What to Do When Your Hair is Thinning: A Personal Account

Kronos Phyx Overnight Repair Mask ($105; dermstore.com). I use this weekly and I think it makes my hair seem thicker without any of those time-consuming volumizing tricks. Much to my surprise, it is well worth the hefty price tag —and a little goes a long way.

A more eccentric, but definitely cheaper, option is emu oil – yep, fat from a large, flightless bird. I use it once a week, leaving it on for 15 minutes before shampooing. Research on mice showed that emu oil does help hair to grow and for balding men, emu oil is said to inhibit 5 alpha reductase—a body chemical that’s responsible for the conversion of testosterone into DHT, which provokes male-pattern baldness.

As far as shampoo and conditioners go, I have been impressed by Nutra-Lift’s line ($20 and $10, respectively; nutralift.com). The conditioner bottle says, “thicker, fuller, healthy, silky hair.” And it really delivers. There are some useful ingredients that are rarely seen in conditioners: moisturizing hyaluronic acid, antioxidant Co Q10 and liposomes. The shampoo has an aloe vera base, rather than water, and it has vitamin C and a host of plant extracts. These two are hair care products that I'd be willing to rub into my face.