Photo by Innerbody Research
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 a reputable purveyor of those options, and they offer many of these drugs in topical and oral combinations. Two of them are among the 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 But the company’s catalog of available treatments is far more extensive than most of its competitors.
Happy Head employs higher concentrations of topical minoxidil than most competitors while offering topical and oral forms of finasteride, dutasteride, retinoic acid, hydrocortisone, and spironolactone. Their catalog of available hair loss treatments is extensive, and they’re the only reputable player in the hair loss space to offer a reliable generic oral dutasteride. A complimentary doctor consultation will help you determine which drugs or combinations to start with. Higher prices for some traditional treatments like oral finasteride will make competitors Roman or Hims more attractive in some cases, but that added expense includes tailored drug concentrations to suit your individual needs, as well as access to certain drugs others don’t offer, like dutasteride. If you can pay the higher prices, this could spell more effective treatment for your hair loss than other 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, safety, cost, and convenience. Efficacy and safety typically exert the most influence on our overall ratings, but Happy Head’s pricing is a significant issue that significantly impacts our regard for the company as a viable option for consumers. 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.
In some cases, Happy Head offers treatments that other companies don’t, like oral minoxidil and oral or topical dutasteride. That oral dutasteride availability is among the most important differences between Happy Head and their competitors, as oral dutasteride has been shown to be more effective than its more popular cousin, oral finasteride, at increasing total hair count after 24 weeks of use.33 It’s often more expensive and its side effect profile is somewhat worse than finasteride, but from a pure efficacy standpoint, it represents a potentially critical offering for people looking to pull out all the stops in fighting their hair loss.16
In other cases, Happy Head offers similar products but in higher concentrations. This is especially true of their topical minoxidil solutions. You might think that the higher doses you take, the better results you get, but this isn’t always the case. Recent research comparing a 10% minoxidil solution to the more commonly applied 5% found the 5% solution to be superior, likely due to an increase in scalp irritation undoing some of the treatment’s positive effects.4 Where Happy Head’s 8% solution falls on an efficacy spectrum is unclear.
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:
Happy Head | Hims | Roman | Strut | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Oral dutasteride | 0.5mg | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Oral finasteride | 1mg | 1mg | 1mg | 1mg |
Oral minoxidil | 1.25mg-2.5mg | 3mg | 2.5mg-5mg | 1.25mg-2.5mg |
Topical dutasteride | 0.1% | N/A | N/A | 0.1% |
Topical finasteride | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.25% |
Topical minoxidil | 8% | 5-6% | 5% | Up to 7.5% |
As you can see, Happy Head is the only one of these four players to offer all five of the listed treatments, with no major competitors offering oral dutasteride. 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%.
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The most recognizable ingredient in many Happy Head products is 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.13 There are also risks of depression, especially among those already living with it.34 Topical minoxidil doesn’t suffer from these side effects, but it can cause itching, redness, scaling, and burning at the application site.35
Happy Head’s 1mg oral finasteride dose is in line with what most providers offer to men seeking hair loss treatment.5 Women are also candidates for treatment with finasteride, but Happy Head typically reserves oral finasteride for postmenopausal women to avoid potential complications with pregnancy.36 However, Happy Head’s topical minoxidil dose 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 safer for women to take than 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.37 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. It can also cause blood pressure issues that make it a poor choice for people with cardiovascular conditions.38
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.
Cost is an area where we’d like to see Happy Head make adjustments to be more competitive in the hair loss landscape. You can certainly argue that the diversity of ingredients in a given solution and your ability to customize the strength 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 six months 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 six-month discount fades. To be fair, we’ll exclude similar offers from competitors in our analysis.
Here is a comparison of topical minoxidil products:
Monthly cost | Yearly cost | Cost after 10 years | |
---|---|---|---|
Happy Head 8% topical minoxidil with retinoic acid and hydrocortisone | $59 | $708 | $7,080 |
Hims 5% minoxidil solution | $15 | $180 | $1,800 |
Keeps 5% minoxidil solution | $11 | $132 | $1,320 |
Roman 5% minoxidil solution | $16 | $192 | $1,920 |
After a decade passes, you’ll have saved over $5,000 even if you went with the next most expensive option in that chart.
Now, let’s see how Happy Head’s oral finasteride pricing stacks up using the same metrics.
Monthly cost | Yearly cost | Cost after 10 years | |
---|---|---|---|
Happy Head oral finasteride 1mg | $24 | $288 | $2,880 |
Strut oral finasteride 1mg | $16 | $196 | $1,960 |
Hims oral finasteride 1mg | $26 | $312 | $3,120 |
Roman oral finasteride 1mg | $20 | $240 | $2,400 |
Keeps oral finasteride 1mg | $27 | $324 | $3,240 |
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 Strut or Roman. This pattern repeats itself with oral minoxidil, where Happy Head outperforms Hims and Keeps 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 often seems that there’s a better deal on a similar or identical product than what you can get from Happy Head. This may well be worth it for men and women who are looking for dutasteride or a higher concentration of minoxidil and are 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 will often seem simply too expensive.
When we evaluate the convenience of a hair loss company or product, we typically look at how straightforward 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.
One other boon to Happy Head’s convenience rating is their inclusion of a combination drug that delivers daily tadalafil — an ED medication known by the brand name Cialis — alongside finasteride to potentially offset some of that ingredient’s sexual side effects. Hims is the only other company to offer a similarly convenient combination treatment.
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 2,500 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; a few extra hairs in your comb might not seem like much at first, but you could wake up one day and realize you’ve been losing your hair for years. 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 testosterone into an excess of 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
Of course, hair loss can be a symptom of numerous medical conditions and nutrient deficiencies, 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 vary depending on the nature and cause of your hair loss. For example, finasteride and dutasteride can work for AGA because of their hormonal influence, but they wouldn't help someone with chemotherapy-induced alopecia to regrow hair. Still, some treatments work across causes, like minoxidil, the oral and topical forms of which can help regrow hair from a number of causes, including AGA.
Typical hair loss treatments include:
Treatments for hair loss not related to AGA may also 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 address 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 various active ingredients available from Happy Head:
Available products | Target area | |
---|---|---|
Oral finasteride | 2 | Hairline |
Topical finasteride | 6 | Global |
Topical minoxidil | 9 | Crown/Vertex |
Oral minoxidil | 4 | Global |
Topical dutasteride | 4 | Global |
Oral dutasteride | 2 | Hairline |
Hydrocortisone | 7 | Global |
Retinoic Acid | 9 | Global |
Topical spironolactone | 1 | Global |
Oral spironolactone | 2 | Global |
Latanoprost | 3 | Crown/Vertex |
Vitamin D | 6 | Global |
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 formulas. 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.
Patented in 1984 and approved for medical use in 1992, oral finasteride is commonly prescribed in pill form for hair loss. It’s also well known for treating an enlarged prostate from prostatitis or benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Finasteride works best for men with receding hairlines and is safe to combine with minoxidil and other treatments. However, it interacts with testosterone, so it may not be safe for use by women, especially those who are pregnant, nursing, or hoping to become pregnant.12 It also has some potential sexual side effects that can occur in 2-3% of users.13
Topical finasteride has become a popular alternative in recent years, as it appears similarly effective to the oral route but doesn’t have the same side effect profile.6
Dutasteride is another BPH drug with a similar mechanism of action as finasteride.14 It has a longer half-life and performs better than finasteride in studies looking at its influence on DHT levels.15 But dutasteride is only approved by the FDA for use as a BPH treatment, making its prescription for hair loss strictly off-label. It has also exhibited a significantly higher incidence of sexual side effects than finasteride.16
Topical dutasteride is also available from Happy Head, and like topical finasteride, it circumvents many of the oral medication’s unpleasant side effects. However, there is currently more research into the efficacy of topical finasteride than topical dutasteride.
In its topical form, minoxidil is one of the oldest and most thoroughly tested hair loss treatments.17 It's particularly effective in treating hair loss at the crown and vertex of the head, but it’s less effective at addressing receding hairlines. The most common concentration used in trials is 5%, but Happy Head employs concentrations of 6% and 8% for women and men, respectively. That might increase the risks of side effects like an irritated scalp for some people, and it isn’t clear that the increased dose would actually make it work any better.18
Oral minoxidil has recently become more widely available for hair loss patients. The drug was originally developed as an oral medication, but its whole-body hair growth side effects led researchers to develop topical solutions to target specific areas. Otherwise, the hypertrichosis side effect could cause unwanted hair growth elsewhere on the body. But for those willing to live with that risk, the benefits are noteworthy. Oral minoxidil stops hair loss and instigates significant new growth in studies, and it does so without the sexual or psychological side effects associated with finasteride.19 However, there are some cardiovascular risks we’ll get into later.
Most of the available research touting retinoic acid's (RA) potential to treat hair loss is outdated, reaching back to the 1980s. Many studies since then have investigated whether retinol might cause premature hair follicle regression, resulting in hair loss.20 However, a much more recent study looked at how a small enough dose of topically applied RA could act as a booster for minoxidil.21 This may have to do with the fact that retinoic acid appears to work on a similar signaling pathway as minoxidil and some other therapies, at least per one recent animal study.39 40
Hydrocortisone is a steroidal drug that reduces redness and swelling. Inflammation can contribute to hair loss, especially in cases of telogen effluvium, which is why dermatologists often prescribe it.22 And the addition of hydrocortisone can target potential side effects. On its own, minoxidil can create irritation, and chances of irritation spike when you add other drugs like finasteride or dutasteride to a topical solution. Hydrocortisone can help prevent those side effects from occurring.
An anti-androgen normally prescribed to treat acne, spironolactone has an off-label use to treat pattern hair loss in women.23 It could be effective in men, but it might not be as powerful as finasteride or dutasteride. Since those two medications are potentially dangerous for some women to take, spironolactone is the next best thing. Happy Head offers it in both topical and oral forms, the latter of which has its own set of potential side effects. These aren’t as dire as the ones finasteride poses for men, but they include menstrual irregularities, dehydration, and headache. The drug is also contraindicated in those with hyperkalemia (an overabundance of potassium ions in the blood) and those with impaired kidney function.30
A 2021 review of literature connecting vitamin D with hair loss concluded that a deficiency is known to contribute to hair loss and that it plays a critical role in the development, health, and activity of hair follicles.24 What the review did not find was any credible research illustrating how dietary supplementation with vitamin D may or may not help those seeking to stop or reverse hair loss.
Initially developed as a glaucoma treatment, latanoprost appeared to increase the length and fullness of eyelashes in early studies, leading to the development of Latisse, a prescription analog of prostaglandin designed to help people improve their eyelashes.25 Latanoprost’s potential for hair loss at the scalp is still being investigated, which is likely why it only appears in a few of Happy Head’s topical combinations.26
While not available in many of its formulations, ketoconazole acts mostly as an anti-dandruff addition to two topical blends. The 2.5% concentration Happy Head offers is stronger than you typically see in both other companies’ products and in prominent anti-dandruff research.41 What’s more, that research typically shows positive results with ketoconazole shampoo, not with leave-in topical treatments. Leaving a stronger formula in place may increase the risk of side effects, though some research points beyond just anti-dandruff potential for ketoconazole. At least one recent study saw its potential to reduce shedding associated with AGA.42 However, that study also considered only shampoo.
Happy Head is an accredited business with the Better Business Bureau, and they have a B rating — down from a B+ just two years ago. However, in that same two-year span, the company went from a review score of a little over three stars after 15 customer reviews to 4.47 out of five stars from over 100 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.
The company’s trend on Trustpilot is similar, with Happy Head growing from a 3.6-star rating after more than 400 reviews two years ago to a 4.3-star rating after more than 1,300 reviews at the time of this writing. Most negative reviews on Trustpilot revolve around shipping and communication issues.
Finasteride, minoxidil, and dutasteride are available in several different concentrations. Happy Head advertises their 8% minoxidil quite loudly, as it's their highest concentration and well above the typical 5% you see in most minoxidil products. The company only offers its other topicals at one strength level. 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 used to be available in 0.2% and 0.5% concentrations, but those are no longer in the company’s compounding lists. Still, Happy Head offers much more dosing flexibility for finasteride and other topicals than most competitors. Roman, for example, only offers a single combination topical with a set level of each ingredient and no room for adjustment. Hims is a little more flexible, with a handful of combinations and occasionally flexible doses. But Happy Head still offers the most flexibility here.
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.
Photo by Innerbody Research
Happy Head also offers oral versions of finasteride, dutasteride, minoxidil, spironolactone, vitamin D, and tadalafil in the following doses:
Among these options, dutasteride is the one that sets Happy Head apart from competitors. Strut Health is the only other major player that offers it, but they compound their dutasteride as a tablet, when the drug is more effectively delivered as a softgel with its active ingredients suspended in oil. That makes Happy Head the best place to turn for oral dutasteride, which, while more expensive than finasteride, has shown superior efficacy in studies.33
Happy Head’s oral minoxidil comes in 2.5mg tablets that your doctor will ask you to break in half for daily use if you start at 1.25mg. This is fairly common among oral minoxidil prescriptions you can get online. 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 Roman does things a little differently, starting most users at the 2.5mg dose. If you happen to only need 1.25mg, you’ll essentially pay half the cost over time. And if you need to go up to 5mg, Roman keeps the cost to you the same, even though you’re essentially getting twice the medication. That’s why Roman is typically our top choice for oral minoxidil; it offers the most dose flexibility with the best prices.
Photo by Innerbody Research
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 offers a shampoo and conditioner, each of which has these key ingredients:
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:
Happy Head | Roman | Keeps | Hims | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Cost per bottle | $30 | $8 | $8 | $19 |
Saw palmetto | ||||
Biotin | ||||
Keratin | ||||
Collagen | ||||
Nourishing oil | ||||
Caffeine | ||||
Green tea | ||||
Salicylic acid |
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 makes 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 to us.
Photo by Innerbody Research
In addition to their prescription drugs, Happy Head offers a nutritional supplement that contains 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:
Photo by Innerbody Research
While Hims offers biotin gummies, they pale in comparison to Happy Head’s complex formula. The 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, but Nutrafol provides more of just about every ingredient. Comparing individual ingredients is harder because Nutrafol uses more proprietary blends. Here are the closest comparison points we could draw:
Happy Head | Nutrafol | |
---|---|---|
Total dose of non-vitamin or mineral ingredients | 792.5mg | 2,295mg |
Number of non-vitamin or mineral ingredients | 23 | 15 |
Number of amino acids | 3 | 3 |
Saw palmetto | ||
Marine collagen | ||
Probiotics | ||
Prebiotics | ||
Keratin |
It’s also worth noting that Happy Head uses bovine collagen, while 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.
Photo by Innerbody Research
If you’re looking for a topical similar to minoxidil but with slightly different ingredients and a suite of botanical additives, then Happy Head’s Hair Serum might be a good place to start. Serums like these are not uncommon, but Happy Head is one of the only companies we’ve come across that combines as many branded peptides (Procapil, Capixyl, and Redensyl) along with collagen, saw palmetto, ashwagandha, and more.
Individually, many of these ingredients have shown promise in studies. A recent topical ashwagandha study showed improvements in both hair growth and overall hair health.48 Topical saw palmetto has been shown to reduce shedding and increase hair density.49 And topical peptides like the branded ones included here have demonstrated efficacy and a good side effect profile, according to a recent review of their various studies.50
Ultimately, this is one of the better hair loss serums on the market, and it’s reasonably priced for its niche. Something like GRO from Vegamour costs nearly twice as much per month ($139 vs. $79). However, it’s important to note that such serums lack the clinical track record for safety and efficacy that you see with topical minoxidil or topical finasteride. And those treatments are typically much less expensive, as well.
In addition to oral and topical medications, Happy Head recently threw their hat into the laser cap ring. If you’re unfamiliar with laser caps, these are devices that use medical-grade lasers at specific wavelengths to deliver low-level laser therapy (LLLT). This form of photobiomodulation has increasing scientific support, with clinical research seeing hair loss stop and regrowth occur at rates similar to topical minoxidil.43 29 Other research shows that you can safely combine laser therapy with topical minoxidil or other topical treatments, potentially doubling down on your chances of success.44
Here’s how Happy Head’s Laser Helmet currently compares to the competition:
If you want to learn more about effective and recommendable laser caps, check out our Guide to the Best Laser Caps for Hair Loss.
The ingredients in Happy Head's topical solutions are well-researched and exhibit few side effects in clinical trials, so they should be safe for most people. Access to a dermatologist for questions adds an extra layer of protection should any side effects arise.
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.46 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
Additional shedding is a relatively 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.45 This is a natural part of the process, and those hairs will grow back as long as you continue treatment.
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 hair loss and some hair regrowth within around six months.
But oral finasteride and dutasteride are associated with sexual and psychological side effects, including:13 16
For finasteride, these side effects are more common at the 5mg dose used in cases of benign prostatic hyperplasia, but they are still possible and anecdotally quite common 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. Happy Head’s combination medication that delivers tadalafil (an ED treatment) alongside finasteride is a nice option, but it’s stuck at a 5mg dose. Through Hims or Roman, you can get far more dose flexibility and treatment options to combat ED symptoms arising from hair loss medication.
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 — its original intended audience.47 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 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.38 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 recently updated its pricing model on several prominent products. Previously, you’d get a good discount on your first month’s supply, after which a higher price would kick in. Now the company employs a six-month discount on many products before the full price takes effect. That makes their catalog more accessible for longer, allowing new customers a chance to see whether these products work for them within the company’s six-month growth guarantee.
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, with many offering that introductory discount for your first six months:
First 6 months | Monthly cost after that | |
---|---|---|
Minoxidil | $59 | $59 |
Finasteride and minoxidil | $59 | $79 |
Dutasteride and minoxidil | $59 | $89 |
Finasteride, dutasteride, and minoxidil | $59 | $119 |
Spironolactone and minoxidil (women’s formula) | $59 | $79 |
Finasteride and minoxidil (aqueous solution) | $59 | $119 |
Finasteride and minoxidil (liposomal solution) | $59 | $99 |
Latanoprost, finasteride, and minoxidil | $59 | $149 |
Topical Advanced ProBlend | $59 | $89 |
Topical SuperSolution ProBlend | $59 | $99 |
The two ProBlends at the bottom of the chart represent the company’s kitchen sink approach, with the following ingredients in each:
The more expensive of the two utilizes a liposomal base that negates the need for propylene glycol among the inactive ingredients, so it could reduce irritation for some users.
Still, even the least expensive of these options is significantly more than you’d pay to get a similar treatment from a competitor like Hims or Roman. And the extra 3% in the minoxidil solution might even have a negative effect, based on some research.18
On the oral medication side, Happy Head has four specialized formulas they call SuperCapsules, which combine multiple oral prescription medications with a 2000IU dose of vitamin D. These products follow a similar price structure as the company’s topicals:
First 6 months | Monthly cost after that | |
---|---|---|
Finasteride 1mg, minoxidil 1.25mg, and vitamin D | $59 | $79 |
Dutasteride 0.5mg, minoxidil 1.25mg, and vitamin D | $59 | $89 |
Spironolactone 25mg, minoxidil 1.25mg, and vitamin D | $59 | $89 |
Finasteride 1mg, tadalafil 5mg, and vitamin D | $59 | $89 |
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. However, it complicates the company’s 30-day return policy if you were to reach out on day 26 only to discover you’d already been charged for your next month’s supply.
Happy Head’s single-ingredient 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:
Monthly cost | Available supplies | |
---|---|---|
Finasteride 1mg | $24 | 1, 2, and 3 months |
Dutasteride 0.5mg | $59 | 1, 2, and 3 months |
Minoxidil 2.5mg | $22 | 3 and 6 months |
Spironolactone 50mg or 100mg | $49 | 4 months |
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.
The rest of Happy Head’s catalog contains supplemental products like its multivitamin, shampoo and conditioner, and laser cap.
The Hair Serum is the only supplemental product to employ the six-month discount seen above. For your first six months, it costs $59/month. After that, the price goes up to $79/month.
The supplements, shampoo, conditioner, and dermatoller are each available as one-time purchases, and they each also offer a first-month discount, after which the full price kicks in:
One-time cost | 1st-month discount cost | Monthly cost after that | |
---|---|---|---|
Hair Growth Supplements | $88 | $55 | $79 |
Thickening Shampoo | $36 | $21 | $30 |
Thickening Conditioner | $36 | $21 | $30 |
Dermaroller | $45 | $27 | $39 |
Happy Head’s only other standalone product is their Laser Helmet, which sells for $998.
Happy Head offers various bundles of its prescription and non-prescription products, as well, which can deliver additional savings. The depth of these savings varies, but none are deep enough to compete with most competitors offering similar products or bundles.
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 six-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.
It’s also worth noting that the guarantee only applies to prescriptions. Non-prescription products and the Laser Helmet are only covered by the 30-day return policy.
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.
Photo by Innerbody Research
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 all of the 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.
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.
Hims is an outstanding choice for those looking to get topical finasteride and minoxidil mixed together. They offer a solution of 0.3% finasteride and 6% minoxidil. That's a higher concentration of finasteride than you can find with Happy Head, and a recurring three-month shipment comes out to a cost of just $50/month. You’ll also find novel combination treatments like Hims SexRx, which combines finasteride and tadalafil, or their HairHero line, which can combine things like oral minoxidil with a hair-supporting multivitamin.
Many of Roman’s hair loss treatments are more expensive than those from Hims and Keeps, but if you’re looking strictly for oral finasteride or oral minoxidil alone, they have the competition beat. The telemedical infrastructure can help with potential sexual or psychological side effects from finasteride, and Roman’s oral minoxidil offers the best price we’ve seen so far.
Strut is a slightly newer player than Hims or Roman, but their catalog is nearly as wide-reaching as Happy Head’s. There are some issues with medication format, such as the tablet form of dutasteride, which may not be as effective as the standard softgel. But the company’s prices are competitive and our experiences with them have been positive.
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 that Happy Head sells to maximize your chances of success.
The concept of the hair piece has evolved over the years, and the kinds of incredibly high-quality pieces that used to be reserved for use in big-budget films are now available to regular people. At the most intense level, these pieces are made to match your existing hair, glued to whatever area of your scalp has gone completely bald, and meticulously woven in elsewhere. They can be washed, cut, and styled however you please. If you don’t have very much hair left, practitioners will shave your head completely and rely solely on medical-grade glue to keep the piece in place, typically for months at a time.
There aren’t a lot of companies that provide this service, and it isn’t inexpensive (memberships run into the hundreds per month). The company with the most locations nationwide that you might be able to visit is Hair Club.
Also known as a hair or follicle transplant, this surgery grafts sections of healthy follicles from one area of your head onto an area suffering from hair loss. It’s an extreme step that involves a healing process, continuous follow-up treatment with products like finasteride or minoxidil, and a hefty sum of money. Typical restoration surgeries cost around $8,000-$15,000.
Hair Club has been a reliable place for such surgeries, as has Bosely. But Keeps just opened a restoration facility in New York City, and the company has plans for future expansion.
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Innerbody uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
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