A Hat Engineered to Prevent Baldness

Although hats have long been (incorrectly) associated with the demise of the hairline, a team of engineers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are now relying on them to stimulate hair growth.

The specially designed hat, which the team calls low cost and non-invasive, reportedly stimulates the skin of the wearer using gentle, low-frequency electric pulses, which are generated by the movements of the wearer. Collected by nanogenerators, the energy derived from the wearer’s movements transmit the low frequency electrical pulses to the skin, urging the dormant follicles on the wearer’s head to reawaken, so to speak.

"Electric stimulations can help many different body functions," said Xudong Wang, a professor of materials science and engineering at University of Wisconsin-Madison. "But before our work there was no really good solution for low-profile devices that provide gentle but effective stimulations."

During tests conducted on mice, the device reportedly stimulated hair growth as effectively as some of the compounds in baldness medications.

However, unlike current treatments for baldness like medications, the hat does not carry with it the risk that the wearer will encounter side effects such as sexual dysfunction, anxiety or depression. This is because the electrical pulses emitted from the hat do not penetrate beyond the outermost layer of the wearer’s scalp.

Yet, because the hat reactivates the hair producing structures that have gone dormant, they are ideal for those in the early stages of pattern baldness and not so for those who have been bald for years.

For now, the cap can be worn discretely underneath a baseball cap or other type of hat and hopes are that the cap itself will be available in even more discrete future designs.

No matter, a good rule of thumb for those preparing to outfit themselves with the cap would be wise to restrict their use of the hat to their heads, not using it on any other parts of their body lest they want to look like this.