B*ld-faced lie

There is a little war raging between etymologists on the internet regarding whether the expression that refers to lying should read bald-faced lie or bold-faced lie. Proponents of bald-faced lie argue along the lines that this refers to a lie that makes no effort to conceal itself - hence it is bald or not covered up. Advocates of bold-faced lie suggest that the expression refers to the lack of shame with which the lie is told- hence it is bold or brazen. This often-acrimonious debate rages on as we speak without any clear sign of a victor in sight. Heated though this debate may be, I personally don’t intend to lose any hair over it.

Scale of Dread

The Norwood-Hamilton Hair Loss Scale is dreadful. It is dreadful because it takes progressive hair loss, breaks it down into categories, and then summarises it into an easy-to-read wall-mountable chart. It is also dreadful because:

- It makes no reference at all to the denial experienced in stage 2, as in: “Oh my God, this isn’t happening to me.”

- It completely ignores the anger experienced in Stage 3, as in: “What the %^%@ are you looking at?”

- It neglects to mention the desperate bargaining experienced in Stage 4 as in: “Dear God, you know I’ve never asked you for anything before…”

- It totally skips the depression that sets in by Stage 5, as in: “Stuff like this always happens to me.”

- And it cannot begin to summarise the bitter acceptance of Stages 6 & 7, as in: “I suppose it’s not the end of the world.”

Solution to overcome the Scale of Dread: print it out and colour it in using brightly coloured crayons - do not bother trying to colour within the lines. Now paste it on your wall and smile as your remind yourself that while in some cases hair loss may be inevitable, in all cases the way you deal with it is not.

Bald on the 11th of July

The website baldrus.com is lobbying for the 11th of July to become the first Annual International Bald Holiday and are encouraging all bald people everywhere to exert all possible influence to help get this Holiday recognised. They have a manifesto that includes burning hairpieces, flushing hair-growth potions down the toilet, and donating testosterone to people with hair. If you ask me, it all sounds a little bit crazy. But then I remembered that in the sixties and seventies there was this little rights movement (you may remember it) that burned bras, took birth control potions and donated free love to all in need. 11th of July? I’m pencilling it in as we speak.

43things.com

The other day, I stumbled across a great website called 43things.com that encourages people to write down their goals (up to 43 of them to be precise). It also gives users an opportunity to hook up with other people that share the same goals, and in this manner 43things.com functions pretty much like a communal blog. What's nice is that if you like what someone has had to say about their particular goal or if you just want to encourage them along, you get to give them a cheer - 43things.com's equivalent of a pat on the back.

One person's stated goal is to find other people with Alopecia Universalis and there have indeed been some awesome responses to his call for Alopecians to unite - particularly from women. The most recent blog is from a 15 year-old girl struggling particularly because of her age to deal with hair loss. Her brave blog reminded me just how acutely image-conscious kids of a school-going age can be, and how difficult it is to fit in at the best of times. Though I recognise that we may not have a cure for her Alopecia, there is however a cure for her feelings of loneliness. So go ahead, log in, and give the girl a cheer.

New guide to DHT Inhibitors published at Hair Loss Heaven

A new guide to DHT Inhibitors has been published at Hair Loss Heaven and can be found here. Dihydrotestosterone (DHT) inhibitors - the best known of which is probably Propecia - are used to reduce the damaging effect which DHT has on hair follicles, often leading to baldness.

Happy New Year!

A very happy New Year to all our members and visitors!

2007 figures to be a big year for Hair Loss Heaven - we hope you'll join us.

Best wishes,

Mac

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!