Have you noticed more hair in your brush, finer strands at your temples, or a ponytail that feels smaller than it used to? Maybe you've looked into PRP, exosomes, or one of the new "regenerative" facials and come away more confused than when you started. At some point, the better question isn't which trend to try next. It's what your own body already has to work with.
In this episode of The Well Drop, I sit down with Dr. Drew Taylor, co-founder and CEO of Acorn Biolabs, to talk about the stem cells living in your hair follicles and how a few plucked hairs can be banked for your future skin and hair care, no surgery required. We get into what a secretome is, why a "young" donor cell may not be young by the time it reaches you, what's actually inside an exosome, and how to read the labels everyone is talking about right now, from PDRN to plant stem cells. I also share why I went looking for something closer to my own biology when my hair started shedding in my early 40s.
Dr. Drew Taylor co-founded Acorn Biolabs in 2017. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees at the University of Michigan and a PhD in biomedical engineering from the University of Toronto, and he pitched professionally in the Toronto Blue Jays and Philadelphia Phillies organizations before focusing his career on regenerative medicine.
What’s Discussed
(03:01) From pro baseball pitcher to regenerative medicine scientist.
(06:34) Why stem cells used to mean bone marrow or fat, and what changed.
(09:01) The white bulb at the end of a plucked hair, and what lives inside it.
(12:52) What banking your stem cells actually involves.
(16:15) "Am I too old for this?" How age affects your stem cells.
(22:30) What a secretome is, and why you're about to hear the word everywhere.
(24:42) Exosomes explained: why the package matters less than what's inside.
(28:49) Placenta cells and donor exosomes: how a "young" cell ages in the lab.
(33:58) My hair shedding in my early 40s, and why hormones weren't on my radar.
(41:00) Why microneedling helps your skin take in what's applied to it.
(48:49) Plant stem cells and plant collagen: what those labels really mean.
(52:50) Drew's one drop of wellness wisdom.
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Find out more about Amber Berger:
Website: http://thewelldrop.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/astarrberger/
Find out more about Dr. Drew Taylor + Acorn Biolabs:
Website: https://acorn.me/
THE WELL DROP
