The short version
- No study has shown that creatine causes hair loss; the single 2009 trial behind the rumour measured two hormones in twenty rugby players and never assessed a hair follicle.
- That trial found DHT rose 56% after a seven-day load and stayed 40% above baseline, but DHT started 23% lower in the creatine group and both groups remained within normal clinical limits.
- Twelve further trials of creatine at 3 to 25g a day found no meaningful testosterone effect, and none of the five that measured free testosterone found an increase.
- A 2025 randomised trial in 45 resistance-trained men measured hair density, follicular unit count and cumulative thickness directly over 12 weeks and found no difference between creatine and placebo.
- Twelve weeks in 38 men cannot rule out a slow effect over decades, so looking carefully and finding nothing is not the same claim as there being nothing to find.
Every version of this rumour traces back to the same place: a three-week trial on twenty college rugby players in South Africa, published in Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine in 2009. That paper is the entire evidentiary base for "creatine makes you go bald." One study. It is worth knowing exactly what it did.
van der Merwe and colleagues ran a double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover with a six-week washout. Players loaded 25g of creatine a day for seven days, then dropped to 5g a day for another fourteen. Serum testosterone and dihydrotestosterone were measured at baseline, day 7 and day 21.
Testosterone did not change. DHT rose 56% after the seven-day load and was still 40% above baseline after the maintenance phase. The DHT-to-testosterone ratio rose 36%, then settled 22% above baseline. Those numbers are real, and they were statistically significant.
Here is the part that almost never gets repeated: the study did not look at hair. No hair count, no follicle assessment, no scalp imaging, not even a question about shedding. It measured two hormones in blood. The jump from "DHT went up" to "your hairline is going" was made by the internet, not by the authors, whose own conclusion was that further investigation was warranted.
The mechanism at least sounded plausible, which is why it spread. DHT is a metabolite of testosterone, formed when 5-alpha-reductase converts free testosterone, and in men it binds androgen receptors in susceptible scalp follicles and can shrink them. That is real biology. A plausible mechanism is where a hypothesis starts, not where it finishes.
Two details that change how those numbers read
The 2021 International Society of Sports Nutrition review of creatine misconceptions works through the same trial and surfaces something the headline hides. At baseline, before anyone swallowed anything, DHT was already 23% lower in the creatine arm — 0.98 nmol/L against 1.26 nmol/L in placebo. The absolute change was small (+0.55 nmol/L at day 7), and the significant gap was widened by a small drop on the placebo side. Both groups stayed within normal clinical limits throughout.
The second detail is simpler: nobody has reproduced it. That review counts twelve other trials examining creatine and testosterone at 3–25g a day, over durations from six days to twelve weeks. Two found small, physiologically insignificant increases in total testosterone. Ten found no change at all. Five of them measured free testosterone — the substrate the body actually converts into DHT — and none found an increase.
The trial that finally measured the thing
In 2025, someone ran the study that should have been run in 2010. Lak and colleagues randomised 45 resistance-trained men aged 18–40 to 5g of creatine monohydrate or 5g of maltodextrin daily for twelve weeks; 38 completed. They measured total testosterone, free testosterone and DHT — and, for the first time in this literature, hair follicle health directly, using Trichogram testing plus FotoFinder imaging for hair density, follicular unit count and cumulative hair thickness.
There were no group-by-time interactions for any hormone or any hair outcome. No difference in DHT. No difference in the DHT-to-testosterone ratio. No difference in hair density, follicular unit count or thickness between creatine and placebo. Total testosterone rose and free testosterone fell across the twelve weeks in both groups — an effect of time, not of supplementation.
The caveat we'd rather you heard from us
Twelve weeks and 38 men is not a lifetime. Male pattern hair loss operates over years, and no trial of that duration at that sample size could detect a slow effect in genetically susceptible men even if one existed. "We looked carefully and found nothing" is a genuinely different sentence from "there is nothing to find." The 2025 authors describe their result as strong evidence against the hair-loss claim, and we think that is fair — but the absence of a demonstrated effect is not proof of no effect, and you should be suspicious of anyone who flattens that distinction, including us.
One more thing, and it cuts against our interest, so it belongs in the body rather than a footnote: several authors on both the 2021 review and the 2025 trial disclose advisory roles or research funding from creatine brands. That does not make the data wrong. The methods are public and the hair imaging is the best this field has produced. But you should know who paid for the microscope, and we would rather tell you than have you find out.
What we'd actually tell you
If male pattern baldness runs in your family, you will most likely lose hair on the schedule your genetics set, with or without creatine in the cupboard. If you are already using finasteride or minoxidil, adding or removing creatine is a conversation for a dermatologist, not a supplement company. And if you have skipped the single most-studied strength supplement on the market for fifteen years because of one three-week hormone panel that never once looked at a follicle, you now know precisely what that panel said and did not say.
5g a day. No loading phase required. It works alongside your training, not instead of it — and the call is yours to make with the actual numbers in front of you.
Good questions
Does creatine cause hair loss?
No study has ever shown that it does. The entire rumour rests on one three-week trial in twenty college rugby players that measured serum testosterone and DHT and never looked at hair. No hair count, no follicle assessment, no scalp imaging, not even a question about shedding. The leap from a hormone reading to a receding hairline was made by the internet, not by the authors.
But doesn't creatine raise DHT?
One study found that, and nobody has reproduced it. DHT rose 56% after a seven-day load in that trial and 40% above baseline after maintenance. Two details change how it reads: baseline DHT was already 23% lower in the creatine group, and both groups stayed inside normal clinical limits throughout. Twelve later trials found no meaningful testosterone effect, and none of the five measuring free testosterone found an increase.
Has anyone actually measured hair, not just hormones?
Yes, in 2025. Forty-five resistance-trained men aged 18 to 40 were randomised to 5g of creatine or 5g of maltodextrin daily for twelve weeks, with hair assessed directly by Trichogram testing and FotoFinder imaging. There were no differences in DHT, in the DHT-to-testosterone ratio, or in hair density, follicular unit count or thickness. It is the study that should have been run fifteen years earlier.
Should I avoid creatine if baldness runs in my family?
You will most likely lose hair on the schedule your genetics set, with or without creatine in the cupboard. That said, twelve weeks in 38 men cannot detect a slow effect over decades in genetically susceptible men, so absence of a demonstrated effect is not proof of no effect. Be suspicious of anyone who flattens that distinction, us included. The call is yours with the actual numbers in front of you.
Can I take creatine if I'm on finasteride or minoxidil?
That is a conversation for a dermatologist, not for a supplement company. We are not going to give you an answer about how a prescription hair-loss medication interacts with anything, because the person managing your treatment is the one who should. Bring it up at your next appointment; it is a quick question with a specific answer for your situation.
Can I trust research that creatine companies helped fund?
Read it knowing who paid for the microscope. Several authors on both the 2021 review and the 2025 trial disclose advisory roles or research funding from creatine brands. That does not make the data wrong, the methods are public, and the hair imaging is the best this field has produced. But it belongs in the body of the article rather than a footnote, which is why we put it there.
Sources
- van der Merwe J, Brooks NE, Myburgh KH. Three weeks of creatine monohydrate supplementation affects dihydrotestosterone to testosterone ratio in college-aged rugby players. Clin J Sport Med, 2009. View study
- Antonio J, Candow DG, Forbes SC, et al. Common questions and misconceptions about creatine supplementation: what does the scientific evidence really show? J Int Soc Sports Nutr, 2021. View study
- Lak M, Forbes SC, Ashtary-Larky D, et al. Does creatine cause hair loss? A 12-week randomized controlled trial. J Int Soc Sports Nutr, 2025. View study
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
