My Honest Hair Journey: What I Tried Before Monat (And Why I Stayed)

By Ian Barnett, RN | ianbarnettrn.com

I didn’t expect to become someone who talks about hair care.

I’m a retired critical care nurse. I spent my career thinking about airways and medications and life-or-death decisions. Hair products were not exactly on my radar. But here I am — and honestly, I’m glad I paid attention when my body started sending me signals.

Here’s the full story. No filters, no sales pitch. Just what actually happened.

It Started with a Medication

A while back, I started a GLP-1 medication. If you’re not familiar, GLP-1s are a class of drugs that have become widely used for weight management and blood sugar control — you’ve probably heard of some of them. They can be genuinely life-changing. But like any medication, they come with side effects, and one of the most common ones nobody warns you about is hair loss.

As a nurse, I know that telogen effluvium — stress-related or medication-triggered hair shedding — is a real, documented phenomenon. Knowing the clinical term didn’t make it any less alarming when I picked up my hairbrush and saw what was coming out with it.

Something had to change.

My First Attempt: Particle Men

I did what I always do: I researched.

I landed on the Particle Men Hair and Scalp program. It had good reviews, seemed credible, and I gave it a fair shot. Here’s my honest assessment — it did stimulate new hair growth. I could see that. But it did absolutely nothing to slow the shedding. Hair was still coming out in the brush at the same rate. Growing new hair while losing it just as fast isn’t a solution. I needed something that addressed the actual problem.

Back to researching.

Why I Chose Monat

A friend mentioned Monat, and I’ll be honest — my first instinct as a nurse was skepticism. The wellness and beauty industry is full of big promises and thin evidence. I’ve seen too many patients spend money on things that don’t work. So I dug in.

What won me over wasn’t the marketing. It was the science. Monat’s approach is grounded in both research and nature — their formulations aren’t just “natural for the sake of natural,” they’re designed with real intent behind the ingredients. As someone who spent decades evaluating clinical evidence, that mattered to me. A lot.

I ordered the IR Hair Thinning System and gave it an honest trial.

Two Weeks In

Two weeks. That’s all it took before I picked up my brush and noticed something different.

No hair.

After months of watching clumps come out every single morning, my brush was clean. I stood there for a moment just looking at it. As a nurse, I try not to get emotionally attached to outcomes — you learn to stay measured. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t genuinely moved by that moment.

The shedding had stopped.

Then I Wanted to See If It Was Just Me

That’s the nurse in me — I needed more data.

I told a close friend about my results. He’d been quietly dealing with thinning hair of his own and was willing to try. Within a few weeks, he reached out to tell me his hair was filling back in. Not just stopping the loss — actually filling in.

Then there’s my mom. She’s 89 years old, and her hair has been thinning significantly with age. I started her on Monat too. The proof came from an unexpected place: her hairdresser. Without any prompting, her hairdresser commented that her hair looked fuller. When a professional who sees your hair regularly notices a difference without being told to look for one — that means something.

Why I’m Telling You This

I became a Monat representative because of this experience. Not the other way around.

I didn’t sign up and then try to convince myself it worked. I saw real results — in myself, in my friend, and in my 89-year-old mother — and then I decided this was something worth sharing. That’s the only way I know how to operate. After a career built on trust, I’m not willing to put my name behind something I don’t believe in.

If you’re dealing with hair thinning — whether it’s from a medication like a GLP-1, from age, from stress, or from something you haven’t quite figured out yet — I’d encourage you to do what I did. Research it. Ask questions. And if you want to talk through whether Monat might be a fit for your situation, I’m always happy to have that conversation.

I’m not a hair stylist. I’m a nurse. And I’m telling you: this worked for me.

— Ian Barnett, RN | ianbarnettrn.com

Interested in learning more about the Monat IR Hair Thinning System? Contact Ian directly or visit ianbarnettrn.com.