A $550 LED cap grew back a journalist's hair after 15 years of shaving
Wired journalist Martin Ciszmar started shaving his head in 2011 as his hair thinned. After eight weeks with the GroWell LED cap — 25 minutes every other day — he says he has around 30% more hair than he did at age 30. The device costs $550 and is FDA-cleared for hair regrowth via red light therapy. Six weeks in, a stranger in a bar told him: "I didn't know you had hair."
How it works
GroWell combines 24 lasers and 39 LEDs in a flat light module, delivering red light at 630–670 nm wavelengths. That range is what the FDA recognises as therapeutically relevant for stimulating dormant follicles — hair roots that have stopped producing visible hair but haven't died. Ciszmar's follicles were dormant, not gone, which is why the therapy worked. If your scalp has been completely smooth for years, red light won't help: there's nothing left to wake up.
A 2013 double-blind, placebo-controlled study cited by GroWell showed a 35% density increase in men and 37% in women over 16 weeks. The manufacturer promises full results within six months of regular use. Ciszmar's eight-week result is an early data point, not the clinical endpoint.
The session routine
Each session runs 25 minutes. The cap runs on a 1,800 mAh Li-ion battery, so there's no power cord keeping you tethered. Ciszmar frames the routine as passive — watch TV, sit at a desk, wear the hat. The catch: stop using it and the follicles revert. This is ongoing maintenance, not a one-time fix.
How it compares
At $550, GroWell sits between budget LED caps and the premium end of the market. The Capillus Spectrum costs $2,699, carries 312 laser diodes, uses dual wavelengths (650 nm + 808 nm), and needs just six minutes a day. Capillus One comes in at $899 with 82 diodes. The CurrentBody LED helmet — a UK-owned brand — showed 72.3% hair loss reduction and a 26.1% density gain in an 84-day Intertek-validated clinical trial, with a faster 10-minute daily protocol.
On the clinical evidence side, CapillusPro's data was published in Dermatologic Surgery, a peer-reviewed journal, showing a 51% hair count increase over 17 weeks. GroWell's 2013 study hasn't been independently peer-reviewed in the same way — worth noting if you're comparing credibility.
GroWell is available on Amazon US and direct from growellcap.com. UK availability is not confirmed; Capillus models retail on Amazon.co.uk and through specialist clinics from £1,400 upward.
The honest limits
Ciszmar's test ran eight weeks — less than half the recommended six-month course. His "30%" figure is a personal estimate, not a photometric measurement. One journalist's experience is not a controlled trial. What it does suggest: if dormant follicles are still there, $550 and two months of passive therapy can produce visible results. The device won't conjure hair that's already gone.
