27/10/2007 15:24 - (SA)
The bald and the beautiful
Every man wishes they were bold, but going bald is every man's nightmare, writes NONZWAKAZI CEKETE.
TRY mentioning to any man that their hairline is retiring and watch their reaction – the temperature will definitely rise, tempers will flare and their unforgiving nature unleashed.
All this because they are convinced hair loss is a sign of ageing and women won’t give them the time of day if they spot a receding hairline.
But, believe it or not, even though balding men were perceived as older or less physically and socially attractive in the past, more women now find bald men attractive.
“It’s very sexy and to a certain extent a sign of maturity,” says Imraan Said-Atibu, who has been balding for seven years.
“In the past, bald people were given unkind names like ‘stadium’ because of the typical horseshoe pattern. “There were also myths that if you were bald you would become rich, but chicks would still never look at you. But that has all changed. The balder the better,” he says.
But Nhlakanipho Kortjass whose hairline is slowly disappearing says there no such thing.
“A balding man is not sexy at all. All balding does is make you look old and ugly. There is nothing as frustrating as looking in the mirror and seeing your hairline exposed,” he says.
When Said-Atibu first realised he was losing his hair he couldn’t live with the idea but says he is now embracing it.
“Nothing much has changed about me. I’m still the same old person I was, only with a natural make-over,” he laughs. He says he had to welcome the change because he had no power over it.
“My father is bald, I’m bald and so is my brother. It’s a family affair,” he jokes.
Clearly, in his case, baldness is hereditary.
This is one of a number of factors that hair expert Dr Larry Gershowitz cites as a cause for hair loss.
“There are a number of factors that can cause balding, including hereditary stress, illness, surgery, medication and treatments such as chemotherapy, blood thinners, excessive doses of vitamin A and diseases like diabetes.”
Although balding is predominant in men, it can also affect women.
But the diagnosis in men is usually more obvious. The hair on the front of the head starts thinning, later the top of the head joins the party. Eventually the thinning in the front joins up with the thinning on the top and then all is lost.
“There can be exceptions to this, with some men showing no frontal recession but only thinning on the top,” says Dr Gershowitz. He says the male-pattern hair loss, medically known as androgenetic alopecia, is the most common type in men and affects about 40% of men by the age of 40.
“Most cases start between the ages of 15 and 25 years. The loss of 50 to 100 hairs a day can be considered normal, but more than that is abnormal,” he says.
“I knew something was going on when I’d comb my hair and most of it would be left on the comb and I’d have a patch to deal with,” says Said-Atibu.
“Common balding in men is the result of hair follicles getting smaller and it’s also known as a process of miniaturisation in the scalp.
“A man can inherit this either from his mother’s or his father’s side of the family,” says Gershowitz.
He says the hair follicles are genetically programmed to stop producing long, thick, pigmented hair.
He says the hair follicles on the side of the head are not affected and this is why common balding is called male-pattern hair loss.
Gershowitz says men with male pattern hair loss have increased levels of a hormone called dihydrotestosterone in the scalp. “It contributes to the thinning of the hair and the normal hair growth cycle is disrupted,” he says.
But new hair will always give you a new attitude.
Two decades ago, little could be done from a medical perspective to help men losing their hair, but there are a number of hair-growth products and services today that claim to be effective.
Doctors can prescribe treatments to prevent further hair loss and, in some cases, help the hair regrow. “The earlier you start a treatment the more hair you have to keep,” says Gershowitz.
Laser therapy is also recommended. Hair replacement and regrowth company Advanced Hair Studio offers a six-month treatment programme using a range of products and laser stimulation to help hair regrow, especially in the case of hair loss in its earlier phases.
Advanced Hair Studio also offers a “painless” non-surgical method of strand-by-strand hair replacement using “an ultra-thin membrane catering for those in the advanced stages of hair loss”.
You can swim, run or play sport with total freedom and confidence after the procedure, says the company.
Advanced laser therapy includes the latest in laser-beam technology with a scalp and follicle treatment programme.
This six-month treatment programme includes 28 laser sessions and a range of products used in conjunction with the laser. There are no known side effects.
But if therapy is not for you, then adopting “behavioural coping mechanisms like changing your hairstyle or growing a beard or moustache may work for you,” says Gershowitz.
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