Myth or fact

Creatine makes your hair fall out

Short answerNo

By GyroscopeUpdated November 14, 20263 sources

No good evidence says it does. The fear goes back to one 2009 study of 20 college rugby players. Their DHT, a hormone linked to male pattern baldness, rose during a creatine loading week, and nobody looked at their hair. In 2025, a trial finally measured hair, in men taking 5 g a day for 12 weeks, and found no difference from placebo.

Why people believe it

It has a plausible chain. Creatine raises DHT, DHT shrinks hair follicles in men who are prone to it, so creatine makes you bald. Each step sounds like science. Add a few people online who started creatine and noticed more hair in the shower, and the story spreads.

The trouble is that the chain was built from one study, and the last step was never tested.

It’s like blaming the rain on your umbrella

You notice more umbrellas on days it rains, and someone decides umbrellas cause rain. The 2009 study saw one hormone move. Nobody checked whether hair did, and men lose hair for lots of reasons, with or without a tub of creatine on the shelf.

The 2009 study

Researchers at a rugby institute in South Africa gave 20 college-aged players creatine or a placebo during their competitive season, then swapped them over after a six-week break. The creatine plan was a loading week of 25 g a day, then 5 g a day for two weeks.

After the loading week, DHT was 56% higher than where it started. After two more weeks it was still 40% higher. Testosterone didn’t change.

A 2021 review pointed out what that study didn’t show. The DHT stayed well within normal clinical limits. The creatine group happened to start with DHT 23% lower than the placebo group. The finding has never been repeated. And hard resistance training can raise these hormones by itself. Above all, nobody measured anyone’s hair.

The 2025 trial

In 2025, a team in Iran ran the trial the 2009 study couldn’t. They recruited 45 men aged 18 to 40 who lifted, and gave them either 5 g of creatine a day or 5 g of a placebo powder for 12 weeks. 38 finished.

They measured the men’s hormones at the start and the end, including testosterone, free testosterone and DHT. And they measured hair, with a trichogram, which counts hairs in each growth phase, and with a scalp camera that tracks hair density, follicle counts and hair thickness at the crown.

There was no difference between the groups in DHT, in the ratio of DHT to testosterone, or in any measure of hair. The researchers called it “strong evidence against the claim that creatine contributes to hair loss”.

What it doesn’t cover

The 2025 trial tested healthy men aged 18 to 40 at 5 g a day for 12 weeks. It didn’t include women, men already diagnosed with pattern hair loss, loading doses, or years of use. No trial has tested those yet.

That gap is real, and it’s narrow. The one study that started the fear found a hormone change within normal limits during loading. The one trial that measured hair found nothing. If you’re a man with a strong family history of baldness and you want to be careful, 3 to 5 g a day without loading is what the 2025 trial tested.

Why the myth holds on

Hair loss is common and upsetting, and when you’re looking for a cause, a new supplement is easy to blame. The 2025 trial’s authors noted that the reports linking creatine to hair loss online are based on people’s own observations, without measurements.