Hair thinning and balding is difficult for anyone to deal with, especially with so many hair products claiming to offer visible results.
Hair growth sprays are marketed all over the TV right now, but can their strong claims be believed? Do they actually help with unwanted hair thinning and balding issues, or is it just a marketing ploy to get worried people to spend money?
What Hair Growth Sprays Are Designed To Do
Thinning hair can come from your own personal genetics to breakage issues, and hair growth sprays are designed to target your scalp and hair shaft with concentrated ingredients that will support healthier hair growth conditions.
The hair growth sprays typically work by stimulating your hair follicles, improving their circulation, reducing any inflammation and strengthening your hair strands, to help you retain more of the hair you already have.
The spray formula allows you to get fast and even coverage, so you can spray the active ingredients on your sparser areas, without leaving your hair (and scalp) loaded in heavy or greasy residue.
Spray hair products tend to have more lightweight formulas, as they need to go through the pump mechanism on the bottle. The lightweight formulas tend to contain humectants, peptides, botanicals, or drug actives with solvents that will evaporate quickly.
For application, you tend to part you hair and spray the bottle close to your scalp, then massage the product into your roots for best results.
How Hair Growth Sprays May Help Thinning Hair
No hair growth spray is ever going to let you override your genetics overnight, but good quality hair growth sprays can make your thinning hair look and feel more manageable, as well as improving your scalp to help you hold onto the hair strands you do already have.
They can reduce hair breakage, calm any irritation you may be dealing with, and boost the look of your hair’s density by keeping your hair hydrated and flexible. This will make any hair shedding look less dramatic day-to-day.
When you use hair growth sprays, only ever use them on clean and dry, or a slightly damp scalp, targeting your sparse areas. Massage the spray into the scalp and ensure you’re consistently using the product.
You will not notice any hair growth spray “waking up” dead hair follicles instantly, and applying more product each time won’t give you quicker or more noticeable results – unfortunately.
Make sure you have realistic expectations to avoid disappointment, and it could take a few months before you notice a visible change with your thinning hair issues.
Ingredients To Look For In Hair Growth Sprays
Good hair growth sprays usually contain a handful of proven ingredients which will either support your hair follicles, or protect your hair strands you already have.
Look out for hair growth sprays that contain minoxidil, if you want the most evidence-backed option, as multiple clinical studies support its use for hair thinning.
If you’re looking for a more natural ingredient alternative, look for sprays containing rosemary oil, caffeine, niacinamide, and peptides, as they’ll support your scalp’s circulation, improve your scalp’s barrier function and also improve the strength of your hair.
Always check the labels for soothing ingredients like panthenol, aloe, or allantoin, as they’ll help to reduce any irritation and also improve slip within your hair, especially if you style your hair often.
Check the buyer reviews on any products, and look to see if people are reporting less shedding, or fuller feeling hair, rather than one-off miracle claims.
You’re going to need to be using the hair growth spray daily for noticeable results, and, if you can, avoid heavy fragrances, harsh alcohols and known allergens to keep your scalp (and hair) as happy as possible.
What Hair Growth Sprays Cannot Realistically Fix
Using a hair growth spray can help to support your hair follicles and reduce potential breakage, but they won’t reverse every cause of hair thinning.
If you’re dealing with advanced pattern baldness, hair growth sprays won’t be able to resurrect long-dead follicles unfortunately. Your genetic factors influence how many hairs you’ll keep, and how fast “miniaturization” (progressive shrinking of hair follicles over time) progresses.
If your hair thinning issues are coming from health conditions, like thyroid disease, anemia, autoimmune loss or scarring alopecia, hair growth sprays won’t help replace hormones, correct deficiencies or undo inflammation which damages your follicles.
Set yourself realistic expectations. You’ll improve the look and feel of your hair, reduce shedding and support regrowth if your hair follicles are still viable.