---
title: "Scientists Say This High Tech Baseball Cap Can Reverse Baldness"
description: "A new flexible patch could reverse baldness by shocking people's scalps with electricity. On bald mice, it works better than Rogaine."
date: "2019-09-19"
modified: "2019-09-19"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/hat-shocks-reverse-baldness"
categories:
  - "Health & Medicine"
  - "Prosthetics and Devices"
tags:
  - "baldness"
  - "wearable"
---

# Scientists Say This High Tech Baseball Cap Can Reverse Baldness

![A new flexible patch could reverse baldness by shocking people's scalps with electricity. On bald mice, it works better than Rogaine.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/hat-shocks-reverse-baldness.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Alex Holloway/University of Wisconsin–Madison\</em\>*

A newly-invented baseball cap may be able to reverse balding by mildly shocking your scalp for hours on end.

The hat is really just a fashionable covering for a thin patch that generates electricity when it bends and twists, *[New Scientist ](<https://www.newscientist.com/article/2217050-a-hat-that-zaps-the-scalp-with-electricity-helps-reverse-male-balding/>)*[reports](<https://www.newscientist.com/article/2217050-a-hat-that-zaps-the-scalp-with-electricity-helps-reverse-male-balding/>). The patch may someday be able to reverse baldness without the pain, expense and inconvenience associated with hair restoration surgery or [stem cell treatments](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/baldness-cured-rich>).

Thus far, the patch has only been rigorously tested on bald mice, [according to research](<https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsnano.9b03912>) published last week in the journal *ACS Nano*.

In those experiments, the patch worked better than existing baldness treatments like the drug minoxidil — the active ingredient in Rogaine — in both shaved mice and those that were bald due to genetic defects.

Xudong Wang, the University of Wisconsin-Madison scientist who led the project, told *New Scientist* that he also tested the baseball cap on his balding father as a sort of precursor to future human tests.

"It helped him to grow a lot of new hairs after one month," Wang told *New Scientist*.

If a hair-growing cap actually hits the market, Wang says that activating the patch for a few hours a day should do the trick. But he won't know for sure until he conducts better-controlled human experimentation.

## 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>)