Pretty much everyone I know is unhappy with their hair in some way. All of my straight-haired friends want curly, and all of my curly-haired friends want straight. I’m so jealous of people who have thick hair, as someone with fine, thin hair that tangles easily.

My hair also grows famously slow. I got a pixie cut in spring of 2011, and my hair did not touch my shoulders until the end of 2013. Plus, because my hair is super thin, when I pull it back, it separates, and you can see my scalp underneath. Because it’s so fine, it tangles and often breaks off, resulting in chronically dry split ends.

Overall, I’m unhappy with my hair and its lack of growth or fullness, so I wanted to see if CurrentBody’s cord-free, Bluetooth-enabled LED Hair Growth Helmet would work for my slew of hair issues. Red-light-therapy devices for hair are similar to red-light therapy masks for your face, using red lights to increase hair growth and promote a healthy scalp. You need to use the device for only 10 minutes a day, and CurrentBody claims you’ll see results within 12 weeks. While my results weren’t super visually dramatic, I noticed my hair feeling thicker while shampooing, and I saw a lot more “baby hairs” spring up on my hairline after about three months of testing.

Splitting Hairs

Photograph: Molly Higgins

Unlike more discreet red-light hair growth devices, like the HigherDose Red Light Hat (see our full review here), CurrentBody’s entry is a full-on helmet, lined with 10 strips of 12 red lights each on a spectrum of 620 to 660 nm (nanometers, the unit of measure for the wavelength of visible light). This works similarly to red-light-therapy face masks, which aim to improve skin conditions and spur new cell growth using red-light therapy in the mid-600-nm range. The 620-nm red light helps to improve scalp health by promoting circulation, and the 660-nm red light goes deeper, reaching through the epidermis and dermis to the hypodermis, where it stimulates growth and repair at the follicle root.

Photograph: Molly Higgins

Red-light wavelengths are clinically proven to energize hair follicles; improve scalp blood flow; reduce inflammation; lower dihydrotestosterone (DHT) levels, a hormone that causes hair loss and thinning; and support production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which helps to store and release energy in cells. This wavelength of red light triggers follicles to stay in the hair growth phase by providing oxygen and blood flow to the scalp.

Rinse, Red Light, Repeat

The helmet is FDA-cleared (meaning it’s been determined to be equivalent to a similar, legally marketed device) and is FSA (flexible spending account) or HSA (health spending account) eligible with a letter of medical necessity. It comes in two sizes: medium, for a skull circumference of 21.3 to 23.2 inches, or large, for 23.3 to 25 inches. (I opted for medium, and it was still too large for my head.) The device sits on a base and is charged via a USB-C cord. It takes about three hours to fully charge the helmet, and it lasts about a week on a single charge. (The white light on the side flashes while charging and turns solid white when the battery is full.) The device is powered on by pressing the single button located under the charging port.

Photograph: Molly Higgins