Topical Lotions
There are many topical lotions sold by beauty salons across the country, specifically for women with thinning hair. For many women, this is the first attempt at correcting their excessive hair loss. However, for women with androgenic hair loss (female pattern baldness), lotions and creams simply will not work.

Drug Therapy
Minoxidil has now been approved for use by women in formulations containing 2% of the drug. Now sold as an over-the-counter product, minoxidil has been approved by the FDA as a hair loss cessation/hair growing drug. However, minoxidil has only been shown to grow hair on the crown, not in the frontal hairline. The hair that minoxidil can grow, even in the crown is usually hair that is not considered "cosmetically acceptable", meaning hair that will not grow long and healthy enough to cover the scalp.

As for minoxidil's ability to stop hair loss, the success rate varies widely from individual to individual. In most cases, the hair loss still continues but will sometimes do so at a lesser rate. In all cases, once minoxidil use is stopped, hair loss returns to its original levels; any hair growth achieved will also cease.

Transplants
Transplants are now being preformed by doctors on women patients. Hair transplants have been vastly improved in the past ten years, and no longer produced the "row of corn" appearance that was the case in the days of "hair plugs".

It must be noted that transplants do not create new hair. They simply move hair from the back of the scalp (the donor area) to the desired areas of the scalp where there is hair loss. The amount of hair on the scalp remains the same. It is just rearranged. In order for transplants to be successful, the patient must have enough hair in the donor area to cover the thin or the bald areas. If enough donor hair can't be harvested, significant cosmetic coverage will not be achieved in thin or bald areas. Another consideration is future hair loss: since your natural hair continues to fall out, the question then becomes, will there be enough donor hair to eventually cover the balding areas without leaving the donor area denude of hair too?

The reason that transplants are more widely touted for men and not women has to do with the amount of hair that can be harvested. Both men and women have the same number of hairs on their scalps, but in men, it is more acceptable for light coverage to be the result - it's better for a man to be thinning than bald, is the theory. For women, thin hair that makes her look like she is going bald is rarely acceptable.

Wigs
Standard machine-made wigs offer a number of advantages. They provide full coverage of the thinning areas, for one. And unlike many so-called women's hair loss solutions, they're guaranteed to work.

But machine-made wigs are not for everyone. The less expensive ones that use synthetic hair can be less than natural looking. Machine made wigs can also be hot and cumbersome. For women with an active lifestyle - especially women who exercise and engage in other physical activities - wigs can be limiting: you certainly can't swim in them, and sunning or being intimate can be compromised by a wig's limitations. And of course, they are not part of you; at night, they generally come off.

For some women, the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. For other women, wigs are not a viable solution. It depends on lifestyle, your expectations, and the trade-offs you're willing to accept. In other words, whether or not to wear a wig is an intensely personal decision.

Hair Augmentation
There are many different methods of women's hair restoration that fall under the general heading "hair augmentation". Some of these methods rival wigs, for the most part. Other are far different.

By definition, hair augmentation refers to the process of adding to a women's existing hair, rather than covering it up as a wig would. If this is done in such a manner that is results in the hair becoming "permanently" part of the scalp, it offers women a plethora of advantages over other solutions.

The idea of augmentation was largely derived from yesterday's "hair weaves". The internet was not to cover the entire scalp, but only to add hair where needed. However, weaves had so many disadvantages that other methods were created to overcome them: thus, the beginnings of modern day hair augmentation. However, just like wigs and weaves, there are many different types of hair augmentation, some much better than others.

The idea of augmentation was largely derived from yesterday's "hair weaves". The internet was not to cover the entire scalp, but only to add hair where needed.