As a man of a certain age I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little worried about losing my hair one day.
It’s pure vanity I know, but I’m rather attached (literally) to my mane of jet black hair and as such, I’ve an emergency plan in place should I go bald.
As things stand, the plan right now is to consult the same conceptual artist Donald Trump works with to make his fourteen hairs kind of resemble a full head of hair.
Thanks to science though I might not need to worry about going bald because researchers believe they’ve discovered how to reverse the process of losing your hair.
It’s happening Donnie! It’s happening!
According to the Daily Mail, scientists working at the New York School of Medicine managed to regrow hair on wounded skin by activating a pathway in the brain called ‘the sonic hedgehog’ (yes, seriously, we checked.)
Dr Mayumi Ito, who’s leading the team of pioneering scientists, claims by activating this pathway, they managed to promote hair growth in mice over a four week period.
Their discovery disproves the notion scarring on the skin is responsible for hair loss and suggests instead that baldness is caused by a ‘signalling issue’ in the brain.
Ito said:
Now we know it’s a signalling issue in cells that are very active as we develop in the womb, but less so in mature skin cells as we age.
Our results show stimulating fibroblasts through the sonic hedgehog pathway can trigger hair growth not previously seen in wound healing.
This discovery has the potential to change the lives of those disfigured by burns and trauma as it means we may be able to develop drugs which would promote hair growth on damaged skin.
Dr Ito and his team say they’re now working on identifying drug targets for hair regrowth.
Unfortunately there’s still some way to go before any of these ‘baldness cures’ will be available on the market because there’s a downside to activating the ‘sonic the hedgehog pathway’.
The pathway has been linked with a higher risk of tumours, although Ito and his team think there’s a way around this problem, to stop this from happening.
So who knows, maybe Donnie will get his luscious locks back yet? Not that he’s bald now, he promises.
If you have a story you want to tell send it to UNILAD via stories@unilad.co.uk.
More of a concept than a journalist, Tom Percival was forged in the bowels of Salford University from which he emerged grasping a Masters in journalism.
Since then his rise has been described by himself as ‘meteoric’ rising to the esteemed rank of Social Editor at UNILAD as well as working at the BBC, Manchester Evening News, and ITV.
He credits his success to three core techniques, name repetition, personality mirroring, and never breaking off a handshake.