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Hair is a key part of our self-presentation, from the way it looks to how much we have. It’s tied into some of our deepest held vanities, and it affects how other men and women see you.
That’s why hair loss in men may be one primary aspect of our appearance that can shake our confidence. While there’s a lot to be said for feeling confident in your own skin and hair, concern and self-consciousness regarding hair loss can be devastating and difficult to shake.
Let’s face it, there’s nothing that will age you quicker than losing your hair. Thinning hair, a receding hairline, and balding all conspire to make you look older and less attractive when it comes to conventional standards.
Although you may know intellectually that hair loss patterns are mostly genetics, and they are no sign of who you really are. It’s difficult to shake the associations between a full head of hair and virility or femininity. So what’s there to do? Do you accept your genetics and grow bald gracefully? Or, do you try out a few options to revive your falling follicles?
Hair growth laser therapy uses low-level frequencies to stimulate hair growth. These treatments are easy, have undergone clinical tests, have FDA approval, and are the best on the market. Not only may a laser hair cap help to thicken and strengthen the hair on your head, but it will also keep your follicles from dropping out of the race for good. The best part is that laser caps, including iRestore and Capillus, energize your scalp to regrow hair in dormant follicles.
In this article, we’ve done the research for you on two systems that offer the best experience on the market for regrowth. This is a comparison of two devices, Capillus vs iRestore, each using high-quality laser technology, a unique design, and offering a guarantee that they will put hair back on your head.
Hair Loss Causes
Hair loss or alopecia can be the result of many factors. There are some factors that we have control over, such as stress-reduction, diet, and exercise. However, there are many factors that lead to permanent hair loss we don’t control for ourselves.
Keep in mind that it’s healthy to experience normal levels of shedding. The average person loses fifty to one hundred hairs from their head a day. This thinning shouldn’t be noticeable, since these hairs are merely turning over for new hairs to grow in. True hair loss occurs when a new hair doesn’t grow in the follicle to replace the one that fell.
Heredity
Our hereditary hair growth and loss patterns are the largest factors that we cannot control. While this is most common in men, anybody can have hereditary hair loss as they age. Since this feels so out of your control it can leave you feeling very self-conscious and defeated.
When it comes to pattern baldness for men and women, the underlying cause is often changes in hormonal balance as the body ages, particularly the testosterone balance.
Receding hairlines and gradual thinning at the top of the head are generally signs of male pattern baldness. For women, it typically begins with increased thinning at the part in the hair or a receding hairline.
Hormonal and Medical Conditions
Aside from testosterone, there are other hormonal changes that may cause hair loss. Many of these have to do with reproductive health among women.
Hormonal changes resulting from pregnancy, the childbirth process, menopause, and oral contraceptives can cause changes in hair production. Thyroid problems have also been know to cause hair to fall.
There’s also a lot that we do in our daily life that affects our hormone balance without us even noticing. One common example is an extreme feeling of stress, which releases cortisol, the stress hormone. It has been linked to overall negative health effects including sleep loss, poor nutrition, fat storage, and hair loss.
Sudden hair loss might come from extreme stress that creates physical or emotional shock. Handfuls of hair may come out when you wash or comb your hair. This is generally a more temporary form of hair thinning, and the follicles will grow hair again. However, chronic stress problems can be a cause for concern.
Additionally, there are many medical conditions that may speed up or cause hair loss or balding. These include alopecia areata which is caused by the immune system and causes hair loss in patches. Skin infections on the scalp will also cause hair loss and can. if irritated. create the kind of scar tissue that makes it impossible for hair to grow back.
It’s also a good idea to pay attention to how certain medications can affect your hair loss. Medications used for cancer, arthritis, depression, heart problems, gout, and high blood pressure have all demonstrated hair loss results. Radiation therapy is another cause of drastic hair loss and changes in hair regrowth.
How To Treat Hair Loss?
Usually, people decide to take action when they start to notice persistent hair loss or thinning. If you have sudden or patchy hair loss that doesn’t follow the typical patterns of aging, you should schedule an appointment with your doctor as it might be a sign of a more serious underlying medical condition.
There are many hair loss treatments on the market, some more effective than others. Many treatments require you to consistently purchase an expensive product that may or may not work for you. These can include expensive shampoos and other products, as well as pills that may have side-effects with long-term use.
Laser hair regrowth is non-invasive and is a proven treatment to stimulate hair for both men and women. It takes just a little time each day or every-other-day wearing a cap or helmet. Additionally, this treatment method can work alongside other products that you find effective.
The earlier you begin treatment for hair loss, the more likely you are to keep from experiencing significant baldness.
Consider Your Health and Habits
The first step anyone should take to improve their hair growth is to look at their health routines. Hair loss may follow significant weight loss, stress, or poor nutrition. Keep in mind that the body considers hair to be a dispensable part of our bodies. So when the body isn’t getting enough nutrition, the hair might be the first thing to go. In most cases, this will be temporary hair-falling or thinning.
There are some healthy habits that you can cultivate by adopting a hair-friendly diet that minimizes excess sugars, even those derived from starches and carbohydrates, and eating healthy foods, including healthy and complex fats. For a full breakdown of food nutrition to help your hair growth, check out our guide here.
Additionally, exercise may help to stimulate fuller hair growth by helping with blood circulation, so that the blood pumps more oxygen throughout the entire body, thus stimulating healthy cell turnover.
Look Into Low-Level Laser Therapy (LLLT)
For those who not only want to stop hair loss but also hope to regrow lost hair, low-level laser therapy (LLLT) may the best option.
Laser combs, helmets that use low-level lasers, and products such as a laser hat for hair loss used to be technology that was difficult to obtain for home use. Until recently, these devices required prescriptions or doctor visits. Now, though, it’s easy to purchase your own quality LLLT helmet, such as the iRestore hair treatment or Capillus system on their website or on amazon at a reasonable price.
For those who think it’s a scary concept to put laser lights near your scalp and hair, it’s important not to conflate low-level light treatments with laser hair removal. While high-frequency laser hair removal aims to damage hair follicles and prevent hair from growing back, red light lasers use low-frequencies to energize the hair and stimulate new growth.
Red laser hair treatments are a clinically-proven, FDA-approved, and non-invasive way of shrinking hair follicles. This shrinking helps the hair to grow stronger and thicker. As the cells absorb the light, it triggers the cell’s metabolism, which increases its energy production and helps to reactivate even dormant hair follicles. The result extends the growth phase of the follicle’s growth cycle, which is the phase that dormant hair cells skip.
For a lot of people, the best laser cap for hair loss and comes down to a choice between Capillus vs iRestore, as each device holds a place in the market as a quality red-laser hair therapy systems that really work.
iRestore – Essential – Laser Hair Growth System
The iRestore laser hair growth system is a helmet design that combines lasers with red LED lights for treatment. Not only does this system review well, but it also comes with a guarantee. It’s intended primarily for home use, since the helmet device doesn’t blend in on the street, and it would either need an outlet or a relatively cumbersome rechargeable battery pack.
The Unit
The iRestore hair device comes with the helmet itself, as well as an AC adapter to power the technology. This model uses 51 medical-grade red light lasers. That’s, of course, a lot of jargon to say that the whole cap is optimized to emit red light lasers and LED in controlled energy waves that are safe for the hair follicles of the scalp.
Use is as easy as wearing it for 25 minutes each session. It’s recommended to use it every-other-day for the best results. The iRestore has a timer display to help you keep track of treatment time. Additionally, the helmet will shut off automatically when the 25 minutes are up. While daily use can contribute to faster results, it’s not guaranteed.
The device is comfortable to wear with its medical-grade foam padding. It’s also designed to be hands-free so that you can focus on doing other tasks during self-treatment. You can make it even more portable and flexible with the extra purchase of a rechargeable battery pack so that you don’t have to remain plugged into the wall during use.
What to Expect?
If you have a consistent routine with the iRestore cap, you should start seeing hair growth results in about three months. Additionally, since these units are non-invasive, they can be combined with other hair strengthening and regrowth products, such as oils, foams, shampoos, and natural supplements.
Consistency is key with this product. Results don’t happen overnight or even after a full month. However, if you do incorporate it into your routine for consistent use, it can improve your hair in the long-term. Maximum efficiency should begin at around six months.
According to a 2017 clinical study of this product, those tested found an average of 43 percent increase in hair count after six months of use.
This product offers great hair regrowth capabilities at a reasonable price when compared with other hair regrowth products of its caliber. Not to mention, it’s a reusable product, so you don’t have to worry about repurchasing as you would with a topical hair regrowth product.
Capillus82 Laser Hair Growth Cap
The Capillus 82 is a home medical hair-growth laser device designed like a sports cap, which helps you blend into a crowd while increasing your hair growth. The Capillus features all medical-grade low-frequency lasers.
The Unit
The Capillus is a portable device, making it a good option for those who travel a lot or who need to run errands during their laser hair growth treatments. When worn outside the house, it may blend in as if it were a normal hat. Fair warning, though, it does have a large logo in the front, so you won’t be completely incognito.
The product should be used for six minutes on a daily basis. This model shuts down automatically so that your scalp isn’t exposed to any more than six minutes each day in case you’re busy and forget to time yourself.
The cap itself is inlaid with a mobile laser grid so that you can move around throughout use. The grid has 82 low-level lasers that use photobiomodulation to stimulate strong hair growth at the level of the follicle. It’s also rechargeable and comes with a carrying case to help with travel. The battery lasts about 30 days, so even though users need daily treatment daily, recharging can be kept to a monthly basis.
What to Expect?
Results usually begin to be noticeable after 12 months of consistent daily use. Maximum effects will show after 24 months, making this a more long-term solution.
The Capillus is recommended for those with hereditary or reactive hair loss, such as thinning hair, receding hairlines from male or female pattern baldness, and alopecia. Since it’s been proven safe and effective, this is a commonly recommended treatment by doctors.
For all its covert design, the Capillus 82 Cap has a 95 percent success rate and merits strong positive reviews. The cap is also compatible with other hair loss treatments that users find effective. However, it does come at a higher price.
Putting Them to the Test
Ultimately the cost of laser hair therapy is less expensive than other effective treatments, such as expensive hair transplant surgeries, or even the consistent use of minoxidil, the active ingredient in products such as Rogaine.
Low-light laser therapy has FDA clearance, is non-invasive, and can be used at the same time as other hair growth measures to speed up results. Both of the red laser light therapy caps that we’ve discussed have numerous success-stories and positive reviews attesting to how effective they are in regrowing and strengthening hair growth.
There are two different kinds of light used for LLLT treatments: low-level lasers and light-emitting diodes (LED). LEDs are not as powerful at stimulating hair growth as the lasers since the lights are more spread out, allowing for lost energy, as opposed to lasers which concentrate the energy straight to the scalp.
While these caps are a little on the pricey side for an up-front purchase, they are a long-term investment for a problem that isn’t going to simply disappear. Hair regrowth can vastly improve a person’s quality of life, and wouldn’t it be great to enjoy more hair without any other side effects?
For those considering either device, there is one aspect that you should know about – the shedding phase. As you start using low-level laser therapy, many people have experienced an increase in hair shedding before the positive effects of the light therapy start to kick in. This happens as the hair transitions but the long-term outcome is ultimately positive despite a little thinning before you get there. As mentioned before, consistent use is really important for positive results.
iRestore vs Capillus
Both of these devices set the standard for hair regrowth caps that can be purchased for home use.
Since each growth device is a significant investment, how can you be sure to get the right laser device for your lifestyle? Here’s a comparison to help make your decision easy.
Technology Comparison
Although the iRestore uses medical-grade lasers and may show results in about three months, its combination of lasers and LEDs make it less powerful than the Capillus which uses only lasers.
For many, the Capillus helps to adapt this technology to everyday life in a more user-friendly and mobile way. It uses laser diodes as opposed to LEDs and requires shorter sessions of six minutes. However, one drawback is how long it takes to see results when using the Capillus vs iRestore.
Comfort Comparison
Capillus has a more flexible design. Not only does it not need to be plugged in, but you can also wear it out of the house as a normal sports cap. The incognito appearance of this cap can also decrease the feeling of stigma within your own household as well. However, the cap is only available in one size and is not adjustable, so it might not be comfortable for everyone.
While it might not look it, the iRestore helmet is designed to be worn comfortably with medical-grade padding. On the downside, though, unless you buy a rechargeable battery pack you will be using this for twenty-five minutes while plugged into the wall somewhere. Many will want their results faster using the iRestore even though it may mean staying at home throughout their morning routine or sitting by an outlet for half an hour.
Price Point
The Capillus runs more expensive than the iRestore. However, both the helmet and the cap, in the long run, will be less expensive than the long-term use of hair regrowth pills or surgery.
Laser Therapy For Hair Growth
Conclusion
For those that are losing their hair, there are many options to help keep it in place and reinvigorate the follicles for stronger, thicker hair. Red laser hair therapy is one way to encourage growth and even restore dormant follicles.
While both laser red light caps have been proven to be effective, the choice is up to you, depending on your lifestyle and the time you have available for your laser hair therapy treatment. Remember, the most important part of using this treatment is consistency. iRestore is better for those who have a consistent at-home schedule and a daily routine. Capillus may be more convenient for your long-run routine, someone with a busier schedule, or for someone who is on the go.