We just finished reading the thoughts of a South African hair consultant pointing to local cultural issues as causing widespread hair loss problems for women.
A Local View On Hair Loss
According to Lucy Okpoko, a hair consultant working out of the Ruutos Hair Salon in South Africa, her contemporaries are experiencing a slightly different form of hair loss to women in the rest of the world. The problem is widespread and affects the hairlines of women sufferers, unlike typical female pattern balding which tends to affect the top of the head along a line where a center parting might be… but usually starts behind the hairline.
Lucy, speaking to the SABC, the state broadcaster, at the 2017 Rand Show in Johannesburg, did not hesitate to identify the underlying problems causing this untypical hair loss. Laziness, ignorance and keeping hairstyles for too long are all to blame. “We black women lose our hair because we always plait our hair. In Caucasian and Indian communities hair loss is more on the crown area and it is caused by a lot of blow drying. So everybody suffers from hair loss”
Root Causes
She goes on to point at the improper use of hairdressing equipment, flat irons and dryers are damaging to hair, adding that the styles of hair that result in the hair being pulled, heavy extensions and braiding for example, are also adding to instances of alopecia, particularly along the hairline. She also tells us “When women wear weaves or have cornrows on they forget to moisturize. If you don’t moisturize your edges and you leave them dry, and sometimes we like touching our hair with dry hands and we end up breaking our hair”.
The good news is that everything Lucy describes is fixable. Simply by reading this article you will have been working on your ignorance of the subject. As for the laziness, well if you are going to take the condition of your hair seriously you are going to need to step up to the plate and take better care of it. Changing your hairstyle to one which involves pulling on the hair should only be done on the advice of an experienced hairdresser to check that it is an appropriate style for you. Even if it is, it is probably advisable to only wear it this way for a short period to avoid long term damage. We recommend you click here to see the original article, it contains a link to a video which offers to educate you on how to moisturize your hair.
HIS Hair Clinic
We see articles on traction alopecia (the medical term for this type of hair loss) in the media from time to time, when it affected UK celebrity Katie Price she was furious and took to social media to vent. Most of course will keep their problem, quite literally, under wraps. It is an issue for women of any color who wear their hair in styles that pull.
For the record, we would take issue with Lucy’s assertion that hair loss for women in the Caucasian and Indian communities is caused by blow-drying. While it is possible to damage your hair by with a hairdryer, the hair loss she describes is typical hereditary female hair loss.
If you would like to discuss your personal hair loss issues with one of our friendly team of experts then simply complete the contact form at the side of this page to get the ball rolling on a free consultation. Alternatively, click here to find your nearest clinic.
