A new Harvard study has confirmed the link between stress and hair loss, giving hope it could be halted or reversed. The researchers identified that the release of stress hormones suppresses a molecule, Gas6, involved in hair production, while adding Gas6 promoted regrowth. Does this mean a cure for baldness is finally a possibility? As the perpetually weary Twitter account @justsaysinmice cautions when scientific findings are dramatically reported, the research only relates to rodents, but it’s an important breakthrough.
As someone who went bald 26 years ago after an exceptionally savage period of stress, it’s interesting to have the anecdotal confirmed by science. But does a cure matter for me or other baldies?
I think it does. Hair loss can be desperately rough on self-image. Women going through chemotherapy or diagnosed with alopecia often contact me for advice, and the wrenching loss of identity many experience is dramatic: you can be glad you are alive, aware your problem is purely cosmetic and still feel genuine grief at losing your hair. It’s also a fairly common side-effect of Covid: a recent study of patients from Wuhan in China found 22% suffered hair loss in the six months after infection.
Being bald has its upsides. I am one of the few who has not suffered from a year without access (mainly) to hairdressers. My wig – professionally cut about 18 months ago – has protected me from the wonky fringes and clipper crimes perpetrated in my house, or from ending up looking like an overgrown escaped sheep. The rest of me may be a natural disaster, but my hair (well, someone else’s hair) is holding it together.
So would I reverse 26 years of leaving plugholes unmolested if I could? Yes, absolutely. I still wake up sad, sometimes, having dreamed my hair grew back, passing my hand over my head in the hope of feeling patches of silky baby hair, or stubble. I want the chance to cry at a bad haircut or unwise dye job; I would love to know if I have gone grey. Bring on the Gas6.
• Emma Beddington is a Guardian columnist
