Sources claim Bradley Cooper is taking Propecia to fight hair loss

Movie goers saw his hair altered into a comical perm style for the critically acclaimed film American Hustle, but in real life Bradley Cooper’s hair is no laughing matter, with reports that the handsome actor has been taking hair loss medication Propecia (Finasteride) in a bid to avert his familial trait of baldness.

The 39-year-old actor came to prominence in TV show Alias before featuring in a supporting role in the 2005 Wedding Crashers. However, in the subsequent 9 years his career has skyrocketed and Cooper has had leading roles in numerous successful films such as The Hangover series, Limitless (2011) and Silver Linings Playbook (2012), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award.

Cooper, dating 21-year-old model Suki Waterhouse, clearly wants to retain his leading man status and is worried about a receding hairline. According to a source who spoke to US website RadarOnline, the actor “is so anxious about his receding hairline that he’s turned to [balding remedy] Propecia. He has a lot of bald guys in his family, so he’s been on Propecia for a couple of years. And to his delight, it seems to be working.”

During filming of last years The Hangover 3, Cooper and the other two male leads, Zack Galifianakis and Ed Helms apparently “had their own dedicated hairstylists, a first for the franchise and something that was demanded by Bradley” due to his hair loss concerns. The source added: “Bradley is determined not to go bald and lose his leading man looks.”

Hair loss medication Propecia has made news in recent years on a few occasions after Manchester  United striker Wayne Rooney was rumoured to be taking it to prevent further hair loss and Canadian popstar Justin Bieber even commenting on Prince William’s diminishing mane, saying the Prince should be taking Propecia.

Rooney and other celebrities such as Calum Best and James Nesbitt have since opted for incredibly expensive hair transplants, but there has inexplicably been a mass silence in regards to any admittance to celebrities taking Propecia.

Spencer Stevenson, the hair loss expert who fronts the specialist talk show The Bald Truth, advises balding men to consider taking Propecia prior to any costly hair transplant procedure.

He says: “Before you even consider a hair transplant, look into going on Propecia or applying Minoxidil (a topical hair-loss treatment contained in Regaine Foam) for at least six months first, to strengthen existing hair and prevent further hair loss.”

Scientific breakthrough made for hair loss treatments

A new breakthrough by British scientists has raised hope for those suffering with hair loss, and the therapy may even provide help to victims of burns.

The results of the tests could pave the way for more hair loss treatments for both men and women, after results demonstrated it was possible to grow new hair follicles from human skin cells – basically the cells that contain the ‘instruction book’ for growing new hair.

Tests are still at an early stage, but the scientists from Durham University in the UK and Columbia University in the U.S. claim that their findings represent a huge breakthrough in treating hair loss that effects millions of men and women around the world, often causing a great deal of distress.

Not only this, but it seems a 40-year wait could be over in the futile efforts to successfully regenerate the crucial structures in the skin that enable hair to grow.

Human hair follicles are incredibly difficult to replicate in a laboratory environment, but the new technique has shown evidence they can be stimulated to grow in skin tissue and also to generate hair shafts.

Currently, expensive hair transplants notoriously used by footballer Wayne Rooney involve the surgeon transplanting hair follicles from the back of the head (where there is plentiful hair) to where it is needed at the front. Therefore, they are simply redistributing already present hair compared to the new technique, which could significantly boost the amount of hairs on the head.

Columbia University researcher Dr Angela Christiano, herself a sufferer of alopecia and experiences clumps of hair falling out, said the research “has the potential to transform the medical treatment of hair loss”.

“Our method…has the potential to actually grow new follicles using a patient’s own cells. This could greatly expand the utility of hair-restoration surgery to women and to younger patients – now it is largely restricted to the treatment of male-pattern baldness in patients with stable disease. It could make hair transplantation available to individuals with a limited number of follicles, including those with female-pattern hair loss, scarring alopecia and hair loss due to burns,” she said.

The team of scientists started extracting tiny cells called dermal papillae from strips of human hair cells. These cells are located at the base of a hair and contain the ‘instruction book’ for the successful growth of new hair.

Next, they cloned the cells in a dish, making sure they had several copies of each cell. Similar procedures have been done previously but without any results in getting the cells grow hair after they have been put back into skin.

The Anglo-American team decided to turn the dish of cells upside down, to help them to form into the clumps found in nature. These clumps were transplanted into human skin grafted onto the backs of mice.

It was found that the cells from each of the seven human donors grew hairs and in some cases, the tufts broke through the skin.

Although the hairs were white in colour, Durham researcher Professor Colin Jahoda is optimistic it should be possible to create coloured hair and by using a sample of a person’s own cells, any new hair should be very similar in texture and curliness.

“It’s a key step because it is saying that you can multiply the process. It’s not just about one-for-one replacement. But you need to get hair that is the right colour and texture and this will need further work before human clinical trials can begin,” he said.

The cost to patients is still yet to be determined as clinical trials need to be carried out first. However, it is likely to be cheaper than hair transplants which can range anywhere in price from £6,000 all the way up to £30,000 per patient.

Wayne Rooney undergoes a ‘top-up’ hair transplant

Almost two years to the day since he underwent his first hair transplant, 27-year-old Manchester United footballer Wayne Rooney has had a second, ‘top-up’ procedure at the same private London Harley Street Hair Clinic that he first visited in 2011.

The technique performed to combat Rooney’s baldness two years ago was Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE), an excruciatingly long operation that involves the surgeon extracting thousands of hair follicles from an area where they are in abundance – usually the back of the head – and then re-planting them into the areas where they are most needed.

Various reports had suggested Rooney paid anywhere between an incredible £15,000 – £30,000 amount for his initial hair transplant, following endless jibes from teammates about his premature balding. At the time, he stated: “Just to confirm to all my followers I have had a hair transplant. I was going bald at 25 why not. I’m delighted with the result.” Rooney had previously touched upon the subject of his hair loss in his autobiography. He said he looked at himself in the mirror and thought: “Bloody hell, you’re going bald and you’re only a young lad.”

Rooney has been pictured numerous times in recent months with seemingly much thinner, wispier hair, calling into question the long-term effectiveness of such expensive hair transplants – often costing up to tens of thousands of pounds. Just last month at an England training base, onlookers were shocked to see his hair thickness had diminished considerably and his scalp was clearly visible.

However, Clinic director Nadeem Uddin Khan delivered the news of Rooney’s second hair restoration operation, which lasted nine hours, saying: “He visited us for pre-planned second-stage treatment of his successful transplant. This was scheduled when he began in 2011. It’s standard.” A separate source told The Sun newspaper: “It was very successful. He’s as pleased as punch with the results and can’t wait to unveil his new look.”

The pre-planned top-up transplant could not have come at a better time for Rooney after hair loss expert Dr Asim Shahmalak spoke last month about thinning areas appearing on the footballer’s head and even advised another transplant before baldness strikes again.

Dr Shahmalak, a hair transplant surgeon on Channel 4′s Embarrassing Bodies, had seen recent pictures of Rooney and commented: “It’s very clear from the pictures that Wayne has kept hold of the hair from his first transplant at the front of his head. But he has continued to lose his hair further back on his head and on his crown. It has given him two noticeable bald patches. The best way to remedy this is with a second hair transplant. He also needs to start using the drug Propecia, which footballers can take quite legally without failing any drug tests…”

Visit the Men’s Health or Women’s Health area of the Medical Specialists Pharmacy website to find out more information on how to obtain hair loss treatments such as the previously mentioned Propecia, and other popular products such as those featured on television – Regaine and Alpecin caffeine shampoo.