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Andrew Huberman: Hair turns out to be fascinating from the perspective of cellular biology and stem cells. Every hair, every single individual strand of hair has its own little stem cell niche in which specific stem cells give rise to those hairs for different durations of time. The hairs on your head will undergo ongoing growth for four to six or even eight years if you don't cut them. We'll talk about hormone-related hair loss in both men and women.

In this episode, I explain the biology of hair, hair growth, why hair growth slows and what causes hair to stop growing and/or “fall out.” I discuss the essential role of hair stem cells and other supporting biological factors for healthy hair growth. Then I describe various approaches (mechanical and chemical) to slow hair loss by increasing blood flow to hair stem cells, including minoxidil, tadalafil, PRP, microneedling, Botox and ketoconazole treatments. I also discuss how age-related hormone changes cause hair loss and explain the effectiveness of treatments such as caffeine, saw palmetto, growth hormone, finasteride and dutasteride. For all hair growth options, I describe potential side effects, how soon to expect results and the amount of hair regrowth to expect and I highlight effective combination treatments for hair regrowth even in hair “dead” (bald) zones. For many listeners, thinning, brittle hair, or pattern baldness are a source of anxiety and stress. This episode explains the mechanisms underlying hair regrowth tools and the science behind them so that you can evaluate potential treatments and associated side-effect profiles and select the best one(s) for you.

For the full show notes, visit hubermanlab.com.