Female Hair Loss – Another taboo subject

Like most women, I am a little vain when it comes to my hair. I keep it long, colour it a lighter shade of blonde on a regular basis, and generally swing and toss it about as much as possible for effect. I really can’t begin to understand how it would feel like to lose my hair – I know I would be devastated. And yet, this is more common that we think…or at least talk about.

Female hair loss can be caused by a whole host of reasons. Hair can thin and fall out during pregnancy, through stress and trauma, or through Alopecia. Sometimes hair falls out and then grows back, but sometimes it doesn’t return at all. Some women embrace the baldness. Others wear wigs, or interesting scarves and hats. Some even solve the problem permanently with a hair transplant, which are offered by the Harley Street Hair Clinic. The most popular sort is the FUE hair transplant, which is a non- invasive procedure using your own donor hairs (from your neck generally). The FUE transplant gives the hair a very good chance of growing back, and is a real solution for those who feel they cannot live with the hair loss.

Female hair loss is something that, ultimately, we still don’t really talk about unless it it unavoidable (I’m thinking Gail Porter). I can illustrate this with a story of my own. Last night I happened to mention to my mom that I was putting a post together about female hair loss, commenting that whereas this is openly discussed with men (with the likes of Elton John, Wayne Rooney and James Nesbitt being amongst the most famous celebrities to have some sort of transplant/procedure.) it is still a subject not much discussed in regards to women. My mom agreed and then proceeded to tell me that when I was very young my nan had lost much of her hair, albeit temporarily.

My nan was always a glamorous woman, one who wouldn’t leave the house without lipstick, and this had been a horrifying time for her. My mom explained that nan had surgery for her foot that had complications, and had then developed diabetes. This had caused a period of real stress for my nan, which had seen her hair fall out in clumps. My mom continued that my nan had literally worn a hat everywhere, both inside and outside of the house, even with her own family, she was that upset and ashamed by this.

I was shocked, I had been very close to my nan, and yet had no idea about this episode in her life. I guess this explains exactly what I mean by a ‘taboo’ subject, hopefully one day this will change and we will feel able to be more honest and open about something that affects so many women.

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