VISAGE DAILY
Dear Disruptors 😎
We believe beauty, fashion, and lifestyle are not performances or trends, but rituals, identities, and cultural languages. Our mission is to explore these domains as forces of self-expression, ethics, inclusivity, and emotional truth.
We share stories which elevates everyday practices into meaningful narratives, rooted in care for people, culture, and the planet.
Let’s dive in.
BEAUTY
PP405: A Potential Hair-loss Treatment
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash
Key Points:
PP405 is an experimental compound being tested as a topical gel for androgenetic alopecia (AGA) - the most common form of hair loss, where hair follicles shrink and produce thinner, shorter hairs.
It works by reactivating stem cells inside dormant hair follicles to restart hair growth.
Early human trials show promising signs of hair regrowth, including increased hair density in some participants.
Because it targets a different part of the hair-growth process to existing drugs, PP405 looks more likely to complement current treatments than replace them.
With a clinical trial underway in 2026 to test its effectiveness, PP405 remains investigational and has no regulatory approval for commercial sale anywhere.
Details:
Hair follicles cycle between growing (anagen) and resting (telogen) phases. In AGA, follicles shrink and stay in the resting phase longer.
Developed by US-based Pelage Pharmaceuticals, PP405 targets follicles in this resting phase and changes how their cells process energy, increasing lactate - the chemical signal that switches dormant stem cells back on.
Early trial of 0.05% PP405 topical gel, applied once daily for four weeks, found:
31% of men with advanced hair loss experienced over 20% increase in hair density, though this is based on a subgroup of participants, not the entire trial group.
The compound was considered safe and didn't enter the bloodstream, yet this doesn't confirm it's risk-free with prolonged use.
Finasteride and dutasteride reduce the hormone that shrinks follicles, minoxidil prolongs the growth phase, platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and low-level laser therapy (LLLT) stimulate already-active follicles, making PP405 the only treatment working on dormant follicles.
It is not a cure for all types of hair loss or baldness as permanently destroyed follicles can not be reactivated.
Further trials are needed to assess durability of response, optimal dose, long-term safety, and whether results hold up in women and in all hair types, before it could potentially reach the market by 2028-2030.
Why It Matters: Despite decades of research, hair-loss treatments remain limited and unpredictable: what works for some may not work for others. If future trials confirm its efficacy and safety, PP405 could significantly expand the possibilities for reversing hair loss. Grey-market sellers are already offering PP405-labelled products, but their authenticity, safety, and regulatory approval is not verified. For now, it’s a promising development to watch, but its evidence still needs to catch up with the hype.
LIFESTYLE
Are Supplement Patches an Effective Alternative to Oral Supplements?
Key Points:
Supplement patches are skin stickers designed to deliver vitamins, minerals, herbs, or other active ingredients into the bloodstream through the skin, instead of taking them orally as pills, powders, or gummies.
They're trending across almost every wellness need - energy, sleep, stress, immunity, period pain, weight management, and skin benefits.
Their appeal is convenience: skipping swallowing and digestion, which can break down or affect absorption, while promising a slower, steadier release than a single oral dose.
How much of the active ingredient crosses the skin barrier and reaches the bloodstream in a meaningful amount depends on factors including its molecular size, dose, skin characteristics, application duration, and patch design.
Marketing promises improved, targeted nutrient delivery, but clinical evidence hasn't shown patches work as effectively as oral supplements.
Details:
Clinical trials generally favour oral supplements:
Oral iron supplements significantly raised blood ferritin; the patch produced no measurable improvement.
Patch users had more nutrient deficiencies than pill users, including significantly lower vitamin D, B1, and B12 levels.
Molecules with weight roughly above 500 Daltons generally struggle to penetrate skin, yet patches often contain far larger nutrients, such as B12 at around 1,355 Daltons.
Some patches add chemical penetration enhancers - ingredients including alcohols, fatty acids, glycols, or terpenes - to loosen the skin barrier and help nutrients cross over, but this doesn't guarantee enough reaches the bloodstream.
The printed dose on a patch like "500mg magnesium," or "1000mg creatine," is not necessarily the dose that reaches the bloodstream, and brands rarely disclose that gap.
Microneedle patches, dissolvable micro-spikes that pierce the skin's outer layer to increase ingredient penetration, are a promising development, but their effectiveness for delivering nutrients remains unproven in humans.
Why It Matters: Supplement patches sit in a regulatory grey area between food supplements and medicines, giving brands room to make bold claims without proving how much dose actually reaches your bloodstream. The science leans firmly toward pills. Check the molecular weight of the patch’s ingredient as the first step to know whether it would absorb through the skin. Microneedle technology may eventually change that, but it isn't ready yet. If bypassing digestion is your major concern, patches have value. Just don't pay a premium for convenience, expecting patches to outperform pills when they haven't even been shown to match them.
Until next week,
Visage Daily