Hair Club's Extreme Hair Therapy

[The Pezman]

So it's no secret that on many counts, Hair Club is a crock. I've heard several horror stories regarding their wigs which are essentially plastered to patients' heads, and I want no part of it. Fortunately, I'm 22 and, though I've seen signs of thinning hair in the front for a couple of years, do not appear to have thinning hair at all. I'd like to keep it that way.

About a year ago I went to Hair Club, where they told me about Extreme Hair Therapy. They had their slick set of shampoos, lasers, and supplements, and when I told them I'd think about it, I went to my dermatologist, where she told me I could get the same products for much less.

HOWEVER...

The biggest difference between what my dermatologist and Hair Club were telling me was a matter of permanence. I believe Hair Club told me their therapy had had success in PERMANENTLY reversing the hair loss process - no continued use of shampoo and herbal supplements required. That last part is pretty important to me: if at all possible, I'd like to solve the problem and not continue to take medication every day for the rest of my life.

How would I do that? Is that something Hair Club can truly promise? Should I go in for another free consultation to ensure I understood them correctly?

[Lain]

Hey Pezman, nice to have you on the forum,

First of all personally I do not recommend Hair Club and their Extreme therapy since most of their approaches to grow hair / prevent hair from falling out simply don't work. I quote Dr Rassman:

"You should dissect each element of their EXT approach:

* Cleansers on the scalp do not do much
* Lasers, in my opinion do not work
* Lotions that contain minoxidil work just like minoxidil without the packaging
* Scalp massage feels good but doesn’t grow hair
* Vitamins have limited value in a person who is not vitamin deficient"

Source: http://www.baldingblog.com/2009/03/27/ext-from-hair-club/

2 things have been proven to grow hair: Minoxidil and Propecia. Yes Hair club is using them in their therapy. So why does one need this hellish expensive package from Hair Club when you can buy em in a pharamcy right around the corner? (Propecia needs prescription thou) Both of these medications have to be taken your whole life. Once you stop them your hair will starting falling out again. If Hair club says otherwise they should educate themselves probably better. However with one thing they are right: These herbal shampoos you don't have to use your whole life, because they hardly work in first place. Tada!

If you want to keep your hair Propecia in my eyes is the choice for you. I wouldn't even recommend Minxoxidil for you since your hair loss seems to be very minor from your telling.

If you have any more questions - Please feel free to ask!

[The Pezman]

Well, the extent of my current hair loss is hard to gauge. I guess if I can convincingly hide it it can't be that bad.

I guess I'm asking what kind of options or supplements might be available in order to make the effects of propecia stick. I'm hearing that hair transplants don't require continued ingestion of propecia because (I think) the follices are prepared ahead of time not to respond to DHT. Or something like that.

[Lain]

1) Look. Our body constantly produces DHT which causes hair roots to die. This means we must constantly do something about that. (for example: Take propecia) When you stop inhibiting DHT this means your hair roots will get attacked again. In fact our body gets more resistant against Propecia over time.

2) It is certainly not a bad idea that when you have a hair transplant to stick to Propecia. First of all having a hair transplant means you have some balding and you want to keep as much hair as possible. Secondly Propecia protects you from something which experts call "shock loss." The impact of DHT combined with the trauma from the surgery could accelerate balding in the recipient area. The new grafts which are placed are immune to DHT because they are from an area at the back of your head which is the so called permanent fringe. So for these grafts propecia would indeed be useless. If you want my not so professional advice: Once you start Propecia (assuming that money is not a big issue and that you have no evident side effects) you should continue it as long as... well more or less forever. There are many people who took it for years - stopped it - and had "catch up hair loss". This means all the hair Propecia protected dies in a very rapid time frame.

Ok I wrote a lot. Always be careful since I am not a real professional however have really read a lot. If something is totally wrong (which I highly doubt) Mark (the hair loss guru here) will correct me once he has a chance to look at this thread.

If something is confusing just ask and I will try to be clearer.

[Mark]

Well, the extent of my current hair loss is hard to gauge. I guess if I can convincingly hide it it can't be that bad.

I guess I'm asking what kind of options or supplements might be available in order to make the effects of propecia stick. I'm hearing that hair transplants don't require continued ingestion of propecia because (I think) the follices are prepared ahead of time not to respond to DHT. Or something like that.

That's sort of half true and half wrong. True in the sense that the hair transplanted from your donor area will likely not ever fall out, but false in the sense that it means that you should not take propecia. Quite the contrary. Lets say you had a new hairline transplanted and an inch behind it was your normal hair. If you were to stop taking propecia, it's quite possible (I should say probable) that your hair would fall out behind where the transplant was performed.

Staying on propecia is the best way we know of right now to prevent more hair from falling out after a hair transplant. It also helps to prevent shock loss as well.

-Mark