Whether you are going gray, or suffering hair loss, many of us become unhappy with the state of our hair as we get older. The texture changes, density changes, and what was once considered “normal” may now be a distant memory in terms of how your hair “behaves.” While the debate rages on about whether to allow your hair to be its natural gray color as you get older(apparently 74% of us between the ages of 45-65 have at least some gray) –a problem most acutely felt by older women– there’s likely little debate, among men or women, about the challenge of adjusting to actual hair loss. But there are advances in research happening that should give all hope that at some future point, you will have the opportunity to decide whether to go gray, or whether to accept hair loss, without turning to some of the methods currently on the market. 

Let’s first consider the transition to gray hair. New research published in the journal Nature shines a light on what processes are happening to turn your hair gray in the first place. According to this research, out of NYU Langone, melanocyte stem cells in your hair follicles get stuck as you get older, losing their ability to grow and maintain your natural hair color. With this knowledge, researchers are hoping to advance their work to a possible next step of figuring out a way to “unstick” these stem cells, thereby either preventing gray hair in the first place or reversing the process so that gray hair can be converted back to your natural color (without resorting to hair coloring.) While this may take time, it does suggest a promising path toward doing away with the gray.

Speaking of hair follicles, researchers from Northwestern University have also begun to elucidate the role of hair follicles in the process of hair loss. Hair loss (especially in women) can be a sign of more serious health concerns, but at its core, it represents a deeply personal and at times disturbing “right of passage” now affecting more than 80 million Americans. Therapies and treatments addressing hair loss in both men and women have become a big business, with their value anticipated to be over $5 billion by 2027 (up 50% since 2020). So there’s a lot at stake when it comes to understanding hair loss and finding new strategies to manage or even reverse it. For some current hair loss strategies available to men, click here, and to better understand hair loss in women, refresh your memory here.

The research out of Northwestern represents a new possible way to address hair loss. According to the researchers, “Just as people’s joints get stiff as they age and make it harder for them to move around, hair follicle stem cells also get stiff, making it harder for them to grow hair. But if these hair follicles are softened, they are more likely to produce hair.” Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, this research explores methods for softening these stem cells, allowing them to regrow hair in places where there was previously hair loss. While this research occurred in mice, it represents an important advance in our understanding of hair loss and baldness and may lead to new strategies for addressing the problem. Researchers caution that hair loss can have nothing to do with the hair follicles, so this approach may not work for all, but they report there are several new medications in various stages of clinical trials that may soon come to market to help. 

So while you may be unhappy with the current state of your hair, there is hope that new scientific breakthroughs will come to the rescue in the not-so-distant future.