--- title: Hair Loss Is Tied to Shrinking Stem Cells description: Researchers have zeroed in on one the driving forces behind hair loss, and it’s closely related to aging canonical: https://time.com/4209749/hair-loss-stem-cells/ author: Alice Park article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-05T18:14:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T14:48:56.040Z article:section: Health og:title: Here’s Why You Start Losing Your Hair og:description: Researchers have zeroed in on one the driving forces behind hair loss, and it’s closely related to aging og:url: https://time.com/4209749/hair-loss-stem-cells/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta477644b66db0faf/69887c530b72e388aa6e800a/gettyimages-128549927.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2197 og:image:height: 1236 og:image:alt: 128549927 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here’s Why You Start Losing Your Hair twitter:description: Researchers have zeroed in on one the driving forces behind hair loss, and it’s closely related to aging twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta477644b66db0faf/69887c530b72e388aa6e800a/gettyimages-128549927.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Shrinking Stem Cells Are the Real Reason for Hair Loss > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=63dd98f6-b04c-49d8-a394-f43e37f33319&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1)  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Feb 5, 2016 6:14 PM UTC  Human hair. Human hair. M Phillips David—Getty Images/Photo Researchers RM  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Feb 5, 2016 6:14 PM UTC Anyone who starts losing their hair is familiar with the phenomenon: you used to have an enviously full head of hair in your teens, but the older you get, the more you see in the shower drain and on your brush, and the less remains on your head. It’s nearly a universal fact of nature among mammals of the furry type that with age, thick coats of hair start to thin out. Scientists have known that the reason for that has to do with the aging hair follicles, where hair roots begin. But exactly why do the hair follicles start to fail? In a [report published in the journal](http://science.sciencemag.org/content/351/6273/aad4395.short) _Science_, Japanese researchers provide a possible answer. Hair is renewed by stem cells that are able to theoretically continue dividing and making new hair follicle stem cells, but eventually, these stem cells too start to age and fall apart. Led by Emi Nishimura at Tokyo Medical and Dental University, the group found that wear and tear on the DNA of these hair follicle stem cells causes chemical changes that push the hair follicle away from growing new hair. In fact, the hair follicle starts to shrink, getting ever smaller and making it more difficult for a new hair to grow. **MORE:** [Male-Pattern Baldness Linked to Aggressive Prostate Cancer](http://time.com/3378366/baldness-prostate-cancer/) Such shrinkage of organs is typical in many aging processes, but Nishimura’s shows how it happens in hair follicles. “Our research revealed that hair follicle stem cells change their fate to be eliminated from the skin in response to DNA damage,” he writes to TIME. The resultant depletion of stem cell pools miniaturization of these aged hair follicles.” **MORE:** [You Asked: Why Is My Hair Falling Out?](http://time.com/3773809/hair-falling-out/) In other words, the hair follicles simply shrivel away over time, thanks to constant onslaughts in the form of sun damage, exposure to other chemicals and the aging process. Nishimura and his team found a chemical that triggers the shrinking process, and he says that in the future, it might be possible to slow or even the reverse the process by intervening before the hair follicle stem cells start to decline. 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