Season's Greetings!

So, another Christmas in the bag and if you're anything like me plenty of New Year's resolutions regarding weight loss coming up very shortly. Looking towards next year as far as Hair Loss Heaven is concerned, we feel as though the foundations have been laid and 2007 is the year we really start to build. That's going to be a two pronged strategy with content being developed in-house but also a much greater emphasis than previously on submissions from our members and visitors (after all, you're the experts.) More news on that in the New Year but until then, enjoy the holidays!

Hair Loss Drug Could Mask Prostate Cancer

Worrying news from the States emerged last week when it was announced that Propecia lowers the reading on the PSA prostate cancer screening test. PSA — prostate-specific antigen — is a marker given off by prostate cells and can be an indication of prostate cancer. If you're taking (or considering taking) Propecia do a search on Google News for more information, there's fairly widespread coverage at the moment.

Hair loss frown-and-smileys

One of the things that really irritate me when I research hair loss is all those “before and after” pictures that the cynical admen use to get us to buy their products. I like to call them frown-and-smileys because they feature side-by-side portrait pictures of a man or woman in which the “before” picture shows the subject bald and frowning, and the “after” picture depicts the subject sporting a full head of hair and smiling like they’re high on nitrous oxide or something. The subliminal message being sent out to all prospective buyers is that hair equals glad and bald equals sad, deliberately lowering self-esteem and creating a desire to purchase. Chances of this particular marketing strategy changing anytime soon? Next to nothing. But sometimes just pointing out that the king is wearing no clothes is enough to dispel the illusion.

Scots TV presenter winning battle with hair loss

Great to hear that Gail Porter is winning the fight against alopecia. Here's an extract from a local newspaper:

SHE has fought anorexia, post-natal depression and the break-up of her marriage, and now Gail Porter seems to be winning the greatest battle she has faced so far.

Yesterday, the 35-year-old TV presenter from Portobello in Edinburgh confirmed that a year after she went bald due to alopecia, her hair is growing back.

"It's been coming back for about four months," she told The Scotsman. "I was in Africa a few weeks ago with a charity, and when I got back about 70 per cent of my hair had grown back. Now, I've got literally 80 per cent of it back, and just four bald spots, that's it. It's the best it's ever been."

I watched a programme about Gail a few months back and thought she was amazing - good on you girl!