Will Penn Cure Male Pattern Baldness?

I came across an article today on Philly.com that has promising news for our country’s more than 35 million male hair-loss sufferers. Penn researchers have discovered that, unlike previously thought, when a man’s hair stops growing back it’s not because the scalp’s stem cells, which have the ability to regenerate hair, have died.

Bald men have just as many stem cells in their hair follicles as any magnificently tressed Samson. The cells may just need to be woken up.

It is not clear yet how to do this, but the researchers say their findings, published online last week in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, give them hope that male baldness is reversible.

“The stem cells are still present, which to me was quite surprising,” said senior author George Cotsarelis, chair of the dermatology department at Penn’s medical school. “We should be able to figure out a way of stimulating them.”

Not a cure, but at least men can rest assured Penn is working on it. Until then, remember: Bald can be beautiful. Check out 9 Gorgeous Bald Actors here, which lists everyone from Bruce Willis and Stanley Tucci to Weeds‘ Romany Malco.

Weeds’ Romany Malco