stop hair loss

Dutasteride or Propecia? Many male hair loss sufferers are asking themselves this question before they decide on their hair loss pill. Dutasteride and Propecia (finasteride) are both antiandrogens, so they  both work by the same mode of action but dutasteride is supposed to be more powerful from the two in reducing serum levels of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) than finasteride because it is a dual 5-alpha-reductase inhibitor. However, finasteride alone seems to be powerful enough as it reduces the serum levels of DHT by 90%. Propecia (finasteride) has been approved for treating hair loss in the US in the late 1990s and since then it has been accepted as a hair loss pill in many other countries of the world. Dutasteride has completed phase III clinical trials as a treatment for male pattern baldness recently and results are pending. They are largely expected to show that dutasteride is a more potent hair regrowth treatment than Propecia and many believe that dutasteride will prove to be more effective especially in the frontal area of the scalp. The main weakness of dutasteride is the fact that it stays in human body for much longer than finasteride although preliminary study results showed its side effects to be no more severe than those from finasteride. Dutasteride is the main active substance of Avodart, the drug used to treat enlarged prostates, and you can therefore buy generic Avodart in many existing online pharmacies already now. Dutasteride, though not yet approved in the US for treating hair loss, has been already approved for such purpose in some other countries.

Although the hair loss industry generates worldwide revenues of several billion US dollars, there seem to be only a few options proven to deliver measurable results. One such option is hair transplantation. Hair transplant surgery alone is estimated to make revenues of three billion dollars from the nearly 300,000 hair transplants that are expected to be performed around the world this year. In addition to that, there are billions of dollars to be made annually from the sales of diverse hair loss products. But how many of them really work? One would not be exaggerating to suggest that 90% of all non-surgical, hair loss treatments are a scam. Having said that, billions of dollars are spent every year wastefully on useless rubbish. One thing is wasting money and the other no less important thing is losing the battle against time while the hair loss continues to advance, most likely becoming irreversible. But how can you tell which treatment is a waste of time and money without trying it out?

Once you have pinpointed the product you are considering trying, check the independent consumer reviews to get a basic understanding of its effectiveness. Do not use testimonials at the manufacturer’s website, they are most likely fake. It is best-advised to use references from large independent websites such as Folica, Amazon, GreyHairLoss or RateItAll and crosscheck with reviews at various hair loss forums. Since it is difficult to recognise right away who is telling the truth and who is cheating, you will need to come back and check again here once you have done your research and gained a better understanding of the product and its individual components.

As a second step, you should look at the composition of the remedy you are considering buying. If you cannot find the list of individual active substances, ask the manufacturer to provide it. If they fail to provide you the required breakdown, consider it a scam. You need to check the stories behind active substances and if you wish to get a really good insight into their science, you must verify references to clinical trials and peer studies. This is probably the most difficult and the most time-consuming part of this job.

The third thing you will need to do is to check the manufacturer’s claims of effectiveness. If they sound unsubstantiated and too good to be true or the before and after pictures look unrealistic, be careful. And lastly, if the product you are looking at is promoted on the web, as most of them these days are, check on the site and in the whois directory who is behind the website promoting it. If the name of the owner is hidden behind a whois guard, apply a deep discount to your valuation. Any person or company that truly believes in its product will be proud to have its name and address attached to that product.

Though these tips may not be completely exhaustive, they should help you in assessing the potential of the hair loss product you are considering buying and might save you frustration with wasting time and money on useless rubbish. If you have tried certain hair loss products already and want to share you experience, there are several places where you can have your word spread and heard by other hair loss sufferers, such as the aforementioned Amazon, Folica, GreyHairLoss and RateItAll, to name just a few.

Alopecia areata happens to be an unpredictable hair disease affecting about two percent of the world’s population and is the second most common type of hair loss after hereditary baldness. It is often called spot baldness or patch baldness due to its patchy, balding pattern. In severe cases, it can affect the whole scalp (alopecia totalis) or the entire body (alopecia universalis). It is not known what causes alopecia areata. It is thought to be an autoimmune disease triggered by a person’s autoimmune system, which decides to attack its own hair follicles. Sometimes the hair grows back a few years later and stays and sometimes it falls out again. Although there is no treatment for alopecia areata that works completely, some treatments have been proven to improve this condition. The most popular treatment option, which does not require a doctor’s prescription, is topical minoxidil, such as Rogaine. It can be used alone or in combination with other medicinal treatments that will be discussed later.

The best known prescription treatments for alopecia areata are corticosteroid shots, injected straight into the bald spot, and steroid gels and creams. Corticosteroid injections are a more effective but also the more painful option of the two. The objective of this approach is to suppress the autoimmune reaction but it has been proven to work only on small bald spots. Another common treatment for small bald spots, which is believed to affect the autoimmune reaction, is the application of topical anthralin. Anthralin is a tar-like substance used to treat psoriasis.

Topical immunotherapy is the most common form of treatment for extensive alopecia areata. It employs an immunosuppressant such as cyclosporine that is applied to the skin to cause a skin reaction similar to mild eczema, which in some cases leads to hair re-growth. This method is also the most radical form of treatment, causing an array of negative side effects.

Another existing treatment for extensive alopecia areata is PUVA, which stands for "psoralen plus ultraviolet A radiation", consisting of a topical or oral application of psoralen, followed by ultraviolet radiation treatment. This method is better tolerated than topical immunotherapy but is also less effective.

A recently conducted study with sulfasalazine also spells some promise for patients with severe cases of alopecia areata. Sulfasalazine is an anti-inflammatory medication used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and is hoped to be soon used to treat alopecia areata.

This is the list of the most commonly prescribed medicinal treatments for alopecia areata. There obviously is a number of other alternative therapies that are claimed to improve this condition and do not require a doctor’s visit. Consumers should be aware that none of such products has ever been clinically shown to be effective in treating alopecia areata and such claims are possible only because these products are not regulated pharmaceuticals but non-regulated cosmetics.

At this moment, there are only two medicinal treatments that have been approved by the FDA in the US (Food and Drug Administration) for treating hair loss - topical minoxidil (trade name Rogaine/Regaine) and oral finasteride (Propecia). Topical minoxidil is suitable for both sexes, whereas finasteride can only be prescribed to male patients. Minoxidil is a vasodilator, originally used to treat high blood pressure, which was later found to stimulate hair growth when applied topically to the scalp. Finasteride is an antiandrogen that was first used to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), also known as prostate enlargement. It acts by inhibiting conversion of the male hormone testosterone to the follicle-harming metabolite dihydrotestosterone (DHT). The discovery of finasteride’s positive effects on hair growth led to finding the true cause of hereditary baldness, which are the harmful attacks of DHT on our hair follicles. Since making this discovery, a quest for other alternative DHT blockers has begun, especially amongst antiandrogen drugs and herbs that have, in the past, been used to treat urinary problems.

Dutasteride (brand name Avodart) is an antiandrogen drug similar to finasteride in its chemical structure and mode of action and has been studied extensively for treating hair loss. It has recently completed phase III clinical testing for efficacy and safety in the treatment of male pattern baldness but the study results have not been yet released. Like finasteride it is also used for treating BPH. Dutasteride is believed by many to be a more powerful hair loss drug than finasteride but also with more severe side effects.

Flutamide (trade name Eulexin) is a very strong antiandrogen used to treat prostate cancer. It works by binding to the androgen receptors and thus competing with DHT. Oral use of flutamide can cause serious side effects but it is believed that topical applications might have less adverse side effects and could be, in the future, used to treat hereditary hair loss. More research is needed to verify such claims.

Spironolactone (trade name Aldactone) is another antiandrogen medication that works by binding to androgen receptors, competing with DHT. It is used in women to treat acne, hair loss and excess body hair and although there are some generic topical applications for the treatment of male pattern baldness which contain spironolactone, it has never been approved to treat hair loss in men and should better be avoided. For women, spironolactone can be considered as a reasonable alternative to the men’s best hair-loss pill, finasteride, which cannot be used in women.

As has been mentioned earlier, following the discovery of DHT attacks on hair follicles being the true cause of hereditary hair loss, herbalists started looking for possible natural alternatives to finasteride among plants that have been traditionally used to treat urinary problems and, more specifically, enlarged prostates.

Saw palmetto has been used for decades to treat prostate enlargement and it is one of the few plants used in natural remedies that have been subjected to some sort of scientific research in regards to their potential for treating BPH. Its supporters assume that it works by inhibiting the conversion of testosterone into prostate and follicle-harming DHT but no study has yet confirmed this assumption. No clinical research has ever been conducted on saw palmetto’s effects on hair loss. Despite that, saw palmetto is widely used by thousands of hair loss sufferers around the world as a safe natural alternative to finasteride.

Extract from the bark of the evergreen tree pygeum africanum is another popular herbal ingredient found in natural hair-loss treatments and many herbalists believe it is more potent in treating hair loss than saw palmetto. Its rise to fame also comes from the general assumption that this plant, thought to be beneficial for treating prostate enlargement, should be also effective in treating hair loss. Pygeum africanum has been less well studied than saw palmetto and it has never been used in any clinical hair-loss study.

The third most popular herbal substance used in natural hair-loss cures is nettle root extract. This herbal drug is derived from the root of the stinging nettle, a popular healing plant found in temperate and subtropical zones of the northern hemisphere. Its use in natural hair-loss remedies also stems from the assumption that it is supposed to help shrink enlarged prostates and is thus believed to inhibit the conversion of testosterone to DHT. Like the two aforementioned herbal extracts, nettle has never been used in any clinical hair-loss study.

This list of hair-loss drugs and herbal extracts that are believed to mimic the actions of finasteride, the only approved pill for hair loss, is not exhaustive. There are many other ingredients, mostly of natural origin, that claim the ability to block DHT and thus reverse hair loss. However, no clinical proof exists that any herb contained in the natural remedies promotes new hair growth. Whether you decide to try a commercial herbal remedy or just one or two herbs on their own, keep in mind that, besides there being no guarantee of their effectiveness, no daily dosage has been established and side effects might occur, despite the general belief that herbal hair-loss remedies are safe and free of them. In addition, it is not advised to try any of the aforementioned medicinal substitutes to finasteride without first consulting your doctor. To find more information on the existing hair loss treatments and a reliable source to buy finasteride online, please visit the author’s website dedicated to educating the public on treating hair loss and early gray hair and use it to share your own experiences with the hair loss or grey hair products you have used.

Every hair loss newbe starting to conduct his own research into the most effective hair loss treatments has got one thing in the back of his mind – to find a pill that would be harmless in terms of its potential side effects but effective in regrowing lost hair. Topical applications are less desirable due to uncomfort of using them let alone hair transplantation. By the time he gets to the next stage of identifying the most suitable treatment he understands that a topical application would be a necessary component of any hair regrowth strategy. It is only after many hours of tedious hair loss research and dissapointnents with some ineffective treatments that he acknowledges the fact that hair transplantation is the only way of restoring his old glory naturally.

So let’s cut the long story short – why don’t we realise right away that the only way is the proven hard way. The best that the hair restoration science has to offer today are two FDA approved medications for maintaining and in some lucky individuals also regrowing some of their lost hair and hair transplantation. Hair transplantation or hair surgery is at the moment the ony ultimate method of restoring lost hair due to the hereditary factors. Hair transplantation has many limitations though. It is not suitable for alopecia areata patients, it does not work too well for women who are usually suffering from diffuse form of hair loss and it is not suitable for patients who have thin hair in the back of their head. However, for the most male patients hair restoration, abstracting from the pain and the cost involved, is the ultimate hair restoration option available today as transplanted hair is permanent; it is your own genetic material and therefore looks natural and feels like your own. And it can cover your bald area in a few weeks, which no other permanent treatment can achieve.

Medicinal hair loss treatments happen to be the only clinically proven options to effectively treat hair loss. Despite this fact they are often being avoided by hair loss patients in their fear that these substances are causing negative side effects. As a result many hair loss sufferers will rather use some freely available though unproven alternative treatment than visit their doctor and have some medical treatment prescribed.

The best known medicinal treatment that is suitable for both men and women is minoxidil. Minoxidil is the name of the active substance but most people better know it as Rogaine, which was the first product that used minoxidil to treat hair loss. Minoxidil is now freely available in pharmacies around the world and in the most countries it does not require doctor’s prescription.

Finasteride (trade name Propecia) is probably the most effective hair loss treatment for men but also the one blamed for causing numerous side effects. Some stories of its negative side effects have been vastly exaggerated in order to convince the consumer to buy alternative treatments. However, the truth is that finasteride can cause sexual side effects in about 1% of the patients. Dutasteride is finasteride’s closest relative and it is currently in Phase III clinical testing for treating hair loss in men and it is also thought to cause similar negative side effects as finasteride. Both finasteride and dutasteride are prescription medicals.

What finasteride is to balding men, spironolactone is to women suffering from hereditary hair loss. It is also an anti-androgen drug like the two previous drugs but this one can only be used by women due to its strong feminizing effects on males. Flutamide is another strong anti-androgen that is occasionally used to treat hair loss in women and should be avoided by male patients. Spironolactone and flutamide are prescription drugs.

The list of other medicinal hair loss treatments that can be prescribed to treat hair loss includes superoxide-dismutase, copper-peptides, fluridil, aminexil, alfatradiol, etc but none of these drugs has been approved by the FDA for treating hair loss so far though some clinical proof of their efficacy exists.

For many women dying their hair has become a part of their monthly routine. Some men have resorted to dying their hair too, but most of them are looking for less recognizable alternatives, such as progressive hair colorants. Progressive hair colorants work gradually by changing the hair color slowly for several days after they have been applied, which makes the change less noticeable and allows the user to control how much grey he/she leaves untreated. One thing that both types of products - conventional hair dyes and progressive hair colorants - have in common is that all of them contain chemicals that can present a potential health risk to their users.

Both, hair dyes and progressive hair colorants work by a chemical reaction involving the components of the colorant and also the oxygen in the air. The principal difference between the two is that the chemical reaction in conventional hair dyes lasts only for a few minutes while the substance is being applied to the hair versus working slowly for several days in progressive hair colorants. The chemicals that fuel these reactions are usually toxic and can trigger allergic reactions.

PPD, which is an acronym for p-phenylenediamine, is believed to be the leading cause of hair color allergic reactions with ammonia, hydrogen peroxide, diaminobenzene and, to a lesser extent, also metallic compounds said to account for their fair share, too. Metallic compounds such as lead acetate and bismuth citrate are found mainly in progressive hair colorants whereas PPD, ammonia, hydrogen peroxide and diaminobenzene are typical of conventional hair dyes. One of the newer molecules used in progressive hair colorants is 5, 6-dihydroxyindoline that is sometimes described as the best option amongst the chemical molecules contained in grey hair coloring products but this organochemical substance has also been found to cause allergic reactions.

Natural hair dyes might appear to many to be a healthy alternative to traditional, hair coloring products. Unfortunately, the natural hair dyes are no stranger to causing allergic reactions either and were recently found to be even more allergenic than most chemical products. Therefore, when choosing hair coloring agents you should always consider the potential health risks as most of them contain substances that can cause poisoning if used inappropriately or can lead to severe allergic reactions. You should always use a patch test before applying any such product and closely follow the application guidelines in order to minimize exposure to potentially harmful substances.

Hair loss can be treated by different means but it is medicinal pills and topicals that spring to most peoples’ minds as the options holding the greatest promise. There are also other available treatment options, such as surgical as well as non-surgical hair replacement, but to date only oral and topical medicinal treatments have been proven to reduce and reverse hair loss naturally. Hair transplantation, though providing by far the best cosmetic results, cannot slow or reverse the balding process. Natural and herbal hair loss treatments seek to mimic medicinal treatments in their mode of action but their effectiveness in treating hair loss has never been confirmed in any significant clinical study and many of them are associated with hair scams.

The only two medicinal treatments that have been approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration in the US) for treating hair loss are topical minoxidil (trade name Rogaine) and oral finasteride (Propecia). These two hair loss drugs have been also approved by national health supervisory authorities in many other countries. Topical minoxidil is suitable for both sexes, whereas finasteride can only be prescribed to male patients. Minoxidil is a vasodilator, initially designed to treat high blood pressure, which was later found to stimulate hair growth when applied topically to the scalp. Its exact mechanism of action is not known.

Finasteride is an antiandrogen drug that was originally applied to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), also known as prostate enlargement. It acts by inhibiting conversion of the male hormone testosterone to the follicle harming didydrotestosterone (DHT). The discovery of finasteride’s positive effects on hair growth led to identifying the true cause of hereditary baldness, which are the harmful attacks of DHT on our hair follicles. Since making this discovery, a quest for other alternative DHT inhibitors has begun, especially amongst antiandrogen drugs and herbs that have, in the past, been used to treat urinary problems.

Dutasteride (trade name Avodart) is an antiandrogen drug similar to finasteride and has been studied extensively for treating baldness in men. It is currently undergoing phase III clinical testing. It has been approved for treating BPH and is thus available in pharmacies in many countries around the world. Although it has not yet been approved for hair loss by any national health supervisory authority, it is being prescribed by some clinics and doctors to male patients who no longer respond to finasteride. Dutasteride is believed by many to be a more powerful hair loss drug than finasteride but it is associated with causing more severe side effects.

Flutamide (trade name Eulexin) is a very strong antiandrogen used to treat prostate cancer. It works by binding to the androgen receptors and thus competing with follicle harming DHT. Oral use of flutamide can cause serious side effects but it is thought that topical applications might have less adverse side effects and could be, in the future, used to treat hereditary hair loss. More research is needed to verify such claims.

Spironolactone (trade name Aldactone) is another antiandrogen drug that works by binding to androgen receptors, competing with DHT. It is used in women to treat acne, hair loss and excess body hair and although there are some generic topical applications for treatment of male pattern baldness containing spironolactone, it has never been approved to treat hair loss in men and should better be avoided despite the fact that spiro cream is used by some male patients with some degree of success.

Aminexil, was developed by L’Oreal to treat baldness in men and women and its molecule is very similar to that of minoxidil. Its mechanism of action is not exactly known and it is believed to be a weaker weapon in the fight against hair loss than minoxidil. It is usually recommended to women who are pregnant or breastfeeding as a safer treatment option than minoxidil.

The most promising novel drug under development is called NEOSH101. It happens to be in phase II clinical trials and is supposed to be a hair growth stimulant, distantly related in its actions to minoxidil. Although not expected to become an ultimate cure for baldness, it could improve the chances of hair loss sufferers of maintaining and even regrowing some of their lost hair.

This list of medicinal treatments for hair loss is not exhaustive. There are some other drugs that are believed to help treat hereditary baldness, such as superoxide dismutase, ketoconazole, alfatradiol, fluridil, etc. but none of them has ever been proven in any serious clinical study to promote hair growth and further studies will be needed to evaluate their effects on hair loss. Therefore, for the time being, minoxidil and finasteride remain the two main weapons in the fight against genetically-determined hair loss conditions in male patients whereas spironolactone and minoxidil are considered to be the best medicinal treatments for female patients.

When talking about non-surgical hair replacement it is hair systems and hair loss concealers that spring to most peoples’ minds. Various types of hair systems such as full wigs, hairpieces, toupees, hair extensions and weaves can look very authentic and have been used for ages to cover bald spots and typically with good rates of success. However, their traditional weaknesses are high maintenance costs and, in many situations, the discomfort of wearing them. Hair loss concealers on the other hand have been around for a much shorter period of time and have often been looked down upon for being incapable of withstanding adverse external conditions and for appearing unnatural. This no longer appears to be true as many of them have dramatically improved recently, both in terms of their authentic appearance and their resistance.

There three existing types of hair loss concealers include those that simply paint your scalp to reduce the contrast between your hair colour and the colour of your scalp, then there are hair thickeners that thicken your hair by coating and penetrating the hair and trapping moisture and volume-building proteins inside the hair shaft and, lastly, there are concealers that apply microfibers that cling to your hair like branches to the trunk of a tree, increasing the hair density. Some products combine two of the aforementioned approaches and paint your scalp and thicken your hair at the same time. All of these products come in various applications, such as a powder, cream or a spray. Hair loss concealers do not contain any active substance that would fight hair loss but some of them allow you to continue with a topical hair loss treatment such as minoxidil.

Microfiber-based hair loss concealers can be often applied in as little as 30 seconds versus a minimum of five minutes needed for hair thickeners. However, microfibers are less water-resistant and it can be quite tricky to apply them precisely and, therefore, they are not very suitable for creating an authentic-looking frontal hairline. Their greatest benefit is that they are unrecognisable in your hair, even with a very close inspection. Hair thickeners, especially those that also colour your scalp, are extremely water-resistant and excellent for frontal hairlines but they take longer to apply. But they cover your scalp with a layer of colouring substance, which makes it hard to apply any topical hair loss treatment. Their greatest weakness in comparison to microfibers is that in direct sunlight it can become visible to the sharp eye that the scalp has been painted.

The common drawback of all types of products for concealing hair loss is the limited choice of available shades to match everybody’s hair colour. Some hair loss sufferers use a combination of two products simultaneously to overcome the weaknesses of individual products and to achieve the most authentic shade and appearance. Usually a combination of a hair thickener and a micro-fibrous concealer is used. The results of such combinations are often excellent. If you decide to try any such combinations, make sure that you apply the scalp-painting, hair loss thickener first and then use the micro-fibres to mask the remaining imperfections. There are many products in all three categories of hair loss concealers and you may need to test a number of them in order to identify those that best match you hair colour and style of application.

Hair loss can be caused by a variety of factors but heredity is the number one reason why men and women lose their mane. Hereditary hair loss in men and women has the same main cause, which is a metabolite of the male hormone testosterone, called dihydrotestosterone (DHT) attacking and killing our hair follicles. DHT is also present in the female body. Men and women lose their hair not because of increased levels of DHT in their bodies but due to the susceptibility of their hair follicles to DHT attacks, although the exact mechanism and reasons why certain hairs, mostly those on the top of the head, are more vulnerable to such attacks are not yet know.

The principal difference between the male and female form of hereditary baldness is in its shape. The male form has a characteristic horseshoe pattern whereas the female form is usually a diffuse thinning across the entire scalp and is therefore less easily-recognised. The female form of hereditary hair loss is, in its form, practically indistinguishable from hair loss caused by various other factors. The second most common reason for a woman to lose her hair is hormonal imbalances during and after pregnancy or menopause. Such changes are typically of a temporary nature and so also is the hair loss, although post-menopausal hair loss is in most cases permanent.

When it comes to treating hair loss in women there are certain specifics. First, most females do not make very good candidates for hair transplant surgery due to their diffuse thinning pattern, which makes it impossible to identify the hair that will be resistant to future miniaturisation. Secondly, finasteride, which is one of the only two FDA-approved hair loss treatments available today, cannot be used on women and neither can dutasteride, which is its closest and assumedly yet more powerful relative. Rogaine (generic name minoxidil) is the second FDA-approved hair loss treatment and its approved concentration for women is only 2% versus 5% for men. However, many doctors recommend their female patients use male formulations of minoxidil, with a concentration of 5%. Aminexil is a molecule similar to minoxidil and it is usually recommended to women who are pregnant or breastfeeding as a safer option than minoxidil.

Although some anti-androgens such as finasteride or dutasteride cannot be prescribed to women, there are other anti-androgen medications that can be effectively used to treat female baldness. Spironolactone (trade name Aldactone) and cyproterone acetate (used in contraceptives such as Diane 35, Diane 50 and Ginette 35) are antiandrogens most commonly used to treat female pattern hair loss.

Another treatment with satisfactory rates of success is topical estrogen solutions such as Crinohermal, which use a female hormone, estradiol, as their main active ingredient. Estradiol is capable of inhibiting the conversion of testosterone into follicle-harming DHT. Hormone replacement therapy is another hormonal treatment suitable for women at menopause, with estrogens and progesterone pills and creams being the most common forms of treatment. Estrogen levels in the body decline with time. As women enter the menopause, estrogen levels decline and thus more of the male hormone testosterone is then available to be converted into follicle-harming DHT.

The above list of female hair loss treatments is not exhaustive, though. There are a number of other remedies that are often claimed to help promote hair growth in women, such as alfatradiol, ketoconazole, fluridil, flutamide, as well as different substances of natural origin. Despite the fact that there are female patients who will swear by some of these treatments, none of them has ever been sufficiently clinically studied, let alone approved by any major national health supervisory authority as a treatment for female hair loss and the claims of their guaranteed effectiveness should be taken with a grain of salt.