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A hair-raising idea
By adamg on Fri, 01/04/2008 - 11:55am
Xconomy reports Follica, a Boston-based startup, has gotten $5.5 million in venture funding to investigate a way to fight baldness. Its founders include a Harvard dermatologist who doesn't quite look like he'll be a customer just yet.
They hope to take advantage of some research in mice that shows that when open wounds on bald skin heal, hair grows from the skin. This is apparently not a new discovery, but, can you imagine, the sort of people who have studied open wounds up until now were more concerned about skin healing than hair growth.
If nothing else, the idea could lead to a decent horror-flick script: Bald teenagers travel to a discount hair-replacement clinic in the bayou.
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Comments
exciting!
i know balding jokes always provide epic lulz, but for those of us -- women included -- who started balding in our teenage years, new hope for normal hair really is wonderful. even better that it's a local business that might be providing such help.
So, if I start hacking up my
So, if I start hacking up my scalp with a fork or something, I might have a full head of hair by summer? Cool! I'll get on it right away.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
um, good luck with that :P
um, good luck with that :P
icky!
Given the choice, I'd prefer to have my bald spot rather than an open wound, hair or no hair growing from it.
it's socially acceptable for
it's socially acceptable for a guy to go bald. i think most women going bald would gladly put up with some temporary inconvenience if it means not having to wear wigs for the rest of their lives. i know i would.
Sore (Bald) Spot
As an extremely bald man, I have to say that it is not "socially acceptable" for a guy to go bald. It may be considered somewhat "normal", but it is still the source of much amusement to those not afflicted. It is also one of those conditions that constantly shows up in advertising, with the commercials imploring the bald guy (me, in this instance) to do something about it - get a toupee, join a club, rub some stuff on your scalp, take a pill, get a transplant, whatever.
On the other hand, while it may appear to be more of a burden for a woman so afflicted - and I certainly sympathize with my female compatriots - the incidence of jokes, etc., made at women's expense, concerning baldness, seem to me to be almost non-existent. In addition, it is much more socially acceptable for a woman to wear a wig than it is for a man to wear a toupee. Even a bad wig doesn't attract as much laughter as a bad toupee.
In any case, anything that works to alleviate the sadness of those saddened, I'm in favor of. I came to terms with my own baldness quite a while back, since I was mostly bald by age 23.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
This got off-topic awfully
This got off-topic awfully fast, didn't it?
But I'd like you to recall the last time you saw a woman with a big bald spot functioning normally in society (going for a job interview, trying to get a date, etc). It's not easy for ANYBODY to go through it at any age or of any gender but but the standards about what's "normal" in baldness is simply not the same for women and men. It sucks for everybody, period.
Back on topic, I'm still all for this company. I hope they succeed. (We humans certainly are vain creatures!)