Metabolomic and lipidomic atlas of human hair across its length

The stable structure and growth cycle of human hair enables the accumulation of both endogenous and exogenous compounds, making hair an ideal matrix for long-term profiling. However, its exact molecular composition, shaped by root-to-tip variations, remains poorly understood. Here, we present a metabolome and lipidome atlas of human hair originating from a healthy cohort. The Human Hair Atlas maps over 1200 unique molecular species and highlights compounds prone to significant longitudinal variations. Metabolite and lipid levels vary by up to 50% along the length of the hair, underscoring the importance of accounting for segmental differences. We categorized 122 molecules as exposome-related compounds, primarily from personal care products, facilitating biological interpretation. The Human Hair Atlas is publicly accessible ( https://metabolomics.cloud/hair/ ), providing a resource to stimulate research in hair metabolomics, lipidomics, and exposomics, and to explore the potential of hair as a complementary matrix in clinical studies.

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Publication Details

Journal
Communications Biology
Published
2025-11-25
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-09069-6
Primary Topic
Hair Growth and Disorders
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Metabolomic and lipidomic atlas of human hair across its length

Rani Robeyns, Maria van de Lavoir, Yuanye Chi, Shuzhao Li et al.
Communications Biology
Hair Growth and Disorders
article

Metabolomic and lipidomic atlas of human hair across its length

Rani Robeyns, Maria van de Lavoir, Yuanye Chi, Shuzhao Li, Adrian Covaci, L. Jacobs, María del Mar Delgado‐Povedano, Hugo Neels, Alexander L.N. van Nuijs, Celine Gys, Ting Zeng
article en

Abstract

The stable structure and growth cycle of human hair enables the accumulation of both endogenous and exogenous compounds, making hair an ideal matrix for long-term profiling. However, its exact molecular composition, shaped by root-to-tip variations, remains poorly understood. Here, we present a metabolome and lipidome atlas of human hair originating from a healthy cohort. The Human Hair Atlas maps over 1200 unique molecular species and highlights compounds prone to significant longitudinal variations. Metabolite and lipid levels vary by up to 50% along the length of the hair, underscoring the importance of accounting for segmental differences. We categorized 122 molecules as exposome-related compounds, primarily from personal care products, facilitating biological interpretation. The Human Hair Atlas is publicly accessible ( https://metabolomics.cloud/hair/ ), providing a resource to stimulate research in hair metabolomics, lipidomics, and exposomics, and to explore the potential of hair as a complementary matrix in clinical studies.

Communications BiologyVol. 8(1)
University of Connecticut (US), University of Antwerp (BE), Jackson Laboratory (US), Province of Antwerp (BE)
National Science Foundation, Fundación Ramón Areces, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, Universiteit Antwerpen, Vlaamse regering, National Institutes of Health, Advanced Research Projects Agency
Openalex Percentile: Top 50%
Hair Growth and Disorders
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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