The time of miracles is not over: More hair sprouting from the bottle?

Rarely, if ever, the incredibly eye-catching ads for internet marvels have anything to do with reality. Now, however, it happened that even the ones that weren't my own mouth were opened up. And this may have something to do with the sound design as well. Or maybe not?

Text and images: Teppo Hirvikunnas and the manufacturer

On the internet, you come across the most amazing products and their incredible promotional videos, where everything seems like magic. This happened this time as well.

Then I wonder what on earth makes the internet know that my hair has slightly thinned over the years, but somehow just a link and a video appeared where something was applied to the man’s head and his hair grew back immediately.

Yeah, sure, I’ve seen these before. This time, I just had the idea that I should test it out.
For some reason, I have a strong urge to test everything else in the AVPlus magazine besides audio and video reproduction products. So, this one probably belongs in that plus section too.

And as much as this has to do with sound recording, my hair actually started to thin when I owned decent car stereos when I was young. The bass from them was so strong that some of my hair started to fall out – or at least it became looser than it already was.

But back to the topic. We ordered a bottle of this human powder from a Finnish company. From the Toppik.fi online store. At the same time, it became clear that it was some kind of hair conditioner that should apparently be applied to existing hair. Therefore, the product does not work for completely bald people; you need to have some of your own hair left over, at least to some extent.

The human powder, or hair fibers, comes in nine different shades from black to white. In addition, the product line includes several other products, such as a fiber locking clip, a color-enhancing styling spray, shampoo, conditioner, hair volumizing spray, and the Toppik pump.

A normal-sized can of these so-called hair products, weighing 12 grams, costs 25.90 euros plus shipping costs of 5.90 euros. The L size (27.5 grams) costs 49.90 euros and the XL size (55 grams) 75.90 euros. However, it is not exactly a cheap product, although it seemed to be quite generous in quantity.

We ordered 27.5 gram bottle of dark brown hair fibers for testing.

Hair on your head?

The product arrived within a couple of days. We first tested the product on paper. When viewed enlarged, it does indeed appear to be a mixture of some kind of small fibers, including some slightly longer ones.

The manufacturer says that they are keratin, the same substance that is also found in hair. Additionally, the product contains silicone, DMDM hydantoin (an anti-caking agent), colorants, and surprisingly ammonium chloride (salicylic acid). This probably has something to do with the static properties described for the product.

The fibers are spread on dry, clean hair according to the instructions, like pepper from a spice jar. So all you have to do is stand in front of a mirror, open the jar, and spread the fibers over your head.

At first nothing, but after a while it really looked the same as in the introductory video. The hair really seemed to be curling straight in front of my eyes. It was simply incomprehensible!

I even asked my family to watch it too, and the reaction was similar. What the heck! Somehow, miraculously, the hair seemed to appear in my head out of nowhere. There really wasn’t any hair growing there, so where does this come from?

In the magnified view, the product appears to be a mixture of some kind of small, tiny fibers, including some that are slightly longer. According to the manufacturer, the fibers are keratin. In fine and light form, they also float easily, and when used, fine-grained dust ends up everywhere.
In the magnified images, the scalp shows that the fibers cover the scalp, and at least for those with dark hair, this reduces the visibility of the light scalp between the dark hair. The fibers appear on the scalp as if they were dense sheets of fabric. Some of the fibers also statically attach to the hair and appear to add at least some additional volume to the hair, further obscuring the visibility of the scalp.

And this really works and is even so good that it almost seems unbelievable. Before and after photo.

If you don't believe the pictures, then watch the video below, in which the undersigned "hired" himself onto the altar of journalism and humiliated at least his own offspring. Namely, an amateur video shot with one shot showing how things work.

The Toppik hair thickening spray really does fulfill its promise: it makes a few strands of hair look thicker, even "really" thicker.

So the product really works, but is it suitable for everyday use?
During use, fine-grained fiber dust also spreads somewhat unpleasantly to places other than the head. This, however, without the dispenser pump, which is promised to spray the fibers without any lumps and more precisely to the desired areas. Using the dispenser pump should also reduce the material consumption.

What about the elections?

In dark hair, this kind of darkening and covering of the scalp works, but what about blonde hair? The presentation photos mostly only show models with dark hair.

Well, this too can only be determined by experimenting. However, in this emergency, we couldn’t find a suitable test user, but we promise to return to this matter again.

The top really works!

The Toppik hair thickening serum is actually an amazing product. As a kind of miracle ingredient, it does what it promises: it makes your hair look thicker, even really thick. But is it suitable for everyday use?
A bit of fluff problems but they are manageable. Little drawbacks with thick hair?

+ Does what it promises
+ Easy to use
- Roars when being set up (with reservations)

Topik hair conditioner

Representative: Cloud Shop Oy
Further information: www.toppik.fi (info@toppik.fi)
Phone: 0400 501 618
Price: Starting from 25,90 €
Package sizes: 12 g / 27.5 g / 55 g
Color options: 9 different colors