Hair matters: Women addressing hair-loss issues

Kimberley McGee

Tuesday, May 22, 2001 | 9:08 a.m.

After the birth of her first child in 1976, Susan noticed chunks of her long, light-brown hair clumped in her brush.

She thought the hair loss was normal and would eventually stop. Her days were busy taking care of her newborn son and keeping house at her North Las Vegas home.

Within months Susan's scalp began to peek through her once-thick hair.

She was 32.

"It was a nightmare," said Susan, who requested that her last name not be published.

At the time of Susan's struggles, hair loss was strictly a man's problem. There was no name for what she had at least none that she knew of and knew no women who had experienced such dramatic hair loss.

"When it first falls out it is very scary," Susan said. "It's devastating."

Her family was concerned. Was her hair loss a symptom of something more serious? Would her hair grow back?

"I felt like a freak," Susan said. "I didn't know why my hair fell out."

Her hair loss posed no health risk, but psychologically it was torturous.

She discreetly purchased a wig to wear to social outings. As her hair continued to thin, Susan wore the wig for daily tasks, such as shopping, answering her front door or retrieving the morning paper from her driveway.

For 25 years she wore the wig through Las Vegas' hot summers and windy winters.

"It was uncomfortable, and everyone knew what was going on," Susan said. "I didn't have a choice." To the surprise of many women, Susan's condition is not uncommon, said Vicki Kalabokes, CEO of the National Alopecia Areata Foundation.

One in four women suffer from alopecia, which is the thinning of hair or complete hair loss. Thinning hair is triggered by stress, malnutrition, thyroid problems, menopause or genetics.

The fallout from the condition is life-altering, Kalabokes said.

"Women feel they are losing their identity," she said. "You look in the mirror every morning and you see this person. When this person looks different because there is no hair, it's very hard."

The NAAF offers support groups for women, most of whom are suffering silently.

"(Women) think they are dying at first," Kalabokes said. "Once they know they aren't dying and they know what it is, then they are trying to find cosmetic solutions so that they can function in today's world. It's awful."

Follicle fears

No one knows exactly why alopecia occurs, said Dr. Robert Strimling, a Las Vegas dermatologist. He treats 30 women a month who suffer from some form of alopecia.

The average woman loses up to 100 hairs a day, Strimling said, most of which regenerate naturally. With alopecia, there is at least a 25-percent loss of hair, typically on the crown of the head.

The loss is not usually noticed until the hair is noticeably thinning, which is several months after it has already begun to fall out.

"We don't know why it just falls out with stress," Strimling said. "The hair follicles go through a resting cycle and for whatever reason they usually get stimulated and grow again."

About 85 percent of hair follicles are in the growing phase at one time. The follicles open to grow the hair and close to rest. Sometimes they simply don't open again.

Stress-induced hair loss is almost always temporary. However, it can take three to six months for hair to grow back, Strimling said.

"We don't know specifically what causes that, but basically hair follicles are being turned off by the body," Strimling said.

Women's hair tends to thin on the top of the scalp, Strimling said. Women usually won't get a receding hair line, as men do, or become completely bald.

The fairly common loss of hair due to stress, childbirth or other life situations is rarely discussed among women, Strimling said.

"A lot of the women I see didn't know they could lose hair," Strimling said. "They are shocked and surprised."

Men reach out for hair restoration options more often than women, Strimling said, because it's simply more acceptable.

Usually women seek a doctor after their hair has visibly thinned. Most have tried several over-the-counter medications such as Nioxin, Strimling said, but were unsatisfied by slow or no progress.

The topical hair-restoration medicine Rogaine recently started marketing toward women after a 1996 survey found 40 percent of women by age 40 will have suffered from some hair loss, said Mary Faraji, director of public affairs for Pharmacia Consumer Healthcare, which developed Rogaine.

"For women there's a much higher degree of concern," Faraji said. "They are much more worried about the outcome of hair loss."

Women are more apt to be embarrassed to admit they are losing their hair, Faraji said, and a lot more emotional about the situation.

"We want them to understand that this is a natural process and they can do something about it," Faraji said.

Rogaine has a 2-percent solution of Minoxidil in its formula for women, compared with 5 percent for men. The topical medicine is applied twice a day for as long as needed. The formula prolongs the growth cycle of the hair follicle so that hair grows longer and thicker, Faraji said.

"It's unacceptable socially for women to lose their hair," she said. "It makes them insecure, anxious. They don't feel confident throughout the whole day."

Style solution

In the last few years Susan educated herself about alopecia and ditched the wig for a more up-to-date alternative.

Twice a month she spends two hours at the A HairE Addition beauty parlor to have natural hair weaved into her thinning crown.

"It feels like your own hair," Susan said.

So much so that her boyfriend has no idea her hair is not her own. She can run to the grocery store without fixing her hair and perform other simple tasks that, years before, were social obstacles.

"I can do anything," Susan said. "It's exhilarating."

Most days Susan goes about her day without much thought of her thinning hair, which once consumed her.

"I feel good now," Susan said. "But when I go to have it redone I have to face reality."

Frances, who also requested her last name not be used, was tired of facing the mirror each morning.

Frances began losing her hair in her late 30s. Now retired and single after the death of her husband three years ago, Frances no longer wanted to carry the shame and anger of her significant hair loss.

"I was too embarrassed to tell anyone my hair was falling out," Frances said.

The women in her family pride themselves on their thick hair. Frances felt ashamed of her thinning tresses.

She tried over-the-counter products off and on through the years and wore her brunette locks in elaborate styles to compensate for her thinning hair.

"I would shave my head and go bald, if that was OK," Frances said. "But it's not OK, is it?"

She recently began researching hair loss on the Internet. Putting a name to her condition was a relief, but not completely. She wanted a solution.

For Mother's Day last year, Frances' daughter took her to a salon to have her hair weaved.

It was liberating.

"I can brush my hair now and go out and no one can tell," Frances said. "It's so much more normal."

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