Hair growth direction is controlled by the skin?

Stem cell; cell based hair therapy
1

I heard this today

That the hair follicle does not have any direction how the hair will grow.

Hair growth direction is controlled by the skin that transplanted hairs are placed into.

This is most clearly apparent when grafts are transplanted whirls. The transplanted hairs in the whirl takes on the same direction, nearly always clockwise, as the lost original hair was growing before, irrespective of the direction in which the new grafts are placed.

Is this true?

2

» I heard this today
»
» That the hair follicle does not have any direction how the hair will grow.
»
»
» Hair growth direction is controlled by the skin that transplanted hairs
» are placed into.
»
» This is most clearly apparent when grafts are transplanted whirls. The
» transplanted hairs in the whirl takes on the same direction, nearly always
» clockwise, as the lost original hair was growing before, irrespective of
» the direction in which the new grafts are placed.
»
» Is this true?

No, ofcause it is not true!

3

mmmh, I would have answered NO before, but I think it was Benji who posted something about it.
I think he posted that, eventually, the skin growth will eventually orient the follicle in the correct direction. I think this is called “epithelial migration”. I don’t know if this is true. Can anyone give me some input about this topic? Is the skin growth able to orient the follicle, after, lets say, 3 years?

E.g., I think I have read that epithelial migration is able to keep the ear channel clean from wax, by taking it out.

» » I heard this today
» »
» » That the hair follicle does not have any direction how the hair will
» grow.
» »
» »
» » Hair growth direction is controlled by the skin that transplanted hairs
» » are placed into.
» »
» » This is most clearly apparent when grafts are transplanted whirls. The
» » transplanted hairs in the whirl takes on the same direction, nearly
» always
» » clockwise, as the lost original hair was growing before, irrespective
» of
» » the direction in which the new grafts are placed.
» »
» » Is this true?
»
» No, ofcause it is not true!

4

its been a long while since I read on this subject, but I believe stromal tissue eventually has an effect on the direction of hair growth after a complete hair cycle or two-----when the hair sheds and the follicle bulb migrates up closer to the surface of the skin and gets the correct stem cells from arrector pilli muscle and begins to migrate back down in the skin to “anagen-level-depth” is when the hair might take a more natural direction in ensuing anagen phases

am very rusty here…Ive read about this, but its been eons ago and dont really remember it very well because I wasn’t all that interested in it. I dont think direction is going to be a long term problem

5

veery interesting. it is true! I haven’t thought about it! the dermal papilla migrates up an then down again after a cycle, and this could allow it to re-allign the follicle along the skin-patterns.
It could take 1 cycle or even more, but right now, I would be happy to have hair even if I hve to wait that. In the meantime, I could shave it or use stylizing gels.

thanks Benji.:slight_smile:

» its been a long while since I read on this subject, but I believe stromal
» tissue eventually has an effect on the direction of hair growth after a
» complete hair cycle or two-----when the hair sheds and the follicle bulb
» migrates up closer to the surface of the skin and gets the correct stem
» cells from arrector pilli muscle and begins to migrate back down in the
» skin to “anagen-level-depth” is when the hair might take a more natural
» direction in ensuing anagen phases
»
»
» am very rusty here…Ive read about this, but its been eons ago and dont
» really remember it very well because I wasn’t all that interested in it. I
» dont think direction is going to be a long term problem

6

There are guys griping about bad directional characteristics on HT work they had done years & decades ago. That stuff can’t be assumed to right itself once it’s wrong.

But in terms of follicle regeneration, yeah, everything seems to read like the body will fix things on its own. The problem only comes when humans start manually inserting entire follicles with sharp bloody surgical tools.

7

» There are guys griping about bad directional characteristics on HT work
» they had done years & decades ago. That stuff can’t be assumed to right
» itself once it’s wrong.
»
» But in terms of follicle regeneration, yeah, everything seems to read like
» the body will fix things on its own. The problem only comes when humans
» start manually inserting entire follicles with sharp bloody surgical tools.

thanks for your input cal, but if the FUED grafts don’t correct direction after decades, then I think the HM’ed ones won’t either. Specially the ones ARI produce, because these follicles are generated from scaffolds, which are inserted surgically into the scalp.

If epithelial migration and cycling is a valid mechanism to re-orient follicles, then this should also work for FUEd hairs. (I think). Well, thinking again, a FUED follicle is surrounded by FUED tissue where the epithelial migration is not the same as in the surroundings… so this could disrupt the local migration.
I don’t know, Cal, maybe you are right that FUED follicles won’t re-orient, while HM-ed hairs will.

After so many years in this forum, we still don’t know the answer to the direction issue…:expressionless:

8

Yeah, but how much does it REALLY matter? It’s a theoretical problem but I’m not sure how much of a real world practical problem it will be.

Any of the top HT surgeons can reliably get the directional part of the implantation procedure done fine. We don’t need perfection, we just need it close enough to remove it from the list of real problems.

(I know a bad HT doctor could mess things up . . . but if the doctors are bad enough they could screw up every other step of the process too. We can’t expect them to have every single step of this procedure completely idiot-proofed.)

9

» Yeah, but how much does it REALLY matter? It’s a theoretical problem but
» I’m not sure how much of a real world practical problem it will be.
»
» Any of the top HT surgeons can reliably get the directional part of the
» implantation procedure done fine. We don’t need perfection, we just need
» it close enough to remove it from the list of real problems.
»
»
» (I know a bad HT doctor could mess things up . . . but if the doctors are
» bad enough they could screw up every other step of the process too. We
» can’t expect them to have every single step of this procedure completely
» idiot-proofed.)

we don’t know if we will be able to access the top surgeons, if HM is successful, and demand surges. The lack of skilled HT doctors is a real problem. A serious bottleneck for HM. Lets cross our fingers, and hope that direction is not an issue.