Procedure
Hair cloning and follicle regeneration
True hair cloning is not available anywhere; the nearest real thing is injecting your own cultured follicle cells, which shows modest, temporary gains in early Japanese trials.
Key takeaways
- True cloning does not exist as a treatment. A 2026 review of regeneration science says robust therapeutics to regenerate human follicles have yet to be identified, and surveys organoids, 3D printing and hair-on-chip models as research platforms (Ahmed 2026). Treat clinic offers of hair cloning or multiplication as marketing.
- The leading human approach injects cultured dermal sheath cup cells. Cells are taken from donor-area follicles, grown, and injected into thinning scalp. In a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind dose-finding study (50 men, 15 women), the lowest dose tested (3.0 x 10^5 cells) raised total hair density and cumulative diameter versus placebo at 6 and 9 months, but the effect was temporary and no lower doses were tested (Tsuboi 2020).
- A follow-up single-arm study was modest. In 36 people given two injections 3 months apart, 30% improved on blinded photographs and mean hair diameter rose about 2.2%. Benefit was greater in women and in people with more terminal hairs (Harada 2023). The authors are the developers.
- It is hard because cultured human dermal papilla cells lose their hair-inducing ability. In lab work, electrical stimulation partly restored it in mouse transplants, but that is preclinical (Yan 2022).
- Fat-derived and stem cell injections are a separate and thinner field: a 2026 systematic review of 20 clinical studies (724 patients) found promising but low-certainty results (Behrangi 2026). See stem cell and growth factor treatments and exosomes.
What it is
A hair transplant moves a fixed supply of donor follicles from the back of the head (see hair transplant). Hair cloning aims to multiply them. Rodent cells can induce new follicles, but cultured human cells largely cannot, so multiplication has stalled at the preclinical stage. Cell therapy with dermal sheath cup cells does not create new follicles; it appears to nudge existing miniaturized ones.
What the studies show
- Tsuboi 2020, 65 people: lowest dose beat placebo at 6 and 9 months, but temporarily (Tsuboi 2020).
- Harada 2023, 36 people: 30% improved on photos; diameter +2.2% (Harada 2023).
- Women responded at least as well as men in these studies, unlike most hair treatments.
- No cloned or cultured-cell hair product is known to be approved by the FDA, EMA or MHRA for hair loss. Some clinics abroad sell unapproved stem cell treatments that can carry infection and injection risks.
How it's used in studies
Donor-area follicle cells were cultured and injected into the thinning scalp, in the Harada study as two injections 3 months apart. It targets pattern loss with surviving miniaturized hairs, not fully bald or scarred skin.
Bottom line
Hair cloning is not available. Proven options remain minoxidil, finasteride, light therapy and transplant (see the treatment ladder). Ask any clinic selling cloning or multiplication for peer-reviewed human data and regulatory status, or look for registered clinical trials instead. Discuss with a doctor.
Studies 6
Tsuboi R et al. Autologous cell-based therapy for male and female pattern hair loss using dermal sheath cup cells: a randomized placebo-controlled double-blinded dose-finding clinical study. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2020
Tested: injected cultured dermal sheath cup cells, lowest dose 3.0 x 10^5 cells, vs placebo
Result: Lowest dose raised total hair density and cumulative diameter vs placebo at 6 and 9 months; effect was temporary.
Read the study ↗Harada K et al. Efficacy of autologous dermal sheath cup cell transplantation in male and female pattern hair loss: a single-arm, multi-center, phase III equivalent clinical study. J Dermatol. 2023
Tested: two injections of dermal sheath cup cells 3 months apart
Result: 30% improved on blinded photographs; mean hair diameter rose about 2.2%; greater benefit in women.
Read the study ↗Ahmed IA, Shafiee A. Human hair regeneration using organoids and hair-on-chip technologies. Lab Chip. 2026
Tested: organoids, 3D printing and hair-on-chip models
Result: Robust therapeutics to regenerate human follicles have yet to be identified.
Read the study ↗Behrangi E et al. A systematic review of clinical evidence on the efficacy and safety of conditioned media, platelet-rich fibrin, stromal vascular fraction, extracellular vesicles, and stem cells in androgenetic alopecia. Stem Cell Res Ther. 2026
Tested: conditioned media, PRF, SVF, extracellular vesicles, stem cells
Result: Benefit in all categories with mild adverse events, but heterogeneous with limited follow-up; vesicles gave hair count +28% in 3 studies (89 patients).
Read the study ↗Kang BY et al. The safety and efficacy of autologous adipose-derived stromal vascular fraction for nonscarring alopecia: a systematic review. Arch Dermatol Res. 2022
Tested: autologous stromal vascular fraction
Result: Density improved versus control or baseline with no severe adverse events.
Read the study ↗Yan L et al. Electrical stimulation to human dermal papilla cells for hair regenerative medicine. J Biosci Bioeng. 2022
Tested: electrical stimulation
Result: Raised hair-related gene expression; stimulated cells made twice the hair in mouse transplants.
Read the study ↗Related
- Hair transplant (FUE, FUT, DHI, beard and brow)A transplant moves balding-resistant follicles from the back and sides of the scalp, or the beard, into thinning areas; most grafts survive, but donor hair is finite and cheap clinics cause real harm.
- Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) for hair lossYour own blood is spun to concentrate platelets and injected into the scalp; pooled trials show a modest gain, but individual trials conflict and each session is costly.
- Exosomes (extracellular vesicles) for hair lossExosomes are tiny packets released by lab-grown cells that clinics inject or apply to the scalp; animal data look good, human data are small and mostly uncontrolled, and no exosome product is approved in the US.
- Microneedling for hair lossRolling or stamping fine needles into the scalp is a cheap add-on to minoxidil that helped in small trials, but it has not worked on its own and the largest trial found no extra benefit.
- Mesotherapy for hair lossMesotherapy means injecting small amounts of a drug or vitamin mix into the scalp skin; evidence is mostly case series and small trials, mixtures are not standardized, and some reports describe the injections themselves causing bald patches.
- Stem cell and growth factor treatments for hair lossClinics inject fat-derived cells, the fluid those cells grew in, or concentrated growth factors into the scalp; small trials mostly report gains, the best-controlled show little advantage, and none of it is approved for hair.