Is Hair Cloning a Viable Option in My Lifetime?

Hi Doctor,

I was speaking with my grandfather the other day about our family history concerning hairloss. He’s been at about a 6 on the Norwood Scale for as long as I can remember. I am 19 years old and I’m starting to see the first signs of recession at the temples. He mentioned something he heard about hair cloning. What is your opinion on the technique, and do you think it will be a viable alternative to finasteride and hair transplantation in the near future? Thanks for your time.

We have written about hair cloning (or lack thereof) many times before. There are groups that are working on it, but people have been flocking to message boards to show their excitement prematurely. Hair cloning is in the very early stages, and while there have been some promising advances it is still far too early to suggest this is a winner. There are still many more years of testing to go.

I would like to hope that hair cloning will be a reality in our lifetime, but I really do not have a guess as to when.