If you’ve ever wandered into the comment section of a fitness forum, you’ve likely stumbled across a familiar warning: “Creatine makes you go bald.” The issue has particular relevance among the bodybuilding community, where supplementation in the form of “loading” (taking a large dose for a week, and then a smaller dose for a few weeks) has become a popular trend. The idea is to enhance the effects of muscle building and strength through supplementation. Naturally, many body builders are worried (and even convinced) that the link is real. But there are many who are still skeptical, and wonder “Does creatine cause baldness”?
It’s a classic tale of scientific research taken out of context, and applied to conclusions that were not intended. It’s one of those claims that seems to persist no matter how often it’s challenged, like the myth that cracking your knuckles causes arthritis, or that humans only use 10 percent of their brains. But unlike those examples, the creatine–baldness link isn’t pulled from thin air. It’s based on a real scientific study. Just one. From 2009. With twenty participants.
And that’s where our story begins.
The Study That Launched a Thousand Bro-Science Threads
In 2009, a team of researchers in South Africa published a study in the Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine involving 20 college-aged rugby players. The design was straightforward: measure their hormone levels before, during, and after a creatine supplementation protocol.
After seven days of a high-dose “loading phase” (25 grams of creatine per day), followed by a maintenance phase (5 grams daily), something interesting happened. Levels of a hormone called dihydrotestosterone (DHT) rose by 56 percent, and stayed about 40 percent above baseline for the remaining two weeks.
DHT is a more potent cousin of testosterone, and its part of the male pattern baldness process, specifically, in genetically predisposed individuals. It can shrink hair follicles over time, leading to thinning hair and, eventually, balding. The logic seemed simple: more DHT equals more hair loss. Creatine raises DHT. Therefore, creatine causes hair loss.
But as with most things in biology and science as a whole, the truth isn’t that tidy.
What the Study Didn’t Show
Here’s the key point that’s often missed in online debates and clickbait articles: this study didn’t measure hair loss. Not one strand.
No scalp photos, no hair density counts, no long-term follow-up. Just blood samples, a spike in DHT, and a ton of extrapolation. In fact, the purpose of this study was never to examine the link between creatine supplementation and baldness.
Also important, the study has never been replicated. Not once, in over 15 years. That doesn’t mean it’s invalid, but in science, reproducibility is everything. A single, small study with a specific population (in this case, young athletic men) can’t carry the weight of a global conclusion. There are many studies in which the results from athletes differ from that of the general population (such as studies regarding sauna use and immune performance).
Does Creatine Cause Baldness?: What Larger Reviews Say
Let’s zoom out for a moment. Creatine is not some fringe supplement hanging around the margins of sports science. It is one of the most thoroughly studied and scrutinized compounds in the entire field of nutrition and exercise physiology. Over the past few decades, researchers have published more than 1,000 peer-reviewed studies investigating creatine’s effects on muscle growth, athletic performance, brain function, kidney health, hydration status, and hormonal balance.
In all of that enormous body of research, how many studies have linked creatine to hair loss?
Exactly one — the small 2009 rugby player study we discussed earlier. No long-term clinical trials, no multi-center studies, no meta-analyses have confirmed or even hinted at a hair loss connection.
In fact, the opposite story emerges when you look at systematic reviews.
The International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN) published a position stand in 2017 — a type of scientific document that reviews all available evidence to issue best-practice recommendations. Their verdict on creatine could not have been clearer:
“There is no evidence that creatine supplementation negatively affects testosterone, free testosterone, or causes hair loss.”
— Kreider et al., JISSN, 2017 (link to full paper)
This paper represents a consensus built from dozens of controlled trials, not isolated anecdotal reports.
Independent science-focused websites like which evaluate studies without selling supplements echo the same conclusion. One in particular notes that while creatine might cause small, temporary shifts in hormones like DHT in very specific conditions, these shifts have not been associated with hair loss, nor are they consistently observed across different studies.
Even health-focused review articles aimed at general audiences emphasize that creatine is not linked to increased rates of balding, and any concern about hair health should focus first on genetic factors, not supplementation.
You can find a larger selection of references below:
2017 International Society of Sports Nutrition Position Stand
Full Text – ISSN Position Stand on Creatine Safety and Efficacy
2021 Review Article on Creatine Misconceptions
PubMed – Creatine myths and misconceptions
Meta-Analysis Reviewing Creatine and Hormone Effects
PubMed – Effects of creatine supplementation on testosterone and DHT
Examine.com Overview on Creatine and Hormones
Examine.com – Creatine Effects on Hormones
GoodRx Health Summary on Creatine and Hair Loss
GoodRx – Does Creatine Cause Hair Loss?
So, Should You Worry?
If you’re genetically predisposed to male pattern baldness, your hairline might recede regardless of your supplement stack. DHT is part of the picture, but creatine isn’t some magical DHT-boosting pill. There is a genetic component to balding, which means that a spike in the DHT hormone alone doesn’t seem to induce balding. In fact, most long-term studies show no significant hormonal changes with standard doses.
If you’re still unsure, consult a dermatologist or endocrinologist before jumping into creatine. But don’t rely on Reddit anecdotes or gym locker room wisdom. The human body is complicated, and cause-and-effect often plays out in murky, nonlinear ways.
The Bottom Line
- Yes, one study linked creatine to higher DHT levels
- No, that study didn’t show actual hair loss
- No, it hasn’t been replicated or supported by broader research
- Yes, a large body of additional research shows there is no link between creatine and baldness.
- Yes, the myth continues because nuance doesn’t go viral
Science isn’t about proving something once. It’s about repeating, testing, and refining. And in the case of creatine and baldness, the science just isn’t there.
Until more rigorous studies come along, we’re left with one isolated finding, lots of speculation, and a reminder that correlation doesn’t mean causation, especially when it comes to your hairline.
