I'm the perfect person for a Hims review, because a couple years ago I finally accepted the fact that I was losing my hair and it wasn’t going to improve on its own. The recession itself wasn’t going to recede, and my crown was about one-half or one-third the density it used to be. I hadn’t noticed these gradual changes by simply staring at my reflection every day, until a few things happened: One, I grew my hair long, and it emphasized how much my hair had recessed and thinned out. Two, I buzzed it all off, and could see exactly how much thinner my crown was compared to the sides. And three, I looked at photos from a few years prior, and realized, oh, what a difference a few years can make (especially in one’s early 30s).
So, it finally sank in. And that’s when I went all-in on hair loss remedies: I did the plasma injections (PRP) which use your own blood’s platelets to juice up your follicles and stimulate hair growth. At the same time, I started trying various hair loss subscription services, such as Hims, Keeps, and Roman.
I mention all three brands because they each sell the two core things that prevent hair loss and help re-engage dormant follicles: First are finasteride pills, which combat the hormonal byproducts that cause hair fall. It is especially effective at slowing a receding hairline. Then there are minoxidil drops, which boost blood flow and nutrient delivery to the follicles. They are particularly potent when it comes to restoring density around the crown.
If that’s all you’re after, then the brands are fairly interchangeable. You sign up, and then speak with a dermatologist who assesses your hair loss. That doctor decides if you are a candidate for regrowth. (If it’s been gone for a couple years, it probably isn’t going to grow back. Those follicles are dead and gone, and you might need to consider a hair transplant instead.) The dermatologist will also run over the risks of taking these drugs, most notably those of finasteride. Some men experience sexual side effects (like erectile dysfunction or loss of sex drive), which can occasionally be irreversible if you don’t stop taking the pills immediately. These rare cases are out there, but it’s still worth trying the medication and carefully monitoring these things each day. (What a fun assignment, making sure you can get a boner every day!) You can speak with the brands’ doctors at any sign of change. She or he will probably suggest you stick with the minoxidil and drop the finasteride.
So, how does Hims stack up?
Hims is a telemedicine company focused on men's healthcare — in addition to hair loss, it sells products for skin care, erectile dysfunction, and mental health. For hair loss, in addition to finasteride and minoxidil, the brand also offers a saw palmetto shampoo and biotin gummies. Saw palmetto is known to inhibit DHT, which is that hormone byproduct that suffocates and shrinks the hair follicle (it’s the exact thing that finasteride pills inhibit, too). Biotin, on the other hand, is a hair-growth supplement that speeds up and fortifies strands.
Here is my general Hims review, specifically of their hair growth products, keeping in mind that I’ve also used finasteride and minoxidil from both Keeps and Roman throughout my regrowth process.
The Finasteride and Minoxidil
I’m grouping these two together since I enrolled in both simultaneously, and since I can only measure their collective success.
The hair on top of my head is visibly thicker — I’d say roughly 50 per cent — and the results were especially noticeable around six months after starting. As outlined by my doctor, it took about three to four months for those dormant follicles to start growing new hairs, since they had to “wake up” after becoming strong from the added nutrients and from being void of DHT interference.
