The answer so far
A change in a blood hormone is not the same measurement as hair loss. To answer this question, look at what each study actually measured.
Creatine has not been shown to cause hair loss. A small 2025 trial found no statistically significant difference in measured hair outcomes between creatine and placebo over 12 weeks. That is reassuring for the people and product studied, but it cannot rule out small effects, longer-term effects or different results in other groups.12
On this page
Does creatine cause hair loss? Choose a step to explore this subject in more detail.
Why did the concern arise?
One possible explanation concerns dihydrotestosterone (DHT), a hormone involved in some forms of pattern hair loss. In a 2009 crossover study, 20 college-aged male rugby players took creatine and placebo in separate three-week periods. Researchers reported a rise in blood DHT during creatine use. The study did not measure hair loss, so it could not establish that creatine caused it. A blood hormone result alone does not tell us what happened to anyone’s hair.2
What did the study measuring hair find?
In a 2025 study, researchers recruited 45 resistance-trained men aged 18–40. The report’s flow chart says six withdrew before randomisation, leaving 39 assigned to 5 g per day of creatine monohydrate or placebo; its abstract instead describes 45 as assigned. Thirty-eight completed the 12-week study, and one of them did not have the final hair assessment. The amount describes the study, not a recommendation. They measured hair density, follicular unit count and cumulative hair thickness, as well as blood hormones. They found no statistically significant difference between groups in these hair measures or DHT. A result that is not statistically significant is not proof that the true effect is exactly zero.1
How much can we conclude?
The direct hair study was small and lasted 12 weeks. It does not rule out a small effect, changes taking longer to appear, or effects in women, older people or people with different hair-loss risks. It studied one form of creatine under a particular protocol; it did not test every product or pattern of use. The authors reported no specific study funding, but several disclosed supplement-industry advisory or other financial relationships. They also acknowledged support from a representative of the brand studied without describing its nature. The earlier hormone result and the later trial are evidence to weigh, not proof of either universal harm or guaranteed safety.12
What if you are noticing hair loss?
Hair loss has many possible causes, and its timing alone does not establish whether a supplement caused it. A clinician can consider the pattern, other products, medicines and medical history. For the evidence on exercise and other uncertainties, read the creatine profile and creatine safety and kidney tests.
Further reading
Trusted external resources selected to help explain this page. They open in a new tab.
- 2025 trial measuring hair and hormones ↗38 completers; 12 weeks; trained men aged 18–40.
- 2009 hormone study in rugby players ↗Twenty college-aged men; hormone measurements, not hair loss.
Sources, kept close.
Selected supporting sources; this is not a complete literature review.
- Does creatine cause hair loss? A 12-week randomized controlled trialJournal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition / PubMed Central · Primary research: randomized controlled trial, 2025
- Three weeks of creatine monohydrate supplementation affects dihydrotestosterone to testosterone ratio in college-aged rugby playersClinical Journal of Sport Medicine / University of Stirling repository · Primary research: crossover trial, 2009