Researchers at Yokohama National University managed to grow hair on mice with the help of dimethylpolysiloxane - a substance used in oil to fry potatoes.

But their discovery led to many people asking them how many french fries they should eat to grow their hair back, forcing researchers to clarify.

"No matter how many fried potatoes you eat, you'll never grow more hair. That's a total misunderstanding that's gone viral," lead researcher Junji Fukuda said.

The research published in the Biomaterials newspaper this month, is being considered a scientific breakthrough.

"Up until now we've only been able to produce a few dozen hair follicle germs at a time, but with this new technology we've developed a simple method to produce hundreds and thousands," Mr Fukuda said.

He also said that the team received many serious inquiries from researchers and people seeking hair-regenerative medicine to offer their cells to test and develop the research.