Losing Hair? A Company Claims Wasabi Can Help

wasabi cures baldness
Shutterstock
Shutterstock

There's more out there than those late-night commercials touting the Hair Club for Men and Rogaine. There's an entire underworld of home remedies, mystery pills, cow pee (really), and mythological easy fixes for baldness. You can now add this one to the list: Wasabi.

Kinin, a Japanese wasabi purveyor, has announced wasabi can help regrow hair on your fleshy pate, according to Sora News 24. The company is, of course, talking about the real stuff, not the dyed horseradish served in 99 percent of American restaurants.

If you're a frequent sushi eater and ready to call bullshit, well, that's fair, but Kinin contends you're doing it wrong. You're not supposed to eat the wasabi. Instead, you should massage it into your scalp. Their study says wasabi helps regrow hair more efficiently than minoxidil, the active ingredient in Rogaine.

The actual science hasn't been published, so your ongoing skepticism of all hair-loss treatment miracles remains warranted. There are plenty of them out there, too. Onion juice and honey are a popular fix, with a 2002 study showing that onion juice had some success treating alopecia areata. There are also camps that put their faith in beer, avocados, lemon seeds, and cumin.

Also, cow pee.

Beyond the dearth of evidence, real wasabi makes for an awfully expensive hair paste. It sells for about $80 per pound. Though, if you're looking to cut costs, you could put the wasabi on your sushi once it's been used on your head.

Sign up here for our daily Thrillist email, and get your fix of the best in food/drink/fun.

Dustin Nelson is a News Writer with Thrillist. He holds a Guinness World Record but has never met the fingernail lady. Follow him @dlukenelson.