As there are bad hair loss products, there are bad hair loss patients, too. Adhering to certain basic rules is essential if you want your hair loss therapy to be successful. The first thing you should do before you start looking for a suitable hair loss treatment is to determine whether you are a hair loss patient at all and what type of hair loss you are suffering from. For male patients who have already lost a large portion of their hair on the top and front of their head, it is easy to self-diagnose. But if you are suffering from diffuse hair loss or your hair loss began only recently, you need to go and see a dermatologist. It would be pointless to treat a condition that does not exist. It is very common for hair loss sufferers to skip the doctor's consultation while many others simply deny their condition. This very often leads to hair loss progressing too far for it to be treated successfully. In order to regrow hair you must have fine miniaturized hair left in your balding areas. Once your hair follicles have died and there is no baby hair left, no miracle can rejuvenate them.

After you have determined which type of hair loss you are suffering from, the journey can begin. Whether you intend to follow you doctor's advice or be experimental, you must have realistic expectations. False hopes necessarily lead to frustration, no matter how effective the treatment is. Do not believe that there is a hair loss remedy that can regrow all of your lost hair. You will be lucky to find a treatment to arrest your balding process and if you manage to regrow a few hairs, take it as a bonus. Keep in mind that the 'before and after' pictures on promotional websites are forged. The best possible improvement one can expect from any treatment is to regrow the hair you have lost in the previous three years.

Many patients fail to follow professional recommendation of using proven treatments and instead opt for allegedly safer alternative remedies, as they get scared off by the potential negative side-effects of medicinal drugs. This is a common trick used by the shrewd marketers of hair loss scams - to spread stories exaggerating the harmful side-effects of medicinal drugs. They lure you into buying their own product, which is most likely a waste of your money, time and effort. Starting with unproven remedies deprives you of the opportunity to test some of the best hair loss treatments available today.

The key to a successful treatment is, besides picking the right remedy, adherence to the prescribed regimen. Many people, in their impatience, fail to follow their doctor's instructions and start experimenting with two or more different treatments simultaneously. This often leads to them abandoning certain treatments before they have started producing results. Any hair loss treatment requires a minimum of four months to kick in and you should give it at least six months to deliver measurable results. Overdosing will not speed up or improve results.

And lastly, do not overreact to shedding. Shedding is common in any effective hair restoration therapy. If you start a new treatment, such as minoxidil, you will first have to shed the old hair. Minoxidil stimulates hair follicles, resulting in an increase in the thickness of your miniaturized hair. But this will not happen overnight. First, the old thin miniaturized hair must be shed, and then the hair follicles rearrange themselves in order to start producing thicker and healthier hair. Typically, the first indication that the treatment is working is accelerated hair loss.