Now it may not come as a surprise that here at PAIRFUM London, we smell, sleep, think and live Perfume – but did you know that it is not just us that know it is so amazing – now scientists believe that PERFUME IS THE CURE FOR BALDNESS ….
YES – you read that correctly that PERFUME IS THE CURE FOR BALDNESS ….
According to a new study by scientists at the University of Manchester, a chemical designed to mimic the smell of sandalwood also has the power to stimulate hair growth in humans. They described it as “a rather amazing find”, …….
Professor Ralf Paus, who led the research at the Manchester Uni, used scalp tissue in a laboratory setting, and following their research they believe they could be on the cusp of effectively treating hair loss.
NOW – this is very exciting news indeed ……….
Trials are already underway to assess how this product performs with human volunteers, and the research team believe that they are not very far from making the transition from their lab to hair clinics.
In a discussion with The Independent newspaper, the research team said that:
“This is the first time ever that it has been shown that the remodelling of a normal human mini-organ [a hair] can be regulated by a simple, cosmetically widely-used odorant.”
The results were achieved by the scientists using an ancient chemical pathway found in hair follicles that allowed them to slow down the death of the follicles and at the same time help promote their growth.
They were able to do this thanks to – well in a nutshell – ‘PERFUME’
Well, this is a case of where we really have to say “We told you so”.
There are so many reasons why we ‘LOVE PERFUME’, and this wonderful discovery is just one more….
We have in previous articles described how our sense of smell works – how smelling an aroma triggers certain reactions in the brain. More than a decade ago, scientists discovered that odour receptors are not solely confined to the nose, but found throughout the body — in the liver, the heart, the kidneys and even sperm, where they play a pivotal role in a host of physiological functions. (However that is the topic for another time).
It has been discovered that the same chemical pathways, help regulate a range of other cell functions, including hair growth
Using a substance known as Sandalore which is a synthetic sandalwood odoranat, that is similar to sandalwood and used by some companies in perfumes, emollients or skin products. The research team focused on an Olfactory receptor known as OR2AT4, which is found in the outer layer of hair follicles and is stimulated by Sandalore.
So by applying the Sandalore odorant to scalp tissue, it both increased hair growth and decrease cell death.
Olfactory receptors or ‘ORs’ are part of an evolutionary ancient chemosensory signalling system that long predates the development of smell sensation or olfaction, so the results indicating that human hair follicles can smell, detect or react to odour molecules, should not be totally unexpected !!!!
Oh! who are we trying to fool, we find it totally mind blowing.
Hair loss is a lot more common than people think, and it effects both men and women, with male pattern baldness effecting half of all men in the UK.
There is currently a larger scale, professionally-controlled clinical trial being undertaken by the research team, and they expect to see results by the beginning of 2019.
With this exciting discovery hope for a cure for baldness could be closer than ever, and the fact that PERFUME is playing it’s part in it, is – and you have to excuse the pun but we could not help it “Hair Raising” xx
