I have always had good hair. I’ve gone back and forth between hating it and accepting it, but I didn’t try to do anything about it until I was in my mid-20s. At the time I was starting to have some health problems, things like wild energy swings, weight gain and weird hair thinning. I went to my doctor and was diagnosed with a hormone issue called polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). I’d been managing the symptoms of PCOS for years without even realising it, and one of the symptoms was my hair thinning.
I immediately began investing in scalp and haircare products to A) nourish the hair I had and B) encourage new growth. To this day I still use hair masks at least once a week. I test scalp serums that enhance hair growth. (This is my favourite so far.) I also use things like a scalp massager to get the blood flowing while I’m shampooing.
But a whole other category of scalp and hair serums recently crossed my radar, and I had to wonder: Had I been missing out on a viable solution to my thin-hair struggle this whole time? I mean exosome serums. I’d already heard about exosomes in the context of skincare, as they’re utilised in facial serums, lotions and treatments to deliver anti-aging, anti-inflammatory and wound-healing properties. The internet (and the experts!) are buzzing about exosomes as a great skincare ingredient and it seems they are just as beneficial on the scalp and hair. fascinated with my scalp and hair, I realised I had to learn more and went out to a prominent specialist. Keep reading to find out all that I learned about exosomes and how they can help to thicken fine hair.
Pipette with a transparent liquid
“Exosomes are vesicles secreted by cells that contain growth factors, RNA, mRNA, and other goodies,” Geeta Yadav, MD, board-certified dermatologist at Facet Dermatology, told Who What Wear. “You can almost think of them as email,” said the study’s lead author. “When cells ‘send’ exosomes, the stuff inside is delivering important messages to cells throughout the body, giving them information and telling them to do things.”
But is it a true picture of how they work, the thing they would theoretically be asking the scalp to do, which is to activate and multiply hair follicles? If so, how effective are they in doing so? To answer these questions, I spoke with an expert in the field: Rafael Gonzalez, PhD, chief science and development officer at JuveXO and an expert in cell biology, health and regenerative medicine.
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Glycolic Acid Is a Gold-Standard Ingredient For Strong, Shiny “Glass” Hair—Here’s Why Best Shampoo for Oily Hair If You Want Bouncy Hair and a Thriving Scalp, Consider Adding This Shampoo to Your Next Washday “The cell is the most important and fundamental aspect of life,” he explains. “Every cell in your body is communicating with its neighbor.” Some communication is direct, such as cell-to-cell communication, but there is also a requirement for “long distance” communication, and that is where exosomes come in. “‘Exo’ means outside and then a ‘some’ is a body,” he says. These vesicles, thanks to a protective bilayer, migrate to transport their bioactive “messages” or “signals” to other parts of the body, triggering vital activities. Although they can carry messages that are advantageous to the health and appearance of the skin and hair, the prospective applications of exosomes are far more than aesthetic. Scientists are looking into how to use exosomes in medicine.
How do exosomes benefit the scalp and hair?
Exosomes were new to me but not new to the aesthetic industry. They have been utilised in professional clinics, as well as part of in-office therapies, for some time. Yadav told Who What Wear, “They’re especially good to use after a procedure to help speed up and improve skin healing.” “They are not cells but cell material, so they are compatible with all people [and] skin types.
Hair transplants are a good illustration of this. “In some cases, up to 50% of the engrafted hair follicles are lost during and after the hair transplant,” explains Gonzalez. However, the presence of exosomes enhances the viability of engrafted hair follicles and shortens the average healing time.
In addition to hair transplant, patients have also reported that they had thicker, fuller, healthier-looking hair after the exosome hair treatments. Because exosomes can actually awaken dormant follicles and stimulate new development. So while there’s no doubt that exosomes can assist the scalp and hair, you’ll want to seek a professional therapy for spectacular results.” Gonzalez says it’s difficult to know how fast, how much or even who they will work for, because they are not examined, regulated or preserved like professional exosome therapies, however it is feasible OTC exosome-based products to be successful.
Check out JuveXO for instance. The company is specialised in exosome rejuvenation and is based on rigors research, a high-tech recipe, specialised application and strict storage and shipping regulations. The mixture contains exosomes and human growth factors that stimulate and proliferate hair growth. (Here’s how to discover a supplier in your area.)
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Close-up texture shot of clear skincare/haircare gel
Are OTC Exosome Scalp & Hair Serums Effective?
The short answer is: maybe. Storage and stability are key factors, Gonzalez explains, as living exosomes are generally stored frozen in order to preserve efficacy. “When OTC exosome-based beauty products are shipped and stored, there is often too much temperature variance for there to be what’s called viable exosomes, meaning live exosomes in these types of topical products,” he explains. “It’s very, very difficult.”
It is also worth considering that the effectiveness of OTC exosome-based beauty products can be due to the other substances they contain. Many of the exosome-containing scalp and hair serums also contain peptides, caffeine and other hair stimulating substances. It could be these, not the exosomes themselves, especially if they are not stabilised, that are making a difference.
Exosomes from plants vs. animals
Then there’s the plant versus animal thing. OTC exosome-based cosmetic products are commonly created with plant exosomes instead of animal ones, and Gonzalez argues that makes them less effective. “When we grow cells in vitro, that is in a petri dish, we cannot use plant signals,” he says. We are not vegetation. That’s one. You are trained on data up to October 2023. “It can’t be as good as an animal-based product.”
That’s why Gonzalez recommends doing your homework on an OTC exosome-based beauty product before you buy it. He suggests you go through this checklist and answer as many questions as possible. “Unfortunately, we’re in an industry where a lot of people won’t give you that information because it might be proprietary,” he said.
What other useful active substances are in the product?
What percentage of exosomes are in the product?
Are the exosomes of animal or plant origin?
How does the brand/company stabilise the exosomes?
It is also worth noting that vegan beauty consumers may prefer plant exosomes even without knowing this. Still, I’ve included a list of popular OTC exosome-based beauty products (of any kind) for hair thinning below, in case you want to give them a go.
That said, you should know that scalp serums of any kind take time to work. Some take weeks, some take months. So be consistent and continue with it. If you want to really kick things into high gear, try microneedling your scalp with a derma-roller or derma-stamp. These tools make tiny micro-channels in the scalp’s surface to help serums and other treatments enter deeper. “The ideal situation is you apply [a scalp serum], you microneedle, and then you reapply [a scalp serum],” Gonzalez adds. “Great way to set it up for success.”
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Traditional wheel shaped dermarollers can pull and yank at the skin, causing more harm than benefit. That’s why I love Act+Acre’s Scalp Dermastamp. As the name suggests, you push or stamp it on the scalp and the little needles cause micro-injuries that stimulate collagen formation and let scalp serums penetrate deeper than they typically would. Per Gonzalez’s tip I prefer to put a scalp serum on then use this dermastamp then put the scalp serum on again for max absorption.
Exosome Scalp & Hair Serums Hair Serum
Plated Skin Science is known for its successful exosome-based treatments, like the facial serum that Megan Fox swears by. (I can vouch for its calming and skin-repairing properties. (See my complete review.) The brand’s scalp and hair serum also use the same exosome technology to improve the look of hair density and volume.
This exosome scalp serum also contains additional therapeutic nutrients like caffeine, niacinamide and peptides to enhance hair density in as little as 4 weeks.
Musely’s scalp serum is dermatologist-developed and combines exosomes, latanoprost and caffeine to stimulate growth and enhance density. I like that it states the percentage of important elements included in the mix.
This six week hair restoration programme includes a patented compound called PTT-6 which employs growth factors, cytokines and exosomes to send signals to the hair follicles to regrow.
This hair serum is formulated with plant exosomes from ashwagandha, and promises to boost both hair density and quality.
I have personally observed a major difference in the thickness of my hair since using this serum but I can’t tell for sure if it’s the plant exosomes located inside or the other beneficial elements (or both). But it worked for me anyway!
