ScalpMED is a hair regrowth brand that sells products for both men and women. The company claims "Nothing Grows Your Hair Back Better Than ScalpMED," and that they own 11 patents.

But do ScalpMED products contain research-backed ingredients for hair growth? Is ScalpMED for Men or ScalpMED for Women better-formulated? Do the products contain any unhealthy additives? And how do real users rate and describe the effects of ScalpMED?

In this article we’ll answer all of these questions and more, as we analyze the ingredients in ScalpMED for Men and ScalpMED for Women to give our take on whether or not the brand is likely to cause hair regrowth, and whether or not it's healthy.

We'll also highlight some questionable health and research claims on the ScalpMED website, and feature real customer reviews.

ScalpMED for Men Review

ScalpMED for Men is primarily composed of two topical treatments called "Nutrisol" and "Vitadil-5A," the ingredients of which are shown below:

Retinol can promote hair growth according to a medical review published in the Biological and Pharmaceutical Bulletin journal.

The study authors explain that the increase in hair growth from retinol alone was not statistcally significant, but when combined with minoxidil (which is an ingredient in Vitadil-5A), this ingredient was highly effective for supporting hair growth.

Panthenol is clinically shown to support a healthy scalp, as we documented in our Keranique reviews article, but we can't find any evidence that it directly causes hair growth.

We're unable to identify any other ingredients in Nutrisol that we consider effective for hair loss.

Minoxidil is the active ingredient in Vitadil-5A.

This is an FDA-approved drug ingredient for hair loss, and is proven to work. A 2022 clinical trial found that minoxidil at a 5% concentration increased hair count by 11% in men experiencing hair loss.

Our concern is that ScalpMED fails to clearly publish the minoxidil concentration of this product on their website at the time of updating this article.

This is highly unusual. We've reviewed many hair loss brands, and this is the first time we've come across a brand failing to clearly publish this important information.

Overall, we consider ScalpMED for Men likely to be effective for hair loss, because it contains an FDA-approved ingredient, and retinol may make that ingredient even more effective.

The good news is that ScalpMED for Men has no unhealthy ingredients, but we don't currently recommend it due to the fact that the concentration of minoxidil isn't clearly published.

Real People Try ScalpMED

A TikTok user named Dorothy has a video with a ScalpMED product demonstration that includes before-and-after images:

@dorothydore If you are experiencing hair thinning,hair loss or just want to take care of your scalp I definitely recommend trying @scalpmed products! They have different treatments and supplements for women and men depending on what you need! You can go to my Instagram profile and click the link in my bio to learn more about their ingredients and see before and after pics. You can use code DOROTHYDORE for 10% off your order!🤗 *PR . . . . . #hairlosssolutions #hairthinningproducts #healthyhaircaretips #scalphealthtips #scalpmed #scalpmedgiftedme #hairlossremedy #healthyhairadvice #thickeninghairproducts #showerroutinetok #hairregrowthtips ♬ original sound - Dorothy 🌹

A TikTok user named Sarah Viana shows how to properly use ScalpMED products:

@sarahcviana Hair treatment to help with Hair loss🤩 #fyp #scalpmed ♬ Love You - SHYY BEATS

ScalpMED for Women Review

The ingredients in ScalpMED for Women are exactly the same as the ingredients in ScalpMED for Men, as shown below:

This isn't necessarily a problem, because minoxidil (the active ingredient in ScalpMED) is proven effective for hair growth in both sexes.

As we detailed at length in our minoxidil for women review article, there's a considerable amount of clinical evidence that minoxidil increases hair growth in women, which is why the ingredient is FDA-approved in both sexes.

However, just like the system for men, ScalpMED fails to clearly publish the minoxidil concentration on its product page, so we don't currently recommend this product. 

Strange Health Claims

There are a number of strange and uncited health claims on the ScalpMED website.

On the "DETOX MY SCALP" product page, the brand claims that hair thinning is caused by a "toxic scalp."

This phrase is highly unscientific and we haven't come across any research suggesting that scalp toxicity is what causes hair thinning, nor how scalp toxicity would even be measured or defined.

The brand goes on to claim that cholesterol is a toxin, which is simply false. Cholesterol is a chemical compound produced by the body that serves a number of important functions, like helping the body make cell membranes.

Suggesting cholesterol is toxic would be like suggesting red blood cells are toxic.

ScalpMED also claims that most OTC shampoos contain "extremely harsh" ingredients that contribute to hair thinning:

There are no examples cited of these ingredients or proof provided at all for this claim.

We have reviewed tens of shampoos (organic and non-organic) on Illuminate Health and have not come across any evidence for this claim.

While many shampoo brands include questionable inactive ingredients like synthetic preservatives, we haven't come across any clinical evidence that they contain ingredients which will directly cause hair loss or thinning.

Questionable Clinical Research

There are a number of strange and poorly-cited research claims on ScalpMED's website, including the graphic above which comes from a clinical trial that the brand fails to link out to or publish the full results from.

While it's arguably a good sign when a consumer products brand conducts research, clinical research that's published in-house is a lower standard of evidence than clinical research published in a peer-reviewed journal, which is the type of research we cite on Illuminate Health.

It is not fair to consumers to claim that a product is "clinically proven" to work without transparently sharing the entire research study. 

ScalpMED does not appear to be proven to work in any clinical studies published in peer-reviewed journals.

We recommend that consumers entirely disregard claims of clinical efficacy made from manufacturer-funded studies that are not published in peer-reviewed journals.

ScalpMED also highlights the patents granted to their company, but this doesn't really mean anything in regard to the efficacy of their products in our opinion.

Brands can prove that their products work by publishing independent testing showing that their products work. Claiming to have patents just means the company has protected their IP, which is meaningless from a health perspective.

Overall, we are unconvinced that ScalpMED is likely to be more effective than any other hair regrowth treatment containing minoxidil.

Missing Ingredient Lists on Website

At the time of updating this article, ScalpMED fails to publish the ingredients in some of the products sold on their site.

No ingredients list is published for the "THICKEN MY HAIR" shampoo.

No ingredients list is published for "REPAIR MY HAIR" conditioner.

No ingredients list is published for a hair spray called "CORTEX ENLARGER."

No ingredients list is published for a product called "DETOX MY SCALP," nor is any proof provided that the scalp needs to be "detoxed."

It's a consumer safety issue to fail to publish ingredients, because without this critical information, consumers cannot determine whether or not a cosmetic product is safe. 

We strongly advise consumers to avoid hair products without an ingredient list.

Our Clean Hair Growth Picks

Ritual HyaCera is our top hair growth supplement.

This supplement contains wheat oil extract, and a 2024 clinical trial reported that a wheat lipid complex had "a reducing effect on hair shedding and a stimulating effect on hair reappearance and growth."

MBG Omega-3 Potency+ is our top hair thickness pick.

Supplementation with omega-3 fats and antioxidants is clinically shown to improve hair density, and MBG's supplement contains both.

Both of the products recommended in this section are free of ingredients we consider to be unhealthy.

ScalpMED Pros and Cons

Here are the pros and cons of ScalpMED in our opinion:

Pros:

• Contains FDA-approved hair loss ingredient
• Should support hair regrowth
• Free of harmful additives
• Retinol may make minoxidil even more effective

Cons:

• Questionable claims of clinical backing
• Questionable health claims on website
• Failure to publish minoxidil concentration
• Brand fails to publish ingredient lists for some products
• We're unconvinced it's more effective than any other minoxidil brand
• Expensive
• Unappealing branding & packaging

Conclusion

We do not currently recommend any ScalpMED products.

While the hair regrowth systems contain minoxidil, which is an FDA-approved hair loss ingredient, consumers could purchase minoxidil products much cheaper than ScalpMED.

We're unconvinced that ScalpMED's formulations are more effective than any other hair loss brand using minoxidil.

ScalpMED does contain one active ingredient (retinol) that may make minoxidil more potent, but until in vivo (live, not test tube) trials on this combination prove so, we'll reserve our judgment.

There are a number of highly strange health claims on the ScalpMED website, including the suggestion that cholesterol is a toxin, which is simply untrue.

We urge ScalpMED to remove all health claims from their website that they cannot provide evidence for.

ScalpMED claims to be clinically proven to work, but we can't find any clinical trials on ScalpMED published in peer-reviewed journals.

This suggests that the clinical studies are manufacturer-funded and published in-house, which is a much weaker standard of evidence in our opinion, and should be disregarded by consumers.

ScalpMED does not publish ingredient lists for some of the products on their website, which is a consumer safety issue.