My 11-Month Hair Serum Journey: A Founder Case Study with Before-and-After Photos

This founder case study documents my experience with WELAB BIOTECH Advanced Multi-Peptide Scalp Serum, from early prototypes to eight months of use with the final formulation.

Where this started

I noticed it in a lift, of all places. Overhead lighting, a mirror I had not planned on looking into, and a central parting that seemed noticeably wider than the one I remembered. Hair changes rarely announce themselves. Sometimes you simply look one day and realise that more scalp is showing than before.

At the time, I was already deeply involved in developing WELAB BIOTECH’s scalp serum: reading the literature, working through formulation decisions with the laboratory and continuing my education in trichology. And I did the obvious thing. I started using what we were building. It was not the finished serum at first. The early prototypes.

My central parting documented from September 2025 to August 2026. Early prototypes were used from September to November 2025; the final WELAB formulation was used from December 2025 onwards.

Full disclosure, before anything else

I am the founder of WELAB BIOTECH. I helped develop this serum. I have every reason in the world to want it to work. So read this as what it is: one person’s documented experience, written by someone who is not neutral. It is not a clinical study, and I am not a doctor. I hold a Hair Practitioner qualification from the International Association of Trichologists and I am continuing my education in trichology. 

There is also an important detail about the timeline. I began testing early prototypes of the serum in September 2025. The formulation continued to evolve over the following months. From December 2025 onwards, I used the final WELAB formulation developed for the commercial product. For that reason, I distinguish between two periods throughout this diary:

September–November 2025: prototype development and testing.

December 2025–August 2026: use of the final WELAB BIOTECH formulation.

This lets me show the full development journey without presenting the prototype period as evidence for the finished product

At a glance

Full documentation period: September 2025 – August 2026
Early prototype testing: September – November 2025
Final WELAB formulation: December 2025 onwards
Final-formula observation period: approximately 8 months
Routine: approximately once daily
Other targeted hair-loss products: none
Hair supplements: none
Minoxidil: none
Hair colouring and cut: approximately once per month, as before
Shampoo and conditioner: varied throughout the period
Main visual observations:  a gradual reduction in hair shedding, in the appearance of my central parting and an increasing number of shorter hairs visible around the frontal hairline

What everyday use actually looked like

Once a day, on the scalp, along the parting and across the top of my head. That was the whole routine. What I did not do matters more:

•  no supplements for hair,
• no minoxidil
• no other serum, tonic or anti-hair-loss treatment
• no change to my colouring, still roughly once a month, as always
• no fixed shampoo regime; I used whatever ordinary shampoo and conditioner I had

I want to be honest about the gaps, too. There were few days I missed. There were occasional gaps, especially later in the testing period during travel or holidays. During the first several months, however, I was particularly consistent and rarely missed an application. This was not a control protocol. It was a real routine in a real life, with the interruptions that come with one. I mention this because I think it is the part most reviews leave out, and it is the part that actually tells you something. If a product only works when you are perfect with it, it doesn’t work. For me, that matters: long-term scalp care has to fit into real life rather than an idealised routine.

The first months

Nothing. Or nothing I trusted. Around week six I thought the parting looked slightly narrower and immediately talked myself out of it. Better light. Different angle. Hair washed the day before instead of the same morning. I have spent enough time around this subject to know how easily the eye invents progress when it wants to see it. That is exactly why I photographed instead of remembering.

September 2025. The starting point.

November: the first change I couldn’t argue away

By November the difference was in the photographs, not just in my head. Less scalp showing through the line. The front section, which had always been the worst part, sitting closer together. Nothing dramatic, nobody stopped me in the street, but side by side with September, it was there, and it stayed there across different days and different lighting. I noted it and kept going. Two months is not enough time to conclude anything about hair. The growth cycle does not move that fast, and anyone telling you otherwise is selling something.

Through winter to August

The rest happened slowly enough that I mostly saw it in photographs taken months apart. Winter was not particularly kind to my routine. I travelled more than usual and sometimes missed applications. But when I looked back over the following months, the central parting appeared progressively more compact. By August 2026, after approximately eight months with the final formula, the line through the centre of my head looked visibly narrower to me than it had earlier in the journey. The upper scalp also appeared fuller. And in the kind of overhead lighting that had first made me notice the widening parting, I no longer had the same reaction when I caught sight of it.

What happened to my hair shedding?

At the beginning, I actually had the impression that I was losing more hair rather than less. I remember noticing it because it was the opposite of what I had hoped to see.

I did not perform a standardised daily hair count, so I cannot quantify this change. It was a personal observation rather than an instrumental measurement.

Over the following weeks, however, that impression gradually changed. The amount of hair I noticed shedding seemed to become progressively smaller, and by around three months into the journey the difference felt noticeable to me.

What stood out was that this did not happen suddenly. There was no single week when I could say that shedding had simply “stopped”. It felt more like a gradual reduction over time.

Something else became difficult to ignore

My central parting was not the only thing I started noticing At some point, putting my hair into a ponytail became surprisingly difficult. Shorter hairs around my frontal hairline simply would not stay in. They kept sticking out, no matter how carefully I tried to smooth my hair back. That was when I started paying more attention to them.

By May 2026, they were particularly obvious whenever I pulled my hair away from my face or stood against a bright background.

May 2026. Shorter hairs around the frontal hairline that had become increasingly noticeable when I tried to pull my hair back.

June 2026. Shorter hairs around the frontal hairline became particularly visible against a bright background. Approximately six months after I began using the final formulation.

What I think actually happened

I want to be careful here, because this is where most brands stop being careful. I did not grow new hair follicles. Nobody does. The number you have is set genetically, and no serum on earth changes that. Anyone promising you otherwise is either confused or lying.

What I believe I did was hold on to what I already had, and support a scalp environment where the hair I have grows the way it is supposed to. In practical terms: less shedding, better conditions, a parting that stopped widening and then closed up somewhat.

That is a smaller claim than the ones you will read elsewhere. It is also the one I can stand behind, and, at forty-something, eleven months on, it is the one that actually matters.

Hair you keep is worth more than hair you were promised.

The part nobody talks about: whether you can stand using it

A serum only works if you use it, and you only use it if it doesn’t ruin your hair. This was the single hardest thing in development, and it is the reason the formulation went through as many versions as it did.  A scalp serum can have an excellent ingredient list and still fail in real life if using it ruins your hair for the day. You apply it, you look in the mirror, you decide not to bother tomorrow.

Ours had to survive being used on a normal morning by someone with somewhere to be. Light, fast-absorbing, no residue at the roots, no need to wash it out. I could apply it and leave the house twenty minutes later. 

Eleven months of consistency was not discipline. It was just that nothing about it made me want to skip.

That mattered enormously over months of use. Consistency was not about forcing myself through an unpleasant routine. The product simply fitted into the routine I already had.

Why I kept using it

Hair is not something I now like to judge after a few weeks. My own photographs taught me why. The differences I thought I saw early on were subtle and easy to question.

The longer timeline gave me much more context. That experience made me increasingly cautious about very short timelines in hair-care marketing. I would rather document months than build expectations around a dramatic transformation after a few weeks.

For more on this approach, read Hair Longevity: What It Means and How to Support Hair as You Age.

What this taught me as a founder

Consistency beats intensity. A gentler product used for a year does more than an aggressive one abandoned in three weeks.

Hair is measured in seasons, not weeks. Twelve weeks is a first look. The real picture takes longer, and any brand that structures its promises around a month is structuring them around your disappointment.

Long-term documentation matters. Looking in the mirror every day is surprisingly unreliable. Photographs taken months apart gave me a much clearer picture of progression.

Real-life routines are imperfect. I travelled. I forgot applications. I changed shampoos. I kept colouring my hair. The routine was not laboratory-perfect, and I think that is useful information rather than something to hide.

Realistic claims are better business. I could have written a louder version of this article. But the customer I want is the one who has already been disappointed by the loud version and that person can smell it instantly.

Frequently asked questions

When did you start using the serum?

I began testing early prototypes in September 2025 while the formulation was still being developed.I switched to the final WELAB BIOTECH formulation in December 2025 and continued using it through the observation period documented here.

How long did you use the final formula?

Approximately eight months by the August 2026 follow-up shown in this article.

When did you first notice a difference?

Early impressions were difficult for me to distinguish from normal variations in lighting, styling and hair position.The longer-term photographic progression became much more meaningful to me than trying to identify an exact week when something changed.

Are the shorter hairs in the photographs new hair growth?

The photographs show numerous shorter hairs around my frontal hairline. A photograph alone cannot establish why an individual hair is shorter or determine its growth history, so I do not use these images to make that conclusion. I simply document what was visible over time.

Did you use anything else for hair loss?

I did not use minoxidil, another treatment serum, another anti-hair-loss tonic or another targeted hair-loss product during the documented period.

Did you take hair supplements?

No.

Did you keep colouring your hair?

Yes. I continued colouring my hair approximately once a month, as I had before starting the diary.

Which shampoo and conditioner did you use?

Several different ordinary shampoos and conditioners. I did not follow one fixed wash-care routine, and none was introduced specifically to address hair loss.

Were you perfectly consistent?

Not perfectly. During the first several months, I made a conscious effort to use the serum every day and rarely missed an application. Later, as it became part of my normal routine, there were occasional gaps, particularly during travel or holidays, sometimes for several days. Overall, however, I used it consistently throughout the eleven-month period.

Does the serum make hair greasy?

Not in my experience. The final formulation felt lightweight, absorbed quickly and did not leave a noticeable residue at my roots.

Is this a clinical study?

No. This is my personal documented experience as the founder of WELAB BIOTECH. Formal product testing is presented separately on our Science page.

Will I get the same result?

Individual responses can vary, because hair and scalp condition are influenced by many factors, including genetics, hormones, age, health and the underlying cause of thinning. My experience cannot predict an identical outcome for everyone, but it does show what was possible in one long-term, consistently documented case with the final WELAB BIOTECH formulation.

Where this leaves me

Eleven months, one bottle habit, no supplements and no shortcuts. My parting is narrower than it was and the top of my head looks fuller than it did last September.

I cannot promise that every person will experience exactly the same changes. What I can show is what happened in my own case over a long period of consistent use.

I will tell you that it is the reason I stopped being someone who was building a scalp serum and became someone who uses one.

Explore WELAB Scalp Serum →

If hair loss is sudden, severe or persistent, having it assessed by an appropriately qualified healthcare professional rather than relying solely on a cosmetic product is a sensible first step

About the author

Alena Weissenbaeck, Founder of WELAB BIOTECH, Hair Practitioner, International Association of Trichologists

Alena founded WELAB BIOTECH to develop evidence-conscious scalp and hair care built around purposeful formulation, realistic timelines and transparent communication.

She holds a Hair Practitioner qualification from the International Association of Trichologists and is continuing her education in trichology. 

This article describes the personal experience of WELAB BIOTECH’s founder, who was directly involved in developing the product. It is not an independent clinical study and does not constitute medical advice. Early prototypes were tested from September to November 2025. The final WELAB BIOTECH formulation was used from December 2025 onwards. Photographs were taken at different times and were not captured under clinically standardised conditions. Individual experiences may vary.

Related readings

Hair Longevity: What It Means and How to Support Hair as You Age

Why Hair Loss Is a Biotech Challenge

Hair Serum for Hair Loss and Thinning Hair: What to Look For

The Science Behind WELAB BIOTECH