Hair loss treatments, compared fairly.

The unglamorous first step that makes every other choice informed. A proper look at your scalp, history and pattern — from a pharmacist, trichologist, or your GP where symptoms suggest something medical. Cost: modest. Risk: none. This is the step we offer here.

Licensed medicines exist for pattern hair loss — some available over the counter, some prescription-only. They're supported by decades of evidence, need ongoing use, and suit some people better than others. UK advertising rules rightly prevent naming prescription medicines here; what's appropriate for you is a conversation with a prescriber or pharmacist.

Injections of your own concentrated plasma into the scalp. Studies report improved density for some people with pattern hair loss; results vary and it's often best considered alongside, not instead of, established options. Minimally invasive, course-based. Our honest page on it.

Home-use caps and combs with some supportive evidence for pattern loss. Convenient; quality and consistency vary; months of regular use before judging. We don't sell them — included because you'll meet them while researching.

The surgical option: moving your own follicles to thinning areas. Effective in the right hands for the right candidate, and the biggest commitment on this page — cost, recovery, and the need for enough donor hair. Worth reading our pre-transplant guide before consulting any surgical clinic.

Fibres, scalp micropigmentation, and clever cutting. No clinical effect on follicles — and completely valid choices that suit many people better than any needle.

A legitimate option that clinics rarely mention. Hair change is normal; treating it is a choice, not an obligation. If you're content, you need no one's permission — least of all ours.

The NHS position is straightforward and worth knowing before you spend anything: most hair loss does not need treatment, because it is either temporary or a normal part of ageing. NHS treatment for pattern hair loss is generally not funded, since it is considered cosmetic. Where the NHS does step in is when hair loss might signal something else — sudden loss, patchy loss, loss with pain, scaling or illness — which is why a GP review comes first in those cases. That guidance is also the honest reason this page includes "doing nothing" as a real option.

There is no single most effective treatment, and any clinic naming one without examining you is selling rather than advising. Effectiveness depends entirely on the cause and the stage: licensed medication has the strongest evidence base for pattern hair loss, transplantation is the most definitive for suitable candidates with advanced loss, and PRP is considered as support where there is still active hair. For shedding driven by iron, thyroid, stress or a recent birth, the effective answer is treating that cause, not any clinic procedure. The honest first step is an assessment that tells you which of these you are dealing with.