Introduction

These days there are so many advertisements offering “help” for men with thinning hair – these usually come in the form of tablets, lotions and potions with medically sounding names and heavily exaggerated claims to help regrow lost hair. Most are not effective at all in the fight against hereditary hair loss, but those men who are are self conscious about their hair will try most products in the hope that it improves their situation. And why is it that they are always endorsed by former cricketers?

Aside from these, surgery is available in the form of hair transplants – made even more prominent recently by a certain Mr Rooney. This process involves harvesting strips of scalp about 1-1.5 x 15cm in size from the middle section of the back of the head (where hair tends to have stronger growth), or by a technique called FUE, which involves using a punch to extract individual hair follicles less than a millimetre in diameter and then transplanting them into the scalp. Even though the results can look impressive, it sounds more like a torture technique to me, whilst also being expensive and it doesn’t last forever. You would need to be prepared to keep re-investing over the long term – which could end up costing you tens of thousands over the years.

There is also a newer hair loss treatment called scalp micro pigmentation or Micro Hair Tattooing. This technique involves tattooing hair stubble onto the scalp resembling closely shaved hair. I have actually seen one example of this and was impressed with the result, but it does means having a hair cut that was sported by Action man circa 1973. It is very similar to semi permanent make-up, which is a treatment where a specially trained beautician thickens or recreates eyebrows and eyelashes by tattooing individual hairs, that look surprisingly realistic.