Cure for baldness? Researchers make breakthrough with hair follicle growth

There just might be a cure for baldness in our lifetime after all. That’s after a team of researchers from the Yokohama National University in Japan were able to grow and generate fully mature hair follicles. It marked the first time hair follicles were grown in a laboratory.

Having studied the processes of hair follicle growth as well as hair pigmentation, the researchers managed to successfully generate hair follicles in cultures. The findings, which were published in Science Advances late last month, could potentially contribute to the development of applications treating hair loss disorders. Additionally, they could play a role with animal testing and drug screening as well.

What did the Japanese researchers do to grow hair follicles?

The technique used by the team of Japanese researchers involved creating organoids, three-dimensional tissue cultures derived from stem cells. The gel of these organoids were used to reprogram the structures of mice skin cells to mimic the natural environment of hair follicles.

The resulting hair follicles produced by the organoids were fully mature and three millimeters in length following 23 days of culture. With regular growth, the formation of the follicles as well as pigmentation was monitored which provided new insight into the chemicals used during the research process.

“Organoids were a promising tool to elucidate the mechanisms in hair follicle morphogenesis in vitro” said Tatsuto Kageyama, an assistant professor with the faculty of engineering at Yokohama National University, in a media release.

Additionally, the team was also able to improve hair follicle color after adding a drug that boosted melanin. As a result, the model could prove to be valuable in understanding not only hair follicle induction, but also the evaluation of hair pigmentation and hair growth drugs. Most importantly, it could potentially help with the regeneration of hair follicles in the future.

Why do men suffer hair loss and go bald?

Hair loss is something that plagues both genders, but especially men. According to data, approximately 66 percent of men will have experienced some form of hair loss by the time they turn 35. There are a number of reasons why hair loss can occur, but the biggest culprit is genetics. Androgenetic alopecia is the most common form of alopecia hair loss and is more likely that not, the reason a number of men are bald or balding today.

“I'd probably say like 95% of people out there that have hair loss have androgenic alopecia,” said Hairs To You podcast guest Nicole Budani. “So essentially, if you have the genetics for hair loss and it can be both on mother and father's side. This is a really big misconception. Everybody always says this. “Oh, it's always on my mom's side.” No, it can be on both sides. But if you do have hair loss on one side or the other side, you can genetically inherit that and have hair loss.”

While some simply accept their balding, there are many others who have seen their confidence and self-esteem deteriorate rapidly as a result of their hair loss. This is natural as for many, hair loss is unexpected and usually only noticed by others first. There’s also the fact that many men, contrary to popular belief, view their hair as their identity. And so, for years, men have been waiting for an ideal solution to regrow their hair only to be fed with unfulfilled promises or methods that aren’t fully safe, side-effect free or come with guaranteed results.

A hair loss solution for men that works

While the growing of hair follicles in a lab is a breakthrough moment when it comes to hair regrowth, the discovery is still preliminary and further research will be required, especially with human skin cells. Like most have heard before, it will probably be a couple of years before we see any real progress. However, it’s certainly a promising step in the right direction.

If you’re looking for the best possible solution in the meantime that delivers instant results, is reversible, more affordable than a hair transplant, and comes with no side effects, consider wearing a non-surgical hair replacement system.

If there does end up being a permanent solution for hair regrowth in the future, at least you should be able to rock a full head of natural-looking and beautiful hair until then!

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