How to Evaluate Hair Loss Products

There are so many hair loss products out there.   How do I know what works and what doesn’t?

If you are looking for a cut and dry answer, I encourage you to read the following Hair Loss Q&A Blog: What works as a hair loss treatment and what doesn’t?

I did, however, want to take the time to present the criteria I use in order to draw a conclusion as to what works and what doesn’t.    Keep in mind that this is not a perfect methodology, but it can act as a guide for you as you are evaluating new treatments.   How do we know which ones are potentially legitimate?   How do we know which ones are “Scams”?

I often make decisions about a product’s effectiveness based on a combination of three things:  

• Personal experience (Products I’ve tried before)
• Scientfic evidence (Is there scientific evidence that the product may be of some benefit to fight against hair loss?)
• Public evidence (visual proof – What are other hair loss sufferers saying?).

I think one must combine these three pieces in order to obtain a well-balanced picture. That doesn’t mean that all three have to exist in order to conclude it works. After all…what works for one might not work for another.

Personal Experience:

Let’s face it…most of us have been duped before and have tried a number of miracle cure products.   Ultimately, we may not be able to conclude for sure if a product works for everyone based on personal experience, but we surely can conclude whether it works for us!

Scientific Evidence:

What do the research studies say?   Are there even research studies out there?    What were the  test  scenerios like?   Are the results convincing?   This is what should lead us to consider the public evidence.

Public Evidence

Please note that I’m not talking about commercialized claims to success.   I’m also not talking about public testimonies on commercial websites.   But what are real hair loss sufferers saying about this product?   Have you seen any visual  proof that the product works?    For example, you may want to search for a hair loss product on our hair restoration discussion forum to see what our members are saying.  

Be careful, however, not to believe everything you read.     Spammers and solicitors alike can meander around public disucssion forums looking for any opportunity to promote their hair loss scam product.   Instead, evaluate the evidence before you.   Did the member post photos of their progress?   Is this a well respected member of the online community?  

Remember:   If there is CONVINCING evidence out there that a hair loss product works for some…it might just work for you!

Putting it all together!

In order to determine whether a hair loss product has any merit, I’d say that public and scientific evidence should be considered the highest.   This is what will ultimately help you to consider trying it.   Based on personal experience alone, one can only conclude whether or not a given hair loss product works for the one who tried it.   A  positive personal experience, however,  would overrule the other two criteria  whereas a negative experience doesn’t necessarily discount the other two.

The goal is for personal experience to eventually become public evidence so that consumers can be aware of what works and what doesn’t!

Bill
Associate Publisher of the Hair Transplant Network and the Hair Loss Learning Center
View my Hair Loss Weblog

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