History of Hair Loss & Timeline

A Continuing Search to Find the Perfect Hair Loss Remedy

For thousands of years, men and women have searched for the ‘cure’ to hair loss. From wigs to potions and lotions to surgical treatments, the quest is sure to continue for years to come.

During this period, wigs and hairpieces became extremely popular among the upper-class Assyrians, Sumerians, Cretans, Carthaginians, Persians, and Greeks. In addition, medical knowledge, myths, and rumors about hair loss and treatments started to circulate among Fertile Crescent area healers, then passed on to the following generations.

The Ebers Papyrus, discovered in Luxor, Egypt, was the oldest medical text ever found, and it included information about hair loss treatment. The most popular medicine was a mixture of iron oxide, red lead, onions, alabaster, honey, and fat from various animals, including snakes, crocodiles, hippopotamuses, and lions. The mixture was to be swallowed after praying to the Sun God.

Many physicians searched for hair loss remedies in ancient Greece, such as Hippocrates, who tried to cure his hair loss. Hippocrates was the first physician to ever describe and theorize about surgical solutions to hair loss. After lengthy experimentation, Hippocrates thought he had found a great solution – a mixture of opium, horseradish, pigeon droppings, beetroot, and various spices. Unfortunately for Hippocrates and his followers, it didn’t work. As Hippocrates became so bald, extreme hair loss is sometimes known as “Hippocratic baldness.” In the same period, Hippocrates recorded the first surgical solution to baldness in the “Aphorisms of Hippocrates”. Hippocrates noticed that Persian Army eunuchs never experienced hair loss. Hippocrates, therefore, drew a parallel between testosterone levels/sexual drive and hair loss. As “hot-blooded” men went bald, he suggested that castration would be the ultimate solution to hair loss if the price were worth paying.

In ancient Rome, hair was a symbol of power and masculinity. However, Rome’s leader at the time, Julius Caesar, suffered from male-patterned baldness, and so he employed various physicians to find him a cure. Despite applying multiple lotions and potions such as a combination of ground-up mice, horse teeth, bear grease, and deer, Caesar continued to suffer. Finally, a cosmetic ‘comb over’ and wearing a wreath seemed to be the only solution, and as his empire continued to expand, his headdress soon became a symbol of