Fresh hope for treating hair loss

Our hairs use chemical signals to tell each other when to grow, according to u.S. research which offers the promise of new therapies for baldness.

In a laboratory study at the university of California, Irvine, scientists discovered that bursts of the chemicals Wnt and BMP around the body keep hair follicles in a cycle of growing, dying and resting.

Waves of Wnt spread from one hair follicle to the next, activating growth.

This is followed by the release of BMP, that halts growth, reports the online journal eLife.

The hope is to develop drugs that regulate the Wnt-BMP system.