Garlic, massages and turmeric won't help your hair regrow, according to scientists, but rosemary oil and caffeine might do the trick.
Researchers in the US have sorted the good from the bad in a study of alternative and complementary treatments for hair loss.
Experts say there are tried and tested medications which may help to slow hair loss or strengthen hair, but evidence is thin on the ground for alternative remedies.
And people and doctors should be wary of how natural supplements are marketed and make sure people understand they may not work.
Research by the University of California, Irvine, found there was little or no evidence to suggest massage, garlic oil, turmeric or vitamin D could slow down hair loss. But there was promise for rosemary oil and caffeine, they said
Scientists from the University of California, Irvine, gathered up past research into the effectiveness of more than 20 alternative hair loss remedies.
It found many had little evidence to suggest they worked or had been found to not work at all.
Garlic gel, vitamins D, E and B7, massage, aromatherapy, acupuncture, procyanidin, various amino acids and curcumin – the main ingredient of turmeric allhad the science stacked against them, the researchers found.
While not all were ruled out, they at least needed more work done to find out whether they could be successful or not.
'Further investigation is needed to define the effect of topical garlic for hair loss,' they wrote in the study.
And commenting on the effects of curcumin they said: 'After six months, no significant improvement in total area hair count was noted in any group'.
Although early results suggested vitamin D could work, the authors said: 'Studies using topical vitamin D in alopecia are inconsistent and limited by small sample size or lack of appropriate controls.'
Hair loss treatments are usually targeted at men beginning to experience pattern baldness, in which they lose hair from the temples or the back of their head.
It is perfectly normal for people to lose small amounts of hair as it replenishes itself and, on average, people can shed between 50 and 100 hairs per day.
However, if people start to lose entire patches of hair or large amounts of it it can be more distressing and potentially a sign of something serious.
Pattern baldness is a common cause of hair loss as people grow older. At least half of men over the age of 50 will lose some of their hair just through the ageing process, according to the British Association of Dermatologists.
Women may lose their hair as they grow older, too.
Other, more concerning causes of hair loss include stress, cancer treatment such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy, weight loss or an iron deficiency.
Most hair loss is temporary, however, and can be expected to grow back.
Specific medical conditions which cause the hair to fall out include alopecia, a disorder of the immune system; an underactive or overactive thyroid; the skin condition lichen planus or Hodgkin's lymphoma, a type of cancer.
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