Fig. 1

The process of hair cycling and DPCs in HF regeneration. a Mature and actively growing HFs anchored in the subcutis periodically regenerate by spontaneously undergoing anagen (repetitive cycles of growth), catagen (apoptosis-driven regression) and telogen (relative quiescence), which is termed hair cycling and is a typical characteristic of functional HFs. b Skeleton diagram of potential cells that contribute to regenerating HFs. c iPSCs share similar characteristics with embryonic stem cells in terms of morphology, self-renewal and differentiation capacity, and they can be induced into other potential cells in regenerative medicine. The transformation of fibroblasts into DPCs via lineage reprogramming. Optimization of the in vitro system to preserve the HF-inducive potential and the transplantation of cell-based biomaterials or HF organoids in vivo to regenerate HFs