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Hair Regrowth

Hair regrowth refers to the rate of which hair grows, and may also refer to attenuating or reversing forms of alopecia (hair loss). These supplements can be both ingested or applied topically to the scalp.

Kamal Patel
Research analysis led by Kamal Patel.
All content reviewed by the Examine.com Team. Published: Jul 5, 2013
Last Updated:

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Human Effect Matrix

The Human Effect Matrix looks at human studies (it excludes animal and in vitro studies) to tell you what supplements affect hair regrowth
Grade Level of Evidence
Robust research conducted with repeated double-blind clinical trials
Multiple studies where at least two are double-blind and placebo controlled
Single double-blind study or multiple cohort studies
Uncontrolled or observational studies only
Level of Evidence
? The amount of high quality evidence. The more evidence, the more we can trust the results.
Outcome Magnitude of effect
? The direction and size of the supplement's impact on each outcome. Some supplements can have an increasing effect, others have a decreasing effect, and others have no effect.
Consistency of research results
? Scientific research does not always agree. HIGH or VERY HIGH means that most of the scientific research agrees.
Notes
grade-b
Minoxidil
Notable Very High See all 8 studies
Topical application of Minoxidil (oral administration as well, but that is associated with more side-effects) appears to be highly effective in increasing the rate of hair regrowth and can reverse hair loss associated with non-androgenic hair loss (bald patch, rather than a receding hair line which is related to androgens)
grade-c
Vitamin E
Minor - See study
One study noted that 100mg of mixed tocopherol was able to promote hair growth in persons with alopecia (androgen dependence not specified) relative to placebo.
grade-d
Raspberry Ketone
Minor - See study
May induce hair growth when topically applied

All comparative evidence is now gathered in our ​A-to-Z Supplement Reference.

The evidence for each separate supplement is still freely available ​here.
grade-d
Saw Palmetto
 

This page is regularly updated, to include the most recently available clinical trial evidence.

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