iRestore Reviews

There are plenty of hair loss treatments to choose from nowadays, and many of them are reliably effective.1 That said, most treatments either require you to take oral medications that can have unpleasant side effects or apply solutions to your scalp that can be messy and time-consuming.2

That’s where low-level laser therapy can make a difference. By exposing your scalp to a specific wavelength of powerful light, you can stop hair loss and instigate new growth. But laser caps can be expensive, and it’s hard to know which one is best among them.

iRestore offers a laser cap that takes a slightly different approach than the rest of the pack, combining laser diodes with LED lights in an attempt to maximize results. We’ll dive into the evidence to support or undercut this approach below.

The iRestore Elite is a standout product in the company’s catalog, offering just as many laser diodes as many top-of-the-line units from competitors while still integrating an LED array into the helmet. This combination makes it unique and worth your consideration. Short daily treatment times make it easy to stay consistent with your regimen. It’s priced above the middle of the pack, but that may be worth it for anyone looking to maximize their cap’s therapeutic potential. Among other product highlights, the LED face mask offers more LEDs than other competitors at similar price points, and the iRestore eyebrow serum contains a better set of ingredients than its closest competitor at a more affordable price.

At Innerbody Research, we thoroughly scrutinize each and every product or service we review, including laser hair growth devices like those from iRestore. For this review, we accumulated more than 1,000 hours of time studying the hair loss space, including reading more than 300 scholarly articles from scientific journals and testing hundreds of products ranging from prescription medications to topical OTC solutions.

We also acquired iRestore products, including the top-of-the-line iRestore Elite helmet, to try for ourselves. Additionally, like all health-related content on this website, this guide was thoroughly vetted by one or more members of our Medical Review Board for accuracy and will continue to be monitored for updates by our editorial team.

Over the past two decades, Innerbody Research has helped tens of millions of readers make more informed decisions about staying healthy and living healthier lifestyles.

In evaluating iRestore products, we compared them to some of the best hair loss treatments on the market, including other laser caps and ancillary treatments like thickening shampoos, to see where they fit into the landscape.

In doing so, we applied four criteria that we feel would be most important to the average consumer:

• Effectiveness
• Safety
• Cost
• User experience

Let’s look closer at how iRestore performed in each of these categories:

Effectiveness

To arrive at our effectiveness rating for iRestore, we compared each of the company’s products to various competitors on the market, pitting laser caps against laser caps, thickening shampoos against thickening shampoos, and so on. And we compared the design of each — whether an ingredient list or a spec sheet — to all of the available scientific data relating them to hair loss.

Much of the strength in this rating comes from the iRestore Elite, a laser cap that combines an effective number of finely tuned laser diodes with a significant amount of LEDs.3 The science behind laser treatment for hair growth is far more substantial than that of LED treatment, but there is evidence backing up both methods.4 And the Elite doesn’t sacrifice the number of lasers to fit a certain amount of LEDs as the company’s previous models have, so we can be confident in its potential efficacy.

Since the Elite sits at such a specific point in the market and offers so much more than the company’s other products, it will receive a lot of our attention throughout this review.

However, the less effective models in the company’s lineup and its use of some questionable ingredients and doses in some of its hair care products prevent its efficacy rating from rising any higher than this. To be fair, there are some ingredients in these products that show real promise, including saw palmetto, which has a significant history of successful studies.5

Safety

Decades of research into photobiomodulation — treating ailments with exposure to light — and low-level laser therapy (LLLT) have shown that the treatment should be safe for most people, even as part of cancer treatment.6 However, there is some risk of irritation and, according to one research review, the potential growth of already-present dysplastic or malignant lesions on the scalp.7 29

Now, that’s just in response to laser therapy. Potential responses to LED therapy aren’t as well understood, and there is yet less research into the two methods combined. We have no reason to believe the combination would cause a significant increase in irritation or other adverse effects, but we also don’t have much science to discount that risk either. One paper from 2013 gave 22 men a combination of LED and laser therapy, and that study showed no adverse effects from treatment.8

Because iRestore uses powerful lasers in its devices, it’s important to shield your eyes from exposure. Some companies fail to account for this in their cap construction or only place safety sensors in their top-of-the-line models. iRestore puts safety sensors in all of its laser caps.

Outside of LLLT, there are some ingredients in iRestore products we can’t fully verify the safety of due to obscurity in dosing. Hair care products like shampoo don’t typically list doses per volume in their ingredients, though sometimes a percentage concentration of something like ketoconazole will appear on a label. So, things like saw palmetto and other active ingredients included to fight hair loss are present at unknown concentrations. That makes it nearly impossible to anticipate side effects.

In other products, like the company’s two hair growth supplements, most of the more important ingredients are combined into proprietary blends, so we can’t know how much of each is present. This isn't uncommon among hair growth supplements, but it's important enough to damage a safety rating regardless.

Cost

For a brief time in our coverage of the laser cap market, having 272 lasers in a laser cap was considered to be top-of-the-line. For many companies, this is still the case. A few have seen fit to push past this number, with Capillus and LaserCap both releasing 304-diode models.

Here’s a quick breakdown of costs and features associated with the market’s top models:

As you can see, there are numerous options on the market from companies like Kiierr and Illumiflow that offer a well-established number of lasers for efficacy — 272 — at prices significantly lower than the iRestore Elite. But it’s important to remember that the Elite has 300 lasers and includes 200 LEDs — something none of these other companies offer. That combination may deliver superior results, but head-to-head science comparing these specific laser and LED combinations to lasers alone is lacking.

User experience

What makes one user’s experience better than another's is certainly a subjective matter, but we’ve tried enough laser caps in our years reviewing such products to make reasonable determinations about what will and won’t work for most people. This criterion can be divided into three subcategories for scrutiny: regimen, comfort, and customer service.

iRestore is a hair loss treatment company that sells several products, including laser caps that mix laser diodes and LEDs. The company also sells ancillary treatments like OTC topical solutions for hair growth and thickening shampoo and conditioner.

iRestore originally sold a helmet that contained only a small number of lasers and LED lights to provide photobiomodulation — affecting cellular changes from exposure to strong, specific frequencies of light — in the treatment of hair loss, but the science behind LED treatments was far behind that of lasers. With the increasing popularity and decreasing prices of laser caps over the years, the company pivoted to include more lasers and LEDs in a single product.

The first of these was the iRestore Professional, which the company still sells. It contains too few lasers to make a reliable difference, at least according to the science on which we base our efficacy standards for laser caps. But, the Elite model that followed the Professional to market was an undeniably significant step forward.

iRestore company reputation

iRestore’s online reputation is somewhat mixed. Its rating on Trustpilot is 3.8 out of five stars — similar to the rating we arrived at — after more than 400 reviews. Negative reviews seem to revolve around lackluster results and misunderstandings related to the growth guarantee. Those issues, along with some shipping delays, also plague the company on its Better Business Bureau page.

On BBB, you’ll find iRestore’s parent company, Freedom Laser Therapy, Inc., with an F rating from the BBB and a slew of complaints, most of which are frustrations with the growth guarantee, which we’ll address below in our guarantee and returns section.

iRestore relies on photobiomodulation to achieve its results. But to understand how that works in a hair loss context, we need to be on the same page about hair loss itself.

For the vast majority of people experiencing hair loss, androgenetic alopecia (AA) is the culprit, affecting 80% of men and 50% of women by age 70.9 For men, the ailment is characterized by thinning at the temples and hairline, as well as the crown of the head.10 For women, it typically involves thinning at the natural part in the center of the head.

An overabundance of the androgen hormone dihydrotestosterone (DHT) is at the root of AA cases.11 At the scalp, DHT starves and damages hair follicles, causing excess shedding and preventing follicles from regrowing new hair strands. Some oral and topical medications target DHT directly, while others reduce its creation in the first place by inhibiting an enzyme that converts it from testosterone.

Such approaches are effective, but they can have numerous unintended side effects. Photobiomodulation, specifically LLLT, works a bit differently.

How LLLT fights hair loss

All photobiomodulation seeks to alter the structure or activity of cells by exposure to light. It’s been used in various clinical settings, from cosmetic applications like skin care to tissue repair and wound healing.12 Different wavelengths of light have had specific effects in research, with penetration depth beneath the skin’s surface depending largely on the chosen wavelength and power of the light source.

LLLT specifically refers to light therapy delivered by lasers in an infrared or near-infrared part of the light spectrum.13 Between 630nm and 808nm, researchers have observed clinical improvements in hair growth, including a cessation of hair loss and a renewal of growth where follicles had lain dormant.14 The iRestore Elite divides its laser group to contain an even amount of 655nm and 680nm lasers, along with LEDs that emit 625nm light.

The exact mechanisms of action involved are still incompletely understood, but there is evidence that exposure increases vasodilation, delivering more blood and its attendant oxygen and nutrients to DHT-starved follicles.15 Other research points toward an increase in the production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a critical nucleotide for cellular energy.16 And additional research indicates that LLLT may lead to stem cell proliferation, laying fertile ground for new hair growth.17

There’s a good chance that all of these mechanisms are active in LLLT treatment at the scalp level, which is why it’s been shown to be as effective as the popular topical treatment minoxidil (brand name, Rogaine).18

Is LED treatment different from LLLT?

LED treatment isn’t technically LLLT, as the third L in that initialism usually stands for laser. However, it is a form of photobiomodulation that boasts some supportive research for hair loss. A review of comparisons between LEDs and lasers for photobiomodulation concluded that “photobiomodulation is not dependent on lasers or coherence.”19 In other words, LEDs have the potential to work as well as lasers so long as they’re finely tuned within a specific wavelength range.

However, that same review notes that many of the head-to-head studies it cites are not of high enough quality to draw definitive conclusions without more research. Ultimately, LEDs appear to be a potentially beneficial addition to laser therapy, especially thanks to their ability to affect larger areas of target tissue than lasers. They may not be sufficient on their own, but in combination with lasers, as we see in the iRestore Elite, they may have a crucial role to play.

While there is some paucity of data on LED treatments for hair loss when compared to laser therapy, there is an abundance of data regarding LEDs for skin care. Skin care treatments are among the most common uses for photobiomodulation, and research points toward specific wavelengths for different skin care concerns.

Many LED masks offer only a single wavelength of light for a targeted concern, with red light being a common catchall. But, LED research reveals that blue light has a different role to play in skin care. In studies, red LEDs can reduce roughness, increase collagen density, and improve complexion.20 Blue light, on the other hand, is more closely associated with wound healing, making it a go-to treatment for acne and more prominent complexion issues.21 22 Infrared light, meanwhile, has far less research behind it, especially in the absence of red and near-infrared light. That makes it difficult to ascertain its specific potential.

iRestore gets around this problem by offering three modes in its face mask and two in the mask that fits over your neck and upper chest. Let’s look at each product a bit more closely:

iRestore is a good place for people to go when they’re dealing with hair loss from androgenetic alopecia and want to address it with a combination of lasers and LEDs. Less expensive laser caps are available from reputable companies that should yield positive results. But, if LEDs truly can work alongside lasers to increase efficacy, then the 200 LEDs and 300 lasers inside the iRestore Elite could represent the best chance for most people to regrow hair.

That said, the science behind the theory is still a work in progress.

iRestore is also a smart place to look for anyone seeking an LED skin care device targeting the face, neck, or chest. The company's face mask is especially well-situated in the market, offering more LEDs and colors than anything else at its price point.

The company’s other hair regrowth products, like its shampoo, conditioner, and eyebrow serums, offer admirable ingredient profiles. There are slightly less expensive and similarly constituted shampoos and conditioners out there from competitors, but the eyebrow serum is among the best we’ve seen for its ingredients and price point. A comparable product from Vegamour, which has a frankly less impressive ingredient list, sells for significantly more per container.

Who might want to look elsewhere?

While the potential of combining lasers and LEDs is compelling, those who want to stick with more well-established science might do well to consider an iRestore competitor like Kiierr or Capillus. Given its price point, there are equally well-made and possibly more effective options out there.

LLLT is also generally not a great idea for people with excessively sensitive skin or those with lesions or tumors on the scalp (it could cause those tumors or lesions to grow).29

iRestore’s safety depends a bit on which products you’re talking about. Like most similar photobiomodulation devices, iRestore’s Elite, Professional, and Essential caps should be safe for most users. Typical side effects from these treatments include irritation, redness, and itchiness. More severe side effects can occur in those with lesions or tumors on the scalp, but these individuals likely wouldn’t want to try LLLT in the first place.7

Laser caps contain powerful enough lasers to risk some damage to vision after extended exposure. Our testers can certainly attest to the discomfort of staring into a laser cap when it turns on. That said, all three of iRestore’s helmets contain safety sensors that prevent the diodes from firing if the sensors are not covered. This is meant to allow the cap to fire only when it’s on your head, but our testers found these sensors easier to fool than those from Capillus or Kiierr, slightly increasing the risk of ocular exposure.

Other iRestore products deliver similar safety profiles, but let’s take a quick look at some of the company’s top offerings through a safety lens:

iRestore’s product lineup has grown considerably over the years. In addition to photobiomodulation devices for hair loss, the company offers various skin and hair care products, as well as bundles that can dramatically reduce your overall cost.

Below, we’ll break down the product categories and show you how bundling certain products together could offer you additional savings.

Photobiomodulation devices

iRestore sells three caps for hair loss that use a combination of LEDs and lasers. It also sells two LED devices for skin care on the face or the neck and upper chest. Here’s a quick breakdown:

Skin and hair care products

iRestore’s skin and hair care product lines have expanded even faster than their device catalog, with a few products that rival those of competitors. Here’s how they all price out as one-time purchases:

• Anti-Aging Face Serum: $75
• Anti-Aging Eye Cream: $30
• Hydrating Foam Cleanser: $40
• Calming Facial Spray: $55
• Growth Activator Serum: $60
• Hair Growth Formula (supplement): $45
• “Advanced” Hair Growth Formula (supplement): $90
• Thickening Shampoo: $40
• Thickening Conditioner: $40
• Biotin Gummies: $35
• Eyelash Enhancing Serum: $60
• Eyebrow Enhancing Serum: $60

You can save on each product by buying in bulk or subscribing at various billing and shipping frequencies with varying discounts, some of which range up to 60% off.

Accessories

iRestore rounds its catalog out with accessories like battery packs that allow you to use your devices on the go, as well as things like storage cases and extended warranties. Many of these accessories are available at a discount if you purchase them alongside a device:

iRestore bundles

Purchasing bundles from iRestore can save you money on devices, allowing you to treat skin issues concurrently with hair loss. Here’s how combining devices can save you some extra money:

Bundling expendable products like shampoo, conditioner, and supplements doesn’t actually save you anything compared to buying them individually, but it does add a fraction of convenience to the shopping process.

Shipping is free on all orders over $50 in the U.S., Canada, and several other places around the world.

With a fairly large number of products to choose from, one would hope for a robust return policy, ideally one that served as a money-back guarantee in case things didn't work out. Fortunately, iRestore has an outstanding guarantee on its caps for hair loss, a very good guarantee for its masks and skin or hair care products, and a mediocre guarantee for battery packs.

The most important of these are the guarantees on LED and laser devices, so let’s explore those.

How the iRestore growth guarantee works

iRestore has one of the best money-back guarantees for laser caps in the industry, but it still manages to be a point of contention in consumer reviews. That’s because the growth guarantee has some important caveats you should understand before purchasing.

Crucially, the 12-month growth guarantee states that you have to use the device for 12 months. If you try to return a cap before 12 months have passed, you’ll face an 18% service fee. You’ll have 30 days from the end of that 12-month period to initiate a return.

That may sound harsh, especially considering how expensive these devices are, but this guarantee structure is par for the course; all other major laser cap manufacturers set their guarantees up the same way because they know it takes time for results to appear. And only LaserCap and Illumiflow offer the same length of guarantee. Other manufacturers all offer less, and some even make you record before and after photos the absence of which could disqualify you from coverage. iRestore doesn’t make you jump through any such hoops.

How iRestore’s other guarantees work

iRestore’s two other LED devices have the same structure in their guarantees as the laser caps, but they only last 100 days instead of a whole year. That means you’ll have to use (or at least hang onto) the device for 100 days, after which you have a 30-day window to initiate a return.

iRestore offers a longer 6-month guarantee on its consumable products like its serums, shampoo, and conditioner. However, returns are only eligible for the first order of any product, so if you come back for more, you won’t be eligible for a return.

If you purchase a battery pack for any iRestore helmet, it will only protect you for 30 days. After that, you're out of luck. Because batteries can be a little finicky, and you can get a couple of weeks of use from a single charge, it might take longer than 30 days to know whether your battery pack functions properly. A guarantee similar to those iRestore offers on its LED masks — of 100 days — would be more appropriate here.

Depending on which iRestore products you’re interested in, there are various alternative paths and products out there. It’s probably easier to approach the question of alternatives by focusing on the goals of each product or product category, so let’s do that.

iRestore alternatives for hair loss

iRestore uses LLLT, topical serums, supplements, and thickening shampoo and conditioner as means for fighting hair loss. There are numerous companies that do the same, some of which offer only one or two of those items, while others offer nearly identical catalogs. There are also companies offering medical treatments that you can combine with LLLT or take on their own to see reliable regrowth.

Let’s take a look at some of our preferred players in the space:

iRestore alternatives for skin care

On the skin care front, there are even more alternatives to the products from iRestore for you to explore. The vast majority of these are OTC cosmetic products you can find all over the internet and in stores like Ulta or Sephora. But there are also some comparable devices and even prescription options on the market that compare well with and possibly even outperform offerings from iRestore.