About 95% of the people who start losing their hair experience Andro Genetic Alopecia (AGA), commonly known as Male Pattern Hair Loss or Female Pattern Hair Loss. Pattern Hairloss is known to affect more than 40 million Men and more than 20 million Women in the USA. For the remaining 5% of people who suffer from hairloss, the cause(s) may include one of the other forms of hairloss.

In order to choose an effective solution for your hair loss problem, you need to better understand the type of hairloss you have and the cause of it. Both time and money spent are important. Don't be fooled into buying products that make claims which are not independently verified or that make exaggerated sucsess rate claims which are not proven by valid, independent - third party research studies.

There are lots of factors which can affect or cause hairloss. Some of these include heredity, diet, age, illness or sickness, health treatments, such as chemotherapy and prescription drugs which can cause hairloss as a side effect, hormonal changes, pregnancy & child-birth, hair styling practices and treatments, such as hot combs and straightening irons, and environmental factors. To learn more about hairloss, read the kinds and reasons of hairloss.

If you have a general question regarding HairGenesis products, you may contact Customer Service. If you have questions about hairloss and hair growth, you may also contact our Research Department. Your questions will be reviewed and we will respond appropriately as soon as possible.

Myth: Wearing hats or caps frequently can cause hairloss or more hairloss

Explanation: Wearing hats or caps do not cause hair loss. On the contrary, people sometimes wear hats to cover up noticeable hair loss.  The fact is, pattern hairloss, which is the most common form of hair loss which affects both Men and Women, has been scientifically shown to be the of a genetic (heredity) predisposition or susceptibility of certain hair follicles within a well-defined pattern on the scalp to specific hormonal changes of DHT in the body and on the scalp. As one starts to lose his / her hair, the rate of normal hair growth slows down, the length at which hair typically grows decreases and individual hair strands start to grow thinner in diameter. This is  what pattern hair loss is about, because hair within the affected scalp areas grows thinner and shorter over time, and then starts to fall out completely. Meanwhile, hair outside those areas remains generally unaffected. Hair that is thinning typically tends to have weaker hair roots in the scalp follicles. Therefore, when putting on or taking off a hat or cap, you should be careful not to pull or rub your rub, as that could cause such thinning hair to break or fall out needlessly.

Myth: Bad circulation in the scalp causes hair loss

Explanation: Scientific research studies on hairloss have essentially shown that blood circulation in the scalp remains unaffected, regardless of the health of scalp hair follicles below. The primary problem of pattern hair loss is the affect of circulating hormones, primarily Testosterone which is converted by the 5AR enzyme into harmful DHT.

Nevertheless, many well-known hair loss treatment products claim to address the hairloss problem and further even claim to reverse hair loss by increasing the flow of blood to the scalp and hair follicles.

The primary product in many of these hairloss remedies is Minoxidil. which was was marketed under the brand name Rogaine. Now there are multitudes of products which include Minoxidil in their "topical solotions", including Avacor, Hair Advantage, Follicare,  Kirkland, Provillus, Scalp Med. The fact is, Minoxidil was actually developed as a drug for patients with high blood pressure to help dilate blood vessels internally in the body. When applied topically to the scalp in a liquid form, such as in these hairloss treatment products, it tends to simply dilate blood vessels in the scalp. But it generally does not affect circulating DHT hormones, which are in the body or on the scalp, which still make their way to the scalp hair follicles and continue to cause pattern hairloss. While it is true that scalp hair follicles which are being affected by DHT in pattern hairloss tend to have constricted blood vessels going to the roots, that issue is not the cause of the hairloss, but rather an effect of the hairloss! Research studies have shown that it is the blocking of DHT from binding inside the hair follicles which can help to slow down, stop or even reverse the effects of pattern hairloss, not the dilating of blood vessels in the hair follicle roots. 

Myth: Bad diets and poor nutrition cause pattern hair loss

Explanation: While poor nutrition does affect one's general health, it does not cause pattern hair loss in and of itself. If this were true, then almost every homeless person would be bald. Instead, many poorly nourished people, whether homeless or not, have full heads of hair, despite years of such things as drug addiction, alcohol abuse and horrendously poor diets. And at the same time, while poor diet does not directly cause pattern hair loss, there are some foods which may affect the health of one's hair and in an indirect way, contribute to already existing pattern hairloss.

Common pattern hair loss, in Men and Women, is generally caused by three things: genetics (heredity), circulating hormones (ie: DHT), and age. Genetics gives us genes that cause the scalp hair follicles to be susceptible to the harmful affects of DHT. Circulating hormones, such as DHT, then trigger the onset and progression of the disease. Finally, age causes the hair disorder to manifest. In other words, ten year old children, even those whose scalp hair follicles are genetically pre-dispositioned to be affected by pattern hair loss later on in life, do not usually start to lose their hair until they reach their 20s, 30s or beyond.

Other types of hairloss can be caused by a variety of factors, individually or collectively. These other factors include the side affects of medications, health situations, stress and trauma, diet and nutrition and environmental toxins & pollutants. You can read more detailed information on various kinds and reasons of hairloss.