Your coffee may be doing more than helping you stay awake during that morning meeting.

Caffeine, whether it’s found in your coffee or your shampoo may help with hair loss. It helps keep your body awake and alive whenever you need a little boost — and it seems to do the same for your hair! The most common cause of hair loss in both men and women, androgenic alopecia, is caused by DHT- a derivative of testosterone. Some people’s hair is more sensitive to DHT than others. DHT binds to your hair follicles, prevents them from getting vital nutrients, and eventually shrinks them. Ultimately, it may kill the follicles.

Two studies caffeine may be able to prevent these effects.

Most people get their caffeine from food or drinks like coffee, tea and chocolate. Consuming too much caffeine may lead to nervousness, insomnia, and tremors. A 2007 study showed that applying it directly to the scalp may help with hair loss. Either way, it might to make its way to your hair follicles where it could possibly protect the hair from the damage caused by DHT.

In 2007, scientists from the Friedrich-Schiller-University in Germany tested the effects of caffeine on samples taken from people dealing with hair loss. The biopsies were taken from 14 male patients. They grew the tissue in Petri dishes where it was treated with solutions that contained testosterone or caffeine, and measured the hair growth daily. They found that testosterone suppressed hair growth, but that this could be reversed by adding 0.001 or 0.005 percent of caffeine to the solutions. Moreover, caffeine seemed to stimulate new hair growth.

Ten years later, a randomized clinical trial conducted by several researchers from hospitals in India and Germany including 210 men with androgenic alopecia showed similarly promising results. The researchers followed the men in the trial for six months as they applied either minoxidil treatments – an approved treatment that opens blood vessels to encourage blood flow similar to caffeine - to their hair or topical caffeine treatments. The results showed that caffeine effectively stimulated hair growth almost as well as minoxidil.

Dealing with hair loss can be difficult…it’s time to explore your options. Thousands of men and women turn to Hair Club to help them achieve the look they want. With more than 40 years in the hair restoration business, we offer only proven solutions that can help with any type and level of hair loss. Schedule a complimentary consultation with one of our trained hair loss experts today.

For additional information about these studies please visit:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17214716 and https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5804833/

Hair Club is not affiliated with nor sponsored by the institutes involved in the studies.

For informational purposes only. The information presented herein is based on the medical studies titled “Effect of caffeine and testosterone on the proliferation of human hair follicles in vitro,” and “An Open-Label Randomized Multicenter Study Assessing the Noninferiority of a Caffeine-Based Topical Liquid 0.2% versus Minoxidil 5% Solution in Male Androgenetic Alopecia.” Hair Club does not guarantee or warrant the accuracy or reliability of the Study. The exact cause of hair loss can only be determined by a medical professional.

‍