From hair loss to hair health: Why diagnosis must come before treatment

How is the shift to medical treatment changing how hair loss is assessed and managed, and what gaps remain?

For decades, Indian men treated hair loss as a grooming problem. By the time most of them seek real help, they’ve already tried an oil, an anti-hairfall shampoo and at least one thing their mother swore by.

That’s changing, and it’s the biggest shift in the category. Hair loss is increasingly understood as a medical condition with a cause. Most often that’s androgenetic alopecia, but nutrition, stress, thyroid and scalp health all show up too. Once you accept there’s a cause, assessment has to come before treatment. So the category is layering diagnosis: doctor consultations first, then scalp assessments, and now blood work to catch deficiencies or hormonal triggers that a questionnaire can’t.

Man Matters has championed this shift, which is visible in our own numbers. We’ve facilitated over 32 lakh doctor consultations, and the number of men consulting our doctors each month has roughly doubled in the past year. This quarter, Man Matters became the first platform in India to launch a blood test for hair loss, because if a man’s hair fall is linked to a deficiency or a thyroid issue, he deserves to know before starting treatment so that it can be addressed.

The gaps are time and access. Men wait until it’s visible, often years in, and acting earlier usually leaves more options open. Good specialists are concentrated in big cities, yet six in ten men who start with Man Matters today live outside India’s top eight metros. For a guy in a smaller town, a digital consult is often the most practical way to reach a qualified doctor at all.

What clinical evidence guides the selection and combination of approaches, and how do you assess effectiveness in real-world use?

At Man Matters, we start from the cause, not the cart. A doctor assesses the likely type and stage of hair loss, and the plan follows from that.

For pattern hair loss, the foundation is treatments with the strongest published evidence, like topical minoxidil, plus prescription options where a doctor thinks they’re right for that person. Nutrition plays a supporting role where there’s a deficiency or a lifestyle gap. It complements treatment; it doesn’t replace it. And sleep, diet, stress and a routine a man can actually stick to all affect his hair, so Man Matters plans give him the whole picture, not just what goes on his scalp.

Real-world effectiveness is the honest-to-god hard part. Trials happen under close supervision. Real life is a 28-year-old with a demanding job who forgets his routine on the third night, and hair changes too slowly for him to notice in the mirror.

So we’ve made tracking part of the treatment. On the Man Matters app, men can track their hair loss, regrowth and overall journey over months. That helps him see progress he’d otherwise miss, which keeps him going, and it helps our doctors adjust his plan based on how he’s actually responding. Six in ten Man Matters orders come from men who’ve bought from us before, which tells us many are staying the course.

That said, the industry as a whole needs to get much better at measuring outcomes, not just sales.

What are the key R&D and formulation challenges for the Indian market, and how are companies working to improve delivery, tolerability, adherence and consistency?

India is a tough place to make hair treatments work. Heat, humidity, sweat, hard water. A formulation that feels fine in a lab can feel greasy or itchy on a Mumbai commute in June. And when something is unpleasant to use every day, men don’t complain. They just quietly stop.

That’s why tolerability has been one of the biggest R&D priorities for Man Matters. Traditional minoxidil formulations were alcohol-based, and for many men that meant irritation and a burning sensation on the scalp. They had a bad experience and gave up on a treatment that could have helped them. The industry has been steadily moving away from alcohol-based formulations, and Man Matters was one of the first brands to popularise alcohol-free minoxidil in India. Our own next step was cetosomal minoxidil, designed for higher absorption and a lighter, better feel after application, so using it every day doesn’t feel like a chore.

Adherence is the bigger fight across the category. Hair treatment takes months, and many men drop off in the early weeks, before they’ve seen any change.

Most men don’t quit because they’re lazy. They miss a few days, feel they’ve ruined it, and never restart. So the better players are building for the habit, not just the product: simple routines, honest expectation-setting, follow-ups and reminders that make coming back easy, not guilt-ridden.

Consistency of outcomes comes back to diagnosis. Two men with thinning hair can need completely different plans.

How can the industry strengthen evidence-based claims, pharmacovigilance and consumer safety? Where is greater regulatory clarity needed?

Right now, a prescription treatment, an over-the-counter product and a supplement can sit next to each other on the same screen, with similar-sounding promises. No wonder consumers are confused.

Three things would help. First, claims should match the evidence for that specific ingredient and dose, with cosmetic benefits kept clearly separate from therapeutic ones. Second, consumers should get to speak to a doctor or expert so they’re on the right treatment for their cause, not just the most-advertised one. Third, there need to be proper protocols for follow-up and escalation: someone checks in, side effects are recorded and acted on, and a man is referred onward when his case needs more than an online plan.

Where we’d welcome more regulatory clarity is claims. Too many products in this category make big promises based on weak studies or internal reports. That bar needs to get much tighter. Evidence-backed claims should be the norm in hair loss, not a differentiator. Clear rules reward the companies doing it properly, and that’s good for everyone, especially the consumer.

What will determine the long-term credibility and growth of India’s digital hair health market, and how can technology, medical oversight and longitudinal data contribute?

Outcomes, not reach. Hair loss is a category built on doubt. Almost every man who comes to a digital platform has tried something that didn’t work. In that world, trust isn’t a marketing line. It’s the product.

Three things will separate the players who last. First, real doctors making actual clinical calls. Not coaches sitting at the end of a sales funnel. Second, deeper diagnosis that pinpoints each man’s specific cause, so his plan actually fits him. Third, longitudinal data. Following a man over months, not just at checkout, tells you what works for which profile and makes the next decision better.

That’s exactly what Man Matters is building towards. Our blood test for hair loss is the first step in going deeper on diagnosis. The next is helping men complete the journey: building the right habits, seeing treatment as a whole rather than a single product, and staying on their plan long enough to give it a real chance.

Hair loss isn’t a product problem. It’s a system problem, and Man Matters is built to solve it as one: diagnose, treat, handhold. We don’t just want to be where men start. We want to be where they finish.

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