# I Put My Own Stem Cells on My Face

> A men's magazine editor banked stem cells from 50 plucked hairs, then had the serum needled into his skin.
- Title: I Put My Own Stem Cells on My Face · Men's Health | Shortify
- Summary: A men's magazine editor banked stem cells from 50 plucked hairs, then had the serum needled into his skin. Secretome serums made from your own banked stem…
- Keywords: skin care, stem cells, longevity, dermatology, grooming, Put, Own, Stem, Cells, Face, Men's Health
- Source: Men's Health — https://menshealth.com/grooming/a73525647/my-new-skin-care-routine-starts-with-50-plucked-hairs
- Author: Richard Dorment
- Published: 2026-09-12T12:08:00+00:00
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: skin care, stem cells, longevity, dermatology, grooming
## A blue vial in the fridge
Behind the leftovers, next to the mustard, sits a serum distilled from the writer's own biology. It came from stem cells harvested out of his hair follicles.

> a liquid distillation of the best version of my own biology
## Fifty plucked hairs
A company called Acorn Biolabs skips the bone marrow and fat draws. It pulls stem cells from your scalp, then charges an annual fee to keep them frozen.
## Storage is the easy part
Plenty of companies will bank your cells for a vague future. Almost none turn them into something usable within weeks.

> There are plenty of companies that will store your stem cells for some vaguely defined future.
## Cells as tiny factories
Injecting stem cells straight into skin trips regulatory alarms. Instead the lab lets them sit for weeks and secrete growth factors, cytokines and exosomes.
## What a secretome is
All those chemical signals together make the secretome. Acorn freeze-dries it and ships it to your doctor, who mixes it back into a liquid serum.

> Heal this. Grow that. Make. More. Collagen!
## It has to get under the skin
Sitting on the surface does nothing. So the writer reclined in a dermatologist's chair while tiny needles punched microchannels across his cheeks and chin.
## Healing faster than usual
He expected days of redness, dryness and itch. This time the irritation was quieter and his skin returned to baseline within a few days.
## Then better than baseline
A little more even, a little glowier, a little bouncier. He admits there is no control version of his face to compare against.

> Could I prove that this was meaningfully better than, say, PRP? I could not.
## The science is not settled
Regenerative aesthetics sits in the awkward phase where the mechanisms make sense but big independent trials are still running.

> This might be the future of skin care. Someday.
## Not a casual add-on
You pay to bank the cells, to produce the secretome, and to use it across repeat treatments. Anyone chasing a one-off glow-up has cheaper options.
## Your face is just the start
Research suggests follicle stem cells may be reprogrammable into bone, cartilage, fat, even neurons. For now the promise is narrower: better healing, skin and hair.
## Key takeaway

Secretome serums made from your own banked stem cells are a plausible upgrade if you already do microneedling or lasers, but the independent proof isn't there yet and the cost is a long-term commitment, not a one-off treatment.