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Secrets to Success - The Three P's

While treating hair loss is a multi-faceted ongoing experiment, there are some things that ring true throughout time. Three things specifically will help you make it to success, and avoid those all too common mistakes that result in disaster.

I like to call them "The Three P's"

Proven Treatments First | Take Pictures | Be Patient.

Use Proven Treatments First

The logic behind this is simple. Always start with the products that have the most testing done on them, and work your way down the list. Start small (unless you really need to regrow a LOT of hair). Give each a good year or two to work. If you don't achieve the results you want after a year or two, add a new product that is the next most proven treatment in the list. Give it 6 months. Then add the next most proven one. And so forth. Using this method has numerous benefits. You will optimize your chances of results by using the most clinically proven treatments first, you will be pacing yourself by adding slowly and incrementally and waiting, you will be buying yourself time by for a long-winded hair loss fight, you will be going slow enough to give your products a chance to work, you will be keeping your regimen consistent instead of constantly swapping new products in and out, you will be keeping your financial commitment down, and you will be limiting the difficulty of your daily regimen. If or when you exhaust the clinically proven treatments, branch out to the most proven *unproven* treatments, and work your way down that list. Always *add to* your regimen. Never *take away* from it, unless you are replacing something you've realized is a snake oil. HairlossTalk's recommended treatments, in order of Proven Effectiveness, greatest to least, is as follows: (1) Propecia (2) Rogaine (3) Tricomin (4) Topical Spiro 5% (5) Revivogen (6) Crinagen (7) Folligen (8 ) Everything else.

Take Pictures

Your minds eye is incredibly powerful. It can make the most beautiful thing look ugly, or the most ugly thing look beautiful. A potent "minds eye modifier" is alcohol. They don't call them "Beer Googles" for nothing! Other environmental factors can play a huge role in how you view your hair loss on any given day. Lack of Sleep is a big one. Exhaustion. Having had a bad day in general. After an off-color comment made by someone about your hair, your next look in the mirror could be very "cup half empty". Someone could compliment you, and your next visit to the mirror could result in taking special note of the positive aspects of your hairline. Very common. The moral of the story? Don't trust your minds eye! Especially when treating hair loss. If there is one thing we've learned, its that Taking Pictures is imperative! Having photos will accomplish one major goal: Perspective. So many people quit treatments because they *think* their shedding has caused them to lose "50%" of their hair. Or they *think* they've seen no results. Or, most commonly, they *think* their hair has gotten worse over the last 2 years. Pictures are the solution to all of this. They remind you of what you really did look like 2 years ago. They show you that you actually aren't as bad off as you think. They may even show you how far you have come since you began! Get a digital or regular camera, get in bright light and take a whole role of them if you need to. High detail. Styled and not styled. Wet and Dry. And save them. You will need them for the many rainy days that may come.

Be Patient

Read this and repeat it to yourself 500 times: Hair Loss Treatments Take Time To Work! The average hair loss treatment takes a minimum of 6 months to begin working, and sometimes up to 24 months to truly see optimal results. If you are at month 8 and are convinced that you are doomed because you aren't seeing results.... be patient! Treating hair loss takes time for one major reason: Hair Cycles. The process of hair loss is the process of "miniaturization". Even that does not happen overnight! It takes many years. Your hairs grow in, cycle into dormancy, and then grow in again several months later. Each time they re-emerge, they do so thinner, shorter, and less pigmented. In time, they become so small that they are no longer noticeable. This can take many many years. The process of treating hair loss is the reverse. Even if you begin a treatment in January 2005, your hair will only cycle back into growth 2 or 3 times by January 2006. Give the little guys a chance! Be patient. Your optimal results, assuming you do not change your regimen, and stick with it, and ride out your shedding (dormancy phase), will be seen at the 2 year mark.

The guys who fail are always the guys who give up. Drop treatments. Stop treatments. Change treatments. Don't take pictures. Use the unproven treatments instead of the proven treatments first. Assume they've lost tons of hair and have nothing to bring them perspective. Aren't Patient. Don't ride out sheds. And don't give treatments time to work.

Remember the Three P's and let us help you here on the forums!

HLT Admin