Does Creatine Cause Hair Loss?

Across social media and various hair loss communities there are a lot of people advising to stop taking creatine as it causes hair-loss. The scare comes from a study done in 2009. But does creatine actually cause hair-loss?

Most of the comments made all refer to a study done back in 2009 that looked at 20 rugby players in South Africa. They compared creatine with placebo and measured the players' testosterone and dihydrotestosterone (DHT) levels in their blood. ^[2]

The players were given 25g daily for seven days and then took 5g for another two weeks. When measured their DHT levels had increased by 56% after the first week and then stayed 40% above the starting level at the end of the three weeks. Their testosterone levels did not significantly change and the DHT measurement describes the change from that person's own baseline not how much higher DHT was than with placebo. Now we know that DHT is a major contributor to male pattern alopecia and contributes to the gradual shrinking of hair follicles in male-pattern hair loss, with genetic susceptibility helping determine who is affected. As creatine increased DHT levels it could therefore be assumed that this would lead to an increase in losing hair, but the study did not count hair, assess thinning or measure shedding in the players. It therefore could not tell us whether those players actually lost hair or not. It was also a very small trial, lasted only three weeks, and the players had lower baseline DHT levels in the creatine group to begin with. Subsequent reviews and studies over the years have also failed to reproduce the 2009 DHT spike and and that intense resistance exercise itself can cause increases in these androgenic hormones. Twelve other studies looked at creatine’s effect on testosterone, of which ten found no change. The other two found small increases in total testosterone after six or seven days, but these were not considered physiologically meaningful. ^[3]

A later trial was done in 2025 in men aged 18–40 who regularly trained with weights. They were randomly assigned to 5g of creatine monohydrate or placebo daily for 12 weeks, without a loading phase. It was a double-blind trial and neither the participants nor the researchers assessing them knew who was taking which. Thirty-eight men completed the trial, with complete hair measurements available for 37. ^[1]

The researchers did not rely on asking the participants if they thought their hair looked thinner. Dermatologists used standardised scalp imaging, mainly at the crown, to measure hair count, density and combined hair thickness. They also checked the proportions of hairs in their growing and resting phases, and of thicker hairs versus fine hairs.

After 12 weeks, there were no statistically significant differences between creatine and placebo in changes to any of the hair measurements.

The change in DHT also did not differ significantly between groups. So this trial found neither the earlier study’s DHT increase nor evidence of a harmful effect on the hair measurements.

This trial also excluded men who had previously used finasteride or minoxidil. These were not results obtained by giving everyone hair-loss treatment alongside their creatine.

The study's conclusion was "No significant difference", this is not the same as proof that it does not cause hair loss. The study itself was also small with just 37 men over 12 weeks, several authors disclosed supplement-industry relationships. That does not invalidate the results, but independent replication would strengthen confidence in them.

The trial found no evidence of a harmful effect on the hair measurements at the dose and duration tested, which was 5g over 12 weeks.

People like to draw conclusions and patterns that may or may not be there. If you have started hitting the gym harder, taking creatine and an aggressive diet and months later you notice more hair in the shower, you might attribute this to the creatine. But it isn't the only thing that changes, marked weight loss and extreme diet can trigger telogen effluvium. 

A gradually receding hairline or thinning at the crown is more suggestive of male-pattern hair loss, which can begin any time after puberty and progress over years. This is important to note as a lot of people only start taking creatine in their late teens-early twenties, and the two timings can then overlap making it look like creatine is causing the hair loss when it would have happened anyway as they are predisposed to it.