Letting hair ‘sniff’ sandalwood could cure baldness

ALL IS NOT LOST IN THE BATTLE AGAINST THE CHROME DOME.

Scientists in the UK have used chemicals that recreate the smell of sandalwood to stimulate hair growth on the human scalp. Well, technically it’s been successful only on scalp tissue for now, but it gives hope to the millions suffering from thin hair growth. These “odorant” molecules trigger not only smell receptors in the nose, but also stimulate similar receptors in our hair follicles as well. By applying this chemically synthesised sandalwood to scalp tissue, the scientists were able to stimulate hair growth by reducing cell death and boosting the production of growth factors within the follicle. The findings of this study from the University of Manchester was published in the journal Nature Communications.