Guess who is starting to get hair loss treatment, sigh. I have always kept long hair even though I was born with fine, thin hair. As I grew older I started preferring medium-length hair and would often cut my hair to shoulder length. My hair generally grows quite fast and I take frequent trips to hair salons. During my recent visits, the hairstylist remarked that the hair at the crown of my head and temples are visibly thinning. She pointed out that my scalp is appearing more exposed (aka early signs of balding, gasps). My hairline also seemed to be receeding. DEEP SIGHS.
Cause of My Hair Loss and Temporary Solution
Aging can be such an unforgiving process. I know that the thinning hair and hair loss are directly attributed to hormones and well, my age. It might even have started much earlier without anyone, including me, noticing. I had bangs for many years which covered my temples and I have also never inspected the top of my head.
For a few months, I attempted to disguise this by using hair powder concealer. It’s an inexpensive hairline cover-up which makes quite a drastic difference and can be easily rinsed off with shampoo. I like the result of this temporary, washable fix. But that got me thinking that I ought to seek a professional treatment for a long term solution. Better start getting into action before my thinning hair and hair loss issues worsen, right?
Hair Loss Treatment Professional Products
Here are the two clinical-grade hair loss treatment products which I’m starting with:
Nourkrin Hair Growth+ inClinic
This is an oral, prescription-only medication. I hesistate to use the word “medication” since it’s drug-free. In fact, I thought that it can be acquired over the counter or on a walk-in basis. So let’s call it hair loss treatment supplement. In Singapore, it’s only available in clinics and a consultation with the doctor is prerequisite.
The key ingredient is fractionated fish extract. (So if you’re allergic to fish, then you’re out of luck.) I was most impressed that this product has been featured in numerous clinical peer-reviewed papers. It is also used globally as a primary therapy to address hair growth disorders. That was the deciding factor for me to try this hair loss supplement, even though there are other brands I also looked into.
Each box of Nourkrin Hair Growth+ inClinic contains 90 tablets (1 month supply). I am supposed to take 2 tabs in the morning and 1 tab at night after meals. I anticipate at least 4 to 5 months of regularly taking this hair loss supplement before seeing noticable results. The downside is that each box is a whopping S$162 to $$180+ per box, depending on which clinic you go to.
Home Hair System by AnteAge MD
This take-home kit is a topical approach that is designed to work in tandem with the oral supplements. The grand concept is to hack hair growth by awakening the sleeping stem cells inside the hair follicle, returning them to a more youthful and active growth pattern.
The kit contains a 30ml hair serum, a microneedling tool to ‘stamp’ the serum onto the scalp for better absorption, a thickening hair brush, and a tiny spray bottle to clean the tools with using isopropyl alcohol.
The serum consists of polybotanicals and a cocktail of natural stimulants. So there is no contraindication when used together with the tablets.
The clinic I went to kinda upsold me on this set. A kit containing the 4 items mentioned above set me back S$350. Gulps. But they had a bundled price promotion at the time when I went, and only 1-2 drops of serum is required daily. With prudence, I might be able to stretch it to about 2 months of use. *crossing fingers*
Hair Loss Treatment Progress
This hair loss treatment journey will take months for visible results. So please stay with me as I continue to update this blog post with my progress.
Month 1
Month 2
Month 6
Month 8
By the way, I perennially have a lot of sprouting baby hair. YAY. But my problem is, the rate of growth is not catching up to the rate of hair fall and hair loss. BOO. So I am hoping that the hair loss treatment will make those baby hair grow faster and stronger. (Looks like I need to start putting sunscreen on my hairline too, look at them freckles.)
As I diligently use these products and patiently wait for signs of improvement, shall I invite you to join me on a trip down memory lane? In my younger years, I have done hair extensions, perms, curled my hair with curling iron, and even put on wigs to give my hair a fuller, more voluminous appearance.
My Expectations
I am managing my expectations since this process cannot be rushed. What I want is to have decent hair coverage once more on the crown of my head and my temples.
In the meantime, I’ll be thankful if/when my hair doesn’t fall out so much. I know that hair falls at a normal rate of about 50 to 100 strands daily. My hair grows practically about 5cm every 3 months; many hairstylists have said that’s normal and to be expected. I take daily multi-vitamins and frequently get TCM, which IMO have helped me. However, my hair just grows longer and not fuller or thicker.
I am hopeful that my hair loss can be mitigated. Or better yet, REVERSED with the use of these hair loss treatment professional products!
Conclusion
After taking Nourkrin hair growth tablets daily for eight months, I can visibly see improvement. However, I must point out that three months after beginning this journey I got my hair bleached (unanticipated mistake!). My hair started shedding a lot more than usual so I feel that my progress was somewhat set back. I persisted with taking the daily tablets, but was not as consistent with using the serum.
After bleaching, the ends of my hair became very dry while my scalp became more oily. So I found myself picking up lots of shedded hair on my pillowcase and the floor.
In view of this, my fair evaluation would be:
The tablets helped with hair growth as I noticed more baby hair growing, particularly around the hairline. But I had to resort to getting more hair treatments to address the dry ends and oily scalp.
I have also noticed that my hair grew long quite fast. With bleached hair, this was very noticeable. My dark roots grew about an inch a month, and by the second month I could not tolerate the contrast so I had to touchup my hair color.
