Fantasia Salon / Spa and Wig Specialists

 A couple weeks ago I wrote “Bald is Beautiful” about a “guy” organization touting the virtues of the bald head.  Now I’ve come across one for the gals.  Cute title for their organization, it’s “Bald Girls Do Lunch” and is based out of New York.

Bald Girls Do Lunch is a non-profit organization, bring women with alopecia together.  According to the founder, Thea Chassin, women yearn to get together and say “I have alopecia -so what!”  The key to living happily is talking openly and feeling in control.  Family and friends mean well, but it’s a relief to talk to someone like yourself who understands the challenges.

According to Chassin, when everyone at the table shares the same condition, strong bonds and self-esteem are built.  The lively discussions cover situations as wide ranging as dating, business meetings, alternatives to wigs and physical activities.  But, the overall goal of the group is promoting individual choice and comfort.  Women of all ages adorned with wigs and hats come to the events and some even debut their bald look.

Bald Girl events are gaining momentum nationwide.  In 28 cities and 14 states, women have gotten together for support by breaking down the taboos surrounding female baldness.  Meeting in public helps counter the belief that every bald woman has cancer, Chassin believes.

Although unable to grow or sustain hair on their scalps and sometimes even eye brows  and eyelashes, people with alopecia areata are actually in good health.

Alopecia areata affects men, women and children of all ages.

Approximately 5 million people in the US are affected.  Characterized by smooth, round bald patches, it can progress to complete hair loss that includes all body hair.  Some treatments work for some people, but there is no cure.  Alopecia areata is highly unpredictable and may have a genetic predisposition.  It can appear at any time of life.

When Thea Chassin, the founder of Bald Girls Do Lunch, saw that women crave fun and stimulating chats over coffee or lunch to share information, she created the uplifting, women-only format for conquering feelings of alone-ness.  For more information about the disease or the organization, visit  www.baldgirlsdolunch.org

We have talked about Alopecia. The word means “loss of hair” or “hair loss” or “baldness”. There are several different causes and patterns of alopecia. The exact number of people affected by alopecia areata is unknown, but estimates are between 1 in 1000 to 2 in 100 people being affected at some point in their life. Alopecia can occur at any age but most cases develop first in teens and children. In about 6 in 10 cases the first patch of hair loss develops before the age of 20. Males and females are equally affected.

The symptoms typically start with one or more bald patches appearing to the scalp. Usually they are round in shape and about the size of a large coin. They develop quite quickly. Sometimes a relative, friend or hairstylist may be the first person to notice. Other than the bald patch or patches, the scalp usually looks healthy and there is no scarring. Sometimes there is mild redness, mild scaling, mild burning or a slight itchy feeling on the bald patches. When a patch first develops, it’s difficult to predict how it’s going to progress. The following are the ain ways it may progress.

Very often the bald patch or patches re-grow hair within a few months. If the hair grows back it may not have its normal color at first and can look grey or white for a while. Eventually the normal color will return after several months.

Sometimes one or more bald patches develop a few weeks after the first one. Sometimes the first bald patch is re-growing hair while a new patch is developing. It then appears as if small bald patches rotate around different areas of the scalp over time.

Sometimes several small bald patches develop and merge into a larger bad area.

Patches of body hair, beard, eyebrows or eyelashes may be affected in some cases.

Large bald patches develop in some people, some lose all their scalp hair. This is called alopecia totalis.

In some cases, all scalp hair, body hair, beard, eyebrows and eyelashes are lost. This is called alopecia universalis.

In about 1 in 5 cases, the fingernails can become ridged or pitted.

If you have alopecia areata, you also have a slightly higher than average chance of developing other auto-immune diseases such as thyroid disorders, pernicious anemia and vitiligo. However, it is important to stress that most people with alopecia do not develop any of these other conditions, so don’t panic. In our next visit, we’ll talk about some of the treatments for alopecia.

Trichotillomania is a very misunderstood condition.  It is compulsive pulling of the hair, typically as a symptom of various anxiety related conditions, including obsessive compulsive disorder or OCD.  People with trichotillomania often end up with patches of short hair, bald patches and or thinning hair.  This condition can create a destructive cycle of shame and embarrassment, which, only lead to more hair pulling.

Between 1 to 2 of every 50 people suffer from trichotillomania.  Most will never tell their friends, family or significant other due to the embarrassment associated with this compulsion.  Most of the sufferers will never come into a hair salon because of shame.  Most color and cut their own hair at home.

Some salons who have worked with clients with trichotillomania, have some definite ideas as to how to work with these people.  Charlene Blacer, owner of The Secret Mane Salon in Pennsylvania, says she never shaves a client’s hair as, she insists, this only defeats the purpose.  Blacer has extensive knowledge of the disorder.  She has a reputation for returning her client’s hair back to a state of health and vitality.

Blacer says “I determine which hairpiece will work for a client’s individual needs.  Once their own hair starts to grow in, I may change the piece or they can upgrade to hair extensions, or use the piece as a clip in.  My work is amazing, and no one can tell it’s a hair piece.”

This is a great commentary on Blacer’s work and hopefully, any good salon working with hair loss issues would be able to say the same thing -that no one can tell it’s a hair piece.

Hats off to Blacer who has also formed a non-profit organization, Help Me 2 Stop (the website is:  www.HelpMe2Stop.org)  The purpose of her organizationis to help people suffering from Trichotillomania who do not have the financial resources to be able to restore their hair back to health.

Hopefully with salons like Blacer’s working with people with this disorder, helping them to restore their hair, we can bring more of an understanding to a very misunderstood condition.