• Question: can bald people grow their hair back?

    Asked by razza2k11 to Charlie, Eoin, Jemma, Julian, Steve on 21 Mar 2011.
    • Photo: Stephen Moss

      Stephen Moss answered on 17 Mar 2011:

      Hi razza
      Not usually, and although there are claims made for various ointments I’m not sure if there is much good scientific evidence to support those claims.

    • Photo: Julian Rayner

      Julian Rayner answered on 17 Mar 2011:

      The makers of lots of hair products certainly make us want to believe so!

      Personally, I would spend the money being spent on baldness research (which only affects your ego), on some of the cool research being done by the other scientists in this zone, which might make a real difference to lots of people’s lives.

    • Photo: Charlie Ryan

      Charlie Ryan answered on 17 Mar 2011:

      hi razza as someone who is loosing there hair this is an important subject to me, even though it has nothing to do with my research!
      I think currently the hair can’t grow back by itself. You can stop the hair falling out with certain medicine (not sure it counts as medicine though!), but if you are bald then your only option is a wig or a hair transplant. For a hair transplant they take hair feom around the side of your head, and individually move each hair to the bald spot. This they do very carefully to give the impression that you have a full head of hair! Crazy really!
      mmm i do seem to know quite a lot about this! Can’t imagine why!

    • Photo: Eoin Lettice

      Eoin Lettice answered on 17 Mar 2011:

      If the baldness is genetic, no they can’t grow it back. Some people loose their hair for other medical reasons and this can be reversed.

      Eoin

    • Photo: Jemma Ransom

      Jemma Ransom answered on 21 Mar 2011:

      It depends on what is causing the baldness. Male pattern baldness is the most common form and is related to the sex hormone DHT which causes male baldness with age – this effect is irreversible. Other causes are related to the immune system, which in these types of baldness start s to destroy hair follicles at the scalp. This is often treated with steroids but often the hair never grows back.

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