Knowing your exact Norwood stage is the one thing that separates useful action from guessing in the dark. Without it, you are either treating hair you were never going to lose or ignoring a pattern that has already crossed into surgical territory.
For Anyone Starting From Zero
1. HairLine AI (Free Browser Tool)
Before you spend a dollar, you need a baseline. HairLine AI does this without an account, a credit card, or a download. You upload a photo or use your webcam, and the tool reads your facial geometry through MediaPipe, then runs the image through Gemini 3 Pro to classify your Norwood stage. It also estimates how many grafts a restoration might require and what that could cost, all in one results screen. Free. Takes about a minute. No sales quiz, no upsell.
The single most useful thing about it: the Norwood read is objective. A mirror is not. Neither is a forum. Getting a number anchors every decision that follows. It is not a clinical diagnosis, and it does not prescribe anything, but as a neutral first read before you talk to a dermatologist or a transplant surgeon, it is hard to beat.
2. The Norwood Scale Itself
Seven primary stages, a handful of variants. Norwood I is essentially no loss. Norwood II is a slight recession at the temples. By Norwood III, the recession forms a clear M shape. Norwood IV adds significant crown thinning. V, VI, and VII describe progressively larger bridges of loss connecting temple and crown until almost all top coverage is gone. Knowing where you land on that map tells a surgeon how many grafts you need, tells a GP whether medication alone is realistic, and tells you whether you are early enough that minoxidil and finasteride have real room to work.
See also: How to Prevent Frozen Pipes
3. The Ludwig Scale (Women Only)
Female pattern hair loss does not follow the Norwood pattern. The Ludwig scale grades diffuse thinning across the crown in three stages, from mild widening of the part to near-total loss of top coverage. If you are a woman tracking your loss, Norwood comparisons will mislead you.
For Understanding Medication Options
4. Finasteride and Minoxidil as the Clinical Starting Line
These two have more evidence behind them than anything else you can buy. Finasteride blocks DHT conversion and is prescription-only. Minoxidil extends the growth phase and comes OTC or Rx. Neither works overnight. Expect three to six months before you see change, longer for real density. Stop either one and you lose what you gained. Finasteride carries a real, minority-level risk of sexual side effects. A clinician should be in the loop.
5. Hims
Hims carries oral finasteride, oral minoxidil, topical finasteride, topical minoxidil, and combination formulas. It is the only major telehealth platform offering topical finasteride as a standalone option. Pricing varies by plan; subscriptions run monthly or quarterly.
6. Keeps
Hair loss is Keeps’s entire focus. Three-month supply plans tend to come out cheaper per dose than month-to-month buying. Finasteride and minoxidil are both available. Shipping is around five dollars.
7. Happy Head
Happy Head offers prescription topical compounds, including custom-blended formulas, which distinguishes it from brands that only carry standard generics. You fill out a form, a clinician reviews it, and a compounded topical ships if you qualify.
8. Roman
Roman carries oral finasteride generic and solution minoxidil. No foam formulation. Straightforward if you want a telehealth path without many options to sort through.
For Surgical and Clinic-Level Consideration
9. BosleyRx and Bosley
Bosley has decades of transplant history and also offers prescription products through BosleyRx. Relevant once your Norwood stage is high enough that medication alone has limited upside.
10. HairClub
HairClub operates physical clinic locations and sells multi-step programs combining treatments. Worth knowing about for people who want in-person guidance rather than a telehealth screen.
For Women and OTC Shoppers
11. Keranique and Generic Minoxidil
Keranique is one of the few OTC lines built specifically for women, using 2% minoxidil. Generic minoxidil, whether foam or solution, is the same active ingredient as Rogaine at a lower price. Ketoconazole shampoo and derma-rolling have smaller supporting evidence but low risk, low cost profiles. Supplements are popular but evidence is thin compared to the two main drugs above.
Common Questions
Does HairLine AI give you the same Norwood stage a dermatologist would?
Not necessarily, and the tool does not claim otherwise. It produces an objective read from a photo using image recognition, which removes the bias of a mirror or a worried friend, but lighting, photo angle, and image quality all affect the output. Think of it as a useful starting estimate, not a clinical finding. A dermatologist can assess scalp density, miniaturization, and pattern in ways a photo cannot capture.
At which Norwood stage do finasteride and minoxidil stop being worth trying?
Most hair loss clinicians consider medication most effective at Norwood II through IV, when follicles are thinning but not yet fully miniaturized. By Norwood VI or VII, the follicles in the affected zones are largely gone, and no drug regrows hair from dead follicles. That is when surgical options through providers like Bosley become the more realistic conversation.
What actually separates Hims, Keeps, and Roman from each other if they all sell the same generics?
The core drugs are identical generics, so the differences are structural. Keeps focuses only on hair loss, which means its intake process and clinician pool are specialized. Hims offers the broadest formula range, including topical finasteride as a standalone. Roman keeps things simple with fewer options. Pricing, shipping terms, and how each platform handles follow-up consultations are the real deciding factors for most people.
Is there a Norwood equivalent for women, or do they have to use the same scale?
Women should not use the Norwood scale. Female pattern hair loss typically presents as diffuse thinning across the crown rather than a receding hairline, which is exactly what the Ludwig scale was designed to grade. Ludwig I is mild widening of the part, Ludwig II is more visible thinning, and Ludwig III is near-total loss of coverage on top. Keranique and generic 2% minoxidil are the OTC options built around female-pattern loss specifically.
Can you use a photo-based AI tool like HairLine AI to track progression over time?
Yes, and that is arguably its most practical use after the initial read. Taking a photo under consistent lighting, from the same angle, every three to six months gives you a visual record that is far more reliable than memory. If you are on finasteride or minoxidil through a service like Keeps or Happy Head, that kind of documentation helps you and your clinician judge whether the treatment is holding your stage steady.
*Norwood stage assessments from any tool, including AI-based ones, are educational guides, not medical diagnoses. A dermatologist or licensed clinician should confirm staging and advise on treatment.*
Sources
- American Academy of Dermatology: androgenetic alopecia overview
- O’Tar Norwood’s original Norwood-Hamilton scale classification (1975)
- Ludwig scale for female pattern hair loss (1977)
- FDA drug database: finasteride and minoxidil approvals and labeling
