Prevention

Hair loss that is caused by medicines, stress, lack of protein or iron, or hair care may be prevented. Avoiding certain medicines, reducing stress, getting adequate protein and iron in your diet, and using hairstyles that don't damage your hair may reduce or prevent hair loss.

Inherited hair loss (androgenetic alopecia) cannot be prevented.

Home Treatment

Home treatment for hair loss includes hair care and hairstyling techniques that may help you cover thinning or bald spots on the scalp. This may be easier for women because inherited hair loss (androgenetic alopecia) causes a general thinning that is usually not as severe as it is in men. Hair sprays, dyes, and perms can help make the hair appear fuller.

In women with inherited hair loss, hair care and the occasional use of grooming products, hair sprays, hair color, teasing, permanents, or frequent washing won't increase hair loss. But if your hair loss is caused by hair care, then perms and dyes may contribute to more hair loss.

For both men and women, hair thinning and baldness increase the risk of sunburn and skin cancer on the scalp. When in the sun, wear a hat or use a sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or more to prevent sun damage to the scalp.

Medications

Medicines for hair loss can slow thinning of hair and increase coverage of the scalp by growing new hair and enlarging existing hairs. But they need to be taken continuously. If the medicines are stopped, any hair that has grown in will gradually be lost, and within 6 to 12 months your scalp will most likely appear the same as before treatment.

Hair Loss: Should I Take Medicine to Regrow Hair?

Medication choices

Medicines often used to treat inherited hair loss (androgenetic alopecia) include:

• Minoxidil. Minoxidil (Rogaine) is available without a prescription and is sprayed on and/or rubbed into the scalp twice a day.
• Finasteride. Finasteride (Propecia) is available by prescription and is taken once daily in pill form. Finasteride has not been proved effective in women and is not approved for women by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).² Women who are or may become pregnant should not take or handle crushed or broken tablets, because finasteride can cause birth defects.

Medicines used to treat alopecia areata, which is caused when the immune system attacks hair follicles, include:

• Corticosteroids injected into the scalp. The corticosteroid is injected many times about 1 cm (0.4 in.) apart every 4 to 6 weeks. This is the most common treatment in adults and is best used for treating patchy hair loss. Limited research reports that hair grows back at the site of injection in some people.³
• Corticosteroid ointments or creams you put on the scalp. There is little evidence that they cause hair growth when used alone.³ Corticosteroids may be used along with injected steroids or with other medicines such as minoxidil (Rogaine).
• Corticosteroids you take by mouth (oral). Although this does result in hair growth, it is rarely used because of the side effects of oral corticosteroids.
• Contact immunotherapy, which may be the most effective treatment for severe alopecia areata.³ A common medicine used is diphenylcyclopropenone (DPCP), which is "painted" on the scalp once a week at increasing strengths. The DPCP irritates the skin, making it itchy and scaly. This treatment is not widely available.
• Psoralen with ultraviolet A light (PUVA) therapy. For PUVA, a medicine called a psoralen is used to make the skin more sensitive to ultraviolet A (UVA) light. Then the skin is exposed to UVA light.

What to think about

If you are taking medicine for inherited hair loss, do not expect to regrow a full head of hair. Hair coverage is improved on the top of the head, but not on the forehead area. But when you stop taking these medicines, hair loss begins again.

Finasteride has not been proved effective in women and is not approved for women by the FDA.² Women who are or may become pregnant should not take or handle crushed or broken tablets, because finasteride can cause birth defects.