Fashion
Workable Alternativesto Baldness
Gary Callan
The other day I had a youngman in for a hair cut. During the cut, he expressed a concernover his prematurely receding hairline, and asked if therewas anything he could do. There are several options availabletoday, so I thought I'd make them the topic of this week's article.
There are literallythousands of products on the market that claim to make your hair'grow' thicker, longer, or whatever. There are, howeveronly two products approved by the United States Federal DrugAdministration as having shown evidence of growing 'new hair'.These are the topological form of Minoxidil and the drugPropecia. All of the others do not work.
Propecia has shownthe greatest amount of permanent new hair growth, and its useis growing (no pun intended). It is available by prescriptiononly.
Minoxidil is now availablewithout a prescription, but still requires constant use, or youloose what you've gained back, (actually described as peach-fuzz).
The most dramatic and byfar the most expensive 'cure' is a hair transplant. I have seenhundreds of examples of transplants, and most have been ridiculous.The scalp ends up looking like a 'Barbie doll's' hair. I haveseen a few excellent results recently. Modern transplants use'micro-grafts', where only one, two or three hairs at a time areimplanted. The finished look can be fantastic and undetectable.Unfortunately these can cost up to US$12,000 a session, and require3 or 4 sessions.
A viable option is whatis now collectively known as hair replacement systems. This includeswigs, toupees, weaves, and fusions. These can be either syntheticor human hair. The more expensive ones are actually very difficultto spot. The manufacturer can match your own hair type, colourand texture, perfectly. There are several ways to attach thesesystems that range from weaving (a la Hair Club for men) to gluing.There are even systems that place a 'new' scalp with a very reallooking hair growth pattern. These are very realistic and veryexpensive.
There are still (unfortunately)some very bad wigs available. These can be spotted a mile off(by a half blind man in a blizzard), and require no more commentfrom me.
The last resort is of coursethe every popular comb over. Apparently you can tell.
Until next week
Gary