Fateful Interventions

I have this good friend who went through an insanely stressful year. He had personal issues and lost his job and was generally in a stage of his life when he'd lost control and couldn't get things together for himself. Besides for the obvious stresses that his circumstances put him under, he also (not quite suddenly) but certainly quite quickly began to notice a definite thinning of hair on his pate. He sat down with me one day and told me that he'd had such a rough year he'd asked himself what else could possibly go wrong. At this point it should be pointed out to all those in a similar position to NEVER tempt fate by wondering what else could possibly go wrong - I think you'll find that the Fates have sense of humour that not everybody would appreciate.

Back to my friend, after a while things started getting better for him - he managed to sort out his personal issues, found a new job and things were beginning to look generally better and brighter for him. And here's the thing: after about a month or so of getting his life back on track, he noticed that his hair had started thickening again. And if it hadn't seen it for myself I truly wouldn't have believed it. But there it is: incontrovertible proof (albeit of the anecdotal variety) that stress can lead to hairloss. A pointed reminder not to put dealing with things off... lest the Fates decide to start pulling things out.

Who’s afraid of the big bad baldie?

There is a word to describe the fear of becoming bald. That word is phalacrophobia. And as much as I find silly the whole concept of being genuinely (as in waking up in a cold sweat) afraid of becoming bald; given the socio-cultural connotations of baldness, I can at least understand the rationale behind this fear. There is a sense, and I’m not justifying it in any way, that you may lose out if you’re bald. So I can understand this phalacrophobia word. But there is another word. A word that I find harder to accept. That word is peladophobia, and it refers to the fear of bald people. But I fail to understand the source of this fear. How does somebody become afraid of bald people? We don’t’ run around chasing little kids vowing to eat them if we catch them. We just don’t. People don’t take one look at my bald head and run away screaming for dear life. They just don’t. So the only logical conclusion I can come to is that peladophia is no more than a lexical invention. I don’t believe in it - I just don’t.

Collective Blindness

There was a touching story on the mirror.co.uk’s website last year about a little girl, Nikkita Gibson, that lost all her hair to alopecia at about 18 months of age. In it Nikkita’s mum Louise (herself bald as a result of alopecia) often refers to the fact that people constantly mistake Nikkita for a boy or if not, ask her whether she is suffering from cancer. It’s amazing to note how many people have never even heard of alopecia, and even more so how constructed social identify can be, i.e. little girls should have long hair. The very same kind of thinking applies when people perceive bald men or women to be older than they really are because baldness is associated with age. While we can accept the fact that for as long there is baldness, there will be a social view of baldness, we needn’t accept this particular view of baldness. The trick is to help people remover their blinkers.

Mind the gap

MedicineNet.com ran an article in May this year entitled: Low Iron Could Help Spur Baldness. In it they reported on research undertaken by the Cleveland Clinic to review scientific literature, published over the past 40 years, pertaining to the link between iron deficiency and hair loss. Their conclusion? Their review of the data suggests there may be a link, and that further research is required, as the doctors don’t fully understand “the relationship between iron deficiency and hair loss”. My conclusion? My review of the article suggests there may be a story, but further reporting is required. This reporter clearly doesn’t understand the hope we sufferers of hair loss pin on new research, nor the sting of having our hopes dashed once more when nothing materialises.

The baldness of a head begins at the temples

I was trawling the net looking for different cultural perspectives on baldness, when I came across the following Zulu proverb:

Inkqayi ingena ngenlontlo

for which the literal translation is "The baldness of a head begins at the temples."

This proverb that expresses the idea that big things may result from a seemingly small matter is usually said in defense of small beginnings, and it's roughly the equivalent of the English proverb "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." It's refreshing to see a different cultural take on hair loss that links the negative onset of baldness with a greater positive change. So the next time you suggest a great idea to your boss and they say it will take too long to implement, go ahead and tell them: "The baldness of a head begins at the temples". Inkqayi ingena ngenlontlo. Baby steps...

Massaging proteins

Physorg.com reports that scientists at the University of Manchester in the UK have managed to hyperactivate a 'hair protein' in embryonic mice that resulted in "young with considerably more fur [produced] than normal." During human development, skin cells have the ability to turn into different types of cells such as hair follicles or sweat glands. The team of scientists discovered that the transformation of these cells into hair follicles is determined by only three proteins produced by our genes, which they were subsequently able to manipulate in embryonic mice. These findings, though not directly linked to male-pattern baldness, should nonetheless fill in some crucial knowledge gaps for pharmaceutical companies developing treatments for baldness.

Time to Smile

The following one-page website is chicken soup for the bald soul. But before you run off to sneak a peak, take a moment to put aside all your daily troubles – fear not, they will be there when you return. Take a deep breath, and exhale the frustration of the daily grind in one short, sharp gust. Now inhale the gentle soul that resides within you. Exhale all the deadlines. Inhale all the good times. Exhale stress mode. Inhale sweet calm. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Feel the stress take off, feel the calm come in. There. Now click and smile. Much better.