Alejandro Cegarra/Bloomberg via Getty Images
- Actor Matthew McConaughey has promoted his use of Regenix for hair growth for more than two decades.
- The company says Regenix utilizes vitamins, minerals, and plant extracts to build a customized hair growth product for customers.
- Some experts, however, say there’s no solid evidence that Regenix works as well as the company says it does.
- They also note that hair growth products should only be used by people with thinning hair and not people who are experiencing baldness or other more serious hair growth issues.
Besides being a highly successful actor, Matthew McConaughey makes a living as a celebrity spokesperson, from Lincoln cars to Wild Turkey whiskey to beef, being the new face of telling people, “It’s what’s for dinner.”
But one of McConaughey’s longest endorsements — Regenix — is making headlines because he attributes the hair regrowing system with giving his locks new life, something he reportedly opines on in his new memoir.
As far back as 2001 during an appearance on “The Late Show” when David Letterman was still the host, McConaughey said he was able to regrow his hair, using his trademark Texas twang to sound out “Re-gen-ix.”
More recently, Regenix’s CEO Bill Edwards told celebrity news site TMZ that McConaughey had been a customer since 1999 and his endorsement helped the company transition to a fully mail-order service during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Neither Edwards nor McConaughey said whether that endorsement is paid, but Edwards told TMZ that neither McConaughey nor his friends need to pay for their treatments.
Edwards said in a 2020 blog entry on Medium that he would always be grateful for McConaughey’s “straightforward honesty about using Regenix” because their other celebrity clients, whose privacy he keeps, aren’t so forward.
McConaughey — who won a best actor Oscar in 2014 for his role in “Dallas Buyers Club” portraying a person trying to obtain lifesaving experimental medication during the earliest days of the AIDS epidemic — recently told the LAD Bible he’s still talking about Regenix because a Beverly Hills, California, doctor claims to have given him hair plugs, a report he said isn’t true.
According to its website, Regenix uses “natural biopharmaceuticals — vitamins, minerals, and plant extracts from citrus and chamomile to tea tree oil and Aragon” and the personalized formulations are “drug-free, chemical-free, which means no side effects.”
“The ingredients are naturally derived,” Regenix’s FAQ page says. “We have thousands of potential combinations, but the formula is tailored to you because no two scalps are alike.”
Here’s how Regenix works: Potential customers send in a few hair samples and answer a survey. Regenix then creates a tailored regimen of drug-free shampoos, conditioners, and other topical solutions, telling customers they could see results in as little as 8 months.
Much like traditional herbal and nutritional supplements, Regenix isn’t regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
With that in mind, is there any proof that Regenix is as effective as something like Propecia or other more scrutinized hair replacement methods?
Despite its website saying Regenix is “rooted in science” and stating it’s helped more than half a million people with “hair and scalp issues,” the company offers no proof of how it works, if it does, or even what ingredients, specifically, are in the tailored treatments.
In addition, Medical News Today reported last fall that there’s no solid evidence to support this particular treatment actually works.
Dr. Ken L. Williams Jr., a surgeon and founder of Orange County Hair Restoration in California, said he respects McConaughey for his acting talents, “but he is not a medical doctor.”
Regenix, Williams said, uses marketing practices that feed off of people’s emotional responses to hair loss.
He said Regenix doesn’t use physician-dispensed medication or oversight in its treatment plan and provides “no accurate diagnosis.”
“This treatment is not FDA-approved and currently lacks research or proven medicinal applications,” Williams told Healthline. “It consists of topical products such as a shampoo, conditioner, an unrecognized, poorly described or understood ‘deep follicle cleanser.’”
Williams also said Regenix uses saw palmetto, which “has no proven application for hair loss” and the “hair analysis kit” has “no practical or clinical application in the diagnosis of hair loss disorders.”
Williams said people experiencing hair loss need to be properly examined and diagnosed by a hair restoration surgeon or dermatologist and rely on proven treatments, such as Minoxidil or Rogaine, Propecia, or Finasteride, laser light therapy, or regenerative procedures, such as platelet rich plasma.
Nonetheless, Dr. Jae Pak, a Los Angeles, California-based hair restoration specialist, said that some research shows that lavender and biotin can stimulate the hair follicles, so treatments such as Regenix could have the potential to help people restore their hair.
“It’s not a far cry to say their product provides real results,” Pak told Healthline. “Most mega-celebrities like Matthew McConaughey are not willing to put their name behind a product unless it is something they truly believe in.”
There’s also the cost to using Regenix or other similar products.
Yuksel Sahin, a hair stylist with a namesake salon on Manhattan’s Upper East Eide, said at one point he was spending up to $300 a month on medical drugs and herbal medicines to treat his hair loss until he found something that actually worked.
“I highly recommend hair implants for best results,” Sahin said. “I love the results. It really worked fast.”
While a big-name celebrity like McConaughey will testify his beautiful locks are due to decades of using Regenix, there are other, lesser-known folks who might have to think twice before dropping $200 on a starter kit that’s meant to last a month.