Happy Head vs. Hims

Hair loss is incredibly prevalent. More than half of all men will experience it before turning 50.1 More than 50% of women will experience it at some point in their lives.2 For most of recorded history, there wasn’t much a man or woman could do to offset hair loss beyond toupees and hats.

In more recent years, scientific advancements have led to new drugs that can stop hair loss and even regrow lost hair, and numerous telemedicine companies have cropped up to offer access to those treatments online.

Happy Head and Hims are two of the top companies that offer oral and topical medications, alongside supplements and hair care products, to fight hair loss in men and women. But which company offers the better solution for you? Our team has spent years evaluating both, along with many of their competitors. We’ll delve into detailed comparisons throughout this page, pitting these two against one another directly.

For those in a hurry, our overall conclusion is that most people in 2024 are better off with Hims.

At Innerbody Research, we extensively test each health service we review, including Happy Head and Hims. We’ve followed these companies for years, evaluating their products and services and researching the science behind the various ingredients in their medications, supplements, and hair care products.

On top of our research, we’ve performed hands-on testing on multiple products from each company, evaluating both the products themselves and the customer experience as a whole. Additionally, like all health-related content on this website, this review was thoroughly vetted by one or more members of our Medical Review Board for accuracy. We’ll continue to monitor developments from both companies and their competitors to keep this article current.

Over the past two decades, Innerbody Research has helped tens of millions of readers make more informed decisions to live healthier lifestyles.

Our comparison of these two companies revolved around a small cluster of key considerations in which one company typically outperforms the other. The broad comparison may seem quite balanced at first, but as we consider some criteria to be more important than others, we could declare the overall winner with a high degree of confidence.

Here’s a quick breakdown of the comparison points:

Cost

Winner: Hims

Hims is the clear winner on cost. In some areas, it’s not even close. Happy Head has some nice discounts on first-time orders, but the monthly rate for its products goes up significantly after that. Also, those first-order discounts only apply to the first order placed by your account, not the first time you order any new product; you’ll only ever see that discount once. And these are forever treatments, so you have to keep using them to maintain results.

With that in mind, here’s a quick look at the lowest possible yearly costs of a few common hair loss treatments offered by both companies, excluding introductory discounts:

As you can see, the Hims prices are lower in every category. To be fair, some of Happy Head’s products include additional ingredients with some treatment potential (like retinoic acid and hydrocortisone in its topical minoxidil, a serum that boasts an 8% minoxidil concentration to Hims’ 7%), but those additions don’t justify nearly doubling the cost.

Available treatments and efficacy

Winner: Happy Head, by a hair

This was the most difficult category to judge between the two companies. Both have different approaches to injecting their catalogs with variety. Happy Head boasts a greater variety of active ingredients, including several you can’t get from Hims. But Hims tends toward a greater variety of delivery mechanisms, like topical sprays, foams, and chewable tablets.

Here’s a quick comparison of available medications by format:

Happy Head technically has just as many medication types as Hims and boasts a higher number of multi-therapies, giving it a slight edge.

To illustrate, Happy Head offers finasteride in four topical formulations as three serums and one gel.3 Hims also provides topical finasteride as a convenient spray in a few formulas. But Happy Head goes further, also offering things like dutasteride and spironolactone, both of which Hims lacks.

Dr. Scott Bukoski, dermatologist and member of our Medical Advisory Board, agrees: “Happy Head offers dutasteride and spironolactone. Dutasteride has been shown to be more effective than finasteride with a similar side effect profile,” he says. “Furthermore, for females, spironolactone helps with hair growth as well and can be particularly helpful if they are getting unwanted hypertrichosis in the setting of oral minoxidil use. Having these two additional options for people in terms of active ingredients probably gives Happy Head a slight edge in this category.”

Quality of medical care

Winner: Hims

Hims may have spent a long time with hair loss as a cornerstone of its business, but it has diversified over the years in such a way as to provide superior patient care. In addition to hair loss, Hims can treat erectile dysfunction (ED), premature ejaculation, overweight and obesity, skin aging and acne, and some mental health concerns.

That diversity provided Hims the impetus to create an impressive platform for consultation and support. For example, the company has a telemedicine dashboard with a messaging service for getting in touch with a medical professional to discuss issues that arise along your hair treatment journey. In contrast, Happy Head, though it provides a thorough consultation, offers ongoing support only through email or live chat, which leads you to a third-party communication platform to connect to a physician.

The Hims platform gives you a more direct line of communication with providers, resulting in faster resolution of potential concerns. During the initial phase of their prescription skin care regimen, one of our testers used the Hims dashboard to reach out with a question about moisturizing, and a nurse practitioner answered in about six minutes. You can see the exchange in the following image:

Customer service and convenience

Winner: Happy Head

While Hims has an edge in medical care, Happy Head takes the prize for basic customer service and convenience. The major difference between the two, and why we give this category to Happy Head, is price transparency. You can see Happy Head's pricing on each product page. It's clear, specific, and straightforward. With Hims, some prices are placed prominently on product pages, others are harder to find on those pages, and some aren't there to be found at all.

What's more confusing is that the few prices Hims advertises are based on longer shipping cycles designed to provide additional discounts on most of its hair loss products. But prices for month-to-month shipping aren't revealed to you until late in the checkout process. If you can only afford one month's worth, you'll have to pay more for it than what the product page may have listed.

(We tried to demystify Hims’ pricing as much as we could in our full Hims hair loss review, which breaks down costs by billing cycle.)

Otherwise, Hims and Happy Head offer very similar customer experiences. Both have easy-to-navigate websites, helpful customer service features and FAQ sections, and responsive and well-informed live chat support.

Happy Head and Hims are telemedicine providers offering various solutions for hair loss. Happy Head maintains a primary focus on hair loss, though it’s recently added a single ED medication to its lineup. Conversely, Hims offers medications, products, or services for numerous issues, including hair loss, ED, skin care, and mental health.

Both companies circumvent traditional doctor's office visits and allow you to obtain prescriptions for hair loss medications like finasteride without leaving home. They also ship medications directly to your home, making for a pretty effortless experience.

Hims has about six years on Happy Head, having started in 2016 compared to Happy Head’s founding in 2019.

Company reputation comparison

Both Hims and Happy Head are relatively well-regarded online, with both having around 4-star customer ratings on the Better Business Bureau (BBB) website. Happy Head’s customer rating is a little higher, but it only has about 1.3% as many reviews as Hims — just 43 at the time of this writing. And the BBB gives Hims an A+ rating, as opposed to Happy Head’s B+.

To put it in perspective, consider that competitors Keeps and Roman have BBB customer ratings hovering just above 1 star, so a 4-star rating speaks to the relative superiority of Hims and Happy Head in the hair loss sector.

Happy Head also boasts a slightly higher rating on Trustpilot, where its page lists 815 reviews resulting in a 4.2-star rating. Hims’ Trustpilot page has many more reviews (over 4,000), but a rating of just 3.2 stars.

Winner: Hims

As we discussed in our cost criterion section, there’s no product you can get from both Happy Head and Hims that isn’t less expensive from Hims. Happy Head often offers low rates for introductory months, typically reaching around 60% off, but the savings evaporate after that.

Sometimes there’s rationale for Happy Head’s higher prices, such as when the company adds ingredients to otherwise comparable products, but it’s rare that we'd recommend Happy Head over Hims based on cost. One such example would be monthly orders of oral finasteride for those who can’t afford the upfront cost of Hims extended billing cycles. In this case, Happy Head offers a slightly better deal.

Those extended billing cycles from Hims ship larger quantities to your house at less frequent intervals for a discount. So, instead of a new shipment every month for five months, you might get five months’ worth of product in a single shipment. That saves on processing fees, as well, since Hims charges a $5 fee per shipment. One year of monthly shipments would cost $60 in fees alone, whereas a single annual shipment would have just one fee of $5 — a $55 savings.

Happy Head only offers monthly shipments or one-time purchases, so let's compare monthly costs from each company to give Happy Head as much of a fair shake as possible (though, in some cases, we have to break down quarterly costs to the month, as some of Happy Head’s products lack one-month billing cycles). In the table below, we've even added the $5 processing fee to the Hims shipments (Happy Head offers free shipping). With all of that factored in, some of the prices get a little bit closer, and Happy Head even wins out on oral versions of finasteride and minoxidil.

Despite Happy Head’s victories in month-to-month costs for oral minoxidil and finasteride, it’s important to remember that these are forever treatments. You’re going to keep using them for as long as you want to regrow and keep your hair. So, in the long run, you’re much more likely to extend a billing cycle through Hims, which would bring your cost down below Happy Head.

Winner: Hims

Both Hims and Happy Head offer topical hair loss treatments, but Hims offers them in more formats, including serums, sprays, and foam. Happy Head almost exclusively offers serums, with the exception of a single gel product. That gel and one serum containing an aqueous solution are the only two topicals from Happy Head that don’t contain propylene glycol, a known irritant that’s been suspected of causing several of the more common adverse reactions people have to topical hair loss treatments.25 Hims’ serums and sprays also contain it, but its minoxidil foam does not.

There are some other key differences in formulation, however, so let’s look at the two most prominent forms of topical hair loss treatment and compare them between the two companies.

Topical minoxidil from Hims and Happy Head

Minoxidil is the most common topical hair loss treatment. As the generic form of Rogaine — the same active ingredient, with about the same efficacy4 — it’s available for less than its branded counterpart. Minoxidil’s precise mechanisms of action aren’t fully understood, but studies have supported multiple theories for how it functions in a complex manner to stop hair loss and restore growth.5 One theory posits that topical minoxidil increases blood circulation at the scalp, allowing more nutrients and oxygen to reach the hair follicles.26 Another theory looks at how minoxidil may affect genetic signaling pathways, some of which are connected to stem cell development.6 In these instances, stem cells can be directed to become hair strands when they otherwise would have become something else.

Hims offers topical minoxidil in more forms than Happy Head, delivering it in a serum, a foam, and a spray. Happy Head only offers the serum and a liposomal gel. But one important area in which Happy Head’s minoxidil differs from Hims is in its 8% concentration compared to the 5-7% you get from Hims, depending on which product you get. Whether that added concentration will help of hurt your cause is going to depend largely on the individual, as stronger minoxidil concentrations don’t always provide better results.

As Dr. Bukoski puts it, “[I’m] not sure that you could call this a true superiority, as there have not been direct clinical trials to compare this exact dosage. In fact, as the dose gets higher, there may be a higher risk of irritation, which could increase shedding and plateau results.”

Here’s a simplified breakdown of how the companies compare for topical minoxidil:

Despite Hims’ apparent superiority here, there are some circumstances in which Happy Head may be the better choice. For example, Happy Head states that its finasteride or dutasteride would be off the table for a person assigned female at birth who wants a topical combination therapy but hasn’t gone through menopause yet. There may be theoretical concerns with the drugs’ hormonal effects in premenopausal women. The drugs are administered to women in clinical settings, but they aren’t offered to females by telehealth companies. In these cases, Happy Head’s topical minoxidil with spironolactone may offer an additional avenue for improved treatment over minoxidil alone.7

Topical finasteride from Happy Head and Hims

While topical minoxidil has been in use for decades, topical finasteride has only more recently become a viable alternative to oral finasteride. Studies indicate that may be about as effective as the oral version at reducing scalp dihydrotestosterone (DHT, a primary driver of pattern hair loss), but its application has a nearly undetectable effect on plasma DHT.8 9 That’s a sign that it goes to work on the scalp without getting into the bloodstream, ultimately mitigating its side effect profile. So, for men who need finasteride but are concerned with its side effects, this is a good way to go.

Commercially available topical finasteride is almost always compounded with topical minoxidil, as well, so you end up getting the positive effects of both drugs in a single application. While delivery methods and added minoxidil concentrations vary between companies, both Happy Head and Hims offer a 3% concentration of finasteride in the formulations

The biggest difference is in the delivery mechanism. Happy Head offers its topical finasteride as a serum in a bottle with a dropper cap or a gel in a pump bottle, whereas Hims provides a compounded spray or a serum. Our testers universally preferred Hims’ spray application, as it was easier to handle and far less messy.

Happy Head's advantage is that it offers more topical formulas containing finasteride than Hims does.

Here’s how the prices break down:

For most people, Hims clearly offers the best pricing and, according to our testers, the superior delivery mechanism. The only real reason you might reach for Happy Head as an alternative is that you’re a premenopausal woman who is looking for something more than just minoxidil for hair loss purposes.

Winner: Tie

While Hims has stuck to traditional oral hair loss treatments for most of its existence, its recent expansion into oral minoxidil and combination treatments — and the pricing of those treatments — make it a better choice for many people than Happy Head. This is doubly true when you realize the breadth of ED treatments Hims offers, which can be useful for the rare cases in which a hair loss medication has sexual side effects.11

However, Happy Head’s inclusion of additional oral treatments — specifically oral dutasteride — makes it a better choice for a specific group of people seeking the most effective treatment without concern for cost. Dutasteride tends to be more expensive than finasteride or minoxidil, but studies show that it’s the most effective oral treatment of the three.17

Hims and Happy Head both offer oral finasteride and minoxidil on their own and in combination treatments, which can get a little confusing when we compare the individual therapies. To clarify things up front, here’s a handy set of charts to break down either company’s offerings:

Oral finasteride

Oral minoxidil

Oral minoxidil + oral finasteride

While the prices above may imply that Happy Head’s oral minoxidil is available for less, it’s important to remember that the $22 monthly price is only for the 1.25mg dose. For as low as $39/month, Hims can give you a 3mg dose combined with a multivitamin.

It’s also worth noting that Happy Head offers oral dutasteride, which has been shown to outperform other oral medications, including minoxidil and finasteride. We still prefer to steer men toward oral minoxidil in many cases, however, due to dutasteride’s similar sexual side effect profile to finasteride.29

Oral finasteride: Happy Head vs. Hims

Finasteride, the generic form of brand-name Propecia, is typically delivered as an oral medication, often at a dose of 1mg when battling hair loss.10 It’s a 5-alpha reductase inhibitor, meaning that it prevents a certain enzyme from converting testosterone into DHT. That prevents DHT from doing what it does best — causing hair loss.

Finasteride has something of a rough history, thanks in large part to a 2%-3% incidence of sexual side effects in men.11 In our conversations with long-time finasteride users who’ve experienced these side effects, we’ve learned how debilitating they can be. And additional research indicates they may last for years, even after you stop taking finasteride.30 That said, you have a 97% chance of not experiencing those side effects, so the drug may be worth a try if you’re an otherwise good candidate.

Both Hims and Happy Head offer 1mg oral finasteride tablets. Hims also offers a chewable 1.1mg finasteride tablet that’s combined with 3mg of oral minoxidil and a supplement blend.

Happy Head vs. Hims for oral minoxidil

Minoxidil was originally created as an oral medication; it was intended and is still used to treat hypertension.12 However, hypertrichosis, or excessive hair growth on the body, was a common side effect, which led to its development as a hair loss intervention. It's not a 5-alpha reductase inhibitor like finasteride, and its mechanisms of action are as mysterious orally as they are topically.

Oral minoxidil has been shown to be at least as effective as oral finasteride, but its side effect profile is meaningfully different.13 Whereas oral finasteride has sexual and depressive side effects, minoxidil’s profile is more related to the cardiovascular system.14 And since its mechanism of action isn’t related to the endocrine system, oral minoxidil is offered by commercial companies for both men and women (as opposed to finasteride/dutasteride for females).

Some research has indicated that people with healthy blood pressure haven’t seen blood pressure effects from larger doses of oral minoxidil than those used to fight hair loss, but it’s still a risk you should discuss with your doctor.15

While both Hims and Happy Head offer oral minoxidil, Hims’ doses are a bit higher, and its minoxidil comes in a convenient chewable format. At that higher dose, Hims actually presents a better deal, especially if you opt for quarterly or 5-month billing. You can also get a compounded chewable version of minoxidil that’s combined with 1.1mg of finasteride for the same price.

Hims didn’t run away with this category, however. Happy Head also offers its minoxidil as a standalone or combined with other oral treatments to potentially increase efficacy. These combinations make Happy Head more attractive for both male and female customers looking to combine therapies, as some of them include additional prescription ingredients applicable to one sex or the other (e.g., finasteride for men or spironolactone for women).

Happy Head also offers oral minoxidil in several of its Super Capsules, where it’s combined with various other ingredients like finasteride, dutasteride, spironolactone, and vitamin D. Male customers may want to steer clear of the Super Capsules, however, only because their 1.25mg minoxidil dose is on the low end of supported clinical data.31

Female customers may save more with Happy Head if they can find success at the relatively low 1.25mg dose in the standalone tablet. At that dose, a customer could pay as little as $22/month for their medication, and some research suggests that a dose of around 1mg can be effective at stopping hair loss in nearly 80% of women, while regrowing hair in around 15%.16 The Super Capsule with 1.25mg minoxidil and 25mg spironolactone may increase the efficacy.

Here’s how oral minoxidil from Hims and Happy Head compare:

The winner by default in this subcategory is Happy Head, as Hims doesn’t currently offer dutasteride. Dutasteride is an effective 5-alpha reductase inhibitor, like finasteride, but some research suggests dutasteride may provide superior results at the doses offered.17 Therefore, men who’ve had issues with the efficacy or safety of finasteride may be interested in trying dutasteride. Happy Head’s dutasteride is available orally at 0.5mg on its own, in a Super Capsule alongside minoxidil, or as a topical treatment in one of two formulas.

Here’s how dutasteride pricing works with Happy Head:

Clearly, oral dutasteride is more expensive than oral finasteride, so finasteride is the better option for the budget-conscious who are willing to risk its side effects. For those most concerned about the side effect profile of finasteride or dutasteride, it may be wise to start with minoxidil and a topical form of finasteride/dutasteride and go from there.

Winner: Hims

When doing all you can to fight hair loss, you may not want to stop at one or two medicinal interventions. Shampoos, conditioners, and nutritional supplements may be able to work in conjunction with medicinal interventions to support your overall hair health. Evidence for regrowth with most supplemental treatments is incredibly sparse, and none of these would likely work on their own. Some ingredients may increase the apparent thickness of your hair or create more favorable conditions for things like topical treatments to do their work, but they likely won’t drive growth themselves.

“Hair growth supplementation, including shampoos and conditioners, does not have substantial supportive clinical evidence as the previously discussed medications do,” Dr. Bukoski says. “People shouldn't go spending all of their money trying to supplement their way to hair growth.”

Both Hims and Happy Head offer these products and more, though there are some noteworthy differences between the two companies. Let’s take a look at each category of supportive hair care products from Hims and Happy Head.

Shampoo and conditioner

Winner: Hims

In most ways, Hims outperforms Happy Head for shampoo and conditioner. The prices are better, the smell is nicer, and the lather is thicker. Happy Head’s ingredient profile is slightly more robust, but Hims has three shampoos and two conditioners in its lineup, compared to one of each from Happy Head.

The two companies' most comparable shampoos and conditioners are the Hims Thick Fix line and Happy Head's Thickening line. Here's how they compare:

Saw palmetto is definitely the premier ingredient in either company’s formula, as topical application has shown some benefit in studies.18 The addition of niacinamide and panthenol in the Thick Fix Conditioner rounds out the Hims line nicely, as these two ingredients can bolster hair thickness while also fighting dandruff and potentially improving growth.27 28

The inclusion of collagen and keratin in Happy Head’s lineup is a nice plus, but some of the most promising results for topical keratin applications are in mice, and collagen studies are mostly conducted via oral administration.19 Thus, similar to other supplements we’re discussing, we wouldn’t recommend choosing these solely for hair growth purposes.

Hims’ other shampoo and conditioner products include its Max Volume shampoo and conditioner, which both contain a substance called Biovolume 128, a branded ingredient with no real science backing its claims to improve hair volume. In our testing, this product induced a greater degree of thickness after one use than the Thick Fix shampoo and conditioner. It was also our testers’ favorite scent.

Hims’ third shampoo (without a corresponding conditioner) is its Dandruff Detox. This product centers on pyrithione zinc as a dandruff-fighting ingredient. Studies support its efficacy, and our testing team can confirm, from personal use, that it works.20

Supplements

Winner: Happy Head

This is one of the simpler categories for comparison between Happy Head and Hims because Hims offers a gummy supplement containing only biotin, whereas Happy Head offers a complex supplement comprising 23 ingredients (including a multivitamin complex, collagen, ashwagandha, and saw palmetto).

Regarding many of these ingredients, Dr. Bukoski says, “The clinical data to support their use in hair growth is just not there like it is for the prescription medications discussed. Furthermore, some have the potential to alter labs and interact with other medications — not to mention the extra money spent without true clinical merit.”

For example, an extensive review of biotin’s oral use in hair loss cases concluded that it likely wouldn’t benefit healthy individuals, so there isn’t a good reason to recommend Hims’ biotin-only supplement.21 In comparison, take a look at Happy Head’s Hair Supplement ingredient list:

• Vitamin A: 1,500mcg RAE (5000 IU)
• Vitamin C: 60mg
• Iron: 5mg
• Vitamin D3: 62.5mcg (2500 IU)
• Biotin: 6,000mcg
• Iodine: 225mcg
• Zinc (Zinc Amino Acid Chelate): 25mg
• Selenium: 200mcg
• Hydrolyzed bovine collagen types I/III: 400mg
• Ashwagandha root powder: 250mg
• Fructooligosaccharides: 200mg
• L-lysine (from L-lysine HCl): 120mg
• L-cysteine: 120mg
• L-methionine: 120mg
• Shavegrass extract (Equisetum arvense): 120mg
• Knotweed root extract @ 50% resveratrol: 73mg
• Hyaluronic acid (from sodium hyaluronate): 50mg
• Turmeric extract (Curcuma longa): 50mg
• Probiotic blend (5 billion CFU/g): 30mg
• Saw palmetto berry powder: 30mg
• Hydrolyzed keratin powder: 15mg
• Black pepper fruit extract: 4mg
• Capsicum fruit extract: 3mg

There's a lot to like in this supplement formulation, but also some misses. For example, that 250mg ashwagandha dose seems close to the doses used in studies (typically 300-600mg) until you realize that it's a root powder. The studies in that dose range use extracts, which provide much more of the active component in ashwagandha than simple powder can.

There also appears to be a hefty biotin dose, but as we discussed earlier, studies don’t support the use of biotin for hair health in otherwise healthy individuals. Additionally, biotin can alter otherwise normal labs in people getting routine blood draws.32

The addition of collagen may be of some benefit, as may be the hyaluronic acid, keratin powder, and amino acids. The probiotic blend may help, too, as studies have shown a connection between gut health and hair health.22

It’s worth noting that Hims offers a small multivitamin complex in its hair loss chews, which includes:

• Biotin: 2.5mg
• Vitamin B5: 10mg
• Vitamin B6: 2mg
• Vitamin C: 100mg

This is nice to have, but it’s still far short of what Happy Head offers, and it isn’t available on its own — you can only get it alongside minoxidil or a combination of finasteride and minoxidil.

Winner: Happy Head

Neither Hims nor Happy Head has especially impressive bundles compared to some of their competitors. Hims offers two, each containing minoxidil serum, a thickening shampoo, and biotin gummies. A prescription version of the bundle also offers oral finasteride. Happy Head has a similar bundle, but it comes with a discount for a custom topical solution (prescription or non-prescription) and lacks the option of adding oral finasteride.

Here’s how those basic hair growth bundles compare:

You could also consider Hims’ and Happy Head’s shampoo and conditioner combination packages as bundles, but you only end up saving money with the Hims bundle (about $4). The Happy Head bundle is more for convenience than anything else, as it offers no discount.

While this is where the comparable bundles between the companies end, it's also where Happy Head takes its lead, as it offers four more bundles in addition to the ones mentioned above.

Happy Head’s four other bundles are:

• Oral minoxidil and finasteride combined with topical minoxidil and finasteride
• Oral minoxidil and dutasteride combined with topical minoxidil and dutasteride
• Topical minoxidil and finasteride with a Dermaroller
• Topical minoxidil and dutasteride with a Dermaroller

The Dermaroller available in those last two bundles is an interesting tool. It’s used to prepare the scalp to better absorb topical solutions, and research suggests that its use alongside treatments like topical minoxidil outperforms topical minoxidil on its own.23

Winner: Hims

Throughout the years we’ve spent testing and interacting with these two companies, we’ve had mostly positive experiences. There have been a few bumps in the road with each, however, and they’re worth investigating to get a sense of where you might want to direct your time and money.

Here’s a quick look at some key aspects of each company’s platform:

Our biggest issues with Happy Head are its cancellation process and billing cycle. If you want to cancel a subscription, you have to call customer service. In this day and age, we find this decidedly unnecessary, and it raises the cynical thought that it’s designed to prevent users from canceling with ease.

The other issue with a Happy Head subscription is the billing cycle. Unlike Hims, which offers multiple billing cycles in 30-day increments (though not all cycles are available for all products), Happy Head only offers a 25-day billing cycle.

In theory, the 25-day billing cycle ensures you never run out of a daily-use product. But in practice, it causes a constantly fluctuating billing and shipping date, complicating household budgets. It also raises the likelihood that you'll forget to end a subscription you intended to cancel until it's too late to stop a shipment.

Hims doesn’t suffer from either of these issues, but the company lags behind Happy Head in price transparency. This isn’t as big of an offense in Hims hair loss treatments, as most non-prescription products are priced clearly. But its prescription products — including finasteride, the Hair Power Pack, and the Hair Hybrids — often have their full pricing facts obscured. If a price is listed, it’s typically associated with the longest billing cycle, and you’ll discover a much higher price for one-month billing at checkout.

Doctor consultations

Winner: Hims

Whether at Hims or Happy Head, the initial consultation process between you and your consulting medical professional is going to be pretty straightforward. You pick a product in which you’re interested, fill out a questionnaire, and upload photos of your hair loss. Then you await either a confirmation of your prescription, a denial of your prescription request, or a message asking for more information. Both companies offer their consultations for free, and follow-up conversations are also available at no additional cost.

The big difference between Hims and Happy Head comes after you begin treatment. Through Happy Head, you need to message the site’s chatbot to receive a link to your messaging platform, which is hosted by a third-party site. With Hims, the messaging platform is right there in your dashboard, making it much faster and easier to get in touch if you have any questions or concerns about treatment.

Complementary care

Winner: Hims

When we talk about complementary care, we mean the other products and services available to you through the company platform that can improve your experience. Happy Head’s sole focus is on hair loss, so its complementary care is limited. Conversely, Hims is a large telemedicine provider with a broader scope of complementary care, as its catalog covers:

• Hair loss
• ED
• Premature ejaculation
• Skin care
• Weight loss
• Mental health issues

In relation to hair loss, the two most important offerings in that list are ED treatment and mental health care. Oral finasteride is associated with a small risk of sexual side effects, including ED, and has also been connected with increased symptoms of depression.14 So having access to ED medications and mental health care can be a big help when treating hair loss. For the record, though, Hims doesn’t offer talk therapy. It has a limited psychology platform that can grant you access to prescription drugs for anxiety, depression, burnout, and sleep issues.

Happy Head recently added ED medication to its lineup, but it only offers it as a daily tadalafil medication in a combined pill alongside oral finasteride. It costs $89 monthly, which is a lot more expensive than the $54 monthly cost you could get from Hims with annual billing. However, it’s less expensive than you’d pay for the two shortest billing cycles of tadalafil and finasteride from Hims.

All that said, Hims offers more ED medications overall and more delivery mechanisms, including convenient chewable tablets. With Happy Head, you’re stuck with a 5mg daily tadalafil dose or nothing, while Hims boasts more than a dozen combinations of different generic drugs and doses so you can find what works best for you at a competitive price.

If a head-to-head comparison between these two companies hasn’t convinced you of one’s superiority over the other, you may be interested in products or services from one of their competitors. Some of these are direct competitors that offer various forms of finasteride or minoxidil, while others provide different treatments altogether.