Creatine is one of the best-studied supplements in sports nutrition. It is linked to better strength, more power and, in some studies, sharper memory. Yet one question comes up in almost every gym and on every forum: will it make my hair fall out?
The good news is that, for the first time, researchers have tested this directly. Here is where the worry came from, what the new trial measured, and what it means for you.
Where the hair-loss worry came from
Almost every "creatine causes hair loss" claim traces back to a single study from 2009. Researchers in South Africa gave 20 college rugby players creatine for three weeks: a loading week of 25 grams a day, then two weeks at 5 grams a day (van der Merwe et al., 2009).
They did not measure hair at all. They measured hormones. Testosterone did not change, but dihydrotestosterone (DHT), a more potent form of testosterone, rose by 56% after the loading week and was still 40% above baseline after the maintenance phase. Because DHT is the hormone most closely tied to male-pattern hair thinning, people connected the dots. The authors themselves called for more research.
That one hormone result, from 20 people, with no hair measurements, has carried the whole rumor for more than 15 years.
The 2025 trial that measured hair directly
In 2025, a research team ran the study everyone had been waiting for (Lak et al., 2025). They recruited 45 resistance-trained men aged 18 to 40 and randomly assigned them to either 5 grams of creatine monohydrate a day or a look-alike placebo (maltodextrin) for 12 weeks. Thirty-eight men completed the study.
This time the researchers measured both hormones and hair. They tracked total testosterone, free testosterone and DHT in the blood. For hair, they used a trichogram (which looks at the growth phase of individual hairs) and the FotoFinder imaging system to measure hair density, follicular unit counts and hair thickness.
The result: there were no differences between the creatine group and the placebo group in DHT, in the DHT-to-testosterone ratio, or in any of the hair measures. Testosterone values shifted a little over the 12 weeks in both groups alike, so those changes were not caused by creatine. The authors described their findings as strong evidence against the claim that creatine promotes hair loss.
How to read the two studies together
The 2009 study was small, used a high loading dose and never looked at hair. The 2025 study was larger, ran four times longer at the everyday 5-gram dose most people use, used a placebo control and measured hair directly. When the question is "does creatine affect my hair," the study that actually measured hair carries far more weight.
No single trial settles every question for every person. The 2025 study looked at young, trained men over 12 weeks, so it does not tell us about every age group or about multi-year use. But it is the most direct evidence we have, and it points clearly in a reassuring direction.
What creatine is linked to
With the hair question in perspective, it's worth remembering why so many people take creatine in the first place.
Creatine helps your cells recycle ATP, the molecule they use for quick bursts of energy. The International Society of Sports Nutrition's position stand calls creatine monohydrate the most effective ergogenic nutritional supplement currently available to athletes for increasing high-intensity exercise capacity and lean body mass during training (Kreider et al., 2017).
Your brain uses creatine too. A 2022 meta-analysis of randomized trials linked creatine supplementation to better memory scores, with the clearest effect in adults aged 66 to 76 (Prokopidis et al., 2022). We cover the brain research in depth in Creatine for Your Brain, and the over-50 angle in Creatine After 50.
Choosing a dose
The everyday dose in the hair trial, 5 grams a day, is the same maintenance range the ISSN describes (3 to 5 grams daily). Loading phases are optional: they fill muscle stores faster, but a steady 3 to 5 grams a day raises muscle creatine stores over about three to four weeks (Kreider et al., 2017). If you are wary of the old DHT result, which came from a 25-gram loading week, the steady 5-gram approach is simply the version that has now been tested on hair.
Consistency matters more than timing. We break down morning versus evening, and training days versus rest days, in our companion guide on the best time to take creatine.
Common questions
Is DHT the only thing that matters for hair? No. Hair thinning is shaped by genetics, age and sensitivity of the follicles, not just the amount of DHT in your blood. That's another reason measuring hair directly, as the 2025 trial did, is more informative than measuring a hormone alone.
What if hair thinning runs in my family? Hair changes are common with age whether or not someone takes creatine. If you're concerned about hair, a dermatologist can help you understand your own pattern. What the research tells us is that the first trial to measure hair found no difference from placebo over 12 weeks.
Is creatine a steroid? No. Creatine is a naturally occurring compound found mainly in red meat and seafood, and your liver and kidneys make it from the amino acids arginine and glycine (Kreider et al., 2017). An international panel of creatine researchers also took on the steroid question in their review of common creatine misconceptions (Antonio et al., 2021).
Does the form of creatine matter? Creatine monohydrate is the form used in the hair trial and in the large majority of creatine research. It's also the form the ISSN focuses on (Kreider et al., 2017).
The bottom line
The idea that creatine causes hair loss comes from one small 2009 hormone study that never measured hair. The first trial to measure hair directly, a 12-week placebo-controlled study in 2025, found no difference in DHT or hair measures between creatine and placebo. For most people, creatine's well-studied links to strength, power and memory are the headline, and the hair rumor looks like it can finally rest.
If you want a simple, unflavored creatine monohydrate with nothing else added, ours is here: Creatine Monohydrate.
References
- van der Merwe et al., 2009: doi.org/10.1097/JSM.0b013e3181b8b52f
- Lak et al., 2025: doi.org/10.1080/15502783.2025.2495229
- Kreider et al., 2017: doi.org/10.1186/s12970-017-0173-z
- Prokopidis et al., 2022: doi.org/10.1093/nutrit/nuac064
- Antonio et al., 2021: doi.org/10.1186/s12970-021-00412-w
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