Are concealers a good idea for my hairloss?

[beyondthet]

Being someone with diffuse unpatterned alopecia, concealers can do a lot to uplift the appearance of my hair. However the question I pose is whether wearing concealers on a day to day basis is simply worth it as a long term solution for hairloss? I think this thread would be beneficial for anyone who is thinking about wearing a concealer and I intend to highlight the positives and negatives of wearing one from my own personal experience.

But first, a bit about me if anyone cares to read, if not just skip this whole entire paragraph. I just recently decided to quit Finasteride which I was on for about a month. For anyone interested in my story please find my Finasteride journey thread under my profile. But long story short, I just wasn't prepared to put up with side effects from the drug simply for bare minimal results and/or to maintain my already thinning hair. For some, Finasteride works great and for others all it simply does is maintain what you got. I rather be side effect free than take the chance to see whether Finasteride may or may not regrow my hair, the chances of regrowth are very slim as it is and even slimmer for those who have DUPA. So for me, Finasteride was simply not the answer.

Concealers:

Attached is a picture of me, with and without concealer on. The results are pretty drastic and the coverage is fairly good. My hairline is also intact, so in theory this look really suits me in my opinion. Aesthetically it is hard not to argue that concealers are a wonderful choice for someone who suffers from diffuse thinning (like me) and who also has short hair as it instantly gives the illusion of a full thick head of hair buzzed short. It is also really easy to apply to your head although somewhat inconvenient and messy in the bathroom, but I will get to that.

To summarise:

Positives of concealers:
- The coverage is great and the results are INSTANT, it gives the illusion of a full head of hair and looks natural as long as you choose the right colour for your hair.
- Relatively inexpensive; obviously this varies from the brand you choose to go for but you can pick up Toppik very cheap from places like eBay, it wouldn't even run you £100 a year to use. Making it in my opinion a very decent option for hairloss as cost plays a huge factor in this industry
- The application is fairly easy (but messy), I never have to worry about little touch-ups throughout the day, the concealers hold on your hair really well unless you take a shower and wash your head.

Negatives of concealers:
- DO NOT TOUCH YOUR HAIR! Or get someone else to touch your hair. Although for me, this didn't ruin my coverage, I noticed that the concealer rubs off onto your hands and clothes really easily and for obvious reasons this could be embarrassing if say, a girl touched your hair and her hands started to become messy from the concealer. For me this is one of the biggest drawbacks of wearing concealer at least daily. It just doesn't seem like a viable option for hairloss if no one can touch your hair.
- It is messy and inconvenient. Do I need to say much else after the first point? Not only is it messy to try to avoid touching your hair or avoid rubbing it against your clothes, it is also messy to apply in the bathroom. I'm not saying the cleanup is the worst thing in the world, It's really not, but make sure you have enough time to clean your sink thoroughly before you leave the house everyday.

Overall, for me even though concealers are a short-term solution to my hairloss (to me it's just something I'm simply 'trying' out for the affordability of it tbh), I can say that I will not be using concealers on a day to day basis. Personally it is too much hassle. However, I will wear them once in a while for those special occasions and where I know no one will touch my hair because why not? I think this is the best approach with wearing one. However, if you choose to wear everyday, there is nothing wrong with that either. But it's just not for me.

Tips:

1) Don't apply too much in one area. It will clump and look really unnatural on your head. My method is to apply some in one area, pat it in, then apply more in the same area if I feel I need more coverage, pat it in again and repeat for as long as necessary until that area is covered. If you have diffuse thinning you would most probably like to apply it to your whole head, whereas if you are only thinning on the crown, then feel free to only apply it to that area. It should look natural if you choose the right colour.

2) HAIRSPRAY! Any regular hairspray with good hold. You need to wear hairspray after you have applied your concealer. This will keep your concealers in place on your head and not allow them to dissipate in thin air (literally they float around in the sky if you don't use a spray hold). Some concealer companies advocate for a fibre hold hair spray to keep everything in place, but in my experience and from many other people, all you need to use is normal hairspray and that should do the trick.

Anyways, thank you all for reading and I hope it was somewhat beneficial in your fight against hairloss.