Lifehacks to Prevent Hair Loss That Actually Make It Worse – and What to Try Instead

You go to your social media feed and you realize: we are all slowly but surely going bald. Or at least we are panicking about it. Over nine hundred thousand videos under the hashtag about hair loss, where people desperately smear everything they found in the kitchen on their heads, believing that they are about to become the new Rapunzel, informs Ukr.Media.

As an editor who has to sift through tons of press releases about the latest “innovative” beauty products every day, I've been looking at this with a slight sense of nausea for a long time. Especially when I realize that half of these viral trends aren't just a money-spinner, but actually kill whatever hair is still on your head.

Let's take rosemary oil.

The Internet is just screaming that this is a safe natural replacement for minoxidil. And you know, they are partly right: in 2015 there was indeed a study that confirmed this. But no one reads beyond the bright headlines. Girls pour pure ether directly onto their skulls, without bothering with dilution. And then they sincerely wonder why their heads burn, turn red, severe contact dermatitis begins, and hair falls out with redoubled force.

Or pumpkin seed oil

Sounds like a beautiful eco-friendly victory over dihydrotestosterone—the same infamous hormone that makes our follicles capitulate.

The idea is completely scientific, but there is one caveat. For it to work, you need horse doses in capsules, about 400 milligrams a day, under strictly controlled conditions. Not two sad drops from a pipette on the top of your head. Most people just transfer the product, hoping for a miracle.

When it comes to at-home dermarolling, it physically hurts me.

Rolling a roller with needles over the skin is a medical procedure. In the clinic, it stimulates growth, yes. And in the bathroom, with unsterile needles, which were used to scrape the face yesterday, pressing them forcefully into the skin…

This is the shortest path to infections and cicatricial alopecia. This is the condition when a scar forms in place of a hair follicle, and nothing will ever grow there again. Literally killing your chances of having a thick head of hair with your own hands is a brilliant plan.

My personal favorite in the absurdity rankings is the talk about “training” your hair.

The idea is as simple as a door: if you walk around with a dirty head for a week, your skin will learn to produce less oil. It's as if the follicles have a mind and can be trained.

Sebum secretion is a matter of hormones and genetics, they don’t care whether you wash or not. But what they do care about is that under the layer of old sebum, the Malassezia fungus multiplies wonderfully. Inflammation, seborrheic dermatitis, dandruff and, as a result, even more intense hair loss begin.

You will, of course, save time in the morning, but you will lose your hair in chunks.

To be fair, there are some normal things among all this internet garbage.

Silk pillowcases are really good.

They won't save you from baldness, because they don't affect the roots in any way, but they do reduce friction. Your hair breaks and splits less at night. It's just a nice upgrade to your routine, not a cure.

Regarding red light therapy

Here, science says “yes”, low-intensity laser therapy has FDA approval. But there's a problem: those cheap plastic brushes from Chinese sites that are shown on TikTok have nothing to do with medicine. They simply don't have enough power to penetrate the skin to the follicle. Certified medical helmets are needed. Otherwise, you're just having a mini-disco on your head without any effect.

Well, plasma therapy, or PRP

Getting your own blood pricked is painful and expensive, but it really works for weakened follicles. Although you shouldn't be fooled here either. If a completely smooth area of skin has already appeared on your head and the follicles have died, no amount of plasma will resurrect them.

We want simple and cheap solutions so much that we are willing to do anything to avoid going to the doctor and getting tested. But the truth is that hair falls out silently, and treatment is boring and without any guarantee of results.

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