Thursday, January 18, 2007
Dear Crabby:
Ever since I hit 50, my hair has been coming out in handfuls! I am so freaked out. What should I do?
Signed, Baldilocks
Dear Baldi:
Well, I wish I could urge you to celebrate the end of $50 haircuts and $100 highlights, but I know how we women feel about our hair. It’s terribly traumatic to find your scalp making a personal appearance on a daily basis. The first thing you need to do is see your health care provider. With a thorough history, exam, and a blood test, she can tell you if this might be due to a thyroid condition, a fungus, or overuse of certain hair products and tools. (Put down the straightening irons, girls, your follicles have declared war!) If this is not the case, one is usually referred on to a dermatologist for help.
Some women, unfortunately, do develop thinning hair, or even the equivalent of male-pattern baldness after menopause — this is unfair on so many levels, I can’t even discuss it!
Your dermatologist may recommend some helpful products. Wigs are also a solution, but frankly, in the meantime, perhaps we should stop our obsessive focus on long, luxurious hair, and look to our role models — Natalie Portman in “V for Vendetta,” Demi Moore in “GI Jane,” Sigourney Weaver in “Aliens III,” and that beautiful, bald, and oh-so-crazy Sinéad O'Connor. They reduced their beauty regimen to the bare minimum and looked fabulous doing it. But maybe you should lay off tearing up a photo of the Pope. Just a suggestion.
Comments
Theresa (anonymous) says...
How common is this, really? I remember my hair falling out shortly after giving birth but it was short lived. How much does the average woman have to worry about thinning hair?
January 18, 2007 at 10:47 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
amazonratz (anonymous) says...
This website, (link below, copy and paste into your browser) which is quite reputable, lists up to 50% of women losing hair by age 50. Rather a--er, hair-raising figure. But this kind of falls under the category of "don't worry about it 'til it happens to you." So here's hoping for healthy locks for both of us. And you are correct, many women have thicker hair during pregnancy and lose it after. This does not portend future hair loss! Thanks for reading! Signed, Crabby
http://www.aad.org/aad/Newsroom/Hair+Los...
January 23, 2007 at 10:06 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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