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For many men, losing their hair is not just something that happens with age, it’s traumatic. A survey of men from the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain found that more than 70% of men who reported losing their hair said it was an important feature of their image, and 62% agreed that hair loss could affect self-esteem. So, while a scientist who comes up with a way to prevent hair loss may not win a Nobel Prize, they will certainly get the undying gratitude of millions of men, and some women, around the world.

Now a team at Northwestern Medicine may just have found some clues as to why it happens, and some clues on how to stop it.

As we age our hair follicles go through a cycle of growth and death. As older hairs die there are stem cells in the hair follicles that produce new, replacement hair follicle cells. In this study, which was done in older male mice, the researchers found that as the mice age the stem cells in the hair start to lose the stickiness that helps them remain in the hair follicles. Without that stickiness they drift outside of the protective environment and can’t survive.

As Dr. Rui Yi, lead author of the study says in a news release; no hair stem cells, no hair replacements. “The result is fewer and fewer stem cells in the hair follicle to produce hair. This results in thinning hair and ultimately baldness during aging.”

Happily, the team also discovered two genes that seem to play a key role in generating the stickiness the cells need to stay in the follicle. They are now trying to reinstate those genes to see if that can reverse hair loss.

While this was done in mice the researchers say there are a lot of similarities between mice and humans in hair and stem cells.

One can only hope.

The study is published in the journal Nature Aging.