Helen Avery vividly recalls the day she felt a cold breeze on the back of her head.
She touched her scalp and discovered a shocking development: a bald spot the size of a tennis ball.
Avery, then 40 years old, had survived breast cancer just a year before.
illustration of comb positioned like an umbrella, with pills and bottles of beauty products “raining” down around it on a blue background that is reminiscent of strands of hair.
She had lost her hair during chemotherapy but it had all grown back.
There were no patches, no noticeable thinning.
But by the following year, she was losing it.
Over several months, things got worse and worse.
At one point, Avery says she lost nearly half her hair.
I completely panicked, she recalls.
Does this mean Ill have no hair in two months?, I thought.
I had no sense of how bad it could get.
Do I need this treatment, that treatment?
Theres just an overwhelming amount of products out there all making similar claims.
Whats good and whats not?
Avery, now 47, isnt alone in her marketplace frustrationor her pain.
People who find themselves losing their hair often experience anxiety, embarrassment, depression, and even social withdrawal.
It doesnt help that we have different expectations around aging and hair than we used to.
Compare the cast ofAnd Just Like That…to that ofThe Golden Girlsboth shows featuring women in their 50s.
[The actors today] look so much younger even though theyre the same age, Romanowski says.
Our perceptions have really changed.
But hair thins with each passing decade.
In fact, more than half of women will experience some form of visible hair loss in their lifetime.
And its probably become even more prevalent in the last few years, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2020s have beenhardand uniquely challenging for women.
Naturally, the hair industry responded.
This abundance of choice is relatively recent.
Hair is the next frontier, Dr. Mesinkovska tells SELF.
But now our Instagram feeds are being flooded by competitorsmany of which might feel a bit more sus.
you’re free to just say it was clinically tested.
OTC supplements are a marked example of these misleading tactics.
The same goes for trendy topical solutions likerosemary oil.
You know how kale could cure everything a couple of years ago?
At first glance, rosemary oildoeslook promising.
A promising ingredient would have likely been more thoroughly studied to replicate results and confirm efficacy.
In addition, the actual hair count increase was minimal, with before and after photos nearly indistinguishable.
Most of the evidence is anecdotal, says Dr. Scott, who doesnt think rosemary oil offers significant improvement.
And yet its often touted as clinically studied, without much further clarification.
Similar to supplements, its also important to read the fine print on a topical product.
What woman is buying this shampoo to reduce hair loss due to breakage from brushing?
So be sure to read the teensy, tiny print at the bottom or back of a product.
Turns out it might not really be able to do what you (reasonably!)
People could say, Oh, well, it reduces your stress hormones.
But its hard to know necessarily if it does that on a molecular, cellular level.
But whats true of one equipment might not be true of another.
A five-star review, no matter how effusive, is no substitute for a clinical trial.
People might give a glowing testimonial for many reasons.
For some, the product might actually work.
But others might simply be going through hair growth fluctuations.
We tend to lose more hair during the late fall months, for example.
(With telogen effluvium, hair generally grows back after three to six months.)
Wed like to believe our products work.
But the dark side of optimism is gullibility.
Consumers generally dont want to think that they were suckers.
They dont want to think they wasted their money, Romanowski says.
And if your hair loss progresses, you definitely shouldnt delay seeing a health care provider.
Time is of the essence for diagnosis, Dr. Mesinkovska says.
Remember that hair loss is not your fault, especially when youre dealing with telogen effluvium.
Unfortunately, there are no miracle cures, despite the impressive claims and sleek packaging taking over our feeds.
The treatment that the test of time has shown to be effective is minoxidil, Dr. Scott says.
It has the most evidence.
But not even minoxidil will work for everyone.
And if that technology was available, that would be a drug product, Romanowski adds.
It wouldnt be a cosmetic product.
After Goldilocks-ing her way through the market, Avery eventually settled on Rogaine.
It took a little over four months for her bald spot to slowly fill in.
I needed to have a lot of patience, she admitted.
Chasing perfectionor even how you looked at 25can be exhausting, if not futile.
Avery tries to find satisfaction in whatever small gains shes seen from Rogaine over the last few years.
I dont feel compelled to keep trying and getting it better and better than it is, she reflects.
Im pretty happy with where it is now.
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