How to Fix Your Thinning Hair (Men Only)
Note 1: I am not a medical or scientific professional. This is just what I’ve learned on my hair-growth journey.
Note 2: This article is not for women. There are studies showing that one or more of these treatments (e.g. oral finasteride) are bad for women.
Note 3: Some of the links to products are affiliate links, so I’ll get a portion of any sales generated from those links. But I promise I only recommend products I actually use!
I’ve never loved my hair. It’s thin, and I’ve always had a big widow’s peak— but it started getting worse about a year ago. In late 2022, three of my friends (as well as my hairstylist) on separate occasions pointed out that my hair was thinning. I decided it was time to make a change.
Right now, I’m only about three months into my hair-growth journey. I’ll update this article as I progress!
This article describes everything I’ve tried and all the research I’ve done so far. Everything in the first list will probably help at least a little, but the higher up on the list, the more beneficial they are.
TL;DR:
If you want to go all-in, do all these things:
- Take a 1mg finasteride pill every day.
- If you can afford it, get a Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT) surgery.
- De-stress your life.
- Get PRP injections.
- Take a collagen pill every day.
- Use a thickening shampoo.
- Take a biotin pill every day.
- Use Rogaine.
The Deep Dive
#1. Finasteride pills (1mg/day).
This is the single most important treatment. Do it. Do it now.
Ingested finasteride has been scientifically shown many times to stop hair loss and increase hair density. It’s approved by the FDA, it’s effective, and it’s cheap — $40/year if you get your prescription filled at Costco. Ask your doctor for a prescription. A fun bonus is that this also mildly reduces your risk of prostate cancer.
There are only three issues with oral finasteride:
- You have to take a pill every day. Luckily, this one is essentially a non-issue. Get a pill organizer and put it right next to your bathroom sink. Make it a daily habit to take your pills during your morning routine. Here’s my favorite pill organizer, which I like since I take both morning and evening pills. Oh, you don’t like swallowing pills? You poor thing! Maybe you could try sucking it up and not being such a baby?
- A tiny percentage of men (less than 4%) experience decreased sexual drive, decreased semen count, and sometimes erectile dysfunction. This is a very small effect, and it is barely any worse than the placebo effect. The effects sometimes resolve themselves, even while continuing to take finasteride. And the effects all go away if the treatment is stopped. Also, luckily for those <4% of you who will experience these side effects, you’re a horny little guy and your girlfriend will appreciate this break from your constant begging for sex.
- It can cause excessive hair growth. I’m guessing this is also non-issue for most of us. Shave off or wax whatever hair you don’t want. Easy.
#2. Hair transplant surgery.
This one is big-time. It’s by far the most expensive treatment, but it is also the only viable solution if you’re unhappy with the shape of your hairline (like me with my giant widow’s peak).
Do not go to just any surgeon who says they can do this. This is permanent, and if your surgeon screws it up, you’re fucked.
I looked around and found Dr. Brett Bolton’s clinic in Miami. From what I can tell, he’s the best hair transplant surgeon in the country. A lot of surgeons will do multiple types of surgery, but this guy specializes in hair transplants, and that’s it. He’s expensive at $2 per hair (~$8,000-$14,000 total), but if you’re going this route, you should go all in. Apparently, mediocre transplants will often require many surgeries, they’ll look shittier, and they’ll leave bigger scars.
You don’t necessarily need to go to Dr. Bolton. Just please don’t go to whatever is closest/cheapest. Do your research and find the best surgeon for you.
There are multiple types of hair transplant surgery:
Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) involves scooping up individual hairs from all over your head and transplanting them into the regions where you want more thickness.
Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT) involves cutting a strip of skin from the back of your head, then cutting out hairs from that strip and implanting them elsewhere.
Don’t get FUE.
It may sound like FUE is better because it will leave lots of tiny scars as opposed to one big scar. However, the big scar will be fairly thin, and it will be fully covered by the rest of your hair.
Regardless of which type you go with, there is a decent chance you will need to get the surgery again in a decade or two. FUT can be performed many times if needed, whereas FUE can only be performed once or twice. You’re screwing yourself in the long-run with FUE.
If you eventually shave your head for some reason, it’s much better to have one thin scar on the back of your head than thousands of tiny pockmarks. One looks kinda badass, the other looks diseased.
I haven’t had my FUT surgery yet, but it’s getting scheduled for sometime in the next few months!
#3. Address non-hormonal hair loss factors.
There are several less-common causes for hair loss:
Chemotherapy
If you have to have chemotherapy, I’m truly sorry you have to go through that. When it comes to your hair, I can at least give you the good news that hair loss from chemo is nearly always temporary.
As far as I know, chemotherapy-induced hair loss is currently inevitable. There may be some preventative treatments on the horizon, but the studies are shaky at best.
Medication
Some meds can cause hair loss. If your hair loss was sudden and started suspiciously close to when you started a new medication (or a different dose of a medication), tell your doctor. They may be able to prescribe you an alternative medication. This is not only important for your hair—if the new meds cause hair loss, they may be causing other, sneakier, spookier side effects too.
Thyroid disorders
I have hypothyroidism. I used to have hyperthyroidism, and then the doctors radiated my thyroid to shrink it down. No joke. I know from personal experience that thyroid disorders suck, and not only because they can cause hair loss. If you have untreated thyroid issues, talk to your doctor and get that shit treated, yo.
Stress
Don’t stress, bro. It might be causing your hair loss. Decreasing stress is a big topic beyond the scope of this article, but here are a few suggestions:
- Get enough sleep.
- Exercise regularly.
- Control your anger.
- Eat healthy food.
#5. PRP Injections.
There is evidence showing that platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections stimulate hair growth. You’d go in for two or three treatments within about a month, then do the treatment again once every six months — forever.
It seems pretty cool. They take your blood and put it in a centrifuge to split out the platelet-rich plasma from the rest of your blood. Then they stick it in your head with needles.
A downside is that it’s pretty expensive — about $400 for each treatment.
#4. Multi-collagen complex pills.
Oral collagen pills seem decently good at increasing hair growth. I’m a big fan of pills, and they’re not too expensive, so this one is a no-brainer for me. These are the pills I take.
#5. Thickening shampoo.
Thickening shampoos can make your hair look thicker temporarily, but the effect is fairly short-lived. If you use another shampoo as well (like anti-dandruff shampoo), make sure to use that other shampoo first and the thickening shampoo last. The other shampoo may strip out the proteins that were just added to your hair by the thickening shampoo.
I’ve used the “hims” thickening shampoo and it seems to have maybe worked, but it’s probably more worth it to just get this from Amazon or Costco. I don’t know if the shampoo is really worth it — while it’s mildly temporarily effective, it’s a hassle to deal with compared to popping a pill.
#6. Biotin pills.
There’s a lot of hype around biotin right now, but it doesn’t actually seem to be all that helpful for hair growth unless you have a condition that causes biotin deficiency. However, since it’s cheap, there aren’t any negative side effects at low doses, and I take a ton of other pills anyway, I’m gonna keep taking it. To hell with science!
#7. Topical minoxidil (Rogaine).
This is fairly effective, but it’s my least favorite because it’s annoying to use. I’ve tried it. You have to get your hands all messy rubbing it in every day, and it gets your hair all sticky and makes it more difficult to style. It’s also less effective than oral finasteride. I don’t personally use it anymore, but if you want to go all guerilla-style on your hair loss, go for it. Here’s a cheaper alternative to Rogaine that will do the exact same thing.
Things I DON’T recommend:
#1. Infrared helmets
There is a small amount of evidence showing that shining infrared light on your head can lead to hair growth. But it seems like this has only been shown in mice. There are infrared hats on Amazon, but they’re expensive as hell and I don’t really trust them.
#2. Topical finasteride
There is some evidence that topical finasteride may be effective. However, it’s totally unnecessary if you take oral finasteride (which you should definitely do!). It’s less effective than oral finasteride, and it’s not approved by the FDA.
#3. Castration
Apparently, castration does actually prevent you from losing any more hair. I won’t be going this route myself, but if you want to chop off your man-bits, that’s on you.
I hope this helps! Join me, my brothers, in the quest for long, luscious hair. And hey, why not join my mailing list too? 😏
