Pharmaceutical products lists lack an effective product against baldness. But, a serendipitous discovery by Mulugeta Million and co-workers, University of California Los Angeles, USA, could allow age and stress related hair loss to be reversed in the long term with just a short-term treatment, at least if you are a stressed laboratory mouse.

A peptide, astressin-B, was in development for blocking the release of the stress hormone corticotrophin-releasing factor. A course of injections over five days reversed hair loss in the experimental mice, which lasted for four months, the equivalent of more than ten years in terms of human lifespan.

• CRF Receptor Antagonist Astressin-B Reverses and Prevents Alopecia in CRF Over-Expressing Mice
  L. Wang, M. Million, J. Rivier, C. Rivier, N. Craft, M. P. Stenzel-Poore, Y. Tache,
  PLoS ONE 2011, 6(2), e16377.
  DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0016377