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Discover how to use scalp massages as a tool for hair regrowth

Get a free massage guide + video: the same step-by-step instructions we showed subjects in our 2019 peer-reviewed study on scalp massages for androgenic alopecia.

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Download the step-by-step instructions

Get the massage guide

Download the demonstration video

ACCESS THE VIDEO

About The Instructor

Rob English is a researcher, medical editor, and the founder of Perfect Hair Health – a website dedicated to showcasing evidence-based methods for hair regrowth, with and without drugs.

Diagnosed with androgenic alopecia as a teenager, he wrote this course to teach hair loss sufferers everything he wished he would have known after his diagnosis: the information that would have saved him six years and $10,000 dollars before finally finding an approach that worked for him.

Rob English

Robert English

Founder, Researcher, Writer

It’s time to clean up hair loss misinformation

Discussion boards fixate on the emotions of hair loss… all while touting FDA-approved drugs as the only possible solutions. Natural hair loss websites fear-monger over the sexual side effects of finasteride… all while marketing their own “DHT reducers” allegedly devoid of such problems.

The truth is always somewhere in the middle. And natural versus conventional: it doesn’t matter. Marketers on both sides manipulate science to suit their own needs.

Example 1 Selling nutritional supplements for hair loss

Marketers cite studies on malnourished populations to sell biotin to U.S. hair loss sufferers… but forget to say that biotin-related hair loss in the first world is extremely rare… or that hair loss from a nutrient deficiency is not the same as androgenic alopecia.

Example 2 Misinterpreting mouse models for profit

Marketers reference studies on mice to sell you peppermint oil for hair loss… but don’t tell you that mouse models rarely translate to androgenic alopecia… or that those studies measured hair growth speed and not hair follicle proliferation.

Example 3 Hair loss forums with conflicts of interest

Popular hair loss forums position themselves as open and resourceful… all while their moderators ban discussions about alternatives to hair transplants… especially if it threatens their commissions from transplant surgeons.

Example 4 Misquoting finasteride's sexual side effects

Doctors writing prescriptions say that less than 2% of finasteride users develop sexual side effects. Natural hair loss sites say that number exceeds 25%. Both parties are right and wrong. It all depends on your definition of “side effect” and which study you reference.

Scalp massages: A tool for pattern hair loss?

Since 2014, we’ve explored the use of standardized scalp massages as an adjunct therapy to improve pattern hair loss.

These pinching, pressing, and stretching techniques are based on research from the fields of mechanotransduction and wound-healing. The objective: to target factors involved in androgenic alopecia:

  • The upregulation of signaling proteins that kickstart a new anagen (growth) stage of the hair cycle
  • The improvement of fibrosis (i.e., scar tissue) surrounding miniaturizing hair follicles

By targeting these mechanisms, we hope to improve hair growth.

how to

Developed over years, peer-reviewed by experts

After years of data collection on massage best practices, we decided to conduct a study to determine just how effective these standardized scalp massages were in the fight against pattern hair loss. So, we hired two statisticians, designed a study, got clearance from an institutional review board, and started collecting data.

The findings? Over the study duration, 69% of participants reported stabilization or hair regrowth. For those committing to massaging for 8+ months, response rates rose to 75% and higher.

The results were encouraging enough to submit for peer review, which we did for the scholarly journal, Dermatology and Therapy. In 2019, our paper passed peer-review and was accepted.

Scalp Massages Article

Figure: self-assessment scores of hair changes, as organized by total massage effort (i.e., daily minutes x months of adherence)

Scalp Massages Publication

Publication title: Self-Assessments of Standardized Scalp Massages for Androgenic Alopecia: Survey Results

Beyond peer review: participant results

Here are just a few men and women who we've worked with over the years: people who have accessed our recommendations, committed to the process, and gotten results. Photosets are organized by those using these methods with or without FDA-approved hair loss drugs.

“Midst hundreds of misguided knowledge from [the] internet and even the doctor, your content was really a light in darkness for me. And I am genuinely thankful for what you and your team is doing.”

— M.S.
Hair Loss Type
Female Pattern Hair Loss

“I am very pleased with the results so far. I think about my hair loss much much less and feel a lot more comfortable in harsher lighting etc. And I don’t think it needed to take 4 years, I just needed to follow a stricter protocol from day one instead of starting and stopping and changing.”

— Carl, 30’s, Europe
Hair Loss Type
Androgenic Alopecia

“I’m very pleased with the results from minoxidil.  I’ve added [spironolactone] and that has helped with facial hair growth.  I do have a dermatologist but I’m not impressed.  Rob has helped me more then they have…  Seems to be working, so I’m sticking to it.”

— Denese, 60’s, U.S.A.

“I am very pleased with the results so far. I think about my hair loss much much less and feel a lot more comfortable in harsher lighting etc. And I don’t think it needed to take 4 years, I just needed to follow a stricter protocol from day one instead of starting and stopping and changing.”

— Carl, 30’s, Europe
Hair Loss Type
Androgenic Alopecia

“I’m very pleased with the results from minoxidil.  I’ve added [spironolactone] and that has helped with facial hair growth.  I do have a dermatologist but I’m not impressed.  Rob has helped me more then they have…  Seems to be working, so I’m sticking to it.”

— Denese, 60’s, U.S.A.

“Thank you”

— Viktor, 50’s, Europe
Hair Loss Type
Androgenic Alopecia

“Midst hundreds of misguided knowledge from [the] internet and even the doctor, your content was really a light in darkness for me. And I am genuinely thankful for what you and your team is doing.”

— M.S.
Hair Loss Type
Female Pattern Hair Loss

“Good catching up today! I found the before-after photos (6 months apart). This was from one session of Botox injections (although I did start Dutasteride around the same time).”

— Daniil, 20’s, U.S.A.
Hair Loss Type
Androgenic Alopecia

“The amount of quality information you get from his membership is beyond anything I would have thought I would get… Thank you Rob and your team for always meeting your members where they are, and really diving deep into every individuals history of hair loss. You are what this world needed.”

— Greg G., 20’s, U.S.A.
Hair Loss Type
Androgenic Alopecia
Keep us updated with your results
Keep us updated with your results

We’d love for you to see the same results that others have experienced from massage-based interventions. As our study (and photosets) showed, these techniques can be an effective, sometimes even as a standalone therapy.

At the same time, not everyone wants to commit to a massage protocol for 10+ months… and they shouldn’t have to in order to see improvements. After all, massaging is just one (of many) interventions that can encourage regrowth. There are dozens of other ways to achieve similar results – from a natural and conventional perspective. You just need to be made aware of them.

Each path to hair regrowth is different
Each path to hair regrowth is different

The best regrowth regimen is rarely the one that looks the most enticing. Rather, it’s the regimen you can stick to trying for long enough to see results.

On that note, there are many paths toward regrowth, but all of them depend on your needs and preferences: your age, gender, hair loss type(s), hair loss severity, comfortability with drugs, time availability, and finances.

It’s easy to get lost along the way
It’s easy to get lost along the way

There’s so much misinformation online about hair loss – from its causes to its treatments.

Forums like HairLossTalk and Tressless foster inflammatory environments. They mock people who experience side effects from finasteride and downplay clinical evidence on natural interventions.

Websites selling natural products take advantage of most consumers’ limited scientific education; they mischaracterize studies to manipulate people into buying useless supplements, topicals, and devices.

YouTube personalities are no better; they often completely misrepresent the studies they talk about… even though their on-camera confidence suggests otherwise.

The best path forward starts with education
The best path forward starts with education

YouTube personalities are no better; they often completely misrepresent the studies they talk about… even though their on-camera confidence suggests otherwise.

Take the time to educate yourself about hair loss science. Take the time to uncover which causes of hair loss apply to you (and which don’t). Take the time to learn the evidence behind treatments – natural or conventional (and where they rank on a hierarchy of evidence) – so that you can stop taking missteps… and start taking action.

In doing so, you can start a path toward hair regrowth that works with your needs, preferences, and unique hair loss case.

"... Can’t thank @Rob (PHH) and @sanderson17 enough for allowing me to understand a bit what was going on with me and why all these [things were] happening ... "
photo photo
— RDB, 35, New York, U.S.A.
"... There is a lot improvement that I am seeing and my scalp feel alive nowadays... Thanks everyone. "
photo photo
— Aayush, 20’s, Boston, MA
"... I can say that my hair volume/thickness is about 30% more than it was when I first started."
photo photo
— Douglas, 50’s, Montréal, Canada