Forget Freezing Eggs. Some Men Are Freezing Their Hair Now
Oct 19, 2026, 9:06 AM
Some men are now freezing their hair follicles in case they go bald, because apparently panic can be cryogenically preserved.
According to The Daily Beast, the trend is called “hair banking.” It involves storing healthy hair follicles now in hopes they could one day be cloned and transplanted if a person’s hair starts to thin.
The idea sounds futuristic, but there is one pretty big catch: The cloning technique is still under development and has not been approved by the FDA.
People who bank their hair typically have about 100 follicles extracted during a procedure that takes around 30 minutes. That is much less than a traditional hair transplant, which usually involves 1,000 to 4,000 grafts.
The hope is that those 100 saved follicles could someday become thousands of new hairs. But hair restoration surgeons say the science is not there yet. Cloned hairs have not consistently taken, and the dream of turning 100 follicles into 10,000 hairs has not been achieved.
The cost? Around $2,000.
So for now, hair banking is basically a very expensive “just in case” plan for your future hairline.
And honestly, as a mom of two girls, I respect the optimism. But also, if I had a dollar for every hair I’ve pulled out of a shower drain, I could probably fund the research myself.
