Thanks for your question.

Unfortunately hair follicles do ‘completely die’ in time. But if you have only lost 40% of you hair you have a good chance of growing that back. Hair loss surgeons tend to believe that most people only notice their hair loss when they have already lost 50% of their hair.

This leads me to believe that you might mean your hair has receded to the extent that 40% of your scalp is completely bald – perhaps you can verify this using the comments. If this is the case then you may need a hair transplant to recover a large proportion of that lost hair.

It is generally far easier to restore the thickness of thinning hair than it is to restore a receding hair line. That said it is possible but will take a lot longer.

My method does work to restore the hair line but it has it’s limits. It is more effective at improving overall hair density than it is at restoring the hair line – that said I have had noticeable hair growth along my frontal hair line for about a year now. However my hair line was not vastly receded in the first place. If your hair line is receded to as far as half way back (in line with your ears) that is likely to take more drastic measures.

If you have a large bald area that has been bald for several years it is likely that the hair follicles are not dormant but are in fact no longer present. In which case the only way to replace the lost hair would be to have hair transplant surgery.