Faux facts, partial truths and outright lies float through the hair loss treatment field like sharks circling a lifeboat. You'll see everything from 'professionals' advising you to only cut your hair on full moons to 1890-esque miracle doctors shilling their amazing hair-regrowth elixir. People threatened by hair loss are often blind to such nonsense, and they feed precious time and money into bad, even unhealthy potions and silly hair treatments.

Before you can start looking into hair loss treatments, you must educate yourself about what causes it in the first place. If you lose a bunch of hair after a surgery or some harrowing experience, it'll usually grow back. Hormonal imbalance can also cause symptoms, and this can be corrected with hormone treatments. Women often experience hair loss after having a baby--this is because, during pregnancy, a woman's body keeps hairs that normally would have fallen out. After a baby is delivered, it is normal for these hairs to fall out. Thyroid problems, overdoses of vitamin A, chemotherapy treatments, and birth control pills can also cause temporary hair loss.

Loss of hair can often be the symptom of a more serious condition, such as diabetes or lupus. Hair loss with no obvious connecting condition should be investigated immediately.

Permanent loss of hair is a different story, and is far more difficult to treat. Scarring on the scalp caused from tightly braided hair, tightly wound hair rollers, and other unhealthy hair-care practices prevents hair from regrowing after it falls out. The chemicals and heated oils used in perms can also cause similar scarring.

Another major cause of permanent hair loss is called Pattern Baldness, and is caused by the DHT Hormone and Androgen. This can be treated with DHT inhibitors, which will stop the loss, and hair-growth stimulants. Rogaine (minoxidil) and Propecia (finasteride) are both proven brands of hair-growth stimulants.

Nizoral is another proven product, and it is considered an important part of any hair loss treatment regime. It is meant to be used during normal shampooing, and is a topical scalp treatment, meant to reduce inflammation and flaking, both of which impede proper hair growth. It is not a growth stimulant, but it can be a very effective part of your hair loss treatment regime.

No treatment has a one hundred percent success rate, so they won't work for everyone. Loss of hair can be covered up surgically, with hair implants. This is generally considered a last-ditch option, but, despite the treatment's bad press, is actually safe (as surgeries go) and the implanted hair is indistinguishable from naturally grownhair.

Of course, there are viable hair loss treatment methods out there that haven't gained much press, and there will doubtless be other methods developed in the future. They all have one thing in common: they take time. All hair loss treatments take time, and when they work, it is generally after eight to ten months.

So if you see an advertisement for a miracle medicine that promises to re-grow your hair in a few weeks, you can be certain that it's bunk.