PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a novel polysaccharide and a novel polysaccharide that has an excellent hair-growing action.SOLUTION: Provided are: a polysaccharide or parachlorella-derived extracellular polysaccharide in which the saccharide residue of the polysaccharide basic structure is composed of at least galactose and mannose, and there is present a furanose type in said galactose a hair-matrix cell proliferation enhancing agent, FGF-7 production promoting agent, VEGF production promoting agent, hair-growth agent, melanin production inhibiting agent, whitening agent and skin external agent containing a polysaccharide or parachlorella-derived extracellular polysaccharide in which the saccharide residue of the polysaccharide basic structure is composed of at least galactose and mannose, and there is present a furanose type in said galactose and a polysaccharide production method by heterotrophically culturing a parachlorella genus unicellular algae or a variant in a carbon source-containing culture medium under an aerobic condition and collecting the produced polysaccharide.SELECTED DRAWING: None
