Kiierr Laser Cap Reviews: Effectiveness at a competitive price

Hair loss affects a large number of men and women, with nearly 80% experiencing some form of hair loss by 50.1 For such a widespread issue, solutions didn’t advance much farther than hairpieces and spray-on hair until the second half of the 20th century. That’s when developments like follicle transplants, Rogaine, and Propecia came along.

As typical as many of these therapies are, they’re all prone to complications and side effects.2 Supplemental alternatives abound, but few have significant research support. Even before minoxidil or finasteride hit the scene, though, researchers investigated the potential for specific wavelengths of light to ease chronic pain. This research led to low-level laser therapy (LLLT), which turned out to be effective in fighting hair loss and is the basis for laser caps like Kiierr.

Laser cap technology is expensive, but so is a lifetime of prescription medication like finasteride. And with a lower side effect profile than finasteride and a more effortless application experience than minoxidil, LLLT offers a viable alternative to treat hair loss. Is it right for you, and is Kiierr the right company? We’ll share all of the details.

Kiierr delivers laser caps that don’t sacrifice laser diode count or energy delivery despite costing less than most of its competitors. When you factor in potential savings from company discounts and available refurbished models, you can get a reliable laser hair regrowth device from Kiierr for a remarkably low price. Kiierr’s supportive products, like shampoos, conditioners, and supplements, aren’t as well-priced, and LLLT still requires a significant investment of time and money. But in our opinion, Kiierr remains the best option for most men and women interested in treating their hair loss with laser therapy.

At Innerbody Research, we extensively test each health service we review, including Kiierr’s laser caps for hair loss. All told, our team has spent over 400 hours testing and researching hair loss science and the various tools and treatments available to men and women. Members of our team have tested over-the-counter and prescription hair loss treatments, tried dozens of the top shampoos and conditioners, and tried numerous laser caps for ourselves, including caps by Kiierr, so that we can give you in-depth knowledge about what it’s like to acquire and use one for yourself and how it compares to other potential hair regrowth routines.

We provide you with information that we could only glean from personal testing, and our experiences are seasoned by information from the more than 100 scholarly articles we’ve read pertaining to hair loss and laser therapy. 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.

Over the past two decades, Innerbody Research has helped tens of millions of readers make more informed decisions to live healthier lifestyles.

Our evaluation of Kiierr and its products has been a years-long process involving personal testing, deep research, and continuous monitoring of the company’s offerings and prices, as well as those of its closest competition. At every step in our journey, we’ve kept a handful of criteria in mind that should be critical factors in the decision-making for most people considering laser therapy to treat their hair loss.

Specifically, we looked closely at:

• Cost
• Effectiveness
• Convenience
• Safety
• Comfort

Let’s look more closely at each of these criteria to see how Kiierr ranked.

Cost

There’s no sugar-coating it: laser caps are expensive. And it’s not just price-gouging targeted at people desperate to keep their hair. Members of our research team looked into the bulk price of laser diodes like the ones found in these caps to see what it would cost if we wanted to make our own.

In our research, we saw an average cost of about $0.75 per diode when bought in bulk. Large-scale manufacturers might get an even better deal, but this number comes to about $200 for the diodes alone to make a cap with 272 of them (a common top-tier quantity). Add in the domed circuit board, wiring, housing, assembly, battery pack, controller, accessories, and the cost of labor, and it starts to become clear why these products often cost well over $1,000.

So, when we see Kiierr offering its 272-diode laser cap for just south of that ($999), we can’t help but be impressed — and a little suspicious. But we’ve used these caps and can speak to their quality.

The one manufacturer that bests Kiierr in sticker price is Illumiflow, whose base-level 272-diode cap costs $799. Kiierr has the ability to nearly match that price, however. On the Kiierr website, there’s a hair loss evaluation questionnaire you can fill out. It takes around a minute to complete, and Kiierr sends you a $130 coupon for your effort. That brings the $999 price tag down to $869. Comparing the Illumiflow and Kiierr models and their packages side-by-side, that extra $70 for the Kiierr cap gets you a battery life up to five times that of the Illumiflow model, as well as a hardshell case for travel and storage.

At the other end of the price spectrum are products like the Capillus PRO, which has the same number of diodes but a growth guarantee that’s one month less than Kiierr’s, all for a price of $2,499. The advantage of the Capillus model is comfort (thanks to a soft silicone lining in the cap) and session time.

Effectiveness

We give high marks to Kiierr for effectiveness, not because it’s significantly more effective than similar models by competitors but because LLLT as a treatment method shows great promise.3 And Kiierr’s caps — like most laser caps for hair loss — have their diodes tuned to the same power output and light frequency used in the most successful studies.

You typically see models with 148 and 272 diodes from most companies. But a pair of providers — Capillus and The Original LaserCap — offer over 304 diodes in top-of-the-line units. We’ve found that the coverage 272 diodes provides is impressive, and looking at the Capillus PRO S1 with its 304 diodes on our testers’ heads, we couldn’t see a meaningful enough difference from the 272 diodes in the Kiierr models to justify the increase in cost.

All that said, this is a treatment method that requires consistency for many months to begin to see results, and you have to continue with treatment for as long as you want to keep your hair.4 LLLT is not a cure; when you stop treatment, your hair loss will resume. So, having a model you can use comfortably within the product’s guidelines is critical, which brings us to our next criterion, convenience.

Convenience

Convenience is a big topic in laser caps because it seems like every company has slightly different usage guidelines. Treatment times can range from 6-30 minutes and could be daily or every other day. And battery packs can get anywhere from 2-10 uses per charge.

Kiierr’s convenience is something of a mixed bag. On the one hand, its top caps provide the most uses per charge of any laser cap. Even its entry-level models offer uses in the middle of the category’s range. That makes them ideal for travel or just for people who might be forgetful about keeping their devices charged. That’s a lot of us.

On the other hand, Kiierr uses pulse-wave lasers, which require longer treatment times than continuous lasers. As a result, Kiierr’s treatment times are 30 minutes every other day. That might be a harder amount of time to schedule for wearing your laser cap than the daily six-minute regimen from Capillus or the available seven-minute regimens from some Hairmax and Illumiflow models.

Sessions in a Kiierr cap last 30 minutes, but you use the cap every other day. Meanwhile, Capillus sessions only last six minutes — an industry-leading number — but you perform them daily. That adds up to decisively less time per week using Capillus. A daily routine may be easier for some people to remember to do, while others would prefer to have days off.

There’s one interesting thing Kiierr does that its competitors do not, and it’s something we found especially convenient when learning to use these products. Kiierr takes the meat of its user manual (setup, charging, use, etc.) and blows it up to fill two 8.5x11in. sheets of paper. They laminate those blown-up pages and include them with your shipment, making it much easier to get started and have a handy reference along the way than it is with the small manuals to which other companies’ packages are constrained. It’s a little extra effort on the part of the company, and we appreciate it. Here’s a look at the blown-up instructions:

Safety

In multiple studies, LLLT applied to the scalp as a hair loss treatment has been very well tolerated.5 It scores better than things like minoxidil, even as a few studies mark incidents in which it outperforms minoxidil. That said, there have been reports of increased scalp sensitivity, itching, and dryness, but these were relatively rare and easily resolved.

The real danger these caps pose isn’t to your scalp — it’s to your eyes. The lasers in these caps are powerful, and if you’ve ever had someone shine a laser pointer into your eye, you know how uncomfortable that can be. These lasers aren’t as powerful as the average pointer, but there are hundreds of them in a single cap. And our testers will tell you from experience that looking into them while they’re on is not fun.

So, to add to the safety of these caps, some manufacturers include eye safety sensors that prevent the cap from running unless it’s securely on your head. These are typically photosensitive modules integrated into a cap’s circuit board. When they stop sensing light, they allow the cap’s lasers to fire. They’re pretty sensitive, too. In testing, we consistently had caps work while on our heads. And even when we tried turning them on in a pitch-black room, the sensors prevented it.

In our experience, when eye safety sensors are present in a laser cap, they work as intended. But they aren’t always present. In fact, only Capillus and LaserCap build safety sensors into all of their models. Kiierr offers them in its MD caps, which are its most expensive models, starting at $1,399. Models like the Premier 272, which sells for $999, do not have this feature.

Comfort

Kiierr does not make the most comfortable laser caps on the market. That accolade belongs to Hairmax, with Capillus pulling up in a close second. Both of those companies use clear, flexible silicone linings that soften the feeling of the cap on your scalp. And Kiierr’s standard size cap may feel a little small for many users. Around half of our testers found it to feel small, especially compared to the company’s Elite MD model, which is about 25% larger. High-end models from Capillus, Hairmax, and LaserCap also feature added coverage and comfort.

One thing that bugged our testers was that no laser cap, no matter how big or small, stayed on their heads with any degree of reliability. But Kiierr provides a headband you can attach to the inner cap before or in lieu of adding the ball cap. This headband kept the Premier 272 in place on all of our testers’ heads through various tests, including bending, running, and vigorous shaking.

While there are several common causes for hair loss, the most common by far is androgenetic (or androgenic) alopecia.6 Most people would recognize it by its common name: male pattern baldness. It’s also the same condition and clinical term for female pattern baldness. This condition results from an overabundance of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) at the scalp.7 The body creates DHT by converting testosterone with an enzyme called 5-alpha reductase. Whether or not your body produces too much DHT is mostly a matter of genetics.

Medications like finasteride are known as 5-alpha reductase inhibitors.8 By lowering the amount of this enzyme in your system, your body can’t make as much DHT, and your hair follicles can resume normal function. But DHT is an androgen hormone, and its ties to testosterone make finasteride and other 5-alpha reductase inhibitors poor choices for women seeking treatment.

Other causes of hair loss include the following:

The specific cause of hair loss can vary from person to person, and sometimes multiple factors can contribute to the condition. If you are experiencing significant hair loss or have concerns about your hair health, it's best to consult your doctor — specifically, a dermatologist — for a proper evaluation and diagnosis.

Kiierr is a company devoted to treating hair loss. Its primary tool in this fight is the laser cap, a device you wear on your head. It contains many laser diodes tuned to a specific wavelength and frequency. The treatment method is called low-level laser therapy, or LLLT.

Kiierr also has a small hair care product line that combines topical treatments with botanicals, vitamins, and minerals that perform well in hair loss studies. Many users find that employing such ancillary therapies in conjunction with LLLT increases the quality of their results.

What is LLLT?

Low-Level Laser Therapy (LLLT), also known as photobiomodulation, is a treatment that uses low-power lasers to affect changes at a cellular level, stimulating tissue repair and reducing inflammation.12 Unlike surgical or high-power lasers, LLLT diodes do not produce significant heat and are considered non-invasive.

LLLT’s exact mechanism of action is poorly understood, but the laser exposure likely causes an increase in blood flow to the scalp. That extra blood would deliver additional nutrients and oxygen to follicles, strengthening them. There is also evidence that LLLT can reset growth phases, causing your follicles to start a fresh round of growth with this increased oxygen and nutrient delivery, aiding the development of new hair strands.5 This is a similar mechanism of action that scientists suspect is at the heart of minoxidil treatments. Like minoxidil, this process may also involve genetic signal pathway activation related to hair follicles and the stages of hair growth.13

LLLT utilizes concentrated light emissions tuned to a specific frequency and wavelength and applied to a targeted area of the body. The red light you see coming from the laser caps is approximately 655 nanometers in wavelength from 5mW laser diodes, which multiple studies conclude is among the most effective wavelengths to treat hair loss.14

How long does LLLT take to work?

LLLT regimens start showing results in a few months. They follow a similar timeline to minoxidil. You won’t see much of an improvement after only a few weeks, and you may even endure some shedding when your follicles reset their growth phases. But if you stay with it, you will likely see a cessation of hair loss and a return of growth.

Like any major hair loss treatment, including minoxidil and finasteride, LLLT will stop working if you stop using it. You might not notice at first, as your follicles could mostly be in the middle stages of growth, but your hair loss will soon return. That’s one of the reasons a one-time investment in a laser cap may be smarter than repeat purchases of prescription and non-prescription drugs to target the problem.

Kiierr laser caps and LLLT, in general, are very safe for use on the scalp. Mild side effects sometimes occur, including irritation or redness.5 You should avoid using any laser cap if you have undiagnosed lesions or any form of skin cancer on or around your scalp.

Because these products use lasers, they can cause significant eye damage. Some laser caps provide a safety feature that will prevent the lasers from firing if the cap doesn’t sense that it’s on your head. Kiierr employs such a feature but only on its most expensive caps, specifically, its MD line. Capillus and LaserCap both offer such protection on all of their models, but Kiierr’s prices are much lower, including on the models it offers with safety sensors.

If you live in a house with young children who might not understand the danger lasers pose to their eyes, you should do all you can to keep the cap in a safe place that those children cannot access.

Kiierr is an excellent option for anyone interested in laser hair loss treatments who can’t quite justify a $3,000 investment in the technology. And LLLT, in general, is a great option for anyone who has either tried medicines like finasteride and minoxidil to no avail or would rather avoid them and their potential side effects. Finasteride brings with it some of the more frightening side effects in the space, including increases in depression, decreases in libido and sperm count, and, in some cases, erectile dysfunction.35

That said, if you’ve used minoxidil with some success, you might want to combine it with LLLT. Studies show that the results compound significantly when you put minoxidil and LLLT together.15 That can cause more hair to grow back in less time.

Who shouldn’t try laser caps

However, there are some groups for whom LLLT might not be a wise choice. That includes anyone who might have an underlying medical condition contributing to their hair loss. It’s important to speak with a doctor when you start losing your hair — especially if there’s no history of hair loss in your family. You’ll want to rule out disorders or deficiencies that could require treatment, like hypothyroidism or low levels of biotin, zinc, or iron.16

Chemotherapy patients also respond poorly to most hair loss interventions until after their round of treatments concludes.11 The process so aggressively targets cell proliferation that follicles can’t effectively build new strands of hair. However, after the conclusion of treatment, you can use LLLT and other interventions to regrow your hair more quickly.

Kiierr company standing

While not an accredited business with the Better Business Bureau, Kiierr does have an A rating from the organization. Of the complaints included on the site, most appear related to communication issues that arise during attempted returns. Some of these arise from Kiierr’s growth guarantee policy, which asks customers to keep the product for the entire seven months to be sure whether or not it would work for them. Customers may not be aware of this policy when purchasing the device. There are only nine complaints filed within the past year.

Kiierr has a relatively good rating on Trustpilot, as well, with 3.9 stars from 24 reviews as of this writing. More than half of the reviews posted rate the company and product five stars.

Kiierr offers three laser cap options, one of which is available in an XL size for heads whose circumferences exceed 23.5 inches. The available caps and their prices are as follows:

• 148 Pro: $749, 148 laser diodes
• 272 Premier: $999, 272 diodes
• 272 MD: $1,399, 272 laser diodes
• 272 MD Elite XL: $1,799, 272 laser diodes

Kiierr lets you choose whether to get a bundle of hair care products, including the shampoo, conditioner, and multivitamin, when you purchase the 148 Pro or Premier 272 models. The option is right there on the product page. Almost every way the site lets you navigate to the page for its MD models leads you to a listing where they are only available with the included bundle. That increases the price by about $50. However, you can still get MD caps on their own if you can find the page that lists them as such. We dug it up for you, and you can access it here.

You can also purchase caps from Kiierr’s Amazon store, where the prices are the same as they are on Kiierr’s site. But we recommend buying through Kiierr directly and making use of the company’s $130 discount when you answer a short hair loss questionnaire.

None of Kiierr’s supportive products are available as standalone purchases from Kiierr’s Amazon store. Kiierr still honors warranties and growth guarantees on products bought through Amazon, though.

Here’s a look at Kiierr’s laser caps and how they compare to some of the top competition:

Refurbished models

Kiierr also offers refurbished caps as its stock allows. A refurbished Premier 272 sells for $699, marked down from $999 for a savings of $300. Refurbished caps do not come with a growth guarantee, and the warranty only lasts for one year. However, you can use your $130 hair loss evaluation coupon on a refurbished cap, bringing your cost down to $569. That’s the lowest price for any 272-diode laser cap among all the reputable brands we’ve encountered, beating out the next least expensive option from Ilumiflow by more than $200.

Because it can take several months for laser therapy to achieve noticeable results, Kiierr offers a 7-month growth guarantee that allows you to use the laser cap for up to seven months. If you aren’t satisfied, you can still return it.

You can only claim the guarantee if you registered your product when you received it and submitted a before photo of your hair to the company. You’ll have to use the product for at least seven months, after which time you’ll have 30 days to make a growth guarantee claim. You’ll then have to provide them with a current picture to show that the cap didn’t work for you. Also, all returns include a $50 fee to cover shipping costs and a 25% deduction that Kiierr calls a convenience fee.

While the photo requirements are atypical of laser cap companies, all of the companies we’ve encountered have guarantees that include some kind of restocking fee, typically between 15% and 25%. Kiierr’s guarantee is one month longer than the guarantees from Capillus or Hairmax but five months shorter than those from LaserCap or Illumiflow.

Payments, shipping, and warranty

Kiierr accepts all major credit cards, Venmo, and PayPal. The company also provides free 2-day shipping on all of its products.

Kiierr laser caps come with a 2-year warranty that covers all parts against manufacturer defects for two years from the date of purchase.

Kiierr offers several hair care products designed for you to use in conjunction with your laser cap. Kiierr relies on some novel ingredients in its hair care products that you won’t see in many of the competition’s offerings. Some show promise in testing but need more studies for us to recommend them wholeheartedly.

Ultimately, we’d steer you toward hair care products from companies like Hims or Keeps before recommending Kiierr. Their prices are better, and their ingredient profiles contain fewer under-studied ingredients.

Here’s a quick look at Kiierr’s haircare lineup.

Kiierr is far from the only game in town, though it does offer one of the best products in its price range that you’ll find. There are a few other players worth mentioning, as well as a handful of other treatment methods you can try alone or in conjunction with LLLT to maximize your potential for results.

Other laser caps

Over the years, we’ve had the opportunity to try numerous laser caps and compare their various features and build qualities. Kiierr has consistently been among our top picks, and the company’s 272 Premier model currently ranks as our best choice for most men. There are pricier options out there with a few more features or a little more to offer in comfort, but Kiierr’s combination of price and quality makes it an ideal pick for many.

Most other companies offer caps with similar diode counts and feature sets, but crucial factors like battery life can make a big difference in your experience (laser caps run only on their battery pack; they can’t run while plugged into a wall outlet).

Here’s one more quick look at Kiierr versus some of its closest competitors:

As you can see, Kiierr’s battery life really sets its products apart, but so do its treatment times. The biggest knock on Kiierr for some is that you have to sit with it for 30 minutes every other day. Companies like Hairmax, Illumiflow, and Capillus offer products with much shorter treatment times. It’s important to remember that those short treatment times use continuous wave lasers instead of pulsed wave lasers, the latter of which you’ll find in Kiierr caps.

Right now, there’s no scientific consensus as to which method is superior for treating hair loss. Both appear safe and effective in respective studies, and head-to-head human studies haven’t been conducted to date. Your best choice between the two at this time will be one that’s within your budget and comes with a treatment routine that suits you.

Prescription and non-prescription drug interventions

The two most common treatments for hair loss are prescription oral finasteride and non-prescription topical minoxidil. They each work well on their own, but they appear to have a synergistic effect when combined, producing reliable results. You can also get a topical finasteride solution or oral minoxidil, both of which require a prescription.

Let’s take a closer look at each drug to find out what they can offer. And for a fuller view of hair loss treatments, visit our comprehensive guide to the best of them, complete with suggestions for how to combine them safely and effectively.

Supplements and hair care products

While the efficacy of finasteride and minoxidil is well established, researchers continue to dedicate countless hours into studying botanical ingredients and other substances for their potential as hair loss treatments. Some of these ingredients, like saw palmetto, show real promise. Others are included in various supplements and hair care products because they have one or two research papers bolstering their potential. But much of that research is in vitro or conducted on animals.

Kiierr’s lineup of supporting products is fine. In recent years, it’s become common practice for laser cap companies to offer shampoo, conditioner, and nutritional supplements. In terms of quality, Capillus has some of the best hair care products, but they’re unreasonably expensive. We’d guide you more toward a company that deals in finasteride and minoxidil, like Hims or Keeps, for hair care products designed to address hair loss.

For a nutritional supplement, the most complex set of ingredients that boasts the most research behind them comes from Nutrafol. They’re definitely on the pricey side, costing around twice what Kiierr’s supplements cost, but there’s a noteworthy difference in ingredients. That company also offers drug-free alternatives to medications like minoxidil.