No need to get knotted up over hair loss.
An innovative device currently in development could be a breakthrough solution for the roughly 50 million men and 30 million women who experience some form of pattern hair loss during their lifetime.
Early tests show it to be even more effective than minoxidil, the active ingredient in Rogaine, in mice.
The Detangle — the name is inspired by the Disney film “Tangled” — is a comb developed by researchers at Beihang University in China that looks like a normal hair tool, but produces hair growth comparable to drugs like minoxidil and finasteride.
According to a paper published in Nature Communications, the experimental comb has specially designed teeth with electrodes that stimulate growth and more directly apply medicine to hair follicles.
And when put to the test, the Detangle resulted in 100% hair regrowth on the shaved backs of mice when used once every three days for 28 days.
Meanwhile, minoxidil only resulted in 70% regrowth over the same period. Finasteride also didn’t perform as well as the comb.
The tool also resulted in new blood vessels around hair follicles, which encouraged more blood flow that can improve hair growth.
The Detangle works on two fronts: delivering treatment deeper into the skin and targeting two molecules connected to hair loss.
First, specially designed teeth gently lift the scalp, allowing the tiny electrical pulses to fully penetrate the skin.
This helps the second part of the treatment by letting the therapeutic molecules in the compartments of the comb better enter the hair follicles and encourage hair growth.
While Detangle has yet to be tested on humans, the researchers believe it could be beneficial in treating androgenetic alopecia, a formal term for the most common form of pattern hair loss.
The team feels the comb’s mechanism of delivering therapeutic molecules to hair follicles is especially key, writing, “Safe and efficient delivery remains the key to the treatment outcome of [pattern hair loss].”
While minoxidil and finasteride are currently the only two FDA-approved treatments available, more ways to fight hair loss are being developed, including minoxidil in the form of a pill.
An oral, extended-release version, known as VDPHL01, recently showed successful hair regrowth in men over six months.
Meanwhile, a triple-threat topical, TH07, combines finasteride, minoxidil and latanoprost and outperformed each ingredient used individually.
