---
title: "Baldness Could Soon Be Cured for Real — if You’re Rich"
description: "Scientists are closer than ever to a cure for baldness, thanks to cloned stem cells and 3D-printed scaffolding that could let new hairs take root."
date: "2019-07-29"
modified: "2019-07-29"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski.md"
url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/baldness-cured-rich"
categories:
  - "Health & Medicine"
tags:
  - "3d printing"
  - "baldness"
  - "cloning"
  - "stem cells"
  - "the digest"
---

# Baldness Could Soon Be Cured for Real — if You’re Rich

![Scientists are closer than ever to a cure for baldness, thanks to cloned stem cells and 3D-printed scaffolding that could let new hairs take root.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/baldness-cured-rich.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Images via Pixabay/Tag Hartman-Simkins\</em\>*

## Diabolical Follicle

A cure for baldness may be on the horizon — and all it takes is an extravagant combination of [cloned stem cells](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/we-just-figured-out-how-to-activate-stem-cells-to-treat-baldness.md>) and 3D-printed follicle molds.

Scientists have been [trying to clone hair](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/heres-how-the-latest-balding-cure-will-transform-lives.md>) to cure baldness for years, but now they're close to solving a major problem facing the new follicles — they tend to lose their shape and stop working, [reports *The Atlantic*](<https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/07/hair-for-all/594826/>). Though the likely-expensive treatments aren't quite ready for your scalp yet, research on animals suggests that they're on the way.

## Too Much Hair

Cloning hair follicles is old news, but making sure that they stay together and face the right direction is a bit more challenging, per *The Atlantic*. Past attempts to clone hair resulted in the cells making up follicles gradually falling apart or falling out of alignment.

Columbia University scientists built a 3D-printed mold, which *The Atlantic* describes as resembling Jell-O, to hold the cloned follicles in place until they develop and take hold on the balding person's head.

## Bald Truth

It's a reassuring sign that the challenges preventing true baldness-reversing treatments from hitting the market are being solved piece by piece.

But cloning and intricate 3D-printed molds aren't cheap by any means. If this sort of baldness cure ever finds its way into clinics, they'll likely be a plaything of the rich for years to come.

**READ MORE:** [Soon There Will Be Unlimited Hair](<https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/07/hair-for-all/594826/>) \[*The Atlantic*\]

**More on balding:** *[If You Think McDonald’s Fries Will Cure Baldness, Sorry, But You Don’t Deserve Hair](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/mcdonalds-fries-hair-loss-baldness.md>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)

## More

- [Here’s How The Latest Balding Cure Will Transform Lives](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/heres-how-the-latest-balding-cure-will-transform-lives.md>)
- [2020: The Year We Have A Cure For Baldness?](<https://futurism.com/2020-the-year-we-have-a-cure-for-baldness.md>)
- [Scientists Are Growing Human Hair on Mice to Transplant to Bald People](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/human-hair-mice-bald.md>)
- [Scientists 3D Print Living Human Skin Directly Onto Wounds](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/scientists-3d-print-living-human-skin.md>)
- [A Physicist and His Son Are 3D-Printing a Full-Scale Lamborghini](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/3d-printing-lamborghini.md>)
- [Disney’s 3D Printer Produces Models Almost Instantaneously Using Light](<https://futurism.com/disneys-3d-printer-produces-models-almost-instantaneously-using-light.md>)
- [A New Bio-Ink Could Be Used to 3D Print Artificial Organs](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/a-new-bio-ink-could-be-used-to-3d-print-artificial-organs.md>)
- [3D-Printed Human Skin and Bone Could Save Astronauts on Mars](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/3d-printed-human-skin-bone-astronauts-mars.md>)