In another thread the top experts here (including
@That Guy ) agreed that it is highly unlikely something will actually come out (be released as a product) in less than 5-10 years. So sit and wait.
Small corrections:
I do think something will come out in the next few years, depending on its capabilities and individual situations, it could even be a functional cure for many — but when I say this, I don't mean hair cloning.
However, while I also think that legitimate hair multiplication and bio-printing could reasonably be achieved before long and Tsuji could perhaps meet their 2020 timeline, it's also extraordinarily unlikely that most will be able to afford it or even be able to receive it and this is all based on
their words; not mine. Other teams developing that technology aren't nearly as far along as Riken.
Based on that, and how long it's taken other cosmetic technologies like Lasik to drop in price and become a routine procedure, I'd say that somewhere between
5 - 15 years post release is a reasonable estimate before the average Joe could get it done.
We know that Shiseido's treatment will have at least the efficacy of stopping hairloss (
presently observed to be indefinitely) with some regrowth and it should be out either next year or 2019 given the Japanese laws and their current trial status.
We can also know that, given the scientific precedence and Puretech's willingness to pour money over a decade now to put Follica through Phase III soon, that it must grow more hair than what one would typically see from conventional treatments — it has to in order to justify its funding and release, and there is no reason to believe it couldn't.
If it didn't, they would have shelved it by now. Wounding neo-genesis and cellular injections are, as far as I'm concerned, the practical hope before I'd be like 40 years old. There are a couple of wildcards out there, but I'm not putting much faith in them.