Serum based on plant extracts boosts hair growth in weeks

A serum designed to reverse hair loss has shown promising results in less than two months. Based on plant extracts and cell-stimulating proteins, the topical treatment led to visible improvements in hair density compared with a placebo formula.

Pattern baldness affects up to half of men and 40 per cent of women by the age of 50 to some extent. Some treatments, such as finasteride and minoxidil – also known as Rogaine – can be effective, but this depends on a number of factors, including genetics and how much hair has been lost.

Researchers are investigating novel methods for hair regrowth, including the use of stem cells, manipulating fibroblasts – a type of cell that contributes to the formation of connective tissue – and drugs that seem to waken dormant hair follicles.

Looking for another approach, researchers at Schweitzer Biotech Company in Taiwan have developed a serum that includes caffeine – a common ingredient in hair loss-preventing shampoos – and two proteins that stimulate cell growth: insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and fibroblast growth factor-7 (FGF-7), which have shown promise for hair follicle regeneration. It also has extracts from Centella asiatica, a herbaceous tropical plant commonly used in skincare, which seems to promote hair follicle health.

To put it to the test, a team of international researchers recruited 60 adults, aged 18 to 60, who didn’t necessarily have substantial hair loss. They were divided into five groups, with the first receiving a placebo serum with no active ingredients and the second getting a base formulation of 0.1 per cent caffeine and vitamin B5, which has moisturising properties. The remaining groups all had this base formulation, but the third also had IGF-1 and FGF-7, the fourth also had C. asiatica extracts, and the fifth had all of these.

The participants were all told to apply 1 millilitre of the serum all over their scalp every evening for 56 days. Across most of the outcomes the team measured – such as hair density, strand thickness and reduced hair loss – things improved from group one to five. Hair density improved most significantly; by almost 25 per cent in group five – nearly double the change in the placebo group.

The researchers wonder if C. asiatica extracts in particular may strengthen the roots of hair or improve blood flow around its follicles. “This plant has been used for anti-ageing and restorative, anti-inflammatory uses,” says Christos Tziotzios at King’s College London. “So it’s a bit of a miracle plant, supposedly. A few other things in the study have more evidence base, for example the long-acting IGF-1 and the FGF-7; they are known to have an impact on hair cycle.”

The researchers and Tziotzios both caution that the study is small and larger, longer trials are needed before treatments based on this formulation become available. “That doesn’t mean it’s not a potentially interesting thing to look at, but it does need further work obviously,” says Tziotzios. “The better we get in terms of our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underpinning hair loss in general, hair biology, the more likely we are to get closer and closer to a radical treatment.”