Happy Head Reviews

Hair loss affects a majority of men in the U.S., with over half experiencing some form of hair loss before turning 50.1 But it's not just men — about 40% of hair loss sufferers in the U.S. are women.2 For most of the 20th century, the only options for treatment were hairpieces, filler sprays, or just shaving your head. Many more possibilities exist today, including prescription treatments supported by plenty of positive clinical research.

Happy Head is one of those options, and they offer a combination of the two most successful hair loss treatments available: minoxidil and finasteride. You might know them by their brand name versions, Rogaine and Propecia. These drugs consistently perform better together than apart in clinical trials, and Happy Head deploys them side-by-side in multiple products.3

Happy Head employs higher concentrations of minoxidil than most competitors, as well as topical and oral forms of finasteride, retinoic acid, hydrocortisone, and spironolactone. A complimentary doctor consultation will help you figure out which combinations to start with. High prices prevent us from recommending them over companies like Keeps or Hims for most people. However, with that added expense comes the ability to tailor drug concentrations to suit your individual needs. If you're able to pay the higher prices, this could spell more effective treatment for your hair loss than more limited approaches.

Over the years, we’ve evaluated dozens of hair loss treatments from the top companies in the space. In doing so, we’ve identified certain criteria that can apply to almost every one of them, and that can help shed light on a given company or product’s overall value. In Happy Head’s case, we looked at efficacy, cost, safety, and convenience. Efficacy and safety typically exert the most influence on our overall ratings, but Happy Head’s pricing is a significant issue that pushed cost up the ladder of importance for us. Our last consideration, convenience, had the least influence, but it’s still an important factor in decision-making.

Let’s take a close look at each category to see how Happy Head shapes up.

Effectiveness

In some cases, Happy Head offers treatments that other companies don’t, like oral minoxidil or topical finasteride. Roman offers the former, and Hims offers the latter. Keeps offers neither. In other cases, Happy Head offers similar products but in higher concentrations. This is especially true of their topical minoxidil solutions.

Theoretically, the higher doses you take, the better results you get. This appears to be the case with oral minoxidil but not topical minoxidil. Recent research comparing a 10% minoxidil solution to the more commonly applied 5% found the 5% solution to be superior.4 Where Happy Head’s 8% solution falls on an efficacy spectrum is unclear.

And higher concentrations also present higher incidences of adverse effects concurrent with increased doses. We’ll touch on that more closely when addressing the safety criterion, so let’s look at how Happy Head’s diversity and dosing compare to others in the hair loss arena.

Here’s a quick chart comparing common doses of finasteride and minoxidil in both topical and oral routes from the top purveyors of hair loss treatments:

As you can see, Happy Head is the only one of these four players to offer all four of the listed treatments. And their topical minoxidil concentration is much higher than the rest of the field. This is also true of Happy Head’s female-oriented minoxidil solution. Typical minoxidil for women is compounded in a 2% solution, but Happy Head offers it at 6%.

Beyond these relatively familiar treatments, Happy Head employs a handful of alternative drugs and ingredients commonly found in cosmetics, including dutasteride, retinoic acid, and hydrocortisone. Each of these has a role to play in encouraging hair growth or nourishing the scalp, and we’ll break them all down a bit later. For now, we can say that they are likely to add to Happy Head’s effectiveness, even if only by a little bit.

Cost

This is where the wheels come off. Happy Head’s prices are too high for almost everything they sell. You can certainly argue that the diversity of ingredients in a given solution and your ability to customize the strengths of each ingredient in your formula give them an edge in efficacy and convenience that might be worth the cost. We also can’t ignore the increased concentration of Happy Head’s minoxidil, which should drive up costs in raw materials and the compounding process.

But let’s take a look at some of these numbers. Happy Head offers a nice discount on your first shipment for most of their products. However, since these are all mostly forever treatments (they’ll keep working for most of your life unless you stop taking them), we’re going to look at the recurring prices that you’ll encounter after the company’s first-month discount. To be fair, we’ll exclude similar offers from competitors in our analysis.

Here is a comparison of topical minoxidil products:

After a decade passes, you’ll have saved over $5,000 compared with the next most expensive option in that chart. And 5% minoxidil is the most commonly studied concentration, with multiple studies supporting its effectiveness.

Now, let’s see how Happy Head’s oral finasteride pricing stacks up using the same metrics.

While Happy Head does better here than they did in the topical minoxidil comparison, there is still a clear and meaningful difference between them and Roman. This pattern repeats itself with oral minoxidil, where Happy Head outperforms Hims and Keeps (neither of whom offers it) but falls short of Roman’s pricing and dose options.

Whether the differences are large or small, confined to one other company or several, it always seems that there’s a better deal on a similar or identical product than what you can get from Happy Head. It may well be worth it for men and women looking for a higher concentration of minoxidil and interested in including the extra ingredients. This is doubly true for those who’ve struggled to see results with 5% solutions and other typical hair loss approaches. But for those just starting out on their journey and those who haven’t exhausted other options yet, Happy Head is simply too expensive.

Safety

The most recognizable ingredients in a majority of Happy Head products are either oral finasteride, topical minoxidil, or both. These drugs have well-established side effect profiles. In finasteride’s case, there are small risks of sexual side effects, including erectile dysfunction, lack of libido, and fertility issues. There are also risks of depression, especially among those already living with it. Minoxidil doesn’t suffer from these side effects, but it can cause itching, redness, scaling, and burning at the application site.

Happy Head’s 1mg oral finasteride dose is in line with what most providers offer to men seeking hair loss treatment (finasteride’s hormonal influence makes it unsuitable for those born as women).5 Happy Head’s topical minoxidil dose, however, is much higher than you’ll see in common treatments. Their 8% dose may have increased efficacy, but it’s also more likely to cause adverse reactions due to the increased strength. We should note that studies have looked into topical minoxidil at concentrations approaching 10% and reported a level of tolerance nearly on par with the 5% concentration.4 So, while the risk is undeniably increased at 8%, it might not be increased by too much.

Happy Head also provides topical finasteride and oral minoxidil. Topical finasteride does not have the same side effects as oral delivery, and its efficacy is similar.6 You can expect side effects like those seen with topical minoxidil, but that's about it. And if you're determined to go the oral route, minoxidil might be preferable for the same reason: no sexual or depressive side effects. Oral minoxidil is also safe for women to take compared to finasteride, as the mechanisms of action are not associated with hormonal activity.7 However, oral minoxidil has an extremely high incidence of hypertrichosis, or hair growth on unexpected and often unwanted areas of the body. So, oral minoxidil might help you grow some hair back on the top of your head, but it could also cause excess hair to grow in unsightly places, typically the forehead, cheeks, and hands.

There are some other nuanced safety issues regarding these and other ingredients from Happy Head, which we’ll delve even deeper into in our dedicated safety section below. For now, the takeaway is that most of Happy Head’s ingredients are mostly safe, and that your ability to dial in doses with your consulting physician can help ensure you get the safest possible treatment from within their catalog.

Convenience

When we evaluate the convenience of a hair loss company or product, we typically look at how convenient the product is to use and what the overall customer experience is like. The convenience of Happy Head’s products varies from the somewhat painstaking and potentially messy application of topical products to the simplicity of swallowing a relatively small pill. Of course, this is true of the catalogs from most hair loss companies, including Happy Head’s top competitors.

The Happy Head customer experience is pretty straightforward. You can quickly purchase non-prescription products from the website, but if you want to purchase prescription products, you’ll go through a short questionnaire to evaluate your health and needs. A consulting physician reviews those answers and usually gets back to you within 48 hours. In testing, our physicians reached out within 24 hours. Depending on your state, you might have to have a phone call or video call with the provider, and sometimes they offer a call just to go over things with you. Our testers did most of their communicating through Happy Head’s messaging system, which is easy to use and on which providers are fast to respond.

While this was a good experience overall, it’s worth noting that it’s not meaningfully different from the experience you can expect from Happy Head’s competitors. Hims, Keeps, and Roman all have a fast turnaround time on their questionnaire review, and their doctors all respond to questions on dedicated messaging platforms in short order.

At Innerbody Research, we extensively test each health service or product we review, including Happy Head. Our experience in the hair loss space is extensive, as our team has collectively devoted more than 500 hours to hands-on research and studying scientific literature. We don’t just research the products, but order and try them ourselves as well — from supportive hair care products like shampoos to medical treatments like minoxidil.

In Happy Head’s case, we got our hands on several of their products — both prescription and non-prescription — so we could relay to you nuanced aspects of the customer experience. Additionally, like all health-related content on this website, this review was thoroughly vetted by one or more members of our Medical Review Board for accuracy. We’ll continue our comprehensive analysis of all things hair loss and keep this review current as new developments arise.

Over the past two decades, Innerbody Research has helped tens of millions of readers make more informed decisions about staying healthy and living healthier lifestyles.

Hair loss can sneak up on you when you might not expect it. There are several common causes of hair loss, though one is far more common than the rest: androgenetic alopecia (AGA).8 This affliction (sometimes also called androgenic alopecia) is commonly referred to as male (or female) pattern baldness. It happens when the body converts an excess amount of testosterone into dihydrotestosterone (DHT), which makes its way to the scalp and inhibits the healthy activity of hair follicles. Over time, those follicles are starved of nutrients, go into a dormant phase, and eventually die off.

Other causes of hair loss include

• Telogen effluvium: hair loss resulting from physical or emotional stress9
• Chemotherapy: hair loss resulting from radiation treatments10
• Alopecia areata: hair loss from an overactive immune response11

Of course, hair loss can be a symptom of numerous medical conditions, so we recommend having your hair loss evaluated by a dermatologist and your regular doctor before beginning any treatment from Happy Head or one of their competitors.

Hair loss treatments may vary depending on the nature and cause of your hair loss. Because of its prevalence, most treatments have been designed with androgenetic alopecia in mind. In some cases, that makes certain medications unsuitable to treat other forms of hair loss. Alopecia areata, for example, can’t be treated with finasteride because it has nothing to do with DHT.

A treatment targeting AGA is a great place to start for most individuals dealing with hair loss. These treatments include:

• Prescription pills like oral finasteride and minoxidil5 7
• Topical treatments topical finasteride, minoxidil, or nanoxidil4 6
• Low-level laser therapy29
• Follicle transplantation
• Nutritional supplements
• Specially formulated shampoo or conditioner

Treatments for hair loss not related to AGA may include eliminating or cutting down on certain stressors in cases of telogen effluvium. Alopecia areata requires immune support and the treatment of an underlying condition that can include nutritional adjustments, medication, and other interventions. Radiation- or chemotherapy-induced hair loss isn’t something you can treat until the round of treatment is completed. Still, many of the treatments used for AGA can help accelerate the regrowth of hair afterward.

Happy Head is a hair loss solution company offering several of the most well-known and thoroughly tested hair loss treatments available. They sell some of them in various concentrations based on the results of a medical questionnaire and a consultation with one of their doctors.

Happy Head stands out among competitors for the variety of treatments they provide — especially topical combinations — and for their pricing, which is significantly higher than the average in many categories.

While some providers might only offer finasteride and minoxidil in a few forms, Happy Head utilizes several other ingredients with research ties to hair loss treatment. Here's a quick look at the six active ingredients available in topical solutions from Happy Head:

As part of the questionnaire you fill out for your doctor, you'll have an opportunity to request certain medications or ask that one or another not be part of your prescription. You can also adjust your prescription in conversation with your doctor to start with something more robust or less intense.

To help you make those decisions, let's look at each of the available active ingredients in Happy Head’s solutions. It’s worth noting that many of Happy Head’s competitors only offer two or three of the ingredients in this list, and that Happy Head offers more of them in combination with one another than any other provider in the space.

Happy Head company standing

Happy Head is an accredited business with the Better Business Bureau, and they have a B+ rating with a little over three stars after 15 customer reviews. Most complaints are related to shipping delays and issues with communication. In our testing experience, we had one minor shipping delay, but other products arrived promptly. That delay was for prescription medication, while the prompt shipments were hair care products and supplements. It’s possible some pharmacies working with Happy Head are slower than others.

Happy Head also has 3.6 stars on Trustpilot after more than 400 ratings. This closely aligns with our rating of the company. Like the BBB complaints, most negative reviews on Trustpilot revolve around shipping and communication issues.

Finasteride, minoxidil, and dutasteride are available in several different concentrations. The company advertises their 8% minoxidil quite loudly, as it's their highest concentration and well above the typical 5% you see in most minoxidil products. But you'll arrive at a set combination of drugs in concentrations that are right for you with the help of your consulting physician.

Here are the available concentrations for each ingredient:

• Finasteride: 0.025%, 0.1%, 0.25%, 0.3%
• Minoxidil: 2.5%, 6%, 8%
• Dutasteride: 0.1%, 0.3%
• Retinoic acid: 0.001%, 0.005%, 0.01%
• Hydrocortisone: 1%
• Spironolactone: 0.5%
• Latanoprost: 0.005%

Finasteride used to also be available in 0.2% and 0.5% concentrations, but those are no longer in the company’s compounding lists. The 0.3% option appears to have taken their place.

Happy Head also offers oral versions of finasteride, dutasteride, minoxidil, and spironolactone in the following doses:

• Finasteride: 1mg
• Dutasteride: 0.5mg
• Minoxidil: 1.25mg
• Spironolactone: 25mg, 50mg, 100mg
• Vitamin D: 2000IU

One note about Happy Head’s oral minoxidil: it comes in 2.5mg tablets that your doctor will ask you to break in half for daily use. Studies show reliable efficacy with a reasonable safety profile up to 5mg, but there is a much higher chance of unwanted hair growth at the 5mg dose.27

Many of Happy Head's topical solutions utilize an aloe base to offer extra soothing to the scalp. All formulas that typically contain aloe can be compounded without it if you prefer.

Happy Head nutritional supplement

In addition to their prescription drugs, Happy Head offers a nutritional supplement that’s packed with numerous botanical ingredients, including saw palmetto to inhibit DHT and ashwagandha to limit stress.31 32 It also contains biotin, keratin, and collagen to help build healthy hair. Here’s a closer look at the ingredients:

While Hims offers biotin gummies, they pale in comparison to Happy Head’s complex formula. The next closest product on the market comes from Nutrafol, a hair loss company that doesn’t deal in drugs like finasteride or minoxidil but has a targeted catalog of nutritional supplements and hair and scalp care products.

The vitamin and mineral complexes in each product are nearly identical, with Happy Head lacking the vitamin E found in Nutrafol’s formula but containing twice the biotin. Comparing additional ingredients is harder because Nutrafol uses proprietary blends. Here are the closest comparison points we could draw:

While Happy Head has a smaller overall dose of these added ingredients, their superior biotin content and probiotics point toward a greater potential than Nutrafol’s blend. And we especially appreciate Happy Head’s refusal to hide behind proprietary blends. However, Happy Head uses bovine collagen, whereas Nutrafol relies on marine collagen, making the latter suitable for pescatarians.

One bottle of Happy Head’s Hair Supplements costs $55 for the first month and $79/month thereafter. It’s also one of the few products on their site you can still buy as a one-time purchase, which costs $88. By comparison, Nutrafol’s male and female formulas cost $79 on a subscription basis, but you can bring that cost down to just over $70/month by opting for quarterly or biannual billing.

Happy Head hair care products

Most hair loss companies offer some kind of hair care products these days. Their lineups often include thickening shampoo and conditioner, but some branch out to offer anti-dandruff and volumizing shampoo, scalp treatments, and styling products. Happy Head only offers a shampoo and conditioner at this time, each of which has these key ingredients:

• Argan oil
• Biotin
• Collagen
• Keratin
• Saw palmetto

You’ll find saw palmetto in most thickening shampoos from companies like Hims, Keeps, and Roman, with the last two of those companies employing additional ingredients like caffeine. Here’s a look at the key ingredients in the shampoos each company offers:

As you can see, Happy Head’s shampoo has more critical hair care ingredients than their competitors, but that comes at a cost. You can get products with nearly as many key ingredients as Happy Head from Keeps or Roman for less than a third of what Happy Head charges. And if certain ingredients appeal to you more, like Roman’s salicylic acid for dandruff control, then there isn’t much reason to reach for Happy Head’s product.

That said, it is worth noting that Happy Head’s shampoo and conditioner are sulfate-, paraben-, and cruelty-free. Neither Keeps nor Roman make the same claims. Hims does, and they go even further with phthalate-free and vegan claims, but Hims is also closer in cost to Happy Head. Hims also has a wider variety of shampoos and conditioners to choose from, including volumizing and anti-dandruff products that our testers found very effective.

Happy Head’s shampoo (shown above) lathers well, and both the shampoo and conditioner have a scent almost reminiscent of orange zest. But beneath that scent in either product is something more alkaline and artificial. It’s not entirely unpleasant, but Hims Thick Fix and Max Volume shampoos smell better.

The ingredients in Happy Head's topical solutions are well-researched and exhibit few side effects in clinical trials. So, for the most part, they’re safe. Access to a dermatologist for questions should any side effects arise adds an extra layer of protection. However, some people have had significant reactions to certain hair loss medications, and finasteride and dutasteride are specifically dangerous to most women due to their intended interaction with testosterone.

Often, irritation from topical hair loss treatments is due to an inactive ingredient common to most carrier solutions called propylene glycol. This is a known irritant with a high incidence of allergic contact dermatitis. All of Happy Head’s solutions use this ingredient except for the company’s liposomal and aqueous solutions, which are currently only formulated to carry minoxidil and finasteride. Foam-based minoxidil from Keeps and Hims also lacks propylene glycol.

Typical reactions to topical hair loss treatments include:5

• Redness
• Itching
• Burning
• Scaling
• Flaking
• Additional shedding

To that last item, additional shedding is a common side effect with many hair loss treatments. As treatments take effect, they can reset the growth phases of your hair follicles, instigating new growth from follicles that were dormant (this is how they essentially reverse apparent hair loss). But that can also reset the follicles of well-established hair strands, causing them to fall out. This is a natural part of the process, and those hairs will grow back as long as you continue treatment.

Safety of Happy Head’s oral treatments

Oral medications present a different set of potential side effects. Finasteride has been widely prescribed for men with AGA, and it has been effective in many cases. A majority of users see a cessation of loss and some hair regrowth within around six months.

But oral finasteride and dutasteride are associated with sexual and psychological side effects, including:13

• Depression
• Lower libido
• Lower sperm count
• Erectile dysfunction

While these side effects are more common at the 5mg dose used in cases of benign prostatic hyperplasia, they are still possible at the 1mg dose prescribed to men with AGA. If you want to try oral finasteride, you might want to start with Hims or Roman, as each of those companies has a telemedicine infrastructure that can offer additional support and treatment for most of those potential side effects.

The other oral option you can reach for is minoxidil. Most people think of minoxidil as a topical treatment only, but its oral route is currently available to patients with high blood pressure. In recent years, researchers have revisited its potential as a treatment for alopecia, and dermatologists have been prescribing it off-label to in-office patients for years. The telemedical community has begun to catch up, with Happy Head, Roman, and Hers each offering oral minoxidil.

The most prevalent side effect from oral minoxidil is hypertrichosis, which is hair growth in areas other than the scalp.28 Hair can appear on the face, including on the forehead. It can also pop up at unusual spots elsewhere on the body. Research has seen at least mild hypertrichosis in over 90% of participants in some studies.7 The studies note that, in most cases, the hypertrichosis was not severe enough for participants to stop treatment.

A more dangerous, albeit less prevalent, side effect is cardiovascular in nature. Minoxidil was developed as a blood pressure medication, and it acts as a vasodilator, relaxing the muscles that control the width of your veins. As a result, your blood flows more freely, lowering blood pressure. If you already have low blood pressure — either genetically or as the result of surgery or medication — minoxidil could put you at serious risk. It can also interfere with other medications that are intended to interact with blood pressure or that can affect blood pressure as a side effect.

Spironolactone is also available from Happy Head as an oral medication, but it’s more commonly prescribed for women who can’t take finasteride and who might want to avoid the potential hypertrichosis associated with oral minoxidil. Side effect risks for spironolactone appear a bit greater for men, including hormonal effects that can result in feminization of certain characteristics.30

Happy Head’s intake questionnaire will cover anything you need to report to a doctor about your cardiovascular health and any current medications.

Happy Head primarily employs a subscription system for their products. Per-month prices for the following topical hair loss treatments with a Happy Head physician are as follows, including free shipping and $45 off your first month:

Even the least expensive of these options is significantly more than you’d pay to get a similar treatment from a competitor like Keeps, Hims, or Roman. The extra 3% in the minoxidil solution might even have a negative effect, based on some research.18

Happy Head has three specialized formulas they call SuperCapsules, which combine multiple oral prescription medications with a 2000IU dose of vitamin D. As far as we’ve been able to tell, Happy Head is the only company in this space that’s combining medications into single capsules like these, each of which is available on a subscription basis.

Monthly orders bill and ship every 25 days to ensure that you never run out of product. This is especially helpful in the first few months when you're getting used to the application process and risk spilling or overapplying, which might make a month's supply run out early. We appreciate this attention to detail, as all other companies in this space ship on monthly, quarterly, biannual, or annual bases at 30, 90, 180, and 365 days.

Happy Head’s straightforward prescription oral hair loss treatments aren’t available as subscriptions. Instead, you can buy them in bulk, but that won’t save you any money. And different drugs are available in different quantities. Here’s how that pricing works:

These finasteride and minoxidil prices are actually better than some competitors, at least at first glance. A deeper look reveals that the minoxidil from Roman is significantly less expensive. Even though Roman charges $30 for a month’s supply instead of $24, their oral minoxidil comes in a 30-count of 2.5mg tablets per month. Happy Head delivers half that and instructs you to break those pills in half to get a 1.25mg dose. If your doctor prescribes you a 2.5mg dose, that cost goes up to $48/month — $18 more than Roman.

You can purchase individual bottles of specific concentrations at a significantly higher cost than the subscription, but Happy Head buries this possibility on their website. You'd have to ask about it specifically, and we don't recommend it. There are no penalties for cancellation, and you can cancel at any time, so the subscription model is ultimately less of a hassle to set up.

Happy Head guarantees that their products can stop hair loss and stimulate new growth. But even the most successful studies of finasteride, minoxidil, and other hair loss treatments don't work for everyone. That's why Happy Head offers a 6-month money-back guarantee.

After six months of use, if you're unsatisfied with your results, you'll have to contact the company to set up a return. You'll incur fees intended to recoup shipping charges and then ship back any remaining product at your expense.

There is a big caveat with the six-month guarantee: it only applies to your most recent purchase. So, if you have a monthly subscription for topical minoxidil at $59/month, and you ask for a return toward the end of your fifth month, you’ll only get back $59 minus shipping charges and “other fees.” Calling this a six-month growth guarantee seems disingenuous if the company doesn’t refund you for used medications that didn’t work, but it’s more of a guarantee than other companies like this offer. Hims, Roman, and Keeps all have very strict return policies that don’t offer much of anything.

There are a couple of different ways to place an order with Happy Head. The most straightforward route is to use their questionnaire. You can also locate topical solutions with specific concentration mixes by searching for desired ingredients in their blog's search field and combing through the results. Or, you can find individual product pages to add a particular mix to your cart and circumvent the questionnaire.

That said, we recommend using the questionnaire. It's a tool designed to make it easier for you, and you'll get more informed input from the dermatologist assigned to your file.

You'll have the opportunity to make specific requests for your formula at one juncture. This is an open-ended question with no guidance about what you can and can't ask for. And since the site doesn't directly advertise available concentrations or even all of the available ingredients, you might not know where to start. The included concentrations in this article might help a little, but you likely won’t know which ones are right for you. We recommend leaving this section blank and getting into a conversation with the dermatologist afterward.

At the end of the questionnaire, you'll check out. Don't worry — this isn't a final decision about your prescription. After you check out, you'll have the opportunity to message a Happy Head doctor to fine-tune your prescription and ask any questions.

Happy Head has the most flexible topical concentrations on the market, but their products are also among the most expensive. If you're interested in taking a simpler approach to your hair loss, plenty of alternatives exist. You can always come back to Happy Head for their combined treatments if you find that others aren't getting the job done.

Other telemedical services like Happy Head

There are several companies similar to Happy Head in their design. You answer a questionnaire, confer with a doctor, and have medication shipped directly to your home. Each of the companies listed below outperforms the others in at least one product price point, so you can use this breakdown to help you land at one or another if you’re interested in a specific treatment.

Alternative treatment paths

There are some treatment paths that neither Happy Head nor the companies listed above offer their customers. These are non-prescription interventions, many of which can be used in conjunction with medications like those Happy Head sells to maximize your chances of success.