The idea that creatine causes hair loss traces largely to one small study.
In 2009, researchers studied 20 college-aged rugby players. After a seven-day creatine loading phase, dihydrotestosterone, or DHT, increased relative to baseline. DHT is involved in androgenetic hair loss in susceptible follicles, so the result was repeatedly translated into “creatine causes baldness.” Read the origin study.
The study did not measure a single hair outcome—not density, follicle count, shedding, or progression of hair loss. It measured a hormone marker, and the conclusion about baldness was added later by other people.
Two details matter:
- The reported DHT values remained within the normal clinical range.
- The result was not a direct demonstration of hair loss.
What the broader literature found
A 2021 review examined the creatine and hormone literature and found no consistent evidence that creatine increases total testosterone, free testosterone, DHT, or hair loss. It treated the 2009 result as an isolated finding, not an established effect. Read the review.
The missing experiment was a randomized trial that measured the hair itself. That arrived in 2025. In a 12-week randomized controlled trial, 5 g/day of creatine did not produce significant differences in DHT or measured hair outcomes compared with placebo. Read the trial.
One 12-week study cannot prove the absence of every possible effect in every genetically susceptible person over years. But the evidence now includes a direct randomized measurement of hair outcomes, and it did not support the claim.
The current evidence does not justify treating creatine as an established cause of hair loss.