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  If your hair begins to fall out, creating small patches of baldness around the size of a 10p coin then it is likely that you are suffering from ...

  Did you know that hair loss was a natural part of your hair growth cycle? Loosing between 100 – 150 hair strands a day is healthy because it give...

  Wearing protective wigs is becoming increasingly popular in the black community, especially amongst those making the transition from relaxed to ...

Have you noticed thinning around your middle parting, increased thinning around it and excessive shedding every time you wash or comb your hair? Then the chances are you could be suffering from Female Pattern Baldness.

My research into Afro hair loss was piqued when my Aunt confided in me about a thinning section of hair in the centre of her scalp that had eventually turned into baldness. I didn’t understand how this had happened and neither did she but we were both distressed about it. My Aunt exhausted what she thought would be a solution to her hair loss, so she visited a hair clinic to receive treatment but this was not effective. Frustrated and disappointed, my Aunt then tried the doctor who diagnosed her with Central Centrifugal Cicatricial Alopecia (CCCA) but the treatment she received had disappointing results. 

A study of black hair products by the Silent Springs Institute has uncovered that 80% of the most popular hair care products for black women and children contain toxic parabens that cause cancer, infertility obesity and hair loss.

Hair loss can have a devastating effect on your emotional well being and self-esteem. The trauma and psychological stress caused by hair loss is rarely acknowledged or taken seriously, especially for women, because there is a general lack of awareness of hair loss in females. Society typically accepts the inevitability of male baldness but fails to acknowledge that women can also suffer from the same plight.

There is no denying that hair loss is an awful experience for both men and women. When you lose your hair you are loosing a function of your body that is used to cultivate your image, so when your hair goes, it can throw your life into crisis and grief. Part of you that was once there is now missing, so it is likely that when you experience hair loss you will go through the five stages of grief:

Loosing your hair sucks because it’s a reminder that you’re getting older. Unfortunately, over 50% of men over the age of 50 will be affected by a form of hair loss known as Male Pattern Baldness (MPB). So that means that 50% of the male population will be condemned to a semi bald or bald existence by the time we get to 50.

Reflecting on my ‘hair history’ I realised that nothing I was advised to do in the past had worked long term. Why was this, I thought? Then it dawned on me, maybe my hair falls out or doesn’t grow very quickly because I don’t actually know the science behind Afro hair. If I educate myself about the scientific mechanics of Afro hair, then I can learn to care for my hair the right way and get the results I want – long, beautiful hair that doesn’t break. So, I thought I would share one of the gems I discovered whilst researching the science of our Afro hair...

The chat, whilst growing up in the African American community, was about avoiding washing your hair at all costs. Firstly, if natural, our hair was considered completely unmanageable and adding water to the mix only made it worse. Also Afro hair is prone to shrinkage when water is applied, which we didn't think was the best look, all the women I knew wanted long flowing 'in the wind' hair like everyone else. My sisters and their friends and would put towels on their heads pretending it was long hair, such was their desire. Also we are constantly told that water strips our hair of all of its moisture. Lastly, with all the conditioners and treatments that my sisters and their friends have to apply to their hair after shampooing makes the entire process an ordeal that can take at least half a day, or an entire day if they went to the hairdressers! No wonder they avoided washing their hair lol.

I began to question the rationale, white women wash their hair, it would seem daily and their hair was long? What was up with that? I know we have different textured hair, but surely 'hair' is 'hair', like 'skin' is 'skin'? So I went on a quest to find out, 'how frequently should black folk wash their hair?'. Then, as if an answer to prayer...

Infrequent Shampooing Afro hair is fragile, dry and fine. Because Afro hair is fine, it needs to be washed at lease once a week with ProTress ENER...