteride floating around online but most of those online stores have now been shut down by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) in the US. You still have to be careful where you buy it so make sure it's on prescription only.

Dutasteride
Also known as Avodart this is the all new and improved version of finasteride with literally double the stregth of the original so it's the next step in tablet based treatment for hairloss. Unfortunately this drug was never released properly to the market even though it showed great promise. One theory is that drug may have been too effective and would have prevented the manufacturer from making the massive profits they're making with finasteride (which is weaker and needs to be take more often).

The last trials for this product were run in 2006 and there seems to be no hope of it being released for public use anytime soon.

Other treatments
There are dozens if not hundreds of other treatments on the market for hairloss but you need to be very careful if you choose to buy and use any of them. The vast majority (if not all) of these treatments have no clinical research to back them up. Some of them are just a hodge podge of herbs and alcohol in a bottle which will do nothing for your hairloss. Always look for testimonials and photographic results that the treatments produce - if it's so effective then the manufacturer should have dozens of photographs to prove this. If the treatment sounds too good to be true and looks too good to be true then it probably is too good to be true.

There is a hair regrowth product available that can help with your hairloss problem - now it's just a matter of choosing the right one.