ShapiroMD-HairLoss

For many years, biotin has been considered beneficial for hair growth. Many people were taking biotin as a supplement with the hope that it would help the hair grow more effectively. More recent studies have demonstrated that the best way to get biotin is through dietary sources (i.e. eating it in food) as opposed to a supplement. It turns out that simply adding a biotin supplement is not as useful as eating it regular food sources, such as common foods rich in biotin - eggs, almonds, cauliflower, some cheeses, mushrooms among others.

Minoxidil is thought to increase blood supply to hairs, bringing much needed nutrients to maintain hair, and in some cases grow hair. It takes a few hours to be absorbed, that is why waiting 4 to 6 hours after applications, is of benefit to allow complete absorption. Daily or every other day hair washing is of benefit to keep hair clean and remove the normal cycle of Telogen, or resting, hairs. If you wash less often than daily, you will still lose the same amount of hairs (normal is 150 hairs per day), so you can add the days together to realize the catch up hair loss will end up being the same. This means if you wash every third day, then expect to lose 450 hairs in a normal hair loss cycle.

I think the ultimate goal of treating male pattern hair loss is to stop the loss so the person can retain their own hair. We will see that in our lifetime, most likely through stem cell or gene therapy.

I cannot say what people I do not know use. However, I know a person who sells glue for hair pieces and he says 80% of Hollywood has hair pieces for what that information is worth.

Cloning makes sense as the person will only have new hairs placed, without the need for the painful donor areas. New hairs placed typically do not cause pain. There will be an unlimited supply but there will be costs for cloning and storage, not to mention placement of the new hairs.