The Wall Street Journal - 22.02.2020 - 23.02.2020

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. **** Saturday/Sunday, February 22 - 23, 2020 |D1

DISNEY WORLD DISTILLED

An insider’s guide to the best attractions

and distractions at the Florida parksD8

STOP FRETTING

Our design columnist confronts her

husband’s invasive guitar collectionD12

DRESSES THAT

SPRING ETERNAL

AND WINTER

WELL TOO

Tips on buying a

four-season

frockD3

Inside

ways men have often handled hair loss in the past.

A balding man might comb his few remaining

strands over his pate, praying that co-workers

would ignore the obviously unconvincing result.

Even more desperate hair-shedders might plop on

shaggy toupees and just stop making eye contact.

Tennis great Andre Agassi was so ashamed of his

hair loss that he wore a wig when playing in the

1990 French Open, a fact he ’fessed up to only 19

years later in his biography “Open.”

Even effective methods like Rogaine or hair

plugs were discussed in hushed tones. A 1991 Ro-

gaine TV ad didn’t mention hair loss, hawking in-

stead a videotape that would reveal the “complete

story” if you were bold enough to order it. When

men did let their hairline slide into oblivion, it de-

fined them negatively. See: George Costanza, the

mercilessly mocked sidekick on “Seinfeld.”

That began to change in 2017 with the introduc-

tion of a trio of startup brands—Hims, Keeps and

Roman—that talked in refreshingly frank, even

witty ways about their products’ potential to help

men counteract hair loss. About three years prior,

the patent for finasteride (previously held by

Merck & Co. in the U.S., which marketed the drug

as Propecia) expired, opening the door for these

New York-based brands to sell an inexpensive, ge-

neric version—at around $20 a month. The compa-

nies also sell affordable hair solutions containing

over-the-counter minoxidil, the active ingredient

in Rogaine. According to Dr. Marc Avram, a derma-

tologist in New York City who specializes in hair

loss, multiple studies have proven that these two

medicines can help counter hair loss and regener-

ate growth. What makes these companies new is

the shame-free way they’re selling the drugs,

through snappy sites, with sunny marketing

PleaseturntopageD2

A

YEAR AGO, CLUMPSof Victor Dos

Santos’s hair would fall out in the

shower and he’d wake up to find

stray strands on his pillow. Family

members taunted the 24-year-old

video editor about his blossoming bald spots.

Then he saw an Instagram ad for Keeps, a startup

selling finasteride, a prescription hair-loss-preven-

tion pill. After a brief online consultation with a

doctor, he placed an order. “I was like, ‘OK let me

show you guys, I’m going to take these pills and

see if my hair grows back.’” Grow back it did. And

show them he has. For seven months, across 40

Instagram posts, the Los Angeleno has broadcast

the triumphant return of his hairline.

This public catalog of hirsutal ups and downs

bears little resemblance to the painfully private

BYJACOBGALLAGHER

SEAN MCCABE; GETTY IMAGES

Until recently, losing one’s hair was a source of anguish for men. But drolly marketed and

stigma-free hair-loss products are giving millennials the ability to take it in stride

My So-Bald Life

HAIR UNAPPARENTThe celebrities and pop-culture icons above have been Photoshopped to remove some or all of their hair. Can you still recognize them?

1.Actor Jason Momoa;2.David Beckham;3.Orlando Bloom as Legolas in ‘The Lord of the Rings’;4.Christopher Reeve as Superman;5.Will Smith in ‘The

Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’;6.Actor Dev Patel;7.Actor Timothée Chalamet;8.Brad Pitt;9.Ricky Martin;10.Elvis Presley;11.Musician Questlove.

Calling All

Carnivores

How to butcher a

boneless whole

chuck roll

D9

The Default

Settings in

Our Stars

Horoscope apps

are rising

D13

WHAT’S IN BRAND NAME?

Why audiophiles choose superior Chinese

gear from nearly anonymous labelsD13

OFF DUTY

FASHION|FOOD|DESIGN|TRAVEL|GEAR

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