Like many beauty lovers, I firmly ride the LED mask train. Every night I meditate on my red and blue light mask and I've noticed the difference in my skin since I started using it consistently. The fine lines on my neck and chest are hard to see, the pimples subside in record time, and my skin tone is more uniform than ever.

Recently, I found that research shows that daily LED treatments also help with hair growth and retention. Most versions of LED hair masks (clunky devices that strongly resemble bicycle helmets) are not designed to be worn outside the house. It means that it requires a specified couch time that I can't always find in my packed schedule to work the treatment into my routine.

Then came HigherDOSE's new LED red light therapy hat. Released on May 5 this year, the device immediately intrigued me when I came across my feed. It looks just like the black baseball cap that off-duty models wear around the city, but is equipped with a discreet LED mask inside. It promises to support hair growth by increasing blood flow to the scalp and as a result strengthening roots and reducing shedding. And even better, it comes in a format that you can (probably) wear for hair growth on the go.

I tested HigherDOSE's new hat to see if it really amplified my hair growth routine and could do so under the radar. Read on for my honest review.

Hair growth has been my concern since 2022, when I shed an unprecedented amount of hair after a fierce bout of Covid. Then, as a result of chronic pain due to long Covid, I suffered from stress and depression, which worsened my hair fall. In about 1 year, my waist-length curls became elastic, dense, lifeless and thin. I've been recovering since thanks to hydration, a diet high in protein and collagen, and a series of hair growth products such as hair growth vitamins, hair growth shampoos, hair growth oils and scalp treatments.

My new hair growth comes with countless baby hairs on my head forming an ambiguous, ever-present halo. In addition to growing more hair in the first place, I would really like to see these baby hair grow longer and blend in. When I learned that red light therapy could strengthen my hair growth regimen in the same way that it boosted my skincare, I grabbed a new HigherDOSE cap and started a full session daily routine. (HigherDOSE recommends spending 16 minutes on a hat every day for 10 weeks to see the results.

When I unpacked my new hat, I was immediately struck by how normal it looked. It is a relatively soft cap of average size with a thin removable layer of red light inside. The light does not make the hat particularly heavy, and the layer is attached to the fabric via a series of easily removable buttons.

At first, I did not know how to turn on the hat, but I quickly discovered that it is operated through a small, one-button remote control. The remote is attached with a magnet behind the hat and activates the light for 10 minutes (1 full session).

Based on my experience of LED masks, I expected the red light hat to be large, clunky and adjacent to the Tour de France equipment. After all, when I wear my Therabody mask, I look like an astronaut, and the other red light hats on the market like the bestseller iRestore are certainly helmets, but the HigherDOSE hat looks like any other baseball cap you see outside on a sunny day. I was amazed at how ordinary it looks and feels, with a structured but not conspicuously large silhouette.

I felt comfortable wearing this hat at work, in the park, on my walk to the gym, and on public transport — a staggering bonus given my busy schedule. I have already spent a lot of time on hair care and skin care, so I can't even think about it, just adding 1 more step to the regimen. Wearing a hat doesn't feel like an extra step: I simply hang it on my apartment door where I can see it and pop it while I'm sweeping, sitting or heading.

True to HigherDOSE's words, I'm the only one who knows I'm working on my hair growth when I slide this cap. I was expecting it to be visible when the red light turned on, but to my absolute shock, they could not be detected. I tested my colleagues and asked if they could know if it was on or off — they couldn't. Hats also don't warm up while activated, which is of particular concern to people with frizzy curly or textured hair.

Still, it's not entirely subtle. To turn on the light, you need to press the power button on the small remote control, and then attach that remote control to a set of magnets located behind the hat. Then, when the session is complete, the hat will beep, make sure you have removed it and peel off the red light (a convenient option.), or delete the remote.

The remote is not so noticeable, but when I wear it I still feel like a cyborg with a port on the back of my head and I hope the hat vibrates instead of it falling and also beeping to signal the end of the session. First, the beep is noticeable to anyone in my immediate vicinity, so it breaks the purpose of being treated in public without anyone noticing. Second, if I'm in a particularly big place (I live in New York City, after all) I don't hear the beep — so I can take the remote

All in all, I love this hat. Although I haven't used it long enough to see the results of visible hair growth (research recommends consistent use for at least 4-6 weeks), it's a perfect low maintenance, lazy girl hair hack because it doesn't require any extra time or energy. For anyone else who is chronically over-scheduled, this device is a lifesaver under the radar.