Last week, Research Manager Niels Bootsma and Lay Research Panel member Joe Earley travelled to Imperial College London to attend the inaugural hair club. This scientific symposium brought UK (and some European) hair researchers together under the theme ‘untangling links between the hair and brain’. It included talks on the cultural and symbolic nature of hair, the impact of skin and hair touch on health and mental well-being, the psychological impacts of hair loss, and biological mechanisms linking hair and the brain.

There were talks from PhD students on laboratory research they are doing to understand mechanisms enabling the brain and hair to communicate with each other. Previous studies showed that neurotransmitters released from nerves can influence the speed of hair growth, hair cycling, and pigmentation. At Imperial, they have been studying this further. One PhD student shared images from experiments showing nerves wrapped around a hair fiber. 

 

 

 

 

 

Image – nerves highlighted in green around a hair fiber. From Agramunt, et al (2023).

She is now looking into whether hair follicles can also signal through the nervous system to the brain, in the other direction. What they found so far is that hair follicle cells respond to touch and can release the neurotransmitters serotonin and histamine. Ongoing research is trying to understand why hair follicles have this capacity and if this may send signals to the brain.

We often hear people with alopecia speculate that stress was a factor in their hair loss. Several hormones and substances are known to be involved in the body’s “fight or flight” stress response. These include hormones norepinephrine and cortisol, and substance P. However strong evidence for a direct link between stress and hair growth in humans has not been produced yet. Another PhD student will be studying exactly this, to see whether stress molecules may influence the biological functions of cells in and around the hair follicle.

There was also attention for trichotillomania, or hair pulling, which is a type of body-focused repetitive behaviour (BFRB). These types of behaviours, which can also include skin picking or nail biting, are normal grooming behaviours in animals and humans. But when they are difficult to control, this can significantly impact on a person’s quality of life, and this is often associated with stigma and shame. Professor of neuroscience Clare Mackay talked about her own lived experience and research she is doing to raise awareness and help others with these conditions.

Niels also presented, covering the psychological impacts of alopecia areata. This included sharing the results of a project funded by Alopecia UK, which developed recommendations for psychological support. He also spoke about the challenges researchers have faced in measuring changes in psychological wellbeing after treatment. Work around the clinical trials for JAK inhibitors suggested that people with AA would need 50-100% regrowth for 6-12 months before changes in psychological and quality of life impacts would manifest. A group of UK skin researchers recently suggested ‘psycholag’ as a term for this delay between the improvement in physical and psychological symptoms. People with hair loss may want to be sure that regrowth with treatment is sustained before they can feel at ease, which may be one reason for this delay. Another theory is that wider inflammation in the body is also impacting the brain, and whether current treatments can resolve this is not yet known. We also know that hair loss can have impacts on educational and career choices, relationships, and for some it can be traumatic. This may mean that despite regrowing hair, there can be a lasting impact on a person's wellbeing. 

Lay Research Panel Member Joe said:

“It's great to see such an engaged and passionate community in the area of hair research. Both from established clinicians for whom hair research has been their life's work to highly motivated early career researchers.

It is particularly encouraging that the theme and title of the event was ‘untangling the links between the hair and brain’. Many of us are used to being asked ‘is it because of stress?’ and the answer is often very complicated, unclear and not particularly satisfying. Having researchers trying to unpack this relationship and gain clearer insight into the condition is excellent. Alopecia UK being able to attend and being asked to present also shows a real patient/end goal focus from the research community which is invaluable.

Personally, although not an alopecia specific talk, Dr Clare Mackay's talk on body focused repetitive behaviours, specifically trichotillomania (hair pulling) was very insightful. Clare is able to talk about the neuroscience of BFRBs while drawing from her own lived experience of the condition. As she proposed a psychological theory behind these behaviours there were aspects that I'm sure will resonate with many in the alopecia community as well.

Overall it was great to hear work from a broad range of scientific areas while still all being relevant to the theme of the day, the hair research community is clearly highly motivated, engaged, and understanding is advancing at an impressive rate, and Alopecia UK being engaged in this from the grassroots (hair roots?) is a real positive to this.”

We thank the organisers Dr Claire Higgins and Dr Gill Westgate for bringing those passionate about hair research together, and look forward to seeing the results of the exciting new research that was discussed.