For most of my life, I had long, thick hair. Then, right around my early forties, large handfuls of it started falling out in the shower. “Why is this happening?” I asked my doctor, as my front part widened at an alarming rate. My doctor ran thyroid tests, iron-deficiency tests, and pretty much every other test except for the estrogen and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) labs that, a couple of years later, would reveal the culprit: perimenopause. Fluctuating estrogen and progesterone hormones in the years before menopause often cause a dominance of androgens - male hormones like testosterone and androstenedione - which, in genetically susceptible women (like me, apparently), can shrink hair follicles and cause pattern baldness.

This was news to me. I knew older women often wore their hair in a short, fluffy bouffant, but until I started shedding, I thought it was a style choice, not a strategy to cover balding heads. I knew I was in a race against time, so red-light devices for hair growth caught my attention - specifically, the quick-treatment Hairmax LaserBand, which takes just 30 seconds per area of your head. (I do three sessions to cover my scalp.) As a full-time working parent, my daily mental load already defies the laws of physics; if a beauty regimen takes more than a minute or two, I’m probably not doing it.

I’ve been using the Hairmax for five months now, and while the results weren’t exactly a miracle, they were definitely noticeable.

Clinical trials show that red-light therapy can help increase blood circulation and reduce inflammation, leading to increased collagen production in the skin. It’s not a huge leap to see how this benefit could extend to hair follicles in the scalp. In fact, studies show that red light can energize hair follicles and lower levels of dihydrotestosterone (DHT), another androgen that can cause hair loss. Red light also supports the production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), an energy-carrying molecule that helps existing follicles stay in the hair-growth phase. However, these devices promote a healthy environment for living follicles; they can’t revive scarred or long-dormant ones. If parts of your scalp are totally bald and shiny, you may need to go to Turkey after all.

The Hairmax LaserBand, a 3-inch-thick blue headband with teeth, looks a lot like a shark mouth when sitting on its charging cradle - which is both a handy resting place and keeps it charged at all times. It’s pricey - a few hundred more than similar devices. But unlike many competitors, like CurrentBody’s LED helmet and HigherDose’s ball cap-style hat, the LaserBand contains no LEDs, instead using targeted red-light laser diodes. (Some competitors, like GroWell and iRestore, use a mix of LEDs and laser diodes.)