If you’re a fan of Seinfeld and the plights of one George Costanza, you’ll be aware that there’s little a man won’t do when it comes to finding a cure for baldness. For George, that meant ordering a hair growth cream from China, one that had a pungent aroma that meant people smelled him before they saw him. Of course, to see results you had to wear the cream consistently, but for George such a thing came at the expense of his social life and – naturally – his efforts trying to charm the ladies. Safe to say, the hair cream didn’t last long.
But while Seinfeld is the work of fiction, it appears it isn’t too far off the reality. The hair growth industry is a multi-million dollar business, promoting serums, hair transplants, creams, caps and all manner of headwear that serve to regrow your thinning locks, or treat baldness entirely. Strangely though, it appears some people are eschewing these treatments in favour of one home remedy that has us raising serious eyebrows: wasabi.
Yep, it might sound ridiculous, but according to a number of people wasabi might just be the cure for baldness. Researchers suggest that the secret to stimulating hair growth is found in none other than the controversial condiment, which most people tend to forego in favour of plain ole soy sauce. According to a 2017 study published by wasabi producers, Kinin, it was revealed that the spicy sauce contains high levels of a chemical that is known to awaken the papilla cells responsible for hair growth in the human scalp.
The chemical isosaponarin apparently prompts the papilla cells to respond to external stimulus promoting hair growth, ultimately triggering the development of proteins that create pathways for nutrients to feed the cells as English-language Japanese news site SoraNews24 suggests.
Clearly that’s the first red flag. Any study proclaiming the benefits of wasabi that’s also run by a wasabi company should be read with a fistful of salt and it goes without saying that there’s very little evidence to support such claims, nor is the study peer-reviewed.
That said, isosaponarin has been shown to aid human collagen production in previous studies, with researchers also claiming that the chemical could be up to three times more effective than classic hair loss treatments like Regaine in treating male pattern baldness. The key takeaway though is that you won’t see any benefits by eating it, rather for the isosaponarin to work it has to be applied to your human scalp so you would have to rub the wasabi on your head. As well as that, not just any wasabi will do – it has to be fresh Japanese wasabi.
Basically, this isn’t exactly a hair loss treatment we’d recommend. What with the pungent smell, the fact that having wasabi smeared on your scalp will likely burn and cause your eyes to water, it doesn’t sound like one pleasant experience at all. Best leave it to the experts when it comes to hair loss and consult a medical professional for what your best treatment options are.
