Hairmaxxing: what the minoxidil and finasteride trend gets right and wrong
Young men are starting hair-loss drugs early and stacking them with dermarolling and oral minoxidil. Two drugs have decades of evidence; the trend's framing runs ahead of it.
Minoxidil works for female pattern hair loss. Finasteride, in three trials, did not
Cochrane pooled 47 randomised trials in 5,290 women. The drug most often named alongside minoxidil as first-line — spironolactone — had no randomised evidence, and the review asked for some.
Hair-loss drugs work. The trials measured hairs per square centimetre, not a full head
A network meta-analysis of 24 randomised trials ranks oral dutasteride first on 24-week hair density. The adverse-effect literature behind these drugs is separately, and seriously, contested.
Not all GLP-1 drugs carry the same hair-loss and hormone signals, six-drug data show
Semaglutide showed a sixfold reporting signal for polycystic ovary syndrome and a smaller but real alopecia signal. Dulaglutide and tirzepatide showed lower or no signal for the same reproductive events.
GLP-1 drugs and hair loss: semaglutide and tirzepatide carry the clearest signal
Pooling 24 studies out of 133 screened, researchers found hair shedding tied to rapid weight loss more than to the drugs directly — and a pattern that hits women disproportionately.