TIP SHEET

TRANSPLANTS. The good news is that surgery no longer means obvious plugs: clumps of 15 to 20 hairs replanted like a cabbage patch. Today doctors can move hairs like blades of grass--one to four follicles at a time. Each year 100,000 Americans opt for the procedure, which typically costs about $6,000 and requires a local anesthetic. But don't expect miracles: you'll probably still look as if you have thinning hair. "There's no way we can create a hairline like when [you] were 12," says Robert Leonard, past president of the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ishrs.org).

CLONING. For patients with truly shiny pates, there may not be enough hair on the sides of their heads to cover what they've lost up top. "It's basically taking from Peter to pay Paul," says Duke University dermatologist Elise Olsen. With cloning, there would be an unlimited supply. Even the genetically blessed could thicken their tresses with regenerated cells--a surgical alternative to hair extensions. "There would not be a theoretical limit other than space on your scalp," says Washenik, who hopes to clone follicles within five years, though other doctors say the technology is farther away. Hurdles include making sure the cloned hairs match the originals in color, texture and direction of growth.

GENE THERAPY. No one knows how long it will take, but someday doctors hope to be able to manipulate the genes that cause hair loss. Unfortunately, there's more than one gene involved. "Male-pattern hair loss is what we call a complex-trait disease," says Columbia University geneticist Angela Christiano, who has discovered three baldness genes so far.

COVER-UPS. Americans alone still spend about $600 million on semipermanent hairpieces that bind to your natural hair and need to be adjusted every three to six weeks as your own hair grows. In the meantime, men might consider simply accepting their fate. As celebrities like Vin Diesel and Michael Jordan have shown, bald can be beautiful.

TRAVEL: FANTASY ISLANDS

Flee the freeze by jetting off to a tropical paradise. These private-island resorts will wrap you in the warmth you've been missing back home. But be warned: bliss doesn't come cheap.