A crash diet at age 19 left Richard Simmons bald, says the fitness guru. Which is, in essence, why he has such crazy, curly hair today. Sound strange? It is.

Simmons said he had 4,000 hair follicles transplanted after his unfortunate hair loss 41 years ago. The result? That massive head of hair he has today.

Simmons' story comes up as part of a larger story featured in USA Today about hair transplants that require the transplantation of only 120 follicles, and not the current standard of 2,000. Hair regeneration therapy is the name of this hairy breakthrough, and Intercytex is the company trying to market it. Studies show 11 of 19 men who have tried the procedure have successfully grown hair six months after treatment.

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Bald may be beautiful, but not for everyone. As I mentioned before in a related post, it takes a certain type of head to pull off the chrome dome. Apart from the use of medication (Propecia) and topical creams (Rogaine), the only other options are badly-fitted toupees and expensive hair transplantation surgery.

Well, there may be a new option available in the not-so-distant future. Whereas current hair restoration surgery involves the transplantation of graphs of hair, a recent breakthrough by scientists at the Cleveland Clinic may help baldies one day get a whole new scalp!!

The problem in the past with the transplanting of tissues and organs (scalps not withstanding, so it would seem) is the risk of rejection by the body. What's more, patients who undergo transplantation of this kind must follow an expensive regimen of drugs for many months to help reduce the chance of rejection. However, the researchers at the Cleveland Clinic discovered a technique that may reduce recovery time for anti-rejection therapy to one week. Though still in the experimental phase, it's not outside the realm of possibility that this science may soon be used for cosmetic hair restoration.

My only question is, Where will they get the donor scalps from?