Sure, Americans love sushi. But do we love it enough to rub it on our heads? Most likely not, and why waste it? Well… what if we said it would restart hair growth. For those men who are seeing the hair on their head becoming more and more scarce, it may be interesting enough to try.

Here’s some facts for you may not know… even you frequent sushi/wasabu fans. Science says wasabi can actually help regrow hair in people suffering from hair loss.

First of all, it’s not the sushi, per se, that you’ll want to massage into your scalp, but rather, the wasabi condiment sitting next to it-assuming it’s real, authentic wasabi. It’s been discovered that wasabi has miraculous hair regrowth properties, and that it can work wonders when applied on top of the scalp.

Now, before you go and rub your takeout sushi wasabi all over your head, you should be aware that most of the wasabi you’ve been eating is actually not wasabi at all. That’s correct: most “wasabi” you are given in restaurants has likely been a mixture made of horseradish. Real Japanese wasabi is wildly expensive and not all that easy to come by. The challenge is you’ll need the real wasabi in order to make the hair regrowth magic happen.

Studies show that a chemical found within the leaves of the wasabi plant, known as isosaponarin, “has the ability to awaken the papilla cells in the human scalp,” and that isosaponarin helps foster “the development of proteins that create pathways for nutrients that travel to the papilla cells.”

The studies have shown that wasabi is three times more effective than some retail hair-growth products, like Minoxidil.

So it’s up to you.. if you’re a Rogaine user and it just isn’t doing the job, you might just want to locate some authentic wasabi… but remember, it’s expensive. It also has quite the recognizable odor, so if you go for it you may have some explaining to do!