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!

New guides in development

A number of new guides to hair loss treatments will shortly be available at Hair Loss Heaven, starting with information on DHT inhibitors scheduled for the middle of next month. I hope visitors will find the new info useful, keep an eye on this blog or the HLH newsfeed for further announcements.

It's a miracle!

OK, not exactly a miracle - my hair hasn't grown back - but a brave soul has finally ventured into the forums and decided to tell his hair loss story. "Korny", stand up and take a bow!

Now that the ice has been well and truly broken, why don't you join us too?

LIPH gene may cause inherited hair loss

Scientists have discovered that the LIPH gene may cause some types of inherited hair loss. There are a lot of news outlets covering this story at the moment but here's a link to the CBS story.

Thanks, Ron!

A quick thank you to Ron for providing some additional information and correcting some errors in the "How Hair Transplants Work" article (now updated). If anyone else has any suggestions for improving any other articles, or would like to submit their own, please get in touch. Thanks!

Eyelash transplants

I just finished reading an article in The Sydney Morning Herald about the next big craze in hair restoration - eyelash transplants! Now, apparently they've been around for a while for people who have lost their eyelashes through accident or illness but now it's becoming fashionable to have the procedure. I was a little discouraged by the last few lines, though:

he [the physician] warned that if the hair grew in the wrong direction it could scratch the eyeball and potentially lead to an ulcer and even blindness.

Hmmmmm, OK, lemme think about it...

Worst bald joke ever?

What do you call a bunch of bunnies hopping backwards?

A receding hare line.

EARN $5 FOR POSTING YOUR HAIR LOSS STORY!

I had no idea how difficult people would find it to share their hair loss experiences when I set up the site so I'm going to try a little experiment. If you post at least 300 words to the "Tell Your Story" forum I'll send $5 to your PayPal account as a thank you. I reckon $5 is about the cost of a beer (or whatever you usually drink) which is what I would buy you anyway in person. This offer is limited to the first 20 people to post and open only to those with PayPal accounts. I hope that this will kick start the forums and encourage more people to post in the future (thanks to Jim for suggesting the idea!)

Stranger on a train

The first time I really realised how bald I was happened while visiting the bathroom on a train from London to Newcastle (don't worry, no parental guidance necessary). I'd just closed and locked the door when I happened to notice a very bald man about two feet away in the same cubicle! That was the first shock. The second, even less welcome, came when I realised that due to the positioning of the mirrors in the bathroom what I was really looking at was the back of my own head! For some reason although I'd accepted my baldness from a frontal perspective I'd never realised how bald (or how old) I looked from the rear...