A topic close to my scalp: male-pattern baldness. Regular readers will be aware of my long, wavy locks from teenage years. But, as I got older, it all waved goodbye (my Dad’s joke! He’s even less than cranially hirsute too). Now, scientists in Pennsylvania reckon they have shown that faulty stem cells in the scalp are to blame for producing tiny, downy hairs that are essentially invisible rather than the thick tresses enjoyed by those with a normal hair pattern. They say that a topical cream might by on the way to remedy the situation for those of us with follicular challenge.
But, would I opt for what would most likely be expensive lotion to “cure” my baldness? I’m not sure I would, it would mean a bigger shampoo bill, expensive trips to the barber, which I gave up on at least a decade ago in favour of the wash-and-wear look afforded by a mini-hedge-trimmer adapted for tonsurial use. Moreover, haven’t these scientists heard? Bald men are sexier, more virile and a bigger hit with prospective partners than those with juvenile-pattern hirsuteness. For the sake of the environment (all those surfactants) and for the sake of my mojo, I think I’ll stick with the look adopted by Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise rather than opting for the alternative Kirk style (especially not the synthetic follicles of later years and certainly not that of a more infamous Enterprise Captain, Owen Honors.
Garza, L., Yang, C., Zhao, T., Blatt, H., Lee, M., He, H., Stanton, D., Carrasco, L., Spiegel, J., Tobias, J., & Cotsarelis, G. (2011). Bald scalp in men with androgenetic alopecia retains hair follicle stem cells but lacks CD200-rich and CD34-positive hair follicle progenitor cells Journal of Clinical Investigation DOI: 10.1172/JCI44478