Best Derma Roller for Hair Loss – Scalp Dermaroller 2024

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Hair loss is so demoralizing. 

If you’ve been through it or you’re going through it now, you know that hair thinning, whether you’re male or female, can cause so much frustration. And a lot of what’s out there to help just doesn’t. There are a lot of people willing to make money off of people who feel like they’ve tried everything! 

I’ve already written a whole protocol on at-home derma rolling for hair loss, so if you want a whole long write-up on the science, I’ll send you over there! 

But the gist is, microneedling can be effective by itself for getting new hair growth! It can also be used to supercharge the effects of topical minoxidil, including for people for whom minoxidil did not work in the past.  If you don’t like or can’t work with minoxidil for some reason, you can also use other products, at home or in a medspa, to treat either male pattern baldness or female pattern baldness. 

I know that almost nobody comes to microneedling as their first attempt to treat any of the types of hair loss. You’ve already tried a lot of things and maybe been disappointed in all of them. But know that microneedling does work, both by increasing scalp penetration of products and by increasing blood flow and starting the healing process. 

Let’s look into it!

How does microneedling work for hair loss?

Okay, let’s start with how micro-needling works all on its own. 

Whether you’re using it for acne scars, fine lines, stretch marks, or hair loss, microneedling basically works the same way. Tiny needles make tiny punctures in the skin, and each of those little injuries gets healed with fresh, new, younger skin. This skin rejuvenation process also happens on the scalp!

In the case of hair loss, the hair regrowth is caused by injuries around where the hair follicles are. When they’re damaged and healed, you’re able to see thicker hair or restarted hair growth. This can mean an increased hair count or improved hair health and thickness in the treated area. 

And that’s just with a dermaroller by itself! People can see results from just the improved blood circulation and healing mechanisms. Even if you’re buying every serum and the priciest serums, a lot of the results you’re seeing are going to be from the actual mechanical act of microneedling. 

You can get more results from add-ons, if they work for you. Many people see benefits from using minoxidil with microneedling, even if they didn’t respond to minoxidil the old-fashioned way. And there’s a newer class of scalp serum options that feed the hair follicle stem cells to spur regrowth, and those can be a great option for people who don’t tolerate minoxidil in whatever way. So, let’s take a look at what’s available to you!

Best derma roller for hair loss at home

Okay, so if you’re just getting started, I’m going to strongly suggest that you start with a dermaroller. 

In the long term, it’s much more effective to use a dermapen — we’ll talk about that in a bit. But the first time that you start, start with a dermaroller or derma stamps. The truth is that some people try it once and realize that either they can’t tolerate it at all, or they can’t do it themselves and need to go to an office. It takes a certain type of person to press needles into their skin! If it turns out that you don’t tolerate it, then you’re only out $15 or whatever rather than a pricier microneedling pen. 

Medical-grade dermarollers are available, but I don’t think it’s worth it to pay extra for titanium needles. Stainless steel are just fine. While you’re working with dermarollers, you want a product that you can afford to replace every other month, so keep that in mind before you set yourself on a price point. If you have the money to blow on titanium and you won’t care that you need to throw it out after 6-8 uses, go nuts. But it’s not actually going to get you better results….you’ll just get the 8 treatments instead of 6. 

You need 1.5mm needles for the scalp. 

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A roller like this will get the job done inexpensively. Again, you can go buy one that costs twice as much because it says “professional” in front of it. But my suggestion would be to save your money and upgrade to a microneedling device once you’ve proven to yourself that you can do it as an at-home treatment. 

The best derma rollers, in my opinion, come from OwnDoc. But they ship from Romania, if I remember correctly. I don’t think you’re going to get a significantly better outcome from using the best possible dermaroller. As long as you get the right derma roller size, 1.5mm, you’re going to get your results. 

Best microneedling pen for hair growth

So first: you don’t ever need to upgrade to a microneedling pen. 

If it’s not possible financially for you to do so or you feel like you’re doing just fine buying a regular dermaroller every couple months, that’s fine! 

But, if you’re doing this to address hair loss, you’re going to be microneedling for the long haul. You’ll be maintaining your results forever to maintain your results. 

The two benefits of switching to a microneedling pen: cost and pain. It’s cheaper in the long run to buy a microneedling pen, even a more expensive one, because you can inexpensively replace the cartridges. I also find that the cartridges are easier to sanitize, so you get more uses per cartridge. So, even though it’s a bigger startup expense, you’re getting more uses out of each cartridge, and each cartridge is significantly cheaper than a new dermaroller.

The other reason — a microneedling pen hurts less. You don’t need to apply pressure in the same way. Even gentle pressure hurts on the delicate frontal scalp skin! The truth is, the skin of the scalp is thin, and 1.5mm needles are not super long, but longer needles than they tend to use on similarly thin skin elsewhere. So you’ll get less pain from a handheld device like a microneedling pen than you will from a dermaroller. 

For an area as large as the scalp, if you’re treating a widening part like in female pattern hair loss, or advanced male pattern hair loss, you’re treating a large, sensitive area. And for androgenic alopecia as well: that’s a large area you’re covering! Depending on the existing thickness of the hair, it may be difficulty to apply a numbing cream. So it’s worthwhile to do what you can to minimize pain.

Popular microneedling pens

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The Dr. Pen M8 is probably the most popular starter microneedling pen. It’s relatively inexpensive, but you’re still going to se that significant reduction in pain. You can adjust the needle size each time you start the pen, so you don’t need to worry about buying different sized cartridges to get different needle lengths. This is a super common home use pen and probably the one that most people buy. 

Each cartridge has either 16 or 36 small needles, and depending on how frequently you use the device, you might get 9 months-2 years out of the included cartridges. 

Personally, I use a Derminator, also from OwnDoc. (I have no relationship with them and no discount code or whatever!) It costs three times as much as the Dr. Pen, but I think it has a smoother motor. It also has a timer setting, which I really like because it holds me accountable for treating the area in full rather than “oh I feel like I’m done now”. This is a Cadillac device! But if you don’t mind paying extra, I can attest to the high quality of the machine. Mine is now five years old and has never given me any trouble. 

This is my own opinion and not backed by research, but I have a designated cartridge that I use for the scalp that I don’t use on my face. If you’re planning to use your microneedling pen for skincare as well, consider doing the same! Your scalp has a biome of bacteria and yeast that you likely don’t want to see embedded into your face! Again, not based in the research, but a precaution I have been taking for years. 

Route 1: Derma roller and minoxidil

Okay, this route is explained in more detail in this post TKTK, but here’s the overview: 

Minoxidil is a topical hair loss treatment that helps some people regrow lost hair. It’s typically targeted more towards men than towards women. (If you’re a woman considering minoxidil, don’t buy the women’s type! It’s weaker and more expensive, because society. Just buy the men’s stuff.) 

A lot of people who get to this post might be in a position where they already tried it and it didn’t work for them! I would encourage you to try it again with microneedling, if it didn’t cause you any side effects. You get more product absorption with microneedling because of the little injuries, so it’s worth giving it another shot, especially if it’s still sitting in your medicine cabinet. 

If you choose to try this strategy, you’ll also need 70% isopropyl alcohol and (if you’re using a pen) hyaluronic acid serum. The alcohol is used to clean your dermaroller or your dermapen cartridge, and the hyaluronic acid is applied to the skin before you use a microneedling pen as “slip” to help the cartridge move smoothly over the skin.

 

If you had side effects with minoxidil or you don’t want to use it for other reasons, or if you try it and it still doesn’t work for you, there are other options.

Options for microneedling in office for hair growth

So, platelet-rich plasma is an effective strategy for hair loss of all types. The process is like this: they take some of your blood and separate out the plasma. Then, they’ll do a standard microneedling session on your scalp, and apply your plasma over the wounds. So, your own growth factors are encouraging your hair growth. 

Obviously you’re going into an office for this! If I have learned anything in the DIY space, it’s that someone, somewhere, is doing this themselves. But I think anything that requires drawing your own blood and separating it in a centrifuge is better left to the medical professionals. 

In this literature review of PRP for hair regrowth, monthly PRP treatments lead to significant improvements in multiple studies. (If you’re still looking for a little bit of DIY, one study found that PRP + minoxidil outperformed PRP alone.) 

Getting a treatment in an office is always going to be more expensive than DIY. Heathline estimates the average cost in the US to be $700 per treatment. 

One potential other option that I’m watching very closely is exosomes. Exosomes are serums that can be microneedles or injected into the skin. Many bill the release of growth factors as part of their benefits! 

Currently, you can only get exosomes done in-office in the US, and the cost seems to be similar to PRP.  But I’ve been reading some stuff about people who order them from Korea. I haven’t done this myself and there’s no peer-reviewed research on it! But, FYI, people do it. Without research, I won’t be writing it up here.