In the past, the only possible recourse for men and women who were losing their hair and weren’t happy about it was to wear ill-fitting, poorly designed wigs and hairpieces. Most opted to grin and bear it.
Today, things are different. Some men opt for transplants, a procedure in which a patch of skin with hair still growing from it is grafted onto the area that is balding. Hair transplants, however, are painful, and the grafts do not always “take.”
In recent years, the drug minoxidil has received a lot of attention for its ability to grow hair, but, as with transplants, the results have been mixed. Some people have also experienced unpleasant side effects from taking the drug, such as an upset stomach, elevated heart rate, and water retention.
Other treatments that are used to induce hair growth include the application of certain chemicals or cortisone preparations to the scalp. The theory behind the chemicals is that if the skin is irritated enough, it may produce hair where there is currently none. Regular use of cortisone has been shown to grow hair in some people as a side effect. But, again, these methods don’t always work, and the side effects can be unpleasant.
Sometimes, after trying everything that is rumored to “cure” baldness and having had no success, a person may simply decide to give in to the hair loss and accept it.
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