Researchers in the US believe they have taken a step towards treating baldness (credit: Getty)

Many men are sick of admitting that one of the curses of aging is saying goodbye to all their hair.

Around 6.5 million men in the UK suffer from androgenetic alopecia, which can start in their twenties.

Today, US research teams believe they have found the answer.

It contains a specific protein called TGF-beta that can control the growth of hair follicles on the head and lead to their death.

The chemical buildup of TGF-beta causes baldness, but if it can be controlled, proper levels can lead to strong, healthy hair. Anyway, it’s a theory.

The study was led by Dr. Qixuan Wang, a mathematical biologist at the University of California, Riverside (UCR). His team conducted an analysis that he said was one step closer to “controlling” the mechanism that causes baldness.

When the follicle reaches the “correct” level of protein, the cell causes new hair to grow.

‘TGF-Beta has two conflicting roles. It helps activate some cells in the hair follicle to create new life, and then helps orchestrate apoptosis, the process of cell death,” says Dr. Wang.

Even if the hair follicles kill themselves, they don’t kill the reservoir of stem cells. When the surviving stem cells receive a regeneration signal, they divide, form new cells, and develop into new follicles,” says Wang.

If scientists can determine more precisely how TGF-beta activates cell division and how the chemicals interact with other important genes, they will activate and develop hair follicle stem cells, which could stimulate hair.

result? Finally a baldness treatment that can be used by men all over the world.

“Potentially our work may provide something to help people with a variety of problems,” Dr Wang added.

This study was published in the Biophysical Journal.