The Hair Loss Cure, Revised Edition - How To Treat Alopecia and Thinning Hair (PDFDrive)

HOW TO TREAT
ALOPECIA AND I
THINNING HAIR I
ft
ELIZABETH STEEL
- 1
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in 2018 with funding from
Kahle/Austin Foundation
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HAIR LOSS
How to treat alopecia

and thinning hair
Elizabeth Steel
Unooln Park Public libiQit

13S1 Soutbiiold, RA
Lincoln Park. MI 48148
Thorsons
An Imprint of Yi^-rptrCoWmsPuhlishers
While the author of this work has made
every effort to ensure that the information
contained in this book is as accurate and up
to date as possible at the time of
publication, medical and pharmaceutical
knowledge is constantly changing and the
application of it to particular circumstances
depends on many factors. Therefore it is
recommended that readers always consult
a qualified medical specialist for individual advice. This book should
not be used as an alternative to seeking specialist medical advice,
which should be sought before any action is taken. The author and
publishers cannot be held responsible for any errors and omissions
that may be found in the text, or any actions that may be taken by a
reader as a result of any reliance on the information contained in the
text, which is taken entirely at the reader's own risk.
Thorsons
An Imprint of HarperCollinsPwbZisbers
77-85 Fulham Palace Road,
Hammersmith, London W6 8JB
First published by Thorsons 1988

Revised edition published 1995
This revised edition published 1999
10 987654321
©Wendy Jones 1988, 1995, 1999

Elizabeth Steel asserts the moral right to
be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book
is available from the British Library
ISBN 0 7225 3829 4
Printed and bound in Great Britain by

Creative Print and Design (Wales), Ebbw Vale
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be

reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted,
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior
permission of the publishers.
Contents
About the author 4

Acknowledgement 7
Introduction 8
I Why?
1 When I Lost My Hair 31
2 What Causes Alopecia Areata? 45
3 What Causes Alopecia Androgenetica? 66
II Victims
4 When It Happens to a Woman 83
5 When It Happens to a Man 112
6 When It Happens to a Child 127
7 When It Happens to Those Who Are Single 143
III Treatments
8 The Great Alternative: Getting Your Own Back 167
9 What Medical Treatments Are Available? 190
10 What About Surgery? 214
11 Hair Loss and Your Diet 219
12 Are You Sure You Have Alopecia? 228
13 The Future: What Hope Is There? 233
14 When Hair Grows Back 241
Postscript 245
References 249
Index 251
Elizabeth Steel writes from bitter experience. She lost her hair through
scalp disease and found that she was not alone . . . that it was happen¬
ing to thousands of others.
She founded Hairline International, The Alopecia Patients' Society, as
a self-help network for those who have lost - or are losing - their hair.
After eight years in wigs and headscarves, her hair grew back. Other
alopecia sufferers, she says, can be equally fortunate.
Elizabeth Steel is the pen name of Wendy Jones, the former Midlands
TV presenter and producer.
Hairline International can be contacted for advice and information at

the following addresses:
Hairline International - The Alopecia Patients' Society

Lyons Court
1668 High Street
Knowle, West Midlands
B93 OLY
(Please enclose A4 size SAE.)
or
3 9082 07588 0123
Wayside House
191 Station Lane
Lapworth
Solihull, West Midlands
B94 6JG
(Please enclose A4 size SAE.)
A lay organization for alopecia sufferers has long been
needed in view of the general ignorance surrounding
many types of hair loss - a field in which anxiety and fear
can be profound and in which many pseudo-scientific
experts abound, often with little more than financial
motives.
Elizabeth Steel deserves enormous credit for attempt¬
ing to fill this medical void. She has solicited advice from
a great array of medical and scientific experts and lis¬
tened with the utmost patience and understanding to the
problems of hundreds of sufferers. One hopes that this
succinct book will in some way be a help to the very
many individuals who suffer from alopecia.
Dr Rodney Dawher, MA, MB, Ch.B., FRCP
Consultant Dermatologist, John Radcliffe Hospital and
clinieal lecturer, Oxford
Loss of hair can cause profound emotional difficulties.

I have long felt that such a patient society would help suf¬
ferers of hair-growth disorders, particularly alopecia
areata.
Dr Andrew G. Messenger, MD, MB, B.Se., MRCP
Consultant Dermatologist, Royal Hallamshire Hospital,
Sheffield
There can be few more distressing situations in life than

finding that you are suddenly losing your hair. To dis¬
cover there is little by way of effective treatment and that
6 The Hair Loss Cure
the ultimate prognosis depends more on fate than med¬

ical intervention is enough to make even the most
resilient of characters somewhat despondent.
In such situations the support of others who have been
down the same road and the availability of a ready supply
of information on current treatments and research is an
essential support service. Hairline is therefore a long
overdue concept and one which will, I am sure, have the
enthusiastic support of doctors and alopecia sufferers.
Dr John D. Wilkinson, MB, MRCP
Consultant Dermatologist, Wycombe General Hospital,
High Wycombe
'A very readable and useful book.' Nursing Standard

'Both informative and emotionally reassuring.' Essentials
'Terrific little book' TV Times
Acknowledgement
This book could not have been written without the sup¬
port and guidance of many doctors. I hope they will
accept that some criticisms apply not to the individual
specialist so much as to the system, and I thank them for
all they have done to make this book possible.
Introduction
My hair has grown back. Only five words, but the sweetest
I have ever written. Words I once thought I would never
write.
For when I lost my hair I thought I was bald for life.
Today my hair is often a mess: casual to the point of
untidiness and frequently in need of a blow-wave. Not an
object of great beauty. But hair is there, growing in the
normal way. I am so happy to see it!
Not a big deal to anyone else. But to me: stunning! To
lose my hair was hell. To have hair again ... well, it really
is heaven! I am ridiculously pleased.
I am also very lucky. Millions of women are losing
their hair today and many are not regrowing it.
The Two Main Types of Hair Loss
Hair loss can be bewildering because there are several

different types. Basically they can be divided into two
groups: the scalp disease alopecia areata, and the thin¬
ning hair of alopecia androgenetica. Both cause misery
and heartache.
• Alopecia androgenetica - the 'male pattern bald¬

ness' which has always plagued older men and to
some extent also older women. But it now happens
in many younger women.
Introduction 9
• Thinning hair now affects more than one-third of all

older women and, more worryingly, one in eight of
all younger women.
• Alopecia areata - the scalp disease which starts
suddenly in patches and can become total. More
men and women now face this severe and fright¬
ening loss. A leading American epidemiologist
says that it now affects at least one in 100, and he
predicts far more over the next five decades.
Thinning Hair (Alopecia Androgenetica)

IN Women
More women now have the female version of 'male pat¬

tern baldness.' Alopecia androgenetica in a man usually
appears as receding temples with perhaps a bald patch
on the crown; in a woman as diffuse thinning throughout
the scalp.
Thinning hair in women is a hormonal, hereditary
condition caused by a genetic predisposition and totally
different from the scalp disease alopecia areata.
When there is hair loss, there is frequently also a back¬
ground of illness, weight loss, nutritional deficiency or
thyroid problems. Fluctuating levels of the male hor¬
mones, the androgens, which women have in their bodies
just as men do though in smaller amounts, can act as a
trigger to alopecia androgenetica.
Whether the condition shows itself or not is down to
the vital triggers in our lifestyle which can kick-start it
into action. Medical interference with hormones is fre¬
quently to blame. In younger women the culprit is often
the progestogen content of the contraceptive pill, or of

hormones taken to prevent premenstrual syndrome or to
combat infertility.
If the hormonal balance tips too much towards the
androgens, women lose their hair.
Why Is There a Rise in the Number of Cases?
The culprits are the progestogens, a synthetic version of

the natural hormone progesterone. They contain the
male hormone testosterone and are components of most
versions of both the contraceptive Pill and Hormone
Replacement Therapy (HRT).
It is this progestogen ingredient which can tip a
woman's hormonal balance too heavily towards the
androgens. One progestogen, norethisterone, contains
more testosterone than any of the other progestogens
used in the Pill and HRT
Like men, many women inherit a genetic predisposi¬
tion to alopecia androgenetica - which can lie dormant
for years so that many people with that predisposition go
through life with a normal head of hair, never knowing
they were ever in any danger of hair loss!
The increase is happening as more women routinely
take the Pill and HRT, medications unheard of 50 years
ago. When the Pill was first put on the market some prob¬
lems including hair loss were suspected, as long ago as
1960.
But it was hardly a brilliant sales pitch to tell women
that, alongside all the benefits of taking the Pill, they
could also develop:
Introduction 11
• acne vulgaris and come out in skin blemishes!

• hirsuities and grow hair on their faces or on other
areas of the body where they did not want it!
• baldness due to alopecia androgenetica!
Today's hormonal medications are having a 'triggering'

effect and more women are suffering from 'see-through'
hair, where the scalp is clearly visible beneath a layer of
sparsely growing hair.
Julie, 31, had shoulder-length dark hair which began to thin dramatically
soon after she stopped taking a progestogen-only contraceptive pill. She
says, 'I find myself counting my lost hairs every day! There are hairs on
the furniture, falling on my clothes, even floating in the air!
'I know why I am obsessed with counting hairs. It is the only thing I
can do to give myself some control. It is so awful - I feel I'm behaving
like someone with an obsessional compulsive disease. My partner tells me
to stop counting as I will only get stressed. But I can't stop!
'I know my hair is thinner because I know how thick it used to be. I
feel ugly. Without all my hair I am not a real woman. I don't want to go
out -1 don't want to do anything until I look normal again.
'My partner and I were talking about planning our wedding for
December, but I am just putting everything off until my hair regrows.'
Julie is angry. 'Why don't doctors tell us that we may lose

our hair when we take the Pill? We don't know whether
we are genetically predisposed to thinning hair until
something goes wrong . . . Surely we should be warned!'
• Anna, 23, was horrified when her hair thinned

after she took prescribed tablets containing
the progestogen norethisterone. It was part of
medical treatment for endometriosis. 'I had

absolutely no idea how it would affect my hair/
she says.
• Jackie, 47, says 'My hair is so thin there is hardly
any left and it crumbles away like fairy dust. I
can't face going on holiday with the family and I
sit in my room all day and cry.'
• Patricia, 49, was taking a commonly prescribed
version of HRT but was worried as the progesto¬
gen it contained was making her hair thinner. 'I
knew I could be prescribed natural progesterone
- Cyclogest - instead of a progestogen component.
But I really did not want the inconvenience of hav¬
ing to use it as a suppository or pessary, which
was the only way to take it as it could not be
absorbed if taken by mouth.'
Thinning hair often starts at the same time as a woman

starts the Pill and can also happen, conversely, when she
stops. In older women, thinning frequently begins at the
time of the menopause, when hormone levels are fluctu¬
ating naturally in any case.
Work stress is another factor. Women in top jobs - bar¬
risters, teachers and women in industry - now report that
their hair is thinning. A headmistress told me: 'I dread
being on the platform on speech day, as all the parents
can sit and look at my thinning hair!'
Introduction 13
More Men Are Also Going Bald!
An increasing number of men also complain now about

hair loss. This may be due in part to the stresses of being a
'new man' with increasing responsibilities for child care.
Equally, it may be because men are now far less likely to
tolerate hair loss as they might have done in the past.
Hair Loss and Childbirth
Many women also suffer the 'human moult' hair loss

which can follow childbirth. Others can suffer the hair
loss caused by the stress of combining high-powered
careers with having children. Due to career and educa¬
tional pressures, more women postpone having a first
baby until their late thirties or early forties. They then
have a far greater chance that their hair will thin as a
result. Hair salons report an increase in older clients with
thinning hair following late babies. 'The hair is the most
vulnerable point of the body and, when there is stress,
the first thing to go,' says Alexa Goodman, who runs hair
and beauty salons in the West Midlands.
This increase in thinning hair comes at a time when
there are already more cases of alopecia areata, the mys¬
tery scalp disease which begins as a tiny bald patch and
which can become total baldness: a fast-acting and fright¬
ening disease.
Alopecia Areata
Alopecia areata strikes suddenly, without warning. It can

affect both sexes at any age. In some cases it develops
into loss of all scalp hair (alopecia totalis) or into the loss
of all body hair including that on the scalp (alopecia uni¬
versalis). It is estimated that about one-fifth of all cases
will go on to become alopecia universalis.
Alopecia areata - the words are taken from the Greek
meaning 'mangy fox' - appears suddenly and unexpectedly.
For the past 60 years this disease has been on the increase.
It now affects at least one in 100 people throughout the
world, according to an epidemiological study carried out in
Rochester, Minnesota, by leading American dermatologist
Professor Sigfrid A. Muller of the Mayo Clinic. He predicts
a similar increase over the next five decades.
When it happened to me it was first diagnosed as post¬
partum telogen effluvium: hair loss related to a recent
pregnancy. Then, by a consultant dermatologist, as clas¬
sic alopecia areata.
At that stage I did not care very much what they called
it. I just wanted my hair back. With 90 per cent of my hair
gone, I looked like something from outer space.
In alopecia areata some are lucky and the first bald
patch clears up quickly and never returns. This happens
in a third of cases. Others are unlucky and lose the lot.
The condition develops into alopecia totalis where all
scalp hair is lost, possibly along with the eyebrows and
eyelashes as well. A fifth of all cases become alopecia
universalis. And some people are just plagued by patchy
alopecia areata all their lives.
At the same time, fingernails often become pitted and
ridged. As a patient, you won't know why you have the
Introduction 15
disease. Neither, by and large, will your doctors. They

know the mechanism: that it is almost certainly an auto¬
immune disease in which some of the white blood cells -
the lymphocytes - overwork and attack the hair follicles
as though they were foreign bodies.
But scientists do not know enough about the vital trig¬
gers which cause it and, more important, how to stop it.
When It Happened to Me
when I lost my hair I felt totally alone and a complete

freak. I thought I was the only young woman in the world
to go bald, but a feature I wrote in Good Housekeeping and
a radio feature I did for BBC Radio Four's Woman's Hour
and the BBC World Service convinced me I was wrong.
Countless letters poured in, mainly from women in a
similar situation. Hair loss had isolated them, and caused
marital, social and psychological problems. One woman
of 25 had been a stunning nightclub dancer before losing
her hair. She confessed: There's never a week when I
don't consider suicide.' They wrote to me from the UK,
Europe, America, the Far East... even from remote areas
like Afghanistan and Ethiopia . . . All over the world
women were living in wigs or headscarves, terrified of
revealing their secret.
Men wrote that hair loss had shattered their confi¬
dence and wrecked their relationships. The moth-eaten
patches of alopecia areata had given them a slovenly
appearance. Or male pattern baldness, starting too soon,
had made them appear elderly before their time. Men
sent sketches of their bald patches and poured out their
hearts to me. They felt odd, different from other men.
• David, 32, blamed his baldness for the break up of

his marriage. Since his wife and small son had left
him he told me: d live alone now and there seems
no point in life.I seriously consider suicide all the
time.'
• A Midlands marketing man, in his early forties,
was found dead in his company car after a surgi¬
cal transplant failed to correct his hair loss. He
left a wife and two small children. He considered
himself a failure as a salesman because his bald¬
ness had made him look older and less attractive.
• Natalie, 27, a bright and ambitious personal assis¬
tant in the City of London, described first getting
alopecia areata as 'my first weeks of hell'.
• Anna, 24, a stunningly beautiful nurse, called off
her wedding.
• Ross, 45, a former army officer, felt his sex life was
finished.
• Hilary, sophisticated wife of a city industrialist,
spent thousands trying to get it back - only to lose
it in the shower of her Mediterranean villa.
• Joanne, 7, suddenly refused to wear dresses. She
felt like a boy.
• Sally, 18, tried to kill herself with alcohol and
drugs.
• And Duncan Goodhew, champion Olympic swim¬
mer, turned his total baldness to advantage.
Adversity either makes or breaks,' he says.
Hard enough to take when you are an adult. But worse for
a child!
Introduction 17
• Amanda, 10, couldn't bear the total loss of hair

which has been 'the most beautiful in the world'
... long, wavy, and never cut in 10 years! When she
lost it all, she painstakingly collected as many
hairs as she could find from around the house and
now treasures them in a special trinket box - just
to prove she once had hair!
• Peppi, 13, slashed her arm with a knife in the play¬
ground of her comprehensive school. Her scalp
hair has nearly all gone and other children were
playing games trying to knock off her wig.
• Joanne, aged 9, refused to wear party dresses after
she lost her hair. 'She will only wear shorts and a
sweat shirt,' says her mother. 'She has changed
from a pretty little girl to a complete tomboy'
• The parents of Laura, aged 13, were stunned by the
behaviour of a consultant. Says her father: 'He
glanced cursorily at her head and said "You're
going to have to wear a wig, aren't you!"' Laura's
mother, herself a hospital worker, was also upset.
'We were given no medication or advice as to how
a formerly attractive girl of 13 should be helped to
cope with baldness. Laura has twice been suicidal.'
These people have all lost their hair, rapidly and fright¬
eningly, through alopecia areata. This can happen to
anyone, male or female, at any age. It happened to me
when I was in my thirties and appearing on television for
a living.
When I lost my hair I was young and ambitious, driven
by both a highly motivated career in television journal¬
ism and a hectic family life. With the manic multiple
roles of most modern women, I had the newly acquired

right of all women to hold down two or three jobs instead
of one.
Unfortunately for me it all came at the wrong time - at
our transitional stage in society where feminists have
fought for so much and achieved women's right to self-
fulfilment - but before they have organized anyone else
to empty the trash cans and back them up at home!
Thus, like many women, I attempted to run my excit¬
ing career with rather an unsettling handicap: working
with one eye looking back worriedly to the chaos in the
kitchen and to the dangerous lack of supervision in the
nursery!
Having It All
I was rushing through life, seeing myself as some kind of
Superwoman. Combining a high-powered job with sexual
and domestic fulfilment. Just as they tell us we can in the
sleek magazines . . . but I found myself struggling with
the practical realities no one had told me about. Always
in a hurry, under pressure, desperate to meet deadlines,
never having enough time .. . then my hair fell out!
Let me make it dear. I did not lose just a

few hairs. I suffered massive, merdless
loss of hair which left only a tiny pigtail
of hair at the nape of my neck. Ninety per
cent of my hair was lost and I soon faced
the world with a shiny bald head. I was
only just in my thirties but I looked like
something from outer space. There was
every chance I would be bald for life.
Introduction 19
While my own hair loss produced the

shiny scalp of actual baldness, many other
women suffer alopeda androgenetica
where the scalp can be seen quite clearly
beneath a sparse and inadequate layer
of hair.
After losing my own hair I discovered the true extent

of this apparently minor condition. I saw so much suffer¬
ing caused by hair loss that I founded the UK alopecia
patients' society Hairline International. In the first three
years of its existence Hairline was called on to help no
fewer than 80,000 people who had lost or were losing
their hair. We also receive thousands of calls from other
parts of the world, and the organization now also sup¬
ports hair loss patients in 20 countries overseas.
If you have alopecia areata, you may at first get one or
two tiny bald patches on your scalp. These develop
quickly, so that you may lose all your hair in a week. You
are shocked, panic stricken, incredulous . . .
Of course you are. One minute you are taking your
hair for granted. Complaining, perhaps, that it is too dry,
too greasy or that your hairdresser has cut it too short.
Then Wham! For no reason you know of, your hair falls
out. The process may take six months or a day or two. It
can even happen overnight.
When you lose your hair, you feel immediately humil¬
iated. It destroys self-confidence. You see a different
person in the mirror. That unfamiliar hairless head - is
that mine?
How could anyone fancy such a pathetic bald freak? To
be attractive you need to feel at least a little enamoured of
yourself. When your hair goes and your self-esteem with

it, your self-image is shattered.
So, probably, is your sex life. Without hair, many peo¬
ple find that their first problem is sex. Their second
problem is sex. And their third problem is sex.
Baldness causes severe suffering in terms of broken
marriages, wrecked careers and ruined lives. Patients
turn to drink or drugs. There are suicides.
Sadly, to other people, baldness is still a joke. As the
victim, you too have to preserve your sense of humour
and accept that your wig will fall off in the street one day.
It happens to us all. As an adult you have to make an
effort to laugh at yourself But if you are 16 and on a big
date when the wig slips off-just when you need most to
impress . . . well! Baldness is one of those things that's
funny - to everyone else but you.
Through Hairline I have campaigned extensively for
the condition to be discussed at a less jokey level and for
hair loss patients' psychological suffering to be treated as
something more than mere anecdotal evidence.
Baldness is physically painless, often the subject of sit¬
com jokes and should not cause so much misery.
But it does. Baldness may not be life-threatening but it
is cruel. It robs young people of their looks, their career
hopes and frequently their life partner. It ploughs into
their lives like an army tank and destroys self-esteem. It
kicks them out of mainstream life just when they are
young and it matters most.
A recent Hairline survey revealed that more than 40
per cent of hair loss patients had seriously considered
suicide. That was our breakthrough. Soon afterwards a
leading university - the University of Wales - launched
its own clinical study on the level of psychological
Introduction 21
suffering caused by baldness. At last the problem was

being taken seriously.
To lose your hair ranks alongside bereavement and
divorce as a major life crisis.
If It Happens to You . . .
There are many ways to beat baldness. The best way is to

consult a hospital skin specialist, a consultant dermatol¬
ogist, who will prescribe medical treatment in the hopes
of bringing your hair back. Often, however, it is not as
easy as that. Many dermatologists do not offer any treat¬
ment on the grounds that your hair may well come back
of its own accord or that they do not wish to raise false
hopes.
• Serena, 32, is a young mother who started to lose

her hair three years ago. She says: 'My doctors
were just not interested. They offered me no treat¬
ment - just told me to go home and have a lovely
Christmas. When I cried in the surgery not one of
them had a word of sympathy or compassion.'
Until recently, many alopecia patients have reported that

specialists are have been little help, offering neither
counselling nor treatment. Often when treatment was
given, the regrown hair fell out again when the treatment
stopped.
Faced with this situation, it is hardly surprising that
some dermatologists have refused to go into lengthy dis¬
cussions on the condition. The cause is unknown, they
would tell us. So is the cure. Sometimes they have
relented and thrown in a few banalities such as 'Don't

worry', or 'You can buy some lovely wigs these days', or
'Try not to think about it too much.'
Doctors are, after all, human. Faced with a choice of
treatments which rarely work for a condition they don't
fully understand most human beings could be forgiven
for feeling threatened and inadequate - which I am sure
is how many dermatologists feel. At least, how they have
felt in the past few years. But fortunately things are look¬
ing up!
Can Medical Advances Help?
Doctors know how to suppress the immune system to

prevent it from rejecting transplanted organs such as
hearts and kidneys. Could these immuno-suppressive
drugs be used to prevent the immune system rejecting
the hair as foreign?
In theory yes, say dermatologists. But in practice they
doubt the advisability of prescribing them to be taken by
mouth, as any interference with the immune system
could lower resistance to infection and the patient could
become very ill. One of this group, azathioprine, is occa¬
sionally given orally when other treatment has failed,
but it has to be carefully monitored. One of the immuno¬
suppressive drugs, cyclosporine, is currently being tried
in a 10 per cent gel to be used topically - that is, applied
to the scalp. But results have been disappointing.
Introduction 23
Medical Treatments Have Improved
The good news in the UK is that a small group of derma¬

tologists with a genuine interest in alopecia is seriously
involved in research and treatment.
They try very hard to help the patient through the
trauma of hair loss.
Dr Andrew Messenger, Consultant Dermatologist at
Sheffield's Royal Hallamshire Hospital, sees his role as
'more than an administrator of treatments'. He recog¬
nizes the importance of talking with patients and helping
them through the many associated problems of hair loss.
So, the bad news is that more people are bald. The
good news is that medical treatment is much better, with
many pioneer treatments currently being introduced. In
the past few years the medical outlook has changed com¬
pletely, giving hair loss a new medical respectability. So
there is now an excellent chance that you will get medical
help to bring your hair back.
• Topical minoxidil (Regaine) - has been the first

pioneer. Originally a treatment for high blood
pressure, it is now a tried and tested medication
which can actually save your hair! According to
recent studies, standard formula Regaine has a 40
per cent success rate in treating alopecia androge-
netica and has recently been followed by the
launch of a stronger version containing 5 per cent
minoxidil which has achieved hair regrowth in 60
per cent of cases.
Forced on to the medical market by inspired pharmacists

who refused to accept that 'baldness cures' were tacky or
a commercial gimmick, the minoxidil success has been

followed by good news from other parts of the world.
• In Haifa, Israel, a woman dermatologist discov¬

ered Philial, an ointment which seemed to make
hair grow. At the time she was trying to find a
healing substance to close wounds. The ointment
is now undergoing clinical trials.
• In the US, finasteride, a treatment for the
enlarged male prostate, has been found to act as
an anti-androgen, blocking the effects of andro¬
gen. It is now available on prescription for hair
loss.
• In Bognor Regis, England, a botanist found that a
Greek herbal treatment called Squill was helping
hair to grow. Athens-born Elias Bouras spent
months trying to convince UK doctors that his
idea would work. Now at last he has acquired com¬
mercial backing and has launched a two-year
programme of clinical trials in leading British
hospitals.
• A dermatologist in Aberdeen is conducting clini¬
cal trials on alopecia patients with the essential
oils of aromatherapy to see whether they will
promote hair growth.
• Meanwhile, at a Leicestershire zoo, a chimpanzee
has had both his dermatitis and his baldness put
right by a herbal balm which is now being tried by
humans. And they say it works!
Introduction 25
A Three-pronged Attack
Although officially only for patients with alopecia andro-

genetica, minoxidil has been used successfully by some
dermatologists in treating more severe hair loss condi¬
tions such as extensive alopecia areata, alopecia totalis
and alopecia universalis. For these conditions minoxidil is
often combined with other treatments such as systemic
steroids (prednisolone), topical steroid creams and zinc.
There Has Never Been a Better Time to Be Bald
The chances of treatment and recovery are much

improved. Regaine (topical minoxidil), the first approved
medical treatment for hair loss, has become available
over the counter without a prescription. And now patients
can also buy its extra-strength version without seeing
a doctor.
You can also avail yourself of the many types of
complementary therapies, as outlined in Chapter 8 -
beautiful ways of feeling good without breaking the bank.
These treatments may not mean you grow hair again. But
they will make you feel confident, attractive and serene
enough to cope with almost anything.
In my struggle to get my hair back I made many mis¬
takes, trying many 'no hope' remedies which had little
chance of working. I was frequently dazzled by the vast
array of commercial products on offer. A sucker for the
hope of easy solutions sold by those with a vested inter¬
est. Who take advantage of the suddenly hairless and
vulnerable. Baldness is big business.
One of the first things I learned was to avoid the com¬
mercial 'clinic' of the High Street where it is so easy to
lose your money as well as your hair. But you are so

vulnerable when you lose it, that you will pay almost any¬
thing for the remote chance of getting it back.
Confirming What Kind of Hair Loss You

Suffer From
The normal level of 'hair fair in the average person is 70

to 140 hairs a day. We all lose this much, probably with¬
out noticing.
During its growth (anagen) phase, hair grows approx¬
imately half an inch a month. This phase lasts up to six
years with a short resting - or telogen - phase of about
three months when the hair is shed. Normally about 85
per cent of hair is in anagen and 15 per cent in telogen.
Apart from the two main types of hair loss discussed
earlier, there are a few other syndromes which can cause
hair thinning or loss:
• Telogen effluvium: Sometimes a traumatic event

such as childbirth, surgery or severe illness can
throw the normal hair cycle temporarily 'out of
sync' so that more hair than usual goes into the
resting phase and is shed. The resultant excessive
thinning occurs as a kind of 'human moult' and
can also happen as the result of sudden shock,
either emotional or physical.
• Scarring (cicatricial) alopecia: This is where the
hair has been damaged through an accident and
skin/hair follicles have suffered permanently. If
the follicles have suffered permanent damage
there is no hope of regrowth, but the patient can
Introduction 27
encourage healthy growth in the rest of the hair so

that the problem can be disguised.
• Hereditary/congenital alopecia: this is associated
with rare syndromes passed down in families.
• Traction or friction alopecia: This happens when
hair braids are pulled too tightly for pony tails and
chignons. It happens frequently in the Caribbean
where women love tightly braided styles. It also
occurs if rollers are pulled too tightly. A common
culprit is the elastic pony-tail band which cuts
into the hair.
• Hair loss caused by medical treatment: The drugs
used in chemotherapy treatment for cancer often
cause loss of hair. But health professionals who
once regarded this as unimportant have now real¬
ized that patients think that keeping their hair is
important.
The Hairline Survival Plan
when I founded Hairline International, many told me

qt's not so much Hairline, more like lifeline!'
It can be bliss to meet other people sharing the same
problems.
I remember finding myself enjoying a coffee with a
young woman whose long curly hair looked lush and
attractive. Only she - and I - knew that it was a wig. It was
a relief to speak honestly about our mutual problem.
Neither of us had ever met another woman 'in the same
boat' and soon we were able to discuss our 'hair' freely ~
even take off the wigs and compare notes! By the end of
the morning we were so high and elated we could have

been on gin and tonic - not coffee!
For me it was goodbye to those sneaky little glances at
myself in shop windows to check whether I looked like a
funny old woman in a wig. She looked terrific - I might
do the same.
Every time, through those early weeks, when I went to
see a new research project or met some hopeful health
professionals I would spread the news in my letters to
other members. This became the Hairline bulletin which
has brought hope to so many. We also launched the Hair
Trust, a national charity to raise funds for alopecia
research. The Trust's schools campaign has been in
touch with every UK school to encourage head teachers
to tell their pupils about alopecia and put an end to the
abuse of bald children in schools.
Most importantly, we have worked out a survival plan.
We may have to live with the condition, but there are
ways of coping so that you can look as good, and even
better than you ever did before. You don't believe me?
My survival plan is part of this book to help you
through every stage of the illness.
For too long we have all tried to hide it. We have been
inexplicably ashamed and humiliated. Terrified that peo¬
ple would laugh at us. But at last we are coming out of the
closet and talking openly about our baldness. Only good
can come of it.
When I Lost My Hair
'I feit such a freak . . . when it happened to me.'
I know now, since so many people have been in touch,

that I haven't suffered nearly as much as some, particu¬
larly the children, I know now that it's 'only hair', after
all. To lose it is by no means the end of the world, but at
the time you just don't know what's hit you. If this is the
way you are feeling at this moment my story may help.
The hairdresser prodded my hair and poked at the wet

strands with a tail comb. She said, 'I think you ought to
see a doctor. Just to put your mind at rest.'
So it began, my nightmare. On a May morning when
the sun beamed on the suburbs and my 15-month-old
daughter toddled with a teddy bear beside the basins.
Don't be ridiculous. Only men go bald, or very old
ladies in geriatric hospitals. Not me, a young woman -
well, comparatively young - with a hectic career as a free¬
lance writer and television journalist.
'Not the career boost I need,' I thought grimly.
My hair was long, dark and one of my greatest assets.
'Damn it all,' I thought crossly, 'I've spent a fortune on it,
over the years.' I was always at the hairdresser's. Everyone
said so. My family used to joke that if I ever went missing,
that was the place to find me. Hair had always been
important. In my career I had a legitimate reason to

keep it looking good, though it was doubtful whether my
appearances on screen justified the time and money I had
squandered all my life on shampoos, sets, tints and blow
waves.
Hair had become more than a vanity, almost an obses¬
sion. Faithfully, I had followed fashion, back-combed and
permed it - even on impulse bleached the whole lot
blonde. I could have understood if my hair had fallen out
then, but it had hung on happily through all that, amaz¬
ingly good-tempered.
My bookcase was a shrine to it. Family photographs
depicted the results of my many years under the drier.
The hair starred, long, dark and shining in all of them.
Formal, expertly waved, it fell on to bare brown shoul¬
ders above an evening dress. Dramatically, it was swept
back under a wide-brimmed hat at the church fete.
Shamelessly, it tried to outshine the bride at my best
friend's wedding, its ringlets cascading Pride and Preju¬
dice-style on to the pink tulle of my bridesmaid's dress.
'You'll laugh about this one day,' I told myself, as the
hairdresser busied herself with rollers and pins. 'You'll
look back on this as the day you thought you were going
bald. How silly!'
But I was. Within weeks I had lost all my hair, save for
a little tuft hanging on valiantly at the back. Hair fell out
steadily, heavily, on my pillow and dressing table, in the
shower, on the floor - everywhere. In a shop's fitting
room, I pulled off a dress and a great clump of hair with
it. Suddenly I saw my bare scalp in the mirror. Shiny,
gleaming under the spotlight, it was the stark rounded
shape of the Loch Ness monster's head.
'Alopecia areata', diagnosed my family doctor. Such a
pretty name. Its name was the only pretty thing about it.
When I Lost My Hair 33
'Probably telogen effluvium', he added, 'post-partum

alopecia, excessive hair fall after having a baby.'
I had expected the medical profession to know imme¬
diately what to do, to hand out a prescription and offer
treatment, as they had speedily dealt with all my ail¬
ments over the years. That was my first discovery.
FACT: Doctors Know Neither Cause Nor Cure.

'But I'm working next week,' I wailed at my doctor. 'I can't
appear on television looking like this!' The small patches
had spread purposefully. Indoors and out, I covered my
nearly bald head with a scarf The doctor smiled, wry
humour shielding him, as always, from the messy human¬
ity paraded daily in his surgery. 'Try your make-up
department,' he suggested.
But magic wands are not part of the standard equip¬
ment carried by TV make-up departments. Magic - or a
miracle - was the only thing which would have made my
hair sprout back where once it had grown. Angled bath¬
room mirrors confirmed that my hair had mostly
vanished - totally at the front, over the crown and leaving
only that tuft in the nape of my neck.
For a few weeks my skilful hairdresser managed to
spread the section at the back enough to cover the front!
'My Arthur Scargill style', I called it. This strange condi¬
tion had given me a new sympathy for the coal miners'
leader and all the politicians who struggle daily to dis¬
guise their bald pates in public.
I might just get away with it, I hoped, but the weather
was against me! The wind blew on the day I was to appear
again in a television show. In the 30 seconds it took me to
cross the road to the studios, my hairdresser's painstak¬
ing arrangement was destroyed. The studio monitor told
me what I already knew - that those pathetic little hairs.
no matter how carefully arranged, couldn't possibly hide

the bare scalp underneath.
It was hopeless. I tried to compose a letter to the tele¬
vision company but found it impossible. How did I ex¬
plain? d am afraid I have lost all my hair.' It sounded so
funny and begged the response: 'How very careless of
you.' I visualized the office staff, passing my letter around,
secretaries hiding it behind their word processors. 'I know
we shouldn't laugh, but have you heard .. ?' The smothered
guffaws, the guilty little giggles ...
FACT: Baldness is Funny to Everyone Else!

-
There are so many easy phrases which come as a natural

part of the language.
• 'Keep your hair on!'

• 'Tearing your hair out!'
• 'They're driving me hairless!'
I would just have to learn to take it, smile bravely at

laboured cracks about Kojak and Yul Brynner.
Friends tried to cheer me with sad little jokes. 'See you
at the party,' said my girlfriend, after I had told her about
it on the phone. 'I expect you'll be the one in the hat!'
'You'll look like a punk rocker,' predicted a cousin.
A late-night TV programme was enjoying a good laugh
on the subject. 'Does baldness really matter?' hooted the
girl reporter, her own hair thickly fringed and plentiful.
She was right. Baldness is a joke, if it is just the pre¬
dictable, slow loss a man usually gets. Receding temples
and disappearing crown - first sign of old age, a rueful
smile from him and a gentle joke from his wife! But when
baldness happens in the space of a week - or even a day

or two - to a young man or woman who is instantly an
'oddity' or, even worse, to a child, that's not much of a
joke at all.
My husband tried to be kind. 'It will probably do it the
world of good in the end,' he observed. Poor man, kind
and optimistic by nature. What could he say, faced with
the messy tears and rapidly balding head of his once pre¬
sentable bride?
I struggled with it daily at the dressing table, in a bed¬
room full of hair. It was everywhere, except on my head!
The family holiday in Majorca was a disaster. Daily I
rose at 5 a.m. to battle with heated rollers and the few
remaining strands of hair, but travelling in the family's
holiday Mini soon blew it away. My father had hired the
car to take us around the island. He was downcast when I
refused to get out to see the view from the top of a hill. I
had seen other tourists clambering out of cars and the
women's hair streaming in the wind!
Every evening I took ages with my 'hair' while the fam¬
ily downstairs grew impatient, waiting for me. Silly vain
woman, trying to look normal and disguise the head
which looked more like a boiled egg every day. 'Don't cry,'
said my husband, as tears of self-pit3^ flowed onto the
debris of hair lacquer, combs and rollers. 'When we get
back you'll go straight to the best specialist we can find,
no matter how much it costs.'
He was well meaning, but mistaken.
FACT: No Specialist can Guarantee to Make Hair Grow Again.

Over the years the dermatologists have tried many different
techniques, from ultraviolet light to steroids, but the chan¬
ces of success with any of these treatments is extremely
limited. In any case, as the hair often grows back of its own
accord, any apparent success is difficult to evaluate.
Back home, my doctor referred me to a consultant der¬
matologist. He predicted that my hair would probably
grow back 'in no time'. 'But you need to get your confi¬
dence back,' he said. Shrewd of him to notice that I, who
had always been so full of confidence - at least outwardly
- had lost it with my hair. Self-regard had slipped away in
those frightening few weeks. I felt diminished.
'I'll give you a prescription to get some financial help
with wigs,' he added. The situation took on its nightmare
quality again. I dreamed last night that I lost all my hair
and a doctor was prescribing wigs. Had it really come to
that? 'I don't know how you've managed without a wig for
so long,' he remarked.
I was still full of questions. Why should I - young,
healthy and female - suddenly lose my hair? The sixty-
four thousand dollar question remained unanswered.
The consultant was frank. 'Let's be honest. We don't
know. It could happen to anyone. I could wake up tomor¬
row with no hair' - a thought he clearly found unlikely.
My doctor had suggested that it might have been
brought on by childbirth - a theory the consultant dis¬
missed swiftly. 'What? Fifteen months later? Any hair
loss connected with birth would have cleared up again in
two or three months.' He shook his head, his eyes resting
irritably on my daughter, who was rattling the car keys I
had given her as a distraction.
'You have a classic case of alopecia areata. The Ameri¬
cans reckon it's all caused by stress.' He grinned. 'But
then, they blame stress for everything.'
I was beginning to get the impression that it was
some kind of mental crack-up but that no one liked to
tell me. 'Are you saying it's a nervous breakdown or

something?'
'No. As far as we know, this is an auto-immune disease.
The lymphocytes, which are part of the body's defence
mechanism and reject anything foreign, overwork and
reject the hair follicles. But we don't know what triggers
it. We can only surmise that it is worry, anxiety, stress.
These days, though, that idea is a bit out of fashion.'
FACT: Doctors Who Once Blamed Stress Now Question This Theory.
The dermatologist was looking at my scalp. 'Have you
noticed these tiny white hairs growing in some of the
patches, like soft down?' I confessed, 'That's probably my
hair's true colour now. I've been tinting it for years.' He
disagreed. 'It wouldn't be as white as this, not at your age.
It's part of the condition. The hair grows back without
pigmentation.' Hair turning white overnight! Hair drop¬
ping out! It wasn't real, more like a Victorian melodrama.
He could offer no treatment, only basic blood tests and
a health-service contribution towards wigs. I must return
to the hospital for these.
Black city centre, stormy July cloudbursts over the hospi¬

tal, rain saturating me and the baby as I hastened the
push-chair into the gloomy grey entrance. I queued with a
restless child in the skin clinic. I waited for the blood tests
which, according to my consultant, would almost cer¬
tainly eliminate thyroid deficiency or anaemia as the
cause. Then I trekked round bare-bricked corridors to find
the department labelled 'Appliances'.
It was empty. Tentatively, I approached two girl clerks
and asked for the appliance officer. To my surprise, they
laughed. I wondered why. Did they think I meant some
kind of sexual appliance? Sobering, they offered advice.

'You'll just have to wait. She's probably on the wards.'
I sat down, heavy with the burden of being a nuisance.
Soon the baby would be hungry for her tea. Dismally, I
decided I should think myself lucky I wasn't queuing up
for a wooden leg.
If I had been in need of an artificial limb the appliance
officer would probably have been more sympathetic.
Even-tually, she stomped in, stout and scathing. I had no
right, said her narrowing eyes, to be taking up a consul¬
tant's time with such trivia.
'Date of birth,' she barked across the office, then
repeated the figures at a similar pitch. 'And you want a
wig?' Her voice was loud enough to reach every corner of
the hospital.
Humble before her, I was silent. 'Right, all you people
out there,' I thought savagely. 'Now you know. I'm not
only very old, I'm bald as well.'
She flourished a form. '£90, please.' I flinched. I had
assumed I was getting wigs on the National Health Ser¬
vice and it hadn't occurred to me to bring a cheque book.
The appliance officer thought I was objecting to the
amount. 'It's only a small contribution towards the real
cost,' she pointed out. 'A genuine hair wig would cost you
over £200 if you were paying the full price.'
I started to ransack my purse, then stopped. 'I don't
have to have two wigs, though. Can't I just take one?'
Her patience, clearly, had worn thin, in years of coping
with an ungrateful public. 'I suppose you could, but what
will you do when it wants cleaning?'
'Well, the doctor says my own hair will soon grow
again.' She didn't say 'Hah', but she thought it, I could
tell. She had presumably heard such nonsense before.
My optimism must have appeared pathetic. With a swift

stroke of her pen, she brought the conversation to a close.
'Just one wig then. That will be £45.'
Outside it was still raining. I would have telephoned
my husband for a lift but the hospital telephone box had
been vandalized. In the end, I ran, with the push-chair, to
take refuge in his office, four blocks away. When he asked
how 1 had fared, and I started to tell him, I found to my
dismay that I was tired and drab and practically in tears.
They had told me, these experts, that 'real human hair'
wigs were the best, the most expensive, would appear
most 'natural'. Respecting their expertise, 1 duly took my
hospital prescription form to the wigmaker named.
The director of the firm was young, although the
description of his company - makers of high-class wigs
and postiche - had a quaint and elderly ring to it. This
man was thirtyish, slim-suited, trousers taut over muscu¬
lar thighs. He was gentle. Would 1 mind removing my
scarf? He spoke softly, as though he knew it was like ask¬
ing me to strip.
I fumbled clumsily with the scarf, so that he could mea¬
sure the ugly, bare scalp. As my headscarf slipped to the
floor, his expression changed. When he looked at me now,
the mild approval 1 usually saw in male eyes had gone.
This man had only one thing on his mind now: pity. Poor
chap. With no hair and a huge expanse of moth-eaten
scalp, I obviously looked like something from outer space.
I wanted to show him a photograph taken a few weeks
before. 'Hey, look, this is the real me!' I felt apologetic,
uncharacteristically humble.
FACT: Bald People no Longer Feel Attractive. Their Self-Image Too

Often Goes Down the Drain With Their Hair.
My real hair wig cost me and the National Health Service
between us over £200. It took two months to make,
needed as much hairdressing attention as natural hair
and had to be sent away to be chemically cleaned. If I had
been skilful with it, it would no doubt have been ideal but
when I arranged it, I bore a close resemblance to a Buck¬
ingham Palace guards-man. It ended up discarded at the
back of the wardrobe.
My hairdresser bought me a pretty headscarf for my
birthday. That's when you've really hit trouble, I thought,
when your hairdresser buys you a scarf! Being a friend as
well as a hairdresser, she marched me off to the nearest
department store, where acrylic wigs were displayed in
the middle of the ground floor. Surrounded by shoppers,
I was aware of being noticed. Several knew me as a
regional television presenter; a few nudged each other to
point out 'what's-her-name on the telly'. Usually I didn't
mind, enjoying my small local fame, but today I defi¬
nitely did not want to be recognized.
A pretty young assistant, with tactlessly flowing locks
of her own, yanked my scarf off in full view of - it seemed
to me - most of the world. She crammed on my head a
thick mass of 'mod acrylic' curls.
'Beautiful', declared my hairdresser. 'Washable at
home,' said the assistant. Lightweight, fashionable, practi¬
cal for holidays ... I hardly looked at myself in the mirror.
I felt like Danny La Rue in drag, as if the entire population
was in the store, laughing at me. 'You can even wash it in
washing-up liquid,' the salesgirl was enthusing. I wasn't
listening, just thinking of myself as 'that funny old
woman who wears a wig!' I wanted to escape, quickly.
I paid for it, without looking at any other styles, and

rushed out. My friend had tried to persuade me to 'go
home in it', so I squashed it under a scarf and hoped to
get home before I met anyone I knew.
Once home, I pushed the acrylic wig, with the first one,
into the back of the wardrobe. A disgraceful waste of
money. Hysterical behaviour. Too right.
FACT: To a Bald Woman a Wig is a Prosthesis not a Fashion Accessory.

Wig manufacturers have for too long ignored the embar¬
rassment of bald female customers trying on wigs in the
middle of the ground floor of a crowded store. Now at last
they are improving their service and offering a curtained-
off dressing cubicle. They are also offering postal sales.
But I didn't know that then.
Back into scarves I went, more or less round the clock.
But you can't wear a headscarf forever. After about six
months I returned to the store and was lucky enough to
find another - more sympathetic - salesgirl. No hard sell
this time. Quietly spoken and tactful, she found me a corner
in the staff cloakroom where I could try on wigs in peace.
This one looked good, better than my own hair had
ever done. I was so pleased with it. I left the store wearing
it, admiring my reflection in shop windows.
With such newly found 'glamour' I was even confident
enough to go back to the studios. But no light is brighter,
no lens more ruthlessly truthful than in television. The
TV camera never lies, except to add a couple of stones in
weight to anyone foolish enough to stand in front of it. It
would have been much easier to get away with a wig if I
had been appearing on the stage. In the live theatre,
Leichner make-up lines are harder and colours more gar¬
ish. The stage is a long way from the audience. Television
close-ups are really close. You can't disguise one single

hair slipping out of place. So what chance did I have of
fooling the viewers? I had no choice, however. Who can
afford to sit at home moping indefinitely in a headscarf?
So back I went and appeared weekly, bewigged, before
10 million viewers. I did not mention it on the pro¬
gramme. 'Let them think you've got a sudden penchant
for wigs,' said my best friend. 'After all, half of the actors
in Dallas and lots of people in the English soap operas
are wearing wigs. Why not you?'
If the viewers spotted it, they weren't rude enough to
say so, not directly anyway. A few people quizzed the
programme secretary. There was usually a question
they had been dying to ask and did she mind . . . they
weren't being rude . . . but was my hair false? That was
the pattern. People asked my workmates, they rarely put
the question to me.
I soon realized that my colleagues also knew. Their
silence confirmed it. No one ever mentioned hair any
more. No one said, 'Your hair looks nice' or 'Your hair
looks a mess!' At first I kidded myself that no one would
notice but their silence said: 'We're not stupid.' They knew.
Outside the studios, I could easily tell when people sus¬
pected. In the middle of a conversation their 'eye line' -
the line of direct eye-contact - would be raised to the top
of my head, then they would quickly, guiltily, look back
into my eyes. Just a flicker, but it revealed that they knew,
though nothing was ever said.
At home, convinced that my husband would never find
me attractive again, I took to wearing wigs permanently,
even in bed. Pathetic, really, I suppose. I looked so revolt¬
ing with my moth-eaten bald head that it was only kind to
both of us to hide it as much as possible. But wigs are hot
and sticky. Many a night I would be scuttling down the

landing to take it off and fumble for a scarf It didn't do
the wigs much good either. They got tangled and matted,
but I felt better.
Sent home by the dermatologist in the vague hope that
my hair would grow back of its own accord, I could only
attempt to be patient - but I was lonely and couldn't find
a support group. So I wrote my magazine feature and
listed the horrors of alopecia areata.
• You are suddenly a freak, more a monster from

outer space than a normal person. You've lost not
only your hair but your eyelashes and eyebrows
as well.
• Many doctors seem embarrassed and helpless.
They are much happier treating the patients they
know how to help than those who are suffering
from an ailment which many consider 'purely
vanity'.
• No one knows whether you will be bald for life. In
a third of cases the hair does grow back sponta¬
neously, but you can only hope you are going to
be one of the lucky ones.
• Baldness is funny, a joke to everyone but you.
• You feel inexplicably ashamed and spend your life
hiding your head.
• You get the impression from everyone around you
that it is in some way your own fault. You are 'hys¬
terical'. You are 'imagining things'.
• You are an unnecessary burden on the hospitals,
where staff ought to be treating those who are
really sick.
• You are a bit odd, peculiar, different.

• You are on your own. It has never happened to
anyone else. That's how I felt. But there, as it
turned out, I was wrong.
What Causes ALopeda Areata?
1 was not alone . . . far from it!'
I had received many letters after my magazine feature

appeared but I was unprepared for the avalanche of mail
which came in after my programme for BBC Radio Four's
Woman's Hour. All the letters came from people desper¬
ate for help. They wrote of lives disrupted by baldness.
Wives described hiding their patchy or completely bald
scalps, even from their husbands. A pretty 'blonde' from
the Home Counties told me, 'I hide my wigs from both
my husband and my daughter. It is an effort but I'm sure
they don't know.' Male sufferers were equally unhappy.
Robert, a bank executive whose alopecia started when he was a child in

Canada, said: 7 know I look ndiculous. People laugh when they see me.
They try to smother their amusement and giggle behind their hands.
Some think I'm wearing a wig because I'm a punk rocker.
'A middle aged woman was whispenng in the street the other day. She
and her daughter were behind me on a crossing. I usually put up with
this sort of thing and don't say anything, but this time I turned around
and said to the mother: "Perhaps you'll lose your hair one day!"'
Clare's letter was an urgent appeal for help. 7 am in my thirties and have
suddenly lost most of my hair. I feel at a complete loss. My life has hod
to change. My social life has gone, along with my confidence and some
fnends. My husband and I feet it is putting a strain on our marnage and

Ifeel it's ail my children's fault as it only happened after they were born.
Why has this happened to me?'
There was that sixty-four thousand dollar question again.

When it first happens, this is the question we all ask.
Clare was obviously so upset that I found myself in the
car on the way to see her straight away.
She lived in a pretty new house in a Cotswold village.
It was the kind of family which might win a prize for
twentieth-century contentment: husband in a good pro¬
fessional post in the nearest town, two children. Clare was
a young woman of spirit, given to organizing community
events, caring for the village elderly and raising money
for playgroups. Her house had always had a welcome for
other people's children as well as her own ~ until now.
Suddenly Clare had stopped being sociable. She no longer
invited people to the house, often failed even to answer
the front door bell. Sometimes she screamed at the chil¬
dren. That day she had smacked her daughter, aged 3, too
hard. The child was crying; so was Clare.
'I feel that any minute I'm going to snap. I'm terrified
I'm going to become a baby-batterer. My husband comes
home and sees me going bananas and thinks I've really
gone mad.'
Eight weeks after the birth of her second child, a son,
her life had been torn apart. In the bath with her 3-year-
old daughter, she had been hurt when the child said, 'I
don't want to have a bath with you any more. Mummy.
There's too much hair in the water.'
It was true. Hair was falling out everywhere. Within a
few weeks the bald patches had spread, almost taking over
Clare's scalp. She felt strange. Something peculiar had
What Causes Alopecia Areata? 47
happened to her. She explained: 'When a man loses his hair

he can walk down the street and feel macho. When a
woman loses her hair - you look in the mirror and think
"My God, what on earth can I do?" You just don't feel
normal.'
Why Did It Happen To You?
Worrying about why it should have happened is one of

the worst things in those early days. As it is very unlikely
that anyone can give a satisfactory reason, I always
advise against wasting too much time brooding about
possible causes. Alopecia baffles even the experts, so it is
pretty pointless to try to work out why. It's rather like
asking 'Why did I catch flu?'
But some evidence is available. These are the clues I
received when I asked that important question, 'why?'
Is It a Symptom of Something More Serious?
Hair loss may possibly be caused by a major medical dis¬

order. The first thing a doctor will check is whether this
is likely in your case. Blood tests should establish
whether you are low on iron, possibly anaemic.
Hair loss may also be caused by a disorder of the thy¬
roid, the endocrine gland which controls the body's
metabolism through its secretion thyroxine, or it could
be related to other conditions, such as diabetes, heart dis¬
ease or disorders of the liver.
The chances are that all these conditions will be
quickly eliminated. Then you will be back with the
mystery. You are lucky enough to be perfectly healthy in

every other way. You have 'only' lost your hair. Why?
Is It Because Tm a Neurotic?
Am I the type of personality the doctors label 'hysteri¬

cal'? We all know the 'neurotic personality' - or think we
do! He or she may appear quite calm, but underneath
there is a mass of conflict and repression. This is a person
who is under stress and it has been suggested for many
years that stress causes the hair loss.
Over and over again, alopecia victims have told me:
'I'm sure the doctor thinks I'm neurotic.' Sarah, a hospi¬
tal worker who lost all her hair, said, 'My doctor just
dismissed me as "hysterical".'
For years it was the standard answer in alopecia. Stress
was such an easy explanation. Around the world, patients
sat humbly in doctors' surgeries and got the distinct
impression that he thought it was all in the mind. When it
first happened to me, I realized very quickly that, though
the medics were not actually saying so, they had a
strong feeling that I was 'unstable'. Surely I must be or
my hair wouldn't have fallen out! They were too kind, too
polite to voice it, but I could tell. There I was, in their
eyes, not only bald but bonkers! No wonder I didn't want
anyone to know.
Doctors used to be sure of the link between alopecia
and stress. It was well documented in the archives of
medical research. Or was it? It is only recently that the
medical profession has begun to question the link. If you
look closely at the 'evidence' for stress you find that it is
very flimsy indeed.
What Causes ALopeda Areata? 49
Until the 1950s, there were many reports from individ¬

ual doctors of alopecia apparently triggered by stress but
when psychiatrists tried to test this theory by using stan¬
dard psychiatric procedures, they found it very difficult
to prove. The 'evidence' depended on inconclusive
research into a tiny number of cases and was directly
contradicted and dismissed by an authoritative British
psychiatrist more than 30 years ago.
It boils down to this: You may have alopecia hut you are
probably no more hysterical than anybody else.
By the time you have done the rounds of the doctors
and dermatologists you will know by that look in their
eyes that they are wondering about your psychological
state. Just what flaw in your make-up has made you inca¬
pable of coping with life's normal care-load?
Your doctor may ask:
• Has there been any stress in your life recently?

• Have you recently had a life crisis, a family
bereavement, moved house or lost your job?
• Is your marriage happy?
• Are you a worrier, prone to fretting about the
smallest of problems (the kind of worrying that
psychiatrists label 'free-floating anxiety', where
your fears attach themselves to the nearest thing,
no matter how trivial)?
• Are you an achiever, desperate for success and
recognition, programmed from birth by ambi¬
tious parents?
If you answer yes to any of these questions, you may

be suffering from stress.
Stress is thought to affect the hair follicles. These

pouches contain the root of the hair and the papillae, the
vital capillaries linking the body's blood supply to each
growing strand of hair. It is thought that stress affects the
hair follicles by constricting the blood vessels which feed
them and so limiting their supply of oxygen.
Consultant dermatologist Dr Rodney Dawber of the
John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, co-author of the definitive
textbook on scalp disease, is one of the most distinguished
men in the field.^ He explains: 'Stress is an important factor
in some cases but in many it appears to play no part at all.'
Alopecia areata has, for many years, been considered a
trophoneurotic condition, a 'nervous' disorder only in that
the patient's system was failing to provide adequate nutri¬
tion to the hair follicles, a condition governed by nerves.
'Over the years,' says Dr Dawber, 'attempts have been
made to evaluate the role of stress in alopecia by using
standard psychiatric procedures. The results have been,
to say the least, contradictory' In 1955, an Italian
research team used standard psychiatric procedures to
show that over 90 per cent of patients with alopecia
areata were psychologically abnormal.^ Three years
later a British psychiatrist. Dr I. Macalpine studied 125
patients with this disorder and came to the conclusion
that emotional factors did not play a significant part.^
'Most of us working in the field would go along with Dr
Macalpine's report,' says Dr Dawber, 'but there are still
cases where emotional stress appears to have triggered
the first attack.'
Psychologists have suggested that people with alopecia
are the type who suffer feelings of inferiority and need
encouragement. The chances are that if they aren't feel¬
ing inferior and low-spirited before their hair falls out.
What Causes Alopeda Areata? 51
they certainly feel like this afterwards as a direct result of

this depressing and disfiguring disease.
If alopecia is an auto-immune disorder it is still possi¬
ble that it could be triggered by a period of stress. An
episode of alopecia would normally occur up to four
months afterwards. A complication is that if you suggest
to someone that they have been under stress, it is pretty
well certain they'll come up with some example. But
many people declare that they were perfectly happy at
the time it happened.
Barry, 29, who deschbes himseifas 'the eternal optimist, take-life-as-it-

comes kind of chap,' underwent a period of stress when he lost his job in
industry at a time when he had a new wife, a new mortgage and a new
baby on the way. He had heavy financial wornes. Finally his marnage
broke up in what he descnbes as a 'messy' divorce. Through that period,
his hair grew normally.
Now the trauma is over. He has a job and his life is stable again, but
he is rapidly losing his hair in the charactenstic patches of alopecia
areata.
'I can't understand it,' he says. 'It would hove made more sense if I'd
lost my hair during all that domestic hassle. The only other time I can
remember losing any hair was when I was a teenager taking A levels. The
patch was so tiny I hardly noticed it and it cleared up easily.'
Nick, 28, an RAF sergeant serving in Germany, started to lose his hair at
a time when he was very pleased with himself He had just won a car in
a competition.
Other cases link up directly with stress or shock.

John, 35, a printer, started to lose his hair when his wife was in hospital
dying of breast cancer. 'It was 18 months between the diagnosis of cancer
and her death. She was only 40 and I was left with two children. My hair
come out in patches from the moment the doctor told me the terrible prog¬
nosis. Losing my hair was nothing, of course, compared with the tragedy
of my wife's death. Now my hair loss is total and I have to wear a wig.'
Anita was 13 when she came home to discover her father in the bath in
the middle of a suicide attempt. 'He had cut his wrists and ankles and
stabbed himself' she says. 'I bandaged him up, called an ambulance and
went with him to hospital. A few months later I started to lose my hair.
I had two years of misery until I left school and was able to wear a wig
"full time" instead ofjust at weekends.'
The alopecia seemed to clear up but eight years ago she hod some
patches after each of her two children's births. The hair grew back
quickly.
Anita is now 33. 'Up to two weeks ago I was a contented married
woman with a super husband and two lovely children aged eight and six.
I didn't think I was under stress nor have I had any major shocks. So I
was totally devastated when I saw a bald patch on the top of my head.
Several others followed a few days later.'
So Anita has now suffered from alopecia areata over a period of 20
years. Sometimes the episodes seemed to be triggered directly by stress,
at other times not at all.
Says Dr John Wilkinson, consultant dermatologist at the

Wycombe General Hospital, High Wycombe: The pro¬
gress of this condition is so eccentric that it is better not
to say "My hair is back and it is over" but always to say
that it is on an "up" phase (i.e. growing in) or a "down"
phase. You can never relax!'
The debate as to whether it is caused by stress has been
going on for years, almost since alopecia areata was first
reported, back in Roman times. Since then, it has also

been linked with everything from bad stomachs to bad
teeth!
One of the oldest 'stress' case histories is that of the
convicted murderer who was retried and reprieved sev¬
eral times by American courts. When he was under
sentence of death his hair fell out; when he was reprieved
it grew back . . . each time!
Is It Related to My Asthma or Eczema?
If you suffer from asthma or eczema as a family trait this

puts you in the medical category labelled 'atopic'.
Many cases of alopecia areata occur in people who
are atopic. Research figures have found this to be true
in as many as 50 per cent of cases.This seems to vary
in different parts of the world. In a North American
study, eczema or asthma or both were present in 18 per
cent of children with alopecia areata and in 9 per cent
of adults.^ But in Japan, only 10 per cent of patients
were atopic.®
You are not more likely to suffer from alopecia areata
if you are atopic, but if you do suffer from this combina¬
tion, the prognosis is not good, particularly in a child.
When so much painstaking medical research has been
done, it may seem astounding to most of us that the doc¬
tors are still baffled by the cause. Many patients are
offered no treatment, in their own interests.
Dr Dawber sees this as sometimes the best way to cope
with it. 'If the prognosis is poor - for example, if a child
under the age of puberty has a total loss of hair and is
atopic - then help in adjusting to the problems of wearing
a wig will be of far greater value to the child than the rais¬
ing of false hopes.'
Did I Lose My Hair Because I Had a Baby?
Many women report that they went bald following a

pregnancy.
Dr Joe Jordan, consultant obstetrician/gynaecologist
at the Cfueen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, has seen
quite severe cases of hair loss among his patients. J am
convinced that it is due to a hormone swing,' he says.
It is, of course, well known that hair loss after a preg¬
nancy happens in 45 per cent of cases. Usually this clears
up within six months and the hair returns to normal, but
many women who contacted me had found that their
problem was much more serious. They had lost their hair
severely - some totally - soon after childbirth.
Medical opinion maintains that it is a question of
defining the different types of alopecia. Consultant der¬
matologist Dr David Fenton, who runs the Hair and Nail
Research Unit at St Thomas's Hospital, London, which
specializes in alopecia cases, told me, 'Alopecia areata
does not normally start after a pregnancy. It is probably
another type of hair loss such as telogen effluvium,
diffuse thinning or even androgenetic (male pattern)
baldness.'
As I have already reported, my own 90 per cent hair
loss was considered by my doctor to be linked with a
pregnancy 15 months earlier, but the consultant derma¬
tologist who saw me flatly rejected this theory and diag¬
nosed 'classic alopecia areata'. A second consultant
dermatologist labelled it 'diffuse alopecia areata'.
Dr Michael Sheppard, professor of endocrinology at

Birmingham University, says, 'A new possibility is that a
high proportion of women suffer an episode of thyroid
dysfunction in the six to twelve months after giving
birth. This could cause their hair loss but be missed in
diagnosis, because of the time lapse involved in a refer¬
ral from a GP to a hospital consultant. By the time a
woman has a blood test for it, the thyroid will be back to
normal. But the damage, in terms of hair loss, has
already been done.
'Studies in Japan, North America and the UK have
found that 10 per cent of women in the UK get a thyroid
dysfunction after childbirth - about 5 to 6 per cent in the
other countries. This could well trigger hair loss.
This may be the reason a woman loses her hair after
childbirth but she may never know.'
Often, alopecia patients report that their hair grows
back in pregnancy, but falls out after the birth.
While many women, including myself, will report that
they had no episodes of alopecia at all until after preg¬
nancy, there are many who have suffered tiny bald
patches earlier in their lives, perhaps no bigger than a 10
pence piece. Some-times a small patch goes unnoticed.
Then, once a baby is born, the mothers have a lot more
bald patches, even to the extent of losing all scalp and all
body hair. This is what happened in Clare's case.
Clare had had a small episode of alopecia when she was 14, at a time
when her parents were divorced. Another tiny patch came at 20 when her
mother was very ill, but these soon cleared up.
She had no further problems, even when she hod her first child, a girl.
Then, because alopecia areata is an eccentric disease, she started losing
hair heavily after the birth of her second child.
'I didn't worry when my little girl first pointed it out because I
thought it would clear up as guickly as the first time,' said Clare, 'but
soon my hairdresser pointed out the patches. My doctor said "It's alope¬
cia, Nothing to worry about. Go home. Forget it," But you can't. It's such
a frightening thing,'
Her husband joked: 'I would still love you even if you hod no hair at
all!' Soon, it was apparent that this was no joke. For a while they could
hide it. When they visited their parents, her husband would walk down
the drive behind her, to make sure her scalp wasn't showing through the
thinning hair.
Every night television commercials glorified hair. Models had long,
flowing, blond waves; Clare had not even enough to cover her scalp. She
donned a scarf and hid in the kitchen. As her sitting room has large pic¬
ture windows overlooking the rood, passers-by can easily look in, so Clare
began to stay in the kitchen most of the time.
She was lonely: 'I can't bear to meet people. This is not on illness you
con talk about, like bronchitis or having your appendix out, I worry most
about "taking it out" on the children. We both wonted them so much,
especially os at one time we hod on infertility problem and thought we
might never have any. But when this happened, I blamed them, I
thought that I would not have lost my hair if I hadn't had children'.
In fact, Clare's alopecia hod really started many years before with
that tiny patch at 17, When she underwent the trauma of childbirth it
certainly seemed to cause her alopecia to flare up again - but only with
the second pregnancy, not the first.
Will Another Pregnancy Make My Alopecia Worse?
The progress of alopecia areata is so erratic that this

question is impossible to answer. As in Clare's case, you
may lose hair after one child, but not another. This makes
a nonsense of planning a family around it. Most women
regard having children as the priority, having hair as a

lesser - if desirable - consideration.
Janet, a service wife in the Middle East, lost a small patch of hair at 17.
It followed the death of her father and her own involvement in a road
accident She seemed to lose more hair, in patches, when she was in her
twenties and taking the oral contraceptive pill.
Stationed with her husband in Germany, she stopped taking the pill
and for a while her hair improved. She had her first child and breast-fed
for six months. As soon as she stopped breast-feeding, the hair fell out
again, this time severely, and she had to resort to a wig.
Sue, aged 36, who lives near Dungen ess power station where her hus¬
band works, had experienced one patch at the age of 8. This seemed to
be related to emotional problems at school over a teacher she disliked.
Then she had no hair problems until she started a family. In her first
labour, the child's umbilical cord threatened his life. The second birth
was also difficult and was followed by a serious haemorrhage. Soon after
that, large bald patches spread into each other, leaving only a 'Friar Tuck'
fringe, then it became total hair loss.
Over and over again, women contact me to report that

their hair loss seemed to start with a pregnancy, without
any previous occurrence. These are severe cases of more
than 70 per cent hair loss, not merely the normal hair
loss associated with pregnancy.
Carol, wife of a policeman, lost most of her hair when she was 23. Her
baby was 11 months old and, like Janet, she had just stopped breast¬
feeding. 'I could only imagine that the changes in my body which the end
offeeding meant, had triggered my hair loss. I wasn't under any stress
and had a very understanding and loving husband.'
Elizabeth's heavy mane of silky dark hair was her pride and joy, but it
started to come out in big patches when her second child was a year old.
A cheerful, attractive country woman who idolized her children, Eliz¬
abeth suggested to her doctor that her pregnancy had been responsible
and was assured, 'No. This is a different type of alopecia. That it
happened after a pregnancy is purely coincidental.'
'There was definitely no sign of baldness before the babies,' said
Elizabeth. 'The only thing I could think of which might hove caused it
was a long period of worry the previous year when my mother was dying
of cancer. Then my father-in-law had a stroke and we were obviously con¬
cerned about him. But of course we con all find stress in our lives if we
think about it!'
Another important factor in the cases of both Carol and

Elizabeth is that they are atopic. Both have asthma and
eczema, which runs in their families. Carol suffered
from it mainly in childhood but Elizabeth gets eczema
and bouts of asthma quite severely. She suffered pro¬
longed attacks a week or so after giving birth, on both
occasions.
Hilary's hair loss started out of the blue after childbirth. She does not
remember on earlier episode of olopedo but knows that her mother hod severe
asthma. She wrote to me: 'I hove been wearing a headscarf for 13 years.'
A drab woman, I imagined, dowdy and old before her years. I was
wrong. The toll, slim woman who met me at the station was sun-tanned
and beautiful. Her headscarf was a blue silk Liberty print, swathed ele¬
gantly around her smooth shoulders.
Married to an industrialist, Hilary found that her hair hod started to
fall out after her first child, a daughter. 'At first I thought it was merely
normal hair loss after giving birth until it become apparent that it was
somewhat greater than normal.
'I sought advice everywhere and attended a local hair specialist - a
tnchoLogist - after the doctors just didn't seem to knowl Then the hair
began to grow again and I felt terrific.'
But Hilary wanted another child. 'I didn't want Rachel to be on only
one and the trichologist did worn it might happen again. After Kate's
birth, of course, it did.'
This time Hilary lost a lot more hair. 1 was sent to the skin clinic of
a London hospital but the gentleman I sow was of the opinion I looked
healthy and certainly wouldn't die of my complaint. Little did he know!
When this happens, your self-confidence dies within you. Without my
husband, my smashing little girls and my fnends' support, I would hove
fallen opart. He was right, I wasn't going to die. But I died inside.'
Is the Cause of Alopeda Areata Sometimes

Something Rather Odd?
Ross, on ex-army officer who now teaches, suddenly lost every hair on his
body, at the some time os developing a painful blotchy purple rash on his
chest and shoulders. At the time the rash began he hod been using a
garden chemical spray which was also in regular use at his school. His
doctor gained the co-operation of the chemical's manufacturers and
mode investigations. Ross was convinced that he hod been poisoned by
the chemical spray.
It is very rare for anyone to find out exactly what has trig¬
gered their alopecia areata. Just occasionally there are
unusual happenings and patients can link them with
their condition.
Thomas, from Manchester, developed his first patches of alopecia areata

at the some time os his wife and son, aged 13. He thought it was very
interesting that this should hove happened to them all within eight
months of having new carpets put down throughout the house. Most of
the carpets are 80 per cent wool to 20 per cent nylon. In the bedrooms
the carpet is 100 per cent nylon.
Joan, 52, also wondered about environmental factors. She reports, 'I
was walking the Cumbnan hills when the Chernobyl rain fell and I was
drenched. Cumbrian Radio commented on this rainfall and some women
said that after it fell they experienced hair loss os I did.'
(Postscript: Ross had the manufacturers of the garden

spray investigated in some detail, but nothing was ever
proved against it. It is now no longer on sale.)
Dermatologists have been asked for their opinion on
environmental factors such as carpets and the Cumbrian
rain, but they feel that a lot more evidence from many
more cases would be needed to justify any full-scale
investigation.
Survival Plan: Alopecia Areata
You are losing your hair rapidly. The worst part is now,
when so much is falling out. You waste a lot of time gaz¬
ing into the mirror in horror. You are indecisive; you
don't know which shampoo to use for the best, whether to
use hair lacquer, colour tint or permanent wave. Yards of
hair collect on your comb. You fret over every strand.
This can easily become an obsession. I have even
found myself tracing the grain on my polished dressing
table, thinking the lines were hairs! I have examined
closely the molecular structure of 'hairs' which turned
out to be wool from my mohair sweater!
Hair seems to be everywhere except on your head. You
can't believe that it is all going like this. You feel like
screaming. Hang on. A certain amount of hair loss is nor¬

mal. Everyone loses up to 140 hairs a day as part of
the normal hair growth replacement cycle. You may be
imagining that you are losing more. If you are sure that
it is not imagination, go to your doctor straight away to
decide just what sort of hair loss you have.
If it is alopecia areata, it is likely to start with small
round bald patches. It may be only one small patch,
sometimes with tiny stumps of hairs. These are called 'ex¬
clamation mark' hairs. They are withered and broken off
near the scalp. Regrowth of each patch normally starts
with vellous hairs - fine white down-like 'baby' hairs; hair
of normal colour comes later. These are known as 'termi¬
nal' hairs. Often a patch will regrow then another fall out
in a different part of the scalp. This pattern of bald
patches and regrowth can be lifelong.
Will It Clear Up?
A third of all patients have one small episode - perhaps

one patch - and completely recover with no reoccurrence.^
Another third of cases experience a relapse six
months after the first episode and recovery takes much
longer. If hair loss becomes total, 20 per cent of cases
never recover.
Your doctor may refer you to a consultant dermatolo¬
gist who may carry out blood tests to eliminate thyroid,
anaemia or other systemic factors as the cause. In the
UK, the dermatologist will be able to authorize a National
Health Service (NHS) contribution towards the cost of
wigs. The NHS pays roughly half the cost. The patient
pays a prescription charge ranging from around £40 for a
man-made fibre wig to £151 for a human hair wig. There

is no charge if the patient is still at school.
The dermatologist may also prescribe a cortisone
cream such as Elocon or Betnovate, or minoxidil to be
used topically - that is, rubbed twice daily into your scalp.
You may also be told: There is nothing we can do. Go
home. Forget it. It will probably grow back.'
Maybe it will. But it will take a long time. I did as I was
told - that is, nothing - on the advice of a dermatologist,
df the worst comes to the worst,' I consoled myself, d will
look for alternative help.' Three years later I surveyed my
bald head in the mirror and decided that the worst had
very definitely come to the worst. I certainly still looked
bald, although a few fine tiny white hairs were growing
here and there on my scalp. But I needed help, I decided,
or I would be in wigs for life!
Good News - How I Got My Hair Back in the End!
By chance, I met a young dermatologist who had a very

real interest in alopecia. I met him when I was recording
a programme for BBC Radio Four's Woman's Hour. He
had been recommended to me by Dr Dawber, who had
been forced to turn down the interview as he was going
off on his August holiday. Try David,' urged Dr Dawber.
'He's really keen and he'll have all the equipment there at
St Thomas's to tell you all about alopecia.'
As it turned out. Dr David Fenton was not all that keen.
'I would hate people to think I'm courting publicity.'
But he would think about it, he said, and I promised to
telephone him after the weekend. By Monday, I had had
an idea. 'I could interview you without giving you a
name/ I suggested. Til just describe you as a consultant

dermatologist.'
After all, I had plenty of interviews with alopecia
patients for my programme. I really only needed a
medical voice to give the piece credibility. So it was
agreed. Dr Fenton took part anonymously in the inter¬
view - and no one said a word about it. Except his mother
- who telephoned him from her Merseyside home. 'Did¬
n't I hear you on Woman's Hour?' she asked. In fact, she
had to get used to that situation quite a lot after that, for
her son was soon under heavy media pressure to take
part in many TV and radio programmes.
Dr Fenton told me about his research work with topi¬
cal minoxidil, the first proven treatment for hair loss to
be introduced in the UK. Casually, he glanced at my
be-wigged head.
'It's good, this stuff,' he said. 'You could ask your doc¬
tor to prescribe some for you.' In those days, of course,
minoxidil came only on prescription. Now it is available
from pharmacies without a prescription.
I began rubbing my bald head with the lotion twice
daily. Not with any great excitement - but because it
seemed to be the only treatment which offered any hope
of regrowth. It was unprepossessing in appearance, look¬
ing exactly like plain water, and had no smell. So I just
splashed it on carelessly twice a day and forgot about it.
A little later my dermatologist prescribed an addition -
retinoic acid (tretinoin lotion) with the minoxidil solu¬
tion. The idea was that this would give the minoxidil
solution an extra fillip to kick-start my hair into regrowth.
The resulting lotion was fairly itchy and uncomfortable to
use. When I had it on my scalp all day under my wig I was
aching all day to get home, throw off the wig and let
my poor scalp relax. Soon I returned to using minoxidil

alone.
I had to wear wigs for eight years. During that time I
religiously used the minoxidil morning and night round
about the time I cleaned my teeth, and soon I began to
notice that some tiny hairs were regrowing.
I could feel them with my fingers rather than see them
at first. As they grew I could see that they were all kinds
of colours - brown, grey, black, white ... I bore a strong
resemblance to a piebald pony.
For a long time after my hair began to regrow I con¬
tinued to wear a wig because the tiny shoots of hair were
so pathetically thin that they barely covered my scalp,
and also because by that time I had met so many brave
women who had battled on with no hair for so long that I
felt mean because mine had returned. But when I even¬
tually 'came out' with hair their reaction was so good that
I wondered why I had delayed. They all said, 'You have
given us new hope. Something to aim for!'
If It Gets Worse
If you feel that your doctor has wrongly sent you home,
dismissing your case as 'nothing to worry about,' it is
always worth returning so that he can see how much it
has deteriorated. No one likes to pester a busy doctor, but
the average doctor has been taught at medical school to
reassure hair loss patients whenever possible. So he duly
reassures and sometimes, sadly, hardly seems to notice
that the patient's head is nearly bald.
Trisha, 30, reports: 'The doctor told me not to worry. It would grow back.
I went home, it got worse and my husband said "You will have to see him
again."
'This time the doctor said: "What do you think I con do about it?" I
told him I wonted to see another specialist and he referred me. But this
appointment was six months ahead and while I was waiting I was so un¬
happy I went bock to my own doctor. He gave me tronguillizers and the
appointment was brought forward.
'But by the time I got to the second dermatologist I hod lost all
my hair.'
When you see a dermatologist he or she may offer no

treatment. The prognosis may be good: If the hair loss is
patchy, not total, you are not atopic and did not suffer
alopecia first in early childhood, the dermatologist
could feel quite justified in 'leaving it alone to grow back
by itself.
With a bit of luck!
At first I went quietly home to wait for my hair to
regrow. I met an old friend I had not seen for while. 'What
have you been doing?' she asked chattily. The only reply
I could truthfully offer was 'Waiting for my hair to grow
back.' A bit negative, to say the least!
In the end I had to look at the long-term prospects, as,
I am sure, you will. If you decide to put off your life until
after your hair has regrown you could be saying goodbye
to the rest of your life. You have to make the hardest
decision of all. To pick up the pieces, stick a wig on your
head, and go on anyway. Thousands of women make this
decision every day. They are much braver than the lucky
ones, like me, who succeed in getting their hair back. The
brave ones are those who grit their teeth, force on a smile
and a wig . . . and go on anyway!
3
What Causes Alopecia
Androgenetica?
Is the Pill Responsible for My Hair Loss?
Yes, in many cases. When you ask your doctor he or

she is likely to say, 'No. The Pill is the most widely-
known, well-researched drug in medical history. Don't
you think we would have discovered it by now if it was
causing hair loss?' Or your doctor may say, 'Nonsense.
The Pill contains oestrogen, which can only improve
your hair.'
True. But it is the other component of the Pill, the
progestogens, which trigger hair loss.
It may come as a shock to those of us who were
'brought up' on the Pill and swallowed it cheerfully for
years as the convenient answer to birth control, but
the fact is simple: The Pill can make your hair fall out.
The progestogen components - norethisterone and
norgestrel in the vast majority of oral contraceptives -
have been blamed for causing alopecia androgenetica by
doctors in Britain, West Germany and the US.®
They report that some women on contraceptive pills
with these components have developed acne vulgaris.
What Causes Alopecia Androgenetica? 67
hirsutism or scalp hair loss. The patients either come out

in spots, grow hair where they don't want it, or go bald.
Researchers at University College and St Mary's Hos¬
pital, London, reported these 'detrimental effects' in
1979. Their report followed the research of endocrinolo¬
gists in West Germany five years earlier, which listed
similar effects in some women.®
These progestogens contained the male hormone
testosterone and had an androgenic effect on some
women. They lowered the level of sex hormone binding
globulin (SHBG), which is the serum or plasma protein
dependent on the oestrogen/androgen balance. It is used
as a suitable biological marker of these properties in a
woman. The woman with a low level of SHBG is likely, for
instance, to suffer severe premenstrual symptoms.
The hair loss problems occurred when a woman
who was genetically predisposed to alopecia areata and
who also had a low SHBG level was put on a pill contain¬
ing these progestogens. She then ran a high risk of losing
her hair.
But Have We Only Just Discovered That the Pill Can

Trigger Hair Loss?
No. It has been suspected for years. In 1968 Dr S. R.

Stephens reported in the Journal of the Arkansas Medical
Society that when hair loss occurred in women on the Pill
it resembled the hair loss of the balding male. An andro¬
genic effect was suggested as the cause. In 1979,
Professor Vera Price of the University of California
School of Medicine, pointed out that women who are pre¬
disposed to androgenic alopecia are the ones who notice
the onset of diffuse thinning while on the contraceptive

pillf“
Dr Katharina Dalton, a world authority on premen¬
strual syndrome, has long waged war on the progestogen
content of the Pill. She says,
'When the pill was introduced the manufacturers did not want to admit
to women that they were being given male hormones. So women do not
know the nsks they take with the pill. Neither do their doctors.
'Over the years they have found it easier to listen to the pill
manufacturers who would probably buy them a nice lunch rather than
pay attention to the evidence against the pill. Hair follicles need
natural progesterone to help them develop. But the progestogens are
artificial and do not give the follicles what they require. So hair loss
is the result.'
The suspicion has been there for many years. In 1967 the
American Dr Frank E. Cormia reported that some
women developed alopecia when they started to take the
pill and also, conversely, when they stopped.
Among German women in 1972, researchers found
that contraceptive pills containing progestogen some¬
times induced male pattern baldness."
Shortly afterwards. Dr W. A. D. Griffiths of St John's
Hospital, London, conducted a clinical investigation into
the pill/hair loss debate" and concluded: 'While noticing
that diffuse thinning does occur while women are on the
pill there is no evidence to suggest that this is because
they are taking oral contraceptives.'
Louise is a highly attractive woman in her mid-fifties. In the 1960s she

was on one of the earlier versions of the Pill with its 'heavier' formula of
oestrogen and progestogen. She stopped taking the Pill to have a baby
but, soon after the birth, her hair began to thin dramatically in a large
area on the top of her head.
'My own feeling was that this problem began with the Pill,' says Louise.
'And when I saw a dermatologist he said that three factors are involved.
First I am genetically predisposed to alopeda androgenetica, the second is
that I had just had a baby and was suffering hair loss after the birth. The
third factor was that I had stopped taking the Pill. My hair loss is not bad
enough for me to need a wig but I am still rather upset about it.
'I took the Pill so happily. It seemed to be a great boon. Now I won¬
der whether we have all been guinea pigs. How was I to know I would
go bald?'
So how is a woman to know whether taking the Pill is trig¬

gering her hair loss?
Professor Michael Sheppard of Birmingham Univer¬
sity say, 'As an endocrinologist I see many women who
are losing their hair. My advice is a three-point plan:
1 Change the type of Pill. A different formula may

suit you better.
2 If you are still losing hair, stop taking the Pill alto¬
gether and find another method of birth control.
3 If, after a reasonable period, you are still losing
hair, then obviously the Pill is unrelated to your
condition and it should not make any difference
whether you take it or not.'
But is there any type of contraceptive pill which does not

trigger hair loss?
A pill which contains a different type of progestogen
from norethisterone or norgestrel may help. Medroxy¬
progesterone acetate may be a better progestogen
component for someone with hair loss problems.

Dianette and Marvelon are other hair-friendly pills.
Obviously, any alternative would need to be discussed
with your doctor, as some pills have other complications.
I Suffer from PMT. Will I Lose My Hair If I Take

the Pill?
You run that risk. The miserable symptoms of premen¬

strual tension (PMT), including bad temper, lethargy and
weepiness, are marked biologically by a lowering of Sex
Hormone Binding Globulin (SHBG). A lowering of SHBG
has been noticed in some women on the Pill, so if you
take it you could be lowering your SHBG even more and
run an increased risk of hair loss.
Helen, 32, is convinced that the progestogen she is prescnbed for her
severe premenstrual symptoms has caused the hair thinning which began
two years ago.
'It is so bad that I have to wear a wig. I have been on dydrogesterone
for PMS for seven years and I just wonder if this is a factor.'
Yes, says Dr Katharina Dalton. 'This is because the

progestogens cause a lowering of natural blood proges¬
terone which the hair follicles require.'
One of the most commonly used progestogens for
PMS is Dydrogesterone, which has been the subject of
research at Guy's and St Thomas's hospitals in London
for many years. Dr Michael Brush, senior lecturer in
reproductive chemistry, says:
'No. We have found no evidence that this progestogen
has any effect on hair growth. Dydrogesterone can
reduce blood progesterone by a mean of 15 per cent but

what really matters is the total progestational activity of
the progesterone and the progestational agent i.e. dydro-
gesterone.
'The drugs are being used on a pharmacological level
and not on a physiological level.'
In other words, the drug floods the system with a
much greater amount than required. The body uses the
amount it needs and excretes the rest.
Does It Mean I Am Going Bald Like a Man If I Have

Thinning Hair?
Don't be offended if your doctor talks to you about 'male

pattern baldness'. Alopecia androgenetica is merely
another type of hair loss in which the hair follicles
respond to the androgen levels in the blood in exactly the
same way as balding men. Both men and women have
androgens (male hormones), although a woman has
smaller amounts. Over-sensitivity to the androgens in her
genetic make-up can cause hair loss.
There are some rare virilizing conditions where a
woman develops not only hair loss but also severe addi¬
tional male characteristics. These are serious and need
the attention of a gynaecologist or endocrinologist.
There are also much milder versions of this where a
woman just has thinning hair but is still feminine in
every other way. Sometimes treatment with anti-andro¬
gen drugs is successful in these cases.
Sandra, 32, the adopted daughter of an Australian doctor, is studying in

London. Tall, full-breasted and weighing 15 stones (95 kg/210 lb), she
is losing her hair as a general thinning.
Her condition has been diagnosed as 'male pattern baldness' or
alopecia androgenetica. 'This hurt at first,' she says. 'But I know I am a
real woman because I have been pregnant. I may be overweight but it
used to be descnbed os "comely.'"
Her hair now covers her head completely but is 'see-through'.
'People can see straight through to my scalp,' she says. 'A Bnsbane
taxi dnver dropped me off one day with the farewell "Jesus lady but your
hair is thin!"
'I just want to look normal get married, have children ... I want
ordinary hair. I often catch people stanng at me as if to say "You're a
funny bunny." I used to nurse the mentally ill. Maybe I got away with
being a bit of an oddball with them.
'Once I went for a job interview wearing a wig. I got the job but then
had to wear a wig for two years!
'I have now got a boyfnend. He advertised in a singles magazine for
a big girl. Well, I gualify there. I had a 38B bust very early on. This chap
says he is proud of me, but if anyone colls he rushes me off to put my
wig on before anyone sees me.'
Sandra is now in the care of an endocrinologist but has

been told that treatment could take two years.
Says Professor Michael Sheppard, The hormonal dif¬
ference between a man and a woman is not so clear cut as
one might imagine. A very slight imbalance might make
a real difference. A woman might lose her scalp hair as
male pattern baldness and grow hair on her legs and
arms just like a man.'
I Have Not Lost All My Hair Although I Have Alopeda

Androgenetica. How Can I Ensure No More Falls Out?
You can't. But you can make sure that what you put on
your scalp will not make the hair loss worse. In alopecia
androgenetica, it has been suggested that Regaine (topi¬
cal minoxidil) has a 'stabilizing' effect. It helps the
patient to hold on to the hair he or she has in 80 per cent
of cases, while in 40 per cent of cases it promotes actual
regrowth.
The huge display of hair products in the average phar¬
macy may confuse you with their incredible variety.
Usually the shampoos and conditioners made by the big
names in hairdressing will be best. Revlon's balsam and
protein conditioner for dry and damaged hair has been
pioneer among conditioners for many years and is a reli¬
able standby for extremely thin and fragile hair. L'Oreal's
Elvive shampoo range is exeellent for thinning hair.
Alphosil treatment shampoo will calm the most savage
and irritated scalp. Aussie's Three-Minute Miracle helps
to volumize thinning hair and make it appear thicker.
Many people point out that their hair would look bet¬
ter and more plentiful if they tinted it. This should do no
harm if you use a reputable product, preferably one you
have used before, and it is applied by a hairdresser you
know and trust. But avoid permanent waves as they con¬
tain very strong chemicals. You really need to find a
hairdresser who can advise on gentle products suitable
for fragile hair. Don't forget to use conditioner on your
scalp as well as on your face.
If Your Hair Is Thin
Hair is there on your scalp for which you are thankful,

but every time the sun shines or you stray under a spot¬
light you are aware that people can see straight through
to your scalp.
Hairdressers' tricks can disguise it. Back hair can be
brought forward. No partings, especially centre ones. A
fashionable bob to cover thin areas, highlights on fair
hair. 'Modern mousses and thickening setting lotions
also help,' says Alexa Goodman, who runs hair and
beauty salons in Solihull. 'Thinning hair is so common
that we offer vitamin-based hair thickening gel and hair
loss treatments. Some of these come from France and
some from the big names in hairdressing.'
From Los Angeles comes a whole range of thickening
hair products called Joico which are called volumizing
reconditioners. They contain cationic triamine complex
formula with hydrolyzed keratin protein. Some condi¬
tioners, including one made by Nexus UK, are designed
to leave on the hair while it is being blow-dried.
Alexa suggests that a regular cut or trim will prevent
hair breakage.
Having it cut will not stop it from growing as, if it has
started to grow normally, it should grow at least half an
inch every month. Those with thin and fragile hair
should use only good quality combs and bristle hair
brushes. Plastic can stretch the hair and cause breakage
and split ends.
Wash your hair as often as you like - every day is fine.
A gentle shampoo and regular washing with a good scalp
massage will keep the scalp healthy, stimulate blood sup¬
ply to the hair follicles and may even encourage growth.
Pauline of Derbyshire had had thinning hair over a period of 20 years

when she decided to take zinc tablets on the advice of a health food mag¬
azine. She took 75 mg zinc daily and after a few weeks her hair began to
thicken.
It may be worth considering a zinc supplement if you

have thinning hair. Many types of zinc are easily pur¬
chased from a health food shop and come as zinc
sulphate, amino acid chelate, and in many other forms.
Dr Alan Stewart and Dr Stephen Davies, authors of
Nutritional Medicine (Pan 1987) blame zinc deficiency for
some cases of human hair loss, but feel that it can be
restored and grow again thickly if zinc is taken. Dr Davies
suggests a lower dose than that taken by Pauline. He
advises patients to take 30 to 50 mg when the stomach is
relatively empty so that other foods do not interfere with
its absorption. 'Nausea may occur but if this happens
split it into two doses taken at other times in the day. Oral
zinc supplementation is relatively safe and non-toxic.'
But he warns against taking too much. 'Don't over¬
supplement unless it is being monitored by a doctor, as
excessive zinc can cause copper deficiency.'
Zinc is contained in many foods including prawns, egg
yolks, chicken, potatoes and pork chops. It is also good
for the nails, and in cases of rheumatoid arthritis and
skin conditions.
Nancy, a grandmother from the north of England, reported that zinc

tablets had done nothing for her hair - she lost most of it 30 years ago.
But zinc had certainly improved the dermatitis rash on her legs. 'My
legs have never been better . . . and you never know. I might be Lady
Godiva yeti'
If you have tried to obtain conventional medical help and

failed, then by all means look elsewhere. But be careful.
Don't spend a fortune on unlikely commercial clinics.
The High Street is full of them; so are the newspapers.
Use your common sense. If they want £1,500 now, they
will want another £1,500 in three months' time when
they have 'prepared the scalp for treatment', etc. Have
nothing to do with them. Heed these warnings:
Michael, o young graphic artist, answered a newspaper ad and travelled

over 200 miles to see a 'consultant' at a so-called hair 'clinic'.
He and his mother travelled all that way only to find that the 'con¬
sultant' was not a doctor. But he offered Michael a course of treatment
at a cost of £1,000. Michael was given a 'trial treatment' - a five-minute
massage and application of on unidentified lotion. Cost of the trial? Fifty
pounds. But a free hairbrush was thrown in!
'The sales pressure was so strong that we practically fought our way
out' soys Michael's mother. 'We were well out of pocket by then just on
the train fares. And the lost thing Michael wonted was a hairbrush. He's
hardly got any hair left to brush!'
There is no sueh thing as a free consultation!
Eileen, 30, from Aberdeen, was worried because she was losing her hair
when she was tempted by a clinic's advertisement claiming on 80 per
cent success rate in regrowing hair.
She went along for the clinic's advertised 'free consultation'. She was
offered a thrice-weekly course of treatments lasting three months.
The treatment would not start until she had paid them £1,250. 'They
were very pushy and played on my misfortune. My doctor was appalled.'
Andrew, a TV salesman from Leeds, followed up on advert in his local

paper. 'They sold me a bottle of something which looked like vinegar and
wanted me to sign on for course of treatments at a cost of £1,200.

I refused it but the clinic kept phoning and wnting, badgenng me to
return. They said "You must be feeling very distressed about your hair
loss."
'So I wrote bock "Not nearly os distressed os I would feel if I'd just
paid you £1,200." I heard no more!'
These stories show how easy it is to be tempted by the

commercial clinics and to lose your money as well as
your hair.
You could try a trichologist - a hair specialist who has
studied the science of hair - but usually trichologists are
not doctors and cannot prescribe medical treatment for
you. It is therefore much better to see a consultant der¬
matologist.
But if you do decide to consult a trichologist, take the
precaution of checking how much you are likely to be
charged before you set out. If he is comfortably estab¬
lished in palatial premises in the best part of town, the
means to keep him there may well be coming from you!
One treatment a trichologist or hairdresser may offer
is electro-therapy - high-frequency electrical stimulation
to the scalp. This is based on the principle that it boosts
blood circulation to the scalp, getting oxygen to the hair
follicles.
Mrs Jane Leddington, former lecturer in charge of the
beauty department at Worcester Technical College, says:
'We teach students to use high frequency and through it I
have seen cases of hair loss grow back. One man had
gone bald due to business pressures. His hair returned.'
High frequency is often quite successful for cases of
thinning hair and where the scalp is sometimes very ten¬
der. It takes at least six weeks' treatment to show results.
Survival Plan: Alopecia Anorogenetica
I know you are feeling sad, but please don't make it an

excuse to over-compensate! Don't raid the fridge or the
drinks cupboard. Ban the words 'It's a shame to waste it'
from your vocabulary.
I know many hair loss victims over-eat to compensate.
I did!
Fact: Getting Fat Makes It Worse!

The danger when you lose your hair is that you will not
only eat too much but will throw in a few drinks to go
with it. An attractive nightclub hostess who has lost her
hair says, 'What could I do? I am afraid I turned to the
bottle.'
The trouble is that faces look a lot fatter when we wear
wigs. Add a few extra drinks and the Bunter look is soon
established. If you eat and drink too much it won't be
long before you are not only bald but bloated. Not a com¬
bination to attract lovers to your door!
You can't help being bald but you can help being heav¬
ier, so don't do it.
Do take up a sensible diet high on fibre and low on fat,
and get yourself some good vitamin supplements. Make
sure your diet is high in amino acids, the building blocks
of protein which are to be found in meat, fish, eggs and
dairy products.
Don't listen to old wives' tales. There is always some¬
one who knows exactly why it happened, who will blame
you for all the tints and perms you had ... or even some
tablet you took. It is all claptrap; please ignore it.
Do shut up about it. To most people the condition of
someone else's hair is about as interesting as yesterday's
weather forecast. People don't understand anyway. They

get embarrassed and behave as if you've just had a death
in the family.
Don't be ashamed. You have just lost your hair. It is a
scalp condition, not a social disgrace.
Don't worry! Now there is a daft suggestion. Who
doesn't worry when their hair falls out in handfuls? But
stress and worry really can prolong the agony. So try to
relax, even if you have to go to relaxation classes to do it!
Don't panic!
Don't gaze at your hair too frequently, obsessively, in
mirrors.
Don't count hairs, as they come out, spread them on
white paper or angle the looking glass so that you can
glare at the back of your head.
Do spend as much as you can afford on the beauty
aids which will make you look and feel good. If ever there
was a time to spoil yourself, this is it!
There are 1,001 ways to waste time worrying about
hair loss. I should know. I have tried them all. You will not
indulge in any of them. You will be too busy. You have
positive things to do.
Not only will you survive alopecia. You will be happy,
attractive and successful. You will look better than you
have ever looked before. I promise.
1
When it Happens to a Woman
'Only if I know for certain that my husband is away for the night
will I sleep bareheaded.'
Pauline, bald for 16 years, is married with a family of boys and has a full¬
time teaching job.
'I was left with a red scalp, bare and ugly, so I will not be seen with¬
out a wig.'
Natalie, 27, descnbed the weeks of losing her hair as 'my first weeks of
hell'.
Roxanne is 36. Her hair finally departed totally after the birth of her
third baby, though she hod had patchy hair loss since childhood.
'I need a few drinks before I can sleep with my husband. Otherwise I'm
thinking, how can he want me when I look like this?'
Kathleen has been bald for 45 years but still managed to land herself
two doting husbands. She has outlived them both.
'You con't wear a wig in bed. Well, you con but the darned thing keeps
slipping off'
Hazel, 35, a small, elfin college lecturer, has been hairless for only a
year. She has been told by her doctor: 'You ore likely to be bold for life.'
'Our families - the older generation - soy "Poor Roger! He's got a
bold wife." They hate it when I won't wear a wig. But why should I? It's
oniy to please other people. It's not like having to wear false teeth for
the functional purpose of eating!'
Samantha, 36, has had alopecia since she was 3. Twice she has lost all
her hair and then it has regrown. Now she has bald patches again.
'Alopecia has affected me totally. My marnage has broken up. My
husband is now living with someone else. It mode me reclusive and
unsociable. I couldn't bear him to see me. I used to go to bed in a scarf.
I feel generally a total freak, ugly and unlovable.'
Stephanie was 26 when her long auburn hair started to fall out. The
attack was severe. 'I screamed and sobbed. I felt so ugly. I wouldn't let
my husband anywhere near me sexually, so I suppose it wasn't surpris¬
ing that he turned elsewhere. When I found out that he was cheating on
me, I felt I just couldn't compete with another woman. So in the end he
left me and we got a divorce. I can see now that I can't really blame my
hair loss. It was the effect it had on me and the way I was behaving
which really smashed us up.
'When I lost my hair it wrecked both my marriage and my career.
I ended up alone in a strange city, broke, with nothing in the cupboard
to eat.'
As Stephanie admits, it is how a wife copes with losing

her hair which can make or break a marriage. In her case,
her marriage was at risk before it happened.
The situation can be equally traumatic for a husband.
In our society hair is a symbol of beauty and desirability.
It is no coincidence that television commercials feature
women with long wavy locks. So do fairy tales. Imagine
Cinderella going bald!
For a successful intimate relationship, a woman needs
self-esteem, to be in love with herself to some extent. It is
not easy to make love when her mental self-image depicts
When It Happens to a Woman 85
a scalp which is patchy, moth-eaten or even completely

bald.
Carol, 23, a policeman's wife, says: 'Our sex life was badly affected. My
hair took a year to fall out completely which was the worst time. Lots of
hair coming out and just not knowing whether it was all going.
'I felt such a mess I didn't think my husband could possibly want me
sexually. In fact, sex came to a stop, possibly because I felt such a wreck
and didn't want to - not because he didn't want me. He protested that
he did. The hair loss made no difference. Once all my hair had gone I
could just say "Well, it's happened and that's that." I've got used to the
wigs now. I keep them on all the time, even in bed, becaule he doesn't
like to see me without hair.'
Louise was so shaken when she first lost some hair that she took a lover.
She is attractive and knows it.
'I'd always been vain, I suppose, sure of myself with men. After I lost
some hair, I felt I looked frankly distasteful. My husband said it didn't
matter. He hardly seemed to notice.
'I started an affair. It sounds as if I'm making my hair loss the
excuse, but I hod to find out whether men would still fancy me. This one
did. He even reckoned he found my loss of pubic hair erotic!
'Of course it was disastrous. It got completely out of hand when he
turned serious and wonted me to break up my mornage. Fortunately, I
hod the sense to get out of it without damaging my mornage and family.'
Natalie, 27, of London's Pimlico, poured out agonies of despair when

she first rang me. She hod just joined Hairline. 'My hair is getting worse
and worse. Falling out everywhere. I don't know what to do. I've lost
nearly all of it!'
Working in the City of London, with a bright future os a personal assis¬
tant in a pharmaceutical company, she felt her life hod disintegrated when
she started to lose her hair. She was particularly concerned because there
were two other cases of alopecia areata in her family and she was afraid
that this meant she had a poor prognosis. But the next day when she had
dried her tears she wrote to me: 'Thank you for your understanding. I have
now calmed down immensely, put everything into perspective and realized
that I am not dying but getting stronger by the day.
'Yes. My hair is still falling and falling ... I keep hoovenng and
hoovering... It is just a damn nuisance now but hopefully my treatment
will calm it down and save what I have left - about 35 per cent!
'I have bored the life out of my wonderful friends and family but I
could not have achieved a steady head or sense of humour without their
help and patience. Especially my parents, who both have serious medical
conditions themselves.
'How lucky I am that it is just my hair. What have I really got to com¬
plain about? I ask myself this when I look at my parents' courage and
determination.
'My next steps? Well, I have a rather nice line in hats at the moment
and a bandanna for when I am in the mood to be funky! In fact I know
my next step: It will be when I visit a wig supplier in the next two weeks.
Two friends will be with me. One is coming to support me and the other
to see what she would look like as a blonde. Not as good as me, I hope.'
Natalie is beginning to adjust to her life without hair. 'I have been
asked out to dinner tonight. A man I met on Saturday. He knows about
my hair. I like being open about it. The ironic thing is - he's only a flip¬
ping hairdresser! Sod's law! He said he would like to help me. I said I
wasn't exactly ready for a tint and a perm yet!
'I am not making light of it. My doctor said after the first patch "You
will look back on this and laugh one day." Well, I really don't think so.
The pain, anguish and uncertainty. . . and most of all the sadness in my
mother's eyes when she looks at what has happened to me and feels she
is to blame in some genetic way ... I will not let this beat me but, as
for laughing - yes, I laugh. But not guite so heartily as I once did.'
Anna, 24, a vivacious, long-legged distnct nurse, couldn't face the

thought of marriage without hair. When she developed severe alopecia
areata she cancelled her wedding. A slipped wig can put paid to many a
moment of passion and Anna was afraid it would happen to her. 1
wanted to be beautiful for my wedding. I couldn't face the thought of
getting married without hair or in a wig. Not on this one special day.'
Anna used to hove long, wavy brown hair but she lost nearly all of it.
She also lost her eyebrows and eyelashes.
She was engaged to an ambitious young accountant but her wedding
preparations became fraught with problems. Her happy personality,
which always charms the patients, somehow failed her when dealing with
her fiance's family. 'Everything I did was wrong. His mother insisted on
taking over all the arrangements. She was very critical of me - my cook¬
ing, my clothes - and my fiance didn't seem to defend me as I had
expected. The bullying was getting me down, although I never show it
when I'm worried. Deep down I was afraid it was all my fault.'
She was also unhappy at work. She had been moved temporarily into
a surgery job which did not involve seeing patients in their home, the
part of the work she liked best.
A few months before the wedding date she started to lose her hair.
Hair was blocking up the shower and seemed to befalling out steadily. A
car acddent was the last straw. 'I opened my eyes and I was lying on the
pavement with people crowding around. In all the pain, blood and mess,
all I could think about was my hair and whether these strangers could see
how bald I was getting.'
When she woke in hospital, nearly all her hair had gone. Anna made
the decision to cancel the wedding. Her fiance accepted it without ques¬
tion. 'He told me that my hair loss didn't make any difference. I was still
Anna as far as he was concerned. But I think he felt guilty about my bold¬
ness. The doctor had blamed the family stress which I was going through,
though personally I wondered whether it was connected with the pill.'
For a while Anna and her fiance continued to meet occasionally, 'But
he kept letting me down. I was disappointed all the time.' Now they
never meet Anna has tried to make new relationships but finds it a prob¬
lem. T feel that all the men are looking at me and thinking that I'm
wearing a wig.'
She no longer enjoys the preparation for a date. 'Getting ready used
to be part of the fun of it. I haven't got eyelashes so I can't go putting
on mascara and I haven't any eyebrows to pencil. Well, I could try but I
feel too much like "false part Annie" with false eyelashes, fa be eyebrows
and the wigi Besides, I hate spending time looking in a mirror to moke
my face up. It's no longer a pleasure to me.'
She has earned on with her job and bought a wig for work. 'I have to
look "normal" for the patients. There would be too many questions if I
went to see them "bald". As it is, they often compliment me on my
"pretty hair".'
Once at home, though, it's off with the wig and into a baseball cap
for the rest of the day. In denims, with cap perched precariously on her
ears, Anna looks like a cheerful pixie.
Her good humour is strictly for company. 'When I'm alone in the
flat at night, I often start to feel really awful. I think my life is sus¬
pended until I get my hair back and goodness knows when that will be,
if at all!'
The thought of a life without her hair is something which hits Anna
when she is at her lowest. She thinks of killing herself as the solution.
'When I'm feeling down and low I contemplate suicide and it's like a
safety valve. I think I'll give it another year or so then if my hair hasn't
grown back I'll put an end to the misery of it all, because it's like a great
heavy weight on you which stops you leading a normal life like any other
young woman. I know it's weak. There are people much worse off than
me, crippled, or in pain. I see it every day. But when you are down you
don't think as logically as that.'
Kathleen has been living with baldness for 45 years, unlike Anna, for
whom the problem has only just begun. She began to lose her hair at the
age of 6. She lived in a Welsh mining village, where she says, 'the minds
were as narrow as the valleys'. One neighbour, from the chapel, told her
mother it was unfair on the other children for her to go to school.
'The worst thing forme was the isolation. Whereas my contemporaries
could socialize, who would want to be seen with me - with or without a
hot? When I was at teacher training college I couldn't really enjoy the
wartime dances like everyone else. I used to dance with the RAF men who
were stationed near the college, but I stayed remote.
'My sex life had to be restncted as I never wanted anyone around in
the mornings where they might see me without a wig. I didn't wont to
get into any sort of clinch with them where my wig might fall off!
'When I left college I hod to find a job and a place to live. I was
forced to tell landladies that I wore a wig in cose they caught me with¬
out it and hod a heart attack.
'I was lonely, but I couldn't go bock to Woles again and become once
more "Mrs Evans's little girl. The one who hod lost her hair.'"
I was teaching and coping well until a bod bout of flu left me depressed.
My doctor sent me to group therapy with a psychiotnst, where I was
encouraged to think more of myself and my efforts. I began to see that I
hod succeeded in spite of my handicap and I saved up to buy my own house.
'I moved in and was happy. Then my previous landlord caught up with
me, after his wife died. We got on well. Being my landlord, of course, he
has always known about my wig. Harold used to lough with me about my
boldness and coll me Gory. That was fine when I was in a good mood but
not when I felt low.
'He proposed by saying "You're so busy with the house that you've no
time to think about marrying me." I said "All right. I'll give it a try."
At 38, Kathleen married. Her first husband was very tolerant of her
boldness. 'He would sit and massage my head, just os my mother hod
done when I was little. He did soy that in the early years he hod won¬
dered whether I hod been "up to anything" for such a thing to happen.
What could I hove done? The mind boggles!
'Boldness didn't matter to him. I could wonder around at home
without a wig though I did wear a little woolly hot in bed in the
winter. We had two years, eight months and eleven days together. He
died of lung cancer.'
Two years later Kathleen married for the second time. T had to work
a lot harder with John and hide my wigs all the time. Still, I understood
if he just didn't want to think of me as bald. Every morning I'd be grop¬
ing about in the bed for my wig before he woke up. It was always slipping
off. He hated to see me without a wig and would shout "Oh no, no, no,"
if he caught sight of me without it, so I changed in the bathroom out of
his way. In bed, when I wore the wig, it would often stay on the pillow
when I sat up. Very embarrassing.
'Oddly enough, he was proud of me. He would take me out and whis¬
per "You're the best-looking thing here tonight." He was really pleased
when someone told him my "hair" looked nice.'
She was aware of 'pandering' to him. 'I was the sort of wife who tried
a little harder. I don't feel quite a "whole woman" with no hair, so I try
to please to compensate for it. If he came home in the middle of the
night and wanted egg and chips I would get up and make it for him.'
Roxanne needs a drink before she can contemplate sex with her husband.
She is tall, her dark bob blends beautifully with her make-up free face.
She wears a real hair wig because acrylic wigs irritate her skin. A Londoner,
she hod a good career in publishing before her marriage. She swings a small
boy out of the car and above her head. He is 10 months old, fat, contented
and beaming. 'IfI hadn't had him I might have kept my hair. Still, I'd much
rather have him. I was so thrilled when he was born after two girls.'
Roxanne lost some hair after every baby was born. Alopecia patches
had begun at puberty, cleared up, and then started again at 22 when she
was in her firstjob. 'I was on the pill but don't know if that had anything
to do with it.' It worsened after each pregnancy.
'In my teens, I wouldn't go out with men because of it. I remember
during a heatwave, I didn't want to go swimming but a girlfriend rang
up and said, "Put your scarf on for goodness' sake and come out." She
was right. You need someone to give you a shake.
'My first boyfriend hadn't told his parents my ternble secret (I think
that's why we broke up.) He was so embarrassed when he took me home
and they realized I was something of a freak.
'My husband had known me for years. We grew up together so he did¬
n't get a shock on our wedding night Anyway^ I was no surpnse to him.
We'd been living together for ages.
'If I'm in a good mood I can sleep without a scarf or a wig. I've never
slept in a wig very much except on holiday where we were shanng
accommodation and the other people might have seen me.
'My doctor told me "You have to live with it like a colostomy bag."
'My mother has tried to talk about it My father has kept up a firm wall
of silence. In fact he managed not to mention it for 14 years. Then, after
ages struggling with my own very patchy hair, I came in wearing a wig and
he said "There's my girl looking lovely again." He'll never know how much
he hurt me. He could accept me in a wig but not as I really am.'
Pauline lost her hair 16 years ago when her children were small.
'Fortunately,' she says, 'my husband is easy-going... he took it well.
I've kept my baldness away from everyone all these years. It's been a
lonely misery as I've never met anyone else like me. I wear my wig as if
it were part of me. I don't think people ought to have to see the ugliness
of my head, so I keep an old wig to wear at nights with my husband. It's
not that I want to lie about my condition. I just don't want to inflict such
an unlovely sight on people.'
A big bustling teacher with a grown-up family of sons, Pauline
remembers early days with horror. As she talked about it, this large,
capable woman began weeping. 'It's just thinking of the awful times -
being interviewed by a consultant who lined up some 20 students to peer
at my vulnerable head. Then he told me there was nothing he could do.
I would just have to learn to live with it.
'When I asked for two new wigs after 18 months' use, the appliances
officer lectured me about "making them last longer". I was so smothered
in misery in those days that I couldn't stand up for myself.
Pauline entered full-time teaching as soon as her children were older,

'You have to get yourself out of the house, force yourself into doing
something so interesting, so absorbing, that you'll stop thinking "I won¬
der why that person over there is looking at me like that Hove they
realized I'm wearing a wig?"'
Her husband has helped. 'He made me understand that nobody
notices as much as we think they do. People might be mildly curious
but on the whole they don't give a damn. That person might be wear¬
ing false teeth, false nails, or a false bosom. You've got false hair. So
what?'
Her pupils have helped too. 'A little boy will come up and remark
"Miss, you've got no eyebrows." You know it's just casual curiosity. He'll
hove forgotten it next minute.
'Close fnends are used to it. They just ask "How is it? "occasionally. I
say "Oh, much the same. No improvement." We go on to talk about other
more important things.'
Pauline brought up her children 'with the doily fear that playful little
hands would scalp me in public. Those days ore over. I hove adjusted. I
hove learned to live with it os I was told to all those years ago. I would
still like it bock because I still feel peculiar. I then felt a freak.'
Hazel, a college lecturer, has hod alopecia areata for only a year, unlike
Pauline, who has hod 16 hairless years to adjust. 'My husband and chil¬
dren hove given me the best help, but other family members seem to be
less able to cope.
'Wigs ore itchy and uncomfortable. My husband understands this and
I wonder around the house bold without comment from anyone.
'Ifnghtened the man who delivers our paper one Sunday morning. He
nearly hod a fit when he sow me without hair!
'My older relations feel sorry for my husband, not me. "Poor Roger.
He's got a bold wife", they soy. I said to him: "Invite them for Chnstmos,
fine. But don't forget I'll be in the kitchen bold. "Acrylic wigs get ruined
if you cook in them.'
Whenever possible she goes around 'bald'. Once, playing badminton,

she took off her wig in the middle of a gome. 'It took the opposing side
so much by surprise that their gome fell opart and we won the match!
'It shook me when a consultant dermatologist told me I was bold
for life. Until then I hod been shelving projects "until my hair grows
bock". Now I hove come to terms with my hairless existence and got bock
to normal.
'My parents and in-lows cannot accept that I am bold. I still get bouts
of panic where I would prefer not to go out and yet I've suffered severe
claustrophobia for the first time in my life. I hate wearing wigs, I hate
"cheating" and yet con only cope with very short penods of being bold
in public.'
Hazel's husband is supportive. When he soys 'It really doesn't mat¬
ter', Roger means it. He is not merely saying it to be kind to his wife. 'She
lost her hair within two months. It was a shock for all of us, particularly
for Hazel. My problem was to moke her see that it really didn't moke any
difference to me. Our relationship is too strong for that.'
He is a business executive, a systems manager. They hove two
children, aged 3 and 6. 'It hadn't occurred to me that women went
bald. I hod associated bold heads with weirdos and punks, not with
Hazel. It didn't make any difference to me when she lost her hair. Don't
get me wrong - I like to see beautiful women - but my relationship
with Hazel is more important than that. I said to her "I like to see you
in hair occasionally because I miss it. Don't I get on input of choice in
this?" I said that for two reasons: (a) because it was true. I do like to
see her in hair occasionally; and (b) for the soke of other people in the
family. They like to see her looking "normal" and it saves the older
ones getting upset, though she has never kidded anyone about the fact
that they ore wigs. It's guite funny when she takes our son to school
and the kids gather round saying "Take your wig off for us." She loughs
and does.
'In the summer she likes to go around without wigs because they ore
so hot, but in the winter a wig at least keeps her head worm.
'The worst moment for her was when the consultant told her she was
likely to be bald for life. I'm glad he did. Although it sounded brutal
when she was told just like that I think it was a good thing. She knew
exactly where she was and didn't have to mess around wondering when
it was going to grow back. She could plan her life properly again.'
They have never suffered from the inexplicable shame which afflicts
other sufferers.
'The chaps at work know. They didn't make any big thing of it just
expressed interest and nearly all of them could think of relatives or peo¬
ple they knew of who had suffered from it.
'Hazel's never tried to kid anyone. I hear of women trying to hide it
even wearing wigs in bed. That's just hdiculous. She never needs to do
that with me. We now have an even stronger bond.'
Clare^ the young mother of two, was also surpnsed when her husband
was not repulsed. It had been her biggest fear. 'I thought he wouldn't
love me any more. I thought everyone would laugh at me because bald¬
ness is a jokey kind of thing.' Clare's husband tries to comfort her. He
even applies the prescribed scalp cream to her head every night.
When her baldness worsened, Clare returned to her family doctor, but
a referral to a consultant dermatologist did not help. He told her 'It
might come back. It might not.' He had her photographed for research
purposes and, when she enquired about NHS help with wigs, explained
that the Department of Health had requested doctors to cut down on this
kind of prescription, os part of the financial cuts. To qualify, she needed
to have suffered from alopecia for at least two years or to be completely
bald. Clare still had some hair left. 'You con get some pretty hots these
days,' he remarked.
Clare returned home in tears. She raised the money for a wig herself,
helped by her mother.
It was at this stage that she started being irritable and taking it out
on the children. 'I rang my health visitor. I was so afraid I'd lose control.
She said that I must get out of the house and join everything - play
groups, coffee mornings, etc. I began to get more confident and decided
to tackle my doctor again. Something new and tough came over me. I
managed to change my GP and get a referral to another dermatologist.'
This one was more helpful. He said that she was, in fact, entitled to
help with wigs and organized it. The new acrylic wigs helped her to feel
normal. 'You do your best. You stick on your wig, false eyelashes, pencil
in your eyebrows and hope no one notices. No one's actually said any¬
thing yet. I've decided that if they are brave enough to ask "Is it a wig?"
I must have the guts to tell them.
'My worst moment was at a "wig party" run by a wig manufacturer at
a local women's group. People were buying wigsforfun, for fashion! I just
sat there in horror waiting for the demonstrator to pick on me, afraid I
would have to take off my wig and put another one on! And no one knew
I wore one! I had steeled myself with two glasses of sherry before I set out
that night, but I learned a lot about making the wigs look nice. I've now
bought a very trendy one which has really boosted my confidence.
'Another dicey moment came when my doctor suggested I needed to
have my tonsils out. I refused. It was the thought of being in hospital
and people seeing me with no hair, in the operating theatre and after¬
wards in the ward. I made the excuse that I couldn't leave the children.
'The children know. The other day I was changing when my son some¬
how escaped through the front door and toddled onto the road. He's only
a baby and I had to rush out and rescue him because of the traffic. I
thought of the motorists seeing me and I didn't worry so much about
them seeing me nude as seeing me without a wig!
'My daughter has a toy wig and thinks it's great, just like mummy's.
She cried on Chnstmas Day. She said, "I asked Father Chnstmas to bring
me a bike and mummy some hair, but he forgot to bnng your hair.'"
The marriage casualties
Clare and Hazel have had the support of their husbands,

but not everyone is so lueky.
Janice's aiopecia started in her thirties. A widow, she had married for
the second time. This marriage was wrecked, she says, by her second hus¬
band's insensitivity. 'He would taunt me in front of other people, soy
"Look, she's going bold!" I think that was by way of a joke.
'I got so upset about my patchy head that I went to a wig manu¬
facturer where they fixed me up with two hairpieces. They were very
expensive and hod to be attached at the sides, front and bock v/ith glue.
Every time I went to hove my hair reset another section of hair was token
up to accommodate the fastening of the piece. The piece was actually
clipped into the scalp with a metal clip and it was agony, but I bottled
on for some years like this. I liked to go to dances with my husband and
I hated to see my scalp shining through my thin hair when I looked in
mirrors under the spotlights.
'The hairpiece people were sorry it wasn't very comfortable but they
were used to dealing with men and didn't hove any female clients. In the
end a friend, who happens to be a hairdresser, persuaded me to do away
with the hairpieces and cut my hair exceptionally short all over. I felt
most uncomfortable and self-conscious for many weeks.
'The hair loss hod begun after a hysterectomy at the age of 37. My
doctor, going bold himself, said that there was nothing he or anyone else
could do. Once the hair hod gone it was gone for good.
'Seven and a half years ago my eldest son died suddenly, a terrible
blow. I felt I would never recover from the shock and the loss. After this
my hair loss become even more apparent.
'My husband's taunts and jokes were only part of the cruel things he
used to soy to me, often in front of his friends. I began to feel I was
going mental. I finally realized I hod the remedy in my own hands. When
I told him I was storting divorce proceedings, he threatened me with:
'Til make your life a misery and you'll wish you'd never been born. I'll
see you end up penniless. You'll be lucky if you even have a candle to
keep yourself warm." In spite of his abuse, I knew the divorce was some¬
thing I had to go through with. I'd got myself into this marriage and I
jolly well had to get myself out of it.
'The hassle and divorce are all over now. I've moved into a new house,
I work as a secretary and I feel much happier than I have in years.'
Brenda sees her hair loss as a symptom of her unhappy marriage. Her
hair started to thin when she was in her thirties. She says that she suf¬
fered great misery and humiliation through her husband's attitude. After
20 years and four children, she left him and finally divorced him. 'Since
then. I've had 10 very happy years. The freedom from stress after the
divorce was quite overwhelming. Even my hair improved, much to my
surpnse. But just when I thought all my troubles were over, the gradual
loss started again.'
Brenda thinks it may be due to a hereditary factor. 'I've talked to my
own doctor about this and he agrees. It appears to run in my family. My
aunt and a young niece both have severe hair loss.'
Now Brenda is facing the problem in her own daughter. From the age
of 5, her once-abundant hair has been thinning and now, in her early
teens, it is very sparse. 'I've never mentioned my own problem to her,'
says Brenda, 'and I've never drawn attention to her sparse hair, but now
she's in her teens, looks and hairstyles are so important. And she has
noticed for herself. I once heard her weeping in her bedroom and
sobbing "Oh, hair!" which cut me to the quick.'
Stephanie, a mature student whose marriage ended in divorce after she

lost her hair, found her new single state very hard to take.
'Before it happened I had been on top of the world. My husband and
I had moved to the North of England from the South-East, both as
mature students. I had worked for four years at a South-East college to
qualify for a BA (Honours) degree course in design. I was happy and
scatty. Then my hair fell out. I was told at the hospital that I had only a
5 per cent chance of getting it bock. I felt terrible, upset and emotion¬
ally drained.
'I refused to wear a wig os I felt that was admitting defeat and might
prevent my own hair growing bock. Gradually I stopped turning up for col¬
lege. In the end my doctor said I was probably doing myself damage
trying to cope with college so I dropped out of the course.
'My husband hod gone and I was alone in the house. I didn't go any¬
where in cose people mocked me. I was new to the city and hod no
fnends. I was scored to go out and only forced myself out of the house
so that I could try treatments for my hair. Steroid injections didn't work
so I spent money on things like herbalism and hypnosis. I was getting
more and more into debt. I was already on the dole but I didn't care.'
A letter ornvedfrom a man she hod known in the South-East He was
coming to see her. 'I tried to put him off by explaining the situation but
he came anyway. I was ponic-stncken. I was so ugly. How could he wont
me?' Luckily he did. Stephanie has now been living with him for some
months. He has a job in a bonk, so was able to move north.
And Stephanie's hair has begun to regrow, although a lot is still
falling out. 'I don't know whether it is coming or going - both I think!
But he is very confident and keeps telling me it will return.'
She is now pregnant. 'My doctor has warned me that I risk losing my
hair again after I have the baby, but I can't let my hair problems mess
up my life any more. If it goes again, well, it goes! The baby is more
important.'
Some women pretend
Some women retreat and hide their baldness even from

their families. Some go to extraordinary lengths to keep
it a secret.
Yvonne, the wife of a property consuitant, tost her hair only a few
months after her marnage. She had been a nurse, working long spells of
night duty. Doctors could only link her alopecia with exhaustion. Her own
opinion is that it may be part of a hormone problem. After her daughter
was born she was never able to have another child.
Small, delicately featured, she has shoulder-length blonde 'hair'
which makes her one of the most glamorous wives in their set when they
go to Ascot or the Derby.
She lives exactly as if she had hair. Every Saturday, she goes off to the
hairdresser to have her 'hair' set. Her acrylic wig is washed on her head,
rollered, then she sits under the drier alongside all the other clients. They
have no idea, she says, that she is bald. 'My hairdresser is very under¬
standing. She does things to a wig which all the manufacturers tell you
not to do. She uses heat on it when the wig manufacturers advise
strongly against any form of direct heat. But she gets away with it and I
always leave the salon feeling absolutely marvellous. My confidence has
had a real boost and I feel great.'
She has always felt it wasn't fair on her husband to burden him with
the problems of her hair loss. 'After all, we were just married. He had
married a young, pretty girl and suddenly she was a bald freak. I could¬
n't inflict that on him so I've found it much easier over the years to keep
my wigs out of his way. If they are in the airing cupboard I move them
guickly so that neither my husband or my daughter ever sees them.'
On holiday she even swims in her wig. 'It's amazing how good-
tempered the acrylic wigs are. I sleep in them, of course, and it's no
problem.
'My husband never mentions it, but being an ex-military man, he likes
to see that I look all right if we're going anywhere. At the front door he
will check me over and prod the wig if he doesn't like the way I've
combed it. Sometimes I feel I'm on parade, but I understand. He mar¬
ried me when I had hair. It wasn't fair on him. We've certainly been very
happy for 15 years. Occasionally he comes home and talks about the
women he has met during the day - lovely women, apparently. He often
remarks on their beautiful hair. I wish he wouldn't But it's a big part of
a woman's appeal, I suppose.'
Some women stay home
Hilary, the industnalist's wife, did not try to hide her baldness from her
husband but, as she prefers headscarves to wigs, has often refused to go
on business trips with him because she was afraid of the reaction of his
colleagues.
'Thirteen years ago my marvellous doctor sent me to get a wig. Hor¬
ror of horrors, I felt like a floosy. From having so little to acquiring this
mop they offered me! I preferred my headscarf.'
The fact that she turned up for an interview in a headscarf may have lost
her one job she wanted and sometimes she gets comments in the street.
'People will say "Areyou selling pegs, love?" One man said, "Haven't
you got any hair?" to which I replied, "No, I haven't." You've got to be
truthful.'
She spent more than she could afford on travel, searching for a cure,
trying everything available. 'I read of a miraculous new primula treat¬
ment and travelled regularly to a hospital some miles away for
applications of primula leaf to the scalp and systemic steroid injections.
For a time, success. I was thnlled to bits with a great deal of hair growth.
I even had my hair cut!' But she was putting on weight and warned
about the possibility of other side-effects. 'I felt so strange on the
steroid injections -1 was as high as a kite some of the time.'
Because of her worries, she made the mistake of going against her
consultant's advice and stopping the treatment before the end of the
course. The result was disastrous. 'We went on holiday to Spain. I was
thrilled with my new hair and even swam in the sea. But one day in the
shower everything went in one fell swoop. Eyebrows, lashes, pubic hair,
underarm hair. I looked like a plucked duck. I shouted to my husband, "I
don't believe this.'"
The experience was so traumatic it put Hilary off any further efforts
to get her hair back. 'I then decided enough was enough. No more
injections, no more herbalists, no more tnchologists. I would just live
and feel much better for it. My body hair has mostly returned, eyebrows
and eyelashes too, although one eyebrow locks colour and still unfortu¬
nately no hair on the head.'
Hilary was beginning to feel that she was missing out on trips with
her husband. When he was recently sent to Barbados she decided to join
him - and purchased two new wigs. It was a wonderful holiday and
morale returned.
Some women fight back
Sylvia, living in West Germany, was ternfied of wearing a wig. At 61,

she lost her hair dunng a period of stress. She and her husband were
living in Germany for the first time. They had moved therefrom the UK
for the sake of his job. 'I was suffering from nerves when this started.
I hated living in a foreign country. Our sex life has been "no go" for
some years. I want to - he doesn't. Then my daughter's marriage broke
up. Her husband left her, leaving her with three young children. My
doctor seemed to think this all added up to stress which probably
caused the hair loss.'
Her small granddaughter came into the bathroom one day and
observed, 'Granny, I can see through your head!' Her brother thought
that his grandmother looked like a monk.
Sylvia wailed: 'I'm a complete disaster. No social life, no sex life. I'm
afraid to go to the door. I look so awful.'
She bought a real hair wig at a cost of £100. 'It's horrible, I wear a
cotton scarf all day so that the air can get to my scalp. We're going home
to England for Chnstmas and I'm ternfied. They are all kind and loving
but my uncle is a shocking leg-puller and is not above teasing me in com¬
pany. I don't feel I can cope with it.'
Once she had bought an acrylic wig which she really liked, Sylvia sur¬
vived her socializing without a qualm. 'It's super/ she announced. 'I
wore it to a New Year party and felt quite glamorous. All the family like
it too, including the uncle.'
Lately she has had some good news. Her hair is growing back again.
Slowly, but it is there.
Carol was equally scared of coping with the police ball, but her husband
wanted her to accompany him. The wig caused an unexpected stir. 'When
we arnved heads turned to look at me. It appeared that some of his col¬
leagues couldn't believe I was his wife. What they expected I don't know.
None of them knows of my condition but maybe the wig creates a differ¬
ent impression. It goes to show that one can still look great with a little
effort and a lot of guts. You don't hove to hide yourself away!'
Silence on the subject is the usual embarrassed spin-off

from your friends, even your closest family.
Wimfred, 62, did not tell her husband that she wore a wig when she mar¬
ried, but a year after their wedding he found out. 'The weather was
windy. I put my hands to my head to hold the wig on but it was too late.
It was such a ternble shock to him that he has never spoken about it to
this day.'
That was nearly 40 years ago.
Survival plan
When a woman loses her hair she sometimes feels that

she looks like a man, particularly if she sees a back view
of her head in the mirror. I was horrified at first by the
horrendous stumpy shape of my skull. I looked like a lit¬
tle old man. The black, hopeless thoughts set in. 'How the
hell will any man ever fancy me again? Worse, what if

that sympathetic look comes into his eyes?'
You know it's self-pity. You know there are millions
worse off But you still feel like a man, an ugly bald man.
Make space. Get away for a few days if you can. Give
yourself time to take stock and evolve your survival plan.
First, take a vow of silence. Don't keep talking about it
to your partner. He has had a shock too. You have started
to cope with it. You are thinking positively - most of the
time, anyway - and doing as much as you can to help
yourself You think about hair a great deal, you gaze at
heads, bald or otherwise, everywhere you go. But the sub¬
ject may be a bore or a turn-off for your husband. He
didn't marry a baldie, after all. He married you - with
hair. Your sudden transformation may shatter him at
first, particularly if he is not over-confident himself
In an ideal world, a life partner should love you for
what you really are, not what you look like. But this is not
an ideal world and he will need time to adjust. Even if he
is not upset, talking about it may bore him, as many men
get bored when a woman goes on at great length about
her appearance, even if she is a stunning beauty.
So shut up. Once you've lost your hair, anyway, there
isn't very much to say about it, so restrain yourself from
endless moaning. This will have the added bonus of
silencing him as well. If he is the type to make jokes - as
Kathleen's husband did by calling her 'Gary' (see page
89) - this can be very hard to take. The laughs become a
little strained after a while, as she pointed out. She could
take it when she was in a good mood but sometimes .. . !
You are also going to work hard. When you are lucky
enough to have hair you can afford, occasionally, to 'let
yourself go', slop around in ancient jeans, wear your face
as innocent of make-up as you like. But when you have

lost your hair, and possibly your eyebrows and eyelashes
as well, obviously you are minus an important part of
your appearance.
You will have to make up the balance by working
harder to look attractive in every other way, every day.
Work towards feeling happy about yourself again. Self¬
esteem and a good self-image are vitally important. No
more slopping around for you, no days off. You will adapt
your life to your handicap as people adapt when they
have more serious medical conditions. The mastectomy
patient learns to compensate with a prosthesis instead of
a breast. The colostomy patient learns to cope with the
inconvenience of a colostomy bag. Our problem doesn't
hurt physically. It is not life-threatening. It is, after all,
only our hair.
The Worst Thing Is Losing My Eyelashes and Eyebrows.

How Can I Look Like a Human Being Again?
Losing these can be harder than losing your hair. Even

men have been known to struggle with eyebrow pencils
to try to reconstruct the appearance of normality. For a
woman it is easier, as people are accustomed to seeing
her wearing make-up.
Find an old photograph of yourself to try to match up
the eyebrow line. Instead of an eyebrow pencil try a cake
eyeliner with a very fine brush to paint in 'hairs' in the
direction in which normal eyebrow lines would be going.
Yes, it does take ages, but the effect is quite natural. Soft
brown is a good colour unless you normally had blue-
black eyebrows!
Susan Crabtree, a young college lecturer from Burnley,

Lancashire suggests a soft kohl pencil to give the same
effect as brush strokes. 'If you don't like the shape you
can always rub out the line and start again.'
False eyelashes help, but they need to be the lighter,
smaller type, kept mainly to the outer corner of the eye.
Taken into the centre, they have the effect of making the
eyes look smaller. They should be applied after eye
shadow.
Susan says she has never found it too much of a prob¬
lem. 'A perfectly normal look can be achieved by the
clever use of eyeliner. Use kohl pencil to draw a line
inside the upper and lower lids, then smudge it carefully.'
Without the protection of lashes against dust in the air
and particles flying off roads, eyes can get really sore.
'Hypo-allergenic make-up is worth the extra expense,'
says Susan. 'Your eyes will also benefit from a good eye-
bath from time to time, with one of the chemist's
soothing eye lotions.'
Don't Put It Off. You Are Going to Buy a Wig.

'Oh no! Has It Come to That? Not a Wig?'
Like me, you will be aghast. 'Only old ladies, judges and
drag artistes wear wigs', you will cry, 'not me, a normal
modern woman.' But you will realize, as you start to dread
going out in the wind, when you can no longer disguise
the bald patches with clever combing, that the time
has come to get yourself to the nearest modern wig
department.
Faced with rows of severed polystyrene heads sporting
coiffures of all kinds, your immediate instinct will be to
turn tail. Stay put. I know you think it is the end of the
world, as I did. I imagined the discreet postiche parlours
of my youth where elderly women, in fur coats, visited
the bespoke wigmaker, going in with hats strategically
placed on thinning hair, coming out bewigged - so obvi¬
ously bewigged, in thick gleaming 'hair-dos' which stood
no chance of deceiving anyone. The wigs stood slightly
away from their heads at the back, just enough to give the
game away.
Of course, I knew about Tun wigs', a fashion relic of the
1960s, but not a wig to be worn daily! I was terrified.
I was also out of date. Modern acrylic wigs are light¬
weight and trendy. When you find the right one, you will
probably look better than you ever did in your own hair.
Decide first which type you prefer. Some people like
the human hair variety, made to measure and costing sev¬
eral hundred pounds. These take some weeks to make
and may involve fittings. With a real hair wig, you must
also be prepared to spend hours on styling and setting, as
it needs to he treated as your own hair. You must not get
it wet - that's fun in the British climate! You must also
send it back to the manufacturer for regular chemical
cleaning.
For me, it was much easier to slip into a department
store and buy an acrylic wig 'over the counter'. These
have practical advantages. They can be washed at home
and, if you are caught in the rain, you need only leave
them alone and restrain yourself from touching them
until they are dry. Then they are usually as good as new.
They are much less expensive than the real hair variety,
costing from around £80 and they look amazingly natural.
When you go to buy your wig, ask for a private fitting
room. Even the staff cloakroom will do, so long as you
are left in peace for half an hour to make your decision.

You can't do that properly when surrounded by other
shoppers, red in the face with embarrassment and
expecting to see your next-door neighbour any minute!
Some women travel miles out of their way to purchase
wigs. When I first started Hairline, I was pleased to find a
local retail outlet for wigs only a couples of miles away
from a new member. I sent her a discount voucher for the
store and was amused when she wrote asking for an
alternative shop, 30 miles away. As she explained, 'I'm a
teacher and I may see my pupils or their parents in the
local store.'
If there is no fitting room, explain your situation to the
salesgirl who may be able to perform the scarf trick. This
is a skilful method of putting on the wig, while shielding
your head with the scarf.
If she can't do that, you have an alternative. Wig manu¬
facturers are now setting up postal services. You choose
the style and colour from a catalogue and try on the wig
at home. If you make a mistake, refunds are normally
prompt. And 'wigs by post' come less expensive as the
middle man, the department store, has been cut out.
Don't give up if the first wig you try makes you look like
Danny La Rue in drag. You haven't seen yourself with hair
for a while. Of course it looks like a bush! You will find the
right wig. It's a great moment, just like falling in love.
Don't strip it off at night in front of your husband. That
is about as sexy as pulling out your dentures.
FACT: Women Who Have Lost Their Hair are Not Obliged to Take Off
Their Wigs in Front of Their Men.
Some women have such a close, confident relationship
that maybe they don't need to worry, but most of us find
it easier to go in for a little strategic deceit, especially at

first. A wife can expect a man to go bald in later life - 90
per cent of men do - but he does not expect to have a hair¬
less wife, ever.
At first, you will probably feel better if you go to bed in
a wig, even if it gets hot and sticky and you end up - like
me - scuttling into the bathroom to take it off in the
middle of the night. You may be saying indignantly:
'Nonsense. I don't need to hide reality. My husband will
love me as I am, whatever I look like.' Fine. Let him see
you bald if he is perfectly happy about it. People must
work out what is best for them.
If you are unsure, think first of his sensitivities, sec¬
ondly of your own. Do you feel attractive without hair?
You do? Good. Then go to bed with him without your wig.
But if you look in the mirror and think, 'Oh, my God.
Something from outer space!' then you won't turn him
on, or yourself.
This is the time to indulge yourself. Treat yourself to
a new dress, splash around the perfume you've been
hoarding. Buy yourself as many wigs as you can afford.
Don't feel guilty. Think how much you are saving at the
hairdresser!
Go into hiding. At least as far as 'getting ready' is con¬
cerned. No matter how small your house, you can surely
find a quiet corner for major construction jobs. If there is
nowhere else, put your wig on in the loo!
Don't leave your wigs lying around. Not only will your
family keep falling over them, the police will get a laugh
if they come in to sort out a burglary. So put wigs in the
cupboard and close the door - now!
There are advantages. You don't need to waste hours at
the hairdresser any more, or struggle with blow-driers. If
your holiday plane leaves at dawn, no problem. You will

be aboard, complete with a magnificent 'hair-do'. It took
you all of five seconds to put it on. After a swim, in your
pretty towelling turban, you can put your glamorous hair
back on again in the privacy of the changing room.
Before you rush out to be admired in your new wig, do
make sure you have put it on properly. It sounds obvious,
but it is surprising how many people never really get to
like their wigs for the simple reason that they are wearing
them backwards! I once spent a morning in the shops
wondering why my wig felt uncomfortable. It was on
backwards.
It is actually quite an easy mistake to make. I even
heard of a hairdresser who put one backwards on a client
before she cut it, thereby savaging a wig worth £200, so
check that simple detail first. The tapes which are used to
adjust the size should be at the baek. Usually, the manu¬
facturer's label is there too. Place the wig exactly where
3^our hair-line should be, neither too far forward nor too
far back.
Wash an acrylic wig at home, in cold water, with a wig
shampoo, ordinary shampoo or even washing-up liquid.
Fabric conditioner is a good idea in the final rinse. Offi¬
cially, wig manufacturers advise us to let the wigs dry
naturally away from direct heat, but many people break the
rules and get away with it. I have heard of wigs surviving
washing machines and spin-driers (on gentle cycle in a pil¬
lowcase). Some use electrically heated rollers for setting
(on moderate heat). All this is strictly against the advice of
the manufacturers. Sometimes a wig salesgirl will offer to
wash it for you. This is well worth a tip - a large one.
The wig may slip around like an egg cosy if you have a
totally bald head. Wig - or toupee - tape can be purchased
very reasonably to keep it still. You stitch the tape inside

the wig and you also need an oil silk patch to secure it.
The manufacturers will assure you that the acrylic wigs
look just as good after washing. Personally, I disagree as I
prefer them new and shining, but some women wash their
wigs before wearing them to make them look more natural.
Don't worry if the worst happens and your wig falls off
one day. It happens to us all.
Nancy, aged 71, who has been wearing wigs for 30 years, was in a
department store with her 2-year-old grandson. 'He was jiggling about
and I was trying to keep him from trampling on my bad foot when I fell
backwards. Horror of horrors, my wig dropped off. Where was that hole
to fall into? I felt more bothered about my wig than whether I was hurt!'
I was once walking cheerfully through Birmingham, my

'pony tail' bobbing up and down on my shoulders, when
a man tapped my arm. I turned huffily, thinking he was
making a pass, only to have my alleged 'hair' handed to
me. 'I think you dropped this, miss,' he said.
After I had lost my hair completely and was wearing a
full wig, a woman friend was in the garden with me. We
were trying to hang out a wet carpet after my washing
machine had flooded the kitchen. Suddenly it was caught
by a gust of wind and swung back into my face, dislodg¬
ing the wig. 'How embarrassing!' I groped in the wet
grass to retrieve it, with what I hoped was a light laugh. I
picked it up and disappeared. I had never told my friend
that I wore a wig. Since then, she has never mentioned it
and neither have I.
Inititally I fussed a great deal about whether people
knew about the little laughs they must be having at my
expense, but soon I learned the facts of 'Wig Lore':
Every time you get out of a car you will catch the
wig on the roof This always happens, especially
when you are watched by someone you wish to
impress.
When you are going out on a special occasion, the
wig which looked wonderful when you tried it last
week will suddenly refuse to comb up. It will not
look nearly as good as it did when you tried it on.
But remember when you had your own hair?
Wasn't it just as difficult sometimes?
If you go out in a short wig one day and a long one
the next, you are bound to meet the same people.
Fact of Wig Lore: no hair grows six inches in the
night.
At a party you will not be the only person wearing
something false. What about false nails, bosoms,
teeth?
When your hair grows back, you will not throw
your wigs away. You will realize how pretty and
convenient they were. You will wear them again.
Wigs bring out the wits. Brace yourself against a
world in which there will always be a Tunny
uncle' dying to be the comedian of the party at
your expense! Let him. The wives will probably he
silent and jealous, just wondering where you had
your hair done!
When it Happens to a Man
'Everything stopped - joy in life, sex drive.
It killed any urge for sex for two years.'
Ross is a former army officer. Idealistic, courageous, he has been

to war. He has also fought his toughest battle of all, against polio, so
boldness should hove seemed a triviality. But when all his hair fell
out in the space offour weeks, it was a shock which damaged his life
dramatically.
Ross hod always enjoyed the company of women. Now, suddenly he
didn't wont to know. Sex drive vanished os rapidly os the hair on his scalp
and body.
He was in his mid-forties. Twenty years earlier he hod contracted polio
while serving os a young infantry officer in Hong Kong. After fighting in
Korea and serving in Japan, the sharp onset of polio put him in on iron
lung. At first, doctors expected him to die. Later, they thought he would
be paralysed for life. Finally, that he would never again take port in
sport. But they reckoned without Ross's determined spirit. 'Of course I'm
going to ploy bloody golf again,' he vowed, and left hospital two years
later with nothing worse than a slight limp.
His sudden boldness happened at a time when he hod left the army
and was a teacher. Confidently mole, he was vigorous, cheerful and sex¬
ually in his prime, married with three children.
The loss of his hair transformed his appearance. 'I didn't even recog¬
nize myself at first. If you wont a good disguise, that's the answer. Just
shove off all your hair.'
When it Happens to a Man 113
It changed his personality. 'It made him more aggressive/ says his
wife.
It changed his life. 'Ifelt deadened. I wasn't afraid of being un¬
attractive. I don't think I'm vain. I just didn't want sex.'
Women hove always indulged him. From the hospital staff who nursed
him through polio to the wife and daughters who affectionately boss him
around in the large Edwardian house of a university town. Essentially
masculine, he speaks in all-male military language. He talks of a 'kip',
of 'mates' on the battlefield, of his life in the army, with Sunday morn¬
ing hangovers and a girl for weekend leave.
Romantic, he wntes poetry. Sensuous, he loved the caresses of the
nurses and physiotherapists who massaged his muscles back to life when
he was ill. Helpless in bed and wheelchair, he thnved on their touch.
Ross, like most men, might have expected to go bald gradually as he
grew older, but when it happened so suddenly it was as devastating to
him as to a woman. While a wife may feel that her baldness makes her
less attractive to her husband, a man who is suddenly deprived of his hair
may not worry consciously that it makes him ugly. Ross's reaction was
simply to lose interest in the sexual side of his life.
He makes light of it. 'My wife is a down-to-earth Virgo, while I'm a
dreaming Pisces. She's very philosophical, I don't think she minded'. But
Ross minded a lot, privately.
His ordeal began with a strange purplish rash which appeared on his
chest and abdomen. Inflamed, with very dry skin, the rash was sore and
painful. Within four weeks, he noticed that his hair was dropping out in
thick tufts every time he brushed it. It was July; the school holidays had
just begun. He went to the doctor, confident of a cure. 'After all, they had
put me back on my feet after polio, so I was sure that such a tnviality as
hair loss could be easily cleared up. I had childlike faith in medical mira¬
cles.' It was notjustified. The doctor informed him that he knew very little
about alopecia and that doctors probably wouldn't be able to cure it.
Ross was referred to the nearest teaching hospital where, as it hap¬
pened, an international conference of dermatologists was in progress.
'Having had polio, I am used to being a medical guinea pig, so I said I

wouldn't mind if the skin specialist looked at me.' Stnpped, he stood in
a spartan cubicle while five doctors examined the savage rash smother¬
ing his skin. His hair had nearly all disappeared to reveal a smooth pink
scalp and strangely clammy skin on his body. The medics quizzed him
from the superior standpoint of those who were clothed, who had hair.
'What drugs have you been taking? Does your family have a history of
early baldness? Which came first - the rashes or the hair loss?' He soon
realized that they knew no more about it than his doctor had done. Ross
was despondent. Naked and sore before this group of specialists, he grew
angry when one doctor, himself balding, loudly accused him of having
venereal disease. Ross had had enough. He decided to do the talking and
outlined his theory. He believed that he been poisoned by the chemicals
he had been using to spray his garden and which were also in use as weed
killers at the school. The doctors were noncommittal. 'You appear to have
alopecia areata', was their only comment.
Ross went home, defeated. Pain, frustration, he was used to them, but
suddenly he felt as terrified as he had during those frightening days in the
iron lung. He was so desperately ill in those days that he has forgotten most
of the health professionals who nursed him. He remembers only his phys¬
iotherapist. She was big and blonde and her ministrations not only helped
him to walk again but also reawakened feelings of sensuality in him. Ross
was in love with her. Patiently she manoeuvred him in bed and wheelchair
and would come to his bed on quiet nights. He remembers her clearly,
though sometimes now he wonders whether it was all halludnation.
But would any woman want him now? He felt exposed to the world,
imprisoned yet again in an alien body, as he had been all those years
before in that iron lung. This time there was no blonde nymph to soothe
him, only the dull ache of depression. He gazed in horror at his mirrored
reflection. Who would be turned on by this white 'boiled egg'? Without
hair there is nothing to hide behind. A feeling of unease passed through
him, like on electric shock. He looked like something from another world.
He felt sore, with the rash, and tired. He suddenly felt very ill indeed.
For a man such as Ross, who is sensitive and imaginative,

the shock of sudden baldness was a massive blow. For
Michael, a graphics artist, it was even more difficult. He
had no wife to reassure him.
Michael: 'When a man goes bald in the normal way, gradually, he often
looks distinguished. I just looked scruffy.'
Michael started to lose his hair six years ago at the age of 20. The
patches were at the back of his head, one sideburn is now missing and
there is a patch at the front. 'It's impossible to cover it all with a hat,'
says Michael. 'It won't be long before I lose it all.
'At the time it began I had a rather hectic job in a small pnnting firm
and for much of the time I worked in a darkroom. This made me think that
the cause was lack of sunlight, contamination from photographic chemi¬
cals, stress - or a combination of all three. I was under pressure at work.
At one stage I actually had a bed in the office. But I enjoy being busy.'
His hair gradually regrew, but when his steady girlfnend decided to end
their relationship, it fell out again. 'I don't know whether it was because
of my hair that she left me. I wouldn't blame her if it was. My hair was
growing back when we were together, but it still looked a bit of a mess.'
When she left him, he began to feel a failure with women. 'I suppose
my confidence was undermined. The further hair loss made me even more
self-conscious and introverted, though I hove always been quiet' His
mother worries about this. 'Michael has always been a quiet boy. One
doctor suggested that this hair loss happened because I left him os a
child when I hod to go into hospital after a miscarriage. Michael was 3
at the time and I left him at home with relations, but I was only away
for a week.'
She is also concerned about his lock of social life. 'He should be out
meeting people. I would love him to find a woman friend and get mar¬
ried. It isn't right for him to be stuck here with us.' Michael and his
parents live in a dromoticolly beautiful port of the English West Country.
His home, on old farmhouse, is very remote. His father works os on
accountant in the nearest town. Onginally Michael thought he would fol¬

low a similar career and took a job as a bookkeeper. But he didn't enjoy
the work and switched swiftly to art and graphic design.
A dermatologist offered him no treatment and could suggest only
wigs, 'but it's harder to wear a wig for a man. Women can have longish
sides. I need sideburns and they look terrible when they stand away from
the face.' So he wears his wig only occasionally and tries all kinds of
potions he sees advertised. He has sampled organic hair restorers, herbs
and seaweed, even boiled nettles. 'I now believe in the holistic
approach,' says Michael, 'as opposed to treating the symptoms alone. I
went to see a local homoeopath and so far have become more optimistic
through this treatment which involved a complete change of the person,
eating habits and so on. You supply all this information to the homoeo¬
pathic doctor and a composite pill is given to you, relating to your
personal needs. I haven't been able to continue os it is too expensive but
it has given me new insights into my life - a spintual understanding if
you like.'
He continues to be something of a loner. His mother complains that
he makes excuses to 'chicken out' of family occasions such os his
cousin's wedding. He has joined a singles' club run by the local church
and found a new girlfriend there - a divorcee, some years older than him¬
self. He was wearing his wig when he met her.
It took all his nerve to tell her about it, os even going to the singles'
club was on effort, 'but I'm glad I did. It has helped my confidence and
I'm learning not to take it too seriously. I'm taking constructive steps to
get myself out of the house more.'
Isolation and loneliness are faced by many young men

when they go bald.
Robert also lost most of his hair through alopecia areata os a child in
Canada. At 33, he has never morned and has always been too ashamed
of his condition even to ask a woman for a dote. 'I just know I am a
figure of fun and couidn't possibly expect any woman to take me sen-
ously. This thin little body with a wig perched on the top. I get a sixth
sense when people are behind me whispenng and laughing. In Canada,
when I was a child, people were sympathetic. They are more understand¬
ing as a nation than the British.' Irntable bowel syndrome has left him
severely underweight. He has to put up with daily ridicule in the street.
Now Robert lives alone in London. His job as a bank executive is
demanding and fairly stressful. 'You hove to concentrate. One mistake
can upset a case for years.' His existence is solitary, broken up only by
weekly visits to his mother and one evening a week at a book society.
He decided to take a pen friend, and enjoyed a long corrrespondence
with an English girl about 150 miles away. 'We got on famously. Eventu¬
ally we arranged to meet.' There was only one problem. He had not told
her about his wig. 'I worried for ages and decided that I had better break
it to her. She wrote back and was marvellous. She said that she didn't
mind a bit. Everything was fine, I was really excited. But at the last
minute she changed her mind. Cold feet, I suppose, though there may
have been a genuine reason. Anyway, that was the end of that.'
He has now become accustomed to his isolation. 'Women think I'm
peculiar. My wig looks a bit strange. It is real hair, longish, and you
would think that with men wearing hair longer these days I would get
away with it, but I don't. I'm trying acrylics now in the hope of looking
more natural, but they make my scalp itch.
'I started losing my hair when I was seven in Canada. My parents had
gone there in the hopes offinding work but it wasn't easy as my father
was unskilled. He has always blamed himself for my baldness. He had
taken me to a restaurant and I trapped my finger in a glass door, cutting
it badly. He took me to hospital where I was given a tetanus injection.
Two weeks later, patchy alopecia areata started. It seemed too much of
a coincidence to be unrelated to the injection. One dermatologist told
me that the vaccination might have oversensitized my antibodies and
caused the hair loss, so my fatherfelt guilty, though I am sure it was just
an accident.
The cost of iiving was high in Canada and we couldn't afford a spe¬
cialist, just the local doctor. Nothing could be done for me, he said, so
for two years I wore a cap all the time. The teachers and the children at
school were quite understanding but when we came back to England I
was older and felt my wig was very noticeable.
In England I went to Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children
which, of course, is the best in the world. They put me on systemic
steroids but the side-effects were so bad -1 put on lots of weight - that
they took me off them.'
At comprehensive school in north London he excelled. 'I worked hard.
I had more faith and optimism in those days. There was the odd incident
at school. The English teacher grabbed my sideburns in the fnendly way
teachers sometimes grab a handful of boys' hair. He was amazed to find
that the sideburns were part of my wig. The whole thing came off in his
hand - to the amusement of the class.'
His condition has now deteriorated so much that it is classed as
alopecia universalis. He still attends a hospital skin clinic.
Robert feeb infenor. 'In one of the James Bond books, Ian Fleming
descnbed alopecia as "the most hideous disease in the world". I agree,
particularly when you lose eyebrows and eyelashes as well as your hair.
It robs your face of all its character. I wish I lived on an island entirely
populated by people with alopecia. Then I wouldn't have to put up with
all the sniggers. I would just look like everyone else.'
Andrew, a radio and television salesman lost his hair just before his
wedding. He was 24. 'My wife didn't change her mind. She was so busy
with all the arrangements that it would have taken a lot more to make
her cancel it. But you should see my wedding photographs! I looked a
right mess! Morning suit, all the tnmmings, the bride in white, and me
- in a very poor wig that looked bloody awful. No eyebrows or eyelashes
either. What a day!'
Alopecia areata happened rapidly and within a few weeks he lost all
his hair. He faced his wedding night smooth and bald. Scalp and body
hair went completely, but his wife was determined not to give him a
chance to feel inadequate. 'I thought she wouldn't fancy me. You don't
look very macho with no hair. But she was sure it was going to grow back
and kept on and on saying so.
'I look at my wedding pictures now and wonder howl could hove done
it. You have never seen such a terrible wig and I was always messing
around with double-sided sticking tape to keep it on. But when it hap¬
pened I was trainee sales manager for a national chain of television
shops. There was no way I could have done that job without a wig.
'My mother had been very ill just before the wedding. I had been liv¬
ing at my mother-in-law's house, sleeping on the sofa, travelling a lot. It
was a long way from where I was working. There was mounting pressure
at work, worry about sales figures, targets, charts ... All those things
put me under a lot of pressure.'
Andrew feeb his wife gave him the most confidence and ensured that
their married life did not suffer. 'She mode me feel that she wanted me
just as much and everything was fine.' They started a family and now
have three children, aged 4, 2, and 5 months.
When his hair started to grow back, he held a wig-burning ceremony
in the garden, inviting all his friends to join him for a celebratory drink.
The hair took two years to regrow, so in the meantime he wore a cap
indoors and out.
When his wife went into hospital to have their first baby, he
was determined to watch the birth. 'I went into the delivery room wear¬
ing my cap. Fortunately the staff were all so busy that no one noticed
me, so no one bothered to give me a gown or theatre cap and it wasn't
until it was all over that the sister turned to me and laughed, "You've still
got your hat on." I laughed as well.'
Sadly, Andrew's pleasure at the return of his hair was short-lived.
Seven years later another episode of alopecia occurred and he has now
lost three-quarters of his scalp hair again. He was involved in a particu¬
larly stressful period at work as a retail manager. 'This time I decided it
was time to change my job.'
He now works from home, running his own small business, painting
portraits from photographs. 'I have never regretted giving up my selling
job. It also means that I don't have to wear a wig this time. I have thank¬
fully dispensed with it and wear a flat cap when we go out.
'It makes a big difference to my life. When I am without hair I really
don't want to go out socially.
'I suppose I've treated alopecia as a warning to change my life-style.
I am much happier now. My hair has started to regrow. It is at the early
stage of being "all white" in colour. It just seems slow this time. I'm get¬
ting a little anxious.'
Andrew's wife says she was not too alarmed when his hair fell out. 'I had
seen alopeda before, in a colleague at work and a friend at church. When
my colleague in teaching lost his hair it was usually when he was overwork¬
ing or worried, then it would come back. Now he has retired it is better -
very thick and healthy, as he doesn't hove any work to worry about! When
it happened to Andrew I felt sure his hair would come bock the same way.
'I didn't even think of cancelling the wedding. He was just os attrac¬
tive to me os he hod always been, though I know it depressed him. I just
thought how ill and worried he looked at the wedding. He wasn't so
passionate when he had no hair. He didn't wont to go out very much in
the evenings.
'When he was managing the shop he used to try to crayon in the bold
patches with block eyebrow pencil. Eventually he gave up and wore a wig.
He was always worrying in cose it fell off in the shop or in a pub.
'When his hair regrew we hod a great time! He was turned on and
more loving. We would go out socially again and everything was fine.
'When it all fell out for the second time he got very depressed. We stay
in most of the time now. I don't mind as I'm pretty tired in the evenings,
having three under-fives to look after. I don't mind so long as I know this
isn't forever. The hair is growing bock just a little now so I hope it will all
come bock again os it did the first time.
'He feels there ore so many things he "doesn't wont" to do because
of his hair loss. One important thing I wonted him to do was to hove a
vasectomy. He uses his hair loss as an excuse, saying he can't sit in the
doctor's surgery with his cap on! I really don't see that the doctor will be
paying any attention to the top of his head! So I am trying to persuade
him,'
Sometimes, though, there is good news. Hair grows back

- and stays back. Ross was lucky.
Ross had always impressed on everyone that his hair would return but
first it was very important to him to find out more about the cause.
He was still convinced that both the rashes and the hair loss had been
caused by garden chemical sprays. He wrote to the Health and Safety
Executive, who interviewed him and made investigations. His dermatolo¬
gist contacted the various chemicab firms whose products had been in
use at his school and which Ross had a bo used at home, A spokesman
for one of the firms acknowledged that some chemicab ~ the arsenicab
- were known to cause 'dermatitis and hair loss', but explained that
these were no longer on sale.
The hospital called in a retired dermatologist of some 40 years' expe¬
rience, He examined Ross and concluded: 'This is probably alopecia
areata but I cannot rule out the possibility that it was tnggered by
exposure to toxic chemicab,'
But Ross still wonted to know the cause, 'I didn't wont to sue anyone.
The important thing was to try to prevent something like this happening
to anyone ebe,'
Faced with the ordeal of going bock to school to cope with the curios-
ity of young boys, many men would hove been tempted to stay at home,
but Ross returned to school for the autumn term. Now he was transformed
from a hirsute mole to this smooth, hairless individual 'from outer space'.
Silence fell os he walked into the school library for the first staff meeting
of the term. He looked so grotesquely different from the man they hod lost
seen only eight weeks earlier that several colleagues foiled to recognize
him. Some avoided him completely. One young teacher complimented him
on his new short haircut, then felt back in embarrassment when he baked
more closely and saw that Ross had no hair at all.
Predictably, the children labelled him Kojak. But their attitude was
not unkind. 'To their eternal credit', says Ross, 'not one child ever
attempted to poke fun at me.' But they were very keen to hove their
books marked, prompted by the natural cunosity to take a closer look at
his balding head. The school doctor reported that many children had
been to see her, usually on some pretext, to enquire about their teacher's
health and why he had suddenly lost his hair.
His wife and family supported him. 'I don't think they ever told me
some of the comments they heard outside,' he soys. 'My wife is not given
to hystencs. She was only angry once, os for as I know.' His wife explains:
'A woman acquaintance stopped me in the street with on expression of
deep gloom. "How is your poor husband?" she asked and made it quite
clear that she thought he was on chemotherapy and likely to die any
minute. I told her "He's only lost his hair, for God's soke." When you've
been through what we hove in our lives - we've lived through wars, don't
forget ~ losing a little bit of hair is nothing.'
It was hardly 'nothing' to her husband. He felt depressed and began
to ovoid mirrors.
On his next hospital appointment, he was accompanied by his wife.
The sister on reception was sympathetic. 'How old is your father?' she
asked her. 'I felt about 85,' soys Ross, 'a wizened, bolding gnome.'
His theory about the garden spray was finally discounted. 'In the
end,' soys his dermatologist, 'I do not think we were ever able to relate
his hair fall to chemical exposure, and it was felt that he hod ordinary
idiopathic alopecia oreoto/totolis. Chemicab usually cause hair to fall
out in a nogen - i.e. their growing phase - whereas alopecia areata gives
these rather choroctenstic clubbed hairs due to the hairs being rushed
into their resting/shedding phase. Although various chemicab cause hair
fall - particularly cytotoxic drugs used for cancer - there is not, so for os
I know, any evidence of this occurring with everyday environmental or
ognculturol chemicab. A toxic cause was therefore unlikely.'
Ross refused drugs for his alopecia. 'I felt that over the years ~ with
having had polio - my body had had enough chemicals to put up with.'
He also refused to wear a wig. 'I was convinced that once I wore a
wig my body wouldn't bother go on fighting and replace the natural hair.
For the some reason I had always refused calipers when I was recovering
from polio.'
Two years after he lost his hair came the first sign of hope. He was in
the front of the car, when his young son, in the back seat, spotted tiny
hairs on his father's head. Slowly his hair returned. Soon Ross needed to
shave again. His body hair, eyebrows and eyelashes came back as well. So
did Ross's normal cheerfulness and zest for life. 'It was a great relief' he
admits, 'to discover that normal sex drive can just lie dormant for a while.
I felt fine again. It was also a relief to get my hair back again. In spite of
all my protests, I had always had a secret fear that it would never return,
or come bock in a half-hearted way and just look ugly and moth-eaten.'
It is now 11 years since it happened and there has been no sign of a
relapse. 'I realized how lucky I was when I heard that only about 20 per
cent of patients with total hair loss recover completely. If I had stayed
hairless, nothing dramatic would have happened. Life would have gone
on as before. It would just have been muted by that strange block which
prevented me from being "full of the joys of spring"! When I got my hair
back, life started again.'
Survival plan
The young man proudly brushes his thick, plentiful hair.

He puts the question confidently to his bride: 'Will you
still love me when I'm old? When I'm bald?' He laughs
because he knows it won't happen for years.
A man takes it for granted that he will probably lose his
hair one day, but not that his wife might be a baldie!
FACT: Men are Expected to Go Bald Sometime.
FACT: No Matter How Thick Your Hair is Now, You Could be Bald in a
Week “ at Any Age - if You Got Alopeda Areata.
FACT: You are Lucky to be a Man. Sodety Will Accept Your Baldness
Easily. If You Suddenly Lose Your Hair, it May be a Shock For You,
But it is Not the Freak Happening it Would be for Your Wife.
Having said that, it can still be tough on a man because
the effect of alopecia areata is so messy and patchy. If it
becomes total and eyebrows and eyelashes also disap¬
pear, a man also has a loss of self-image, and feels
disbelief - and horror - every time he looks in a mirror.
Martin, 17, was a promising student when he lost all his hair. He excelled
in languages, obtained a university place and had hoped for a career in
travel.
His hair loss wrecked all that. He lost confidence, was afraid of other
people's reactions to him, and gave up his dreams of a career. 1 started
to drink heavily which became a problem. I found that women soon left
me and I was three times involved in "suicide" attempts - though, os I
told someone every time that I had taken an overdose, I suppose they
were just "cnes for help".'
He took a stopgap job as a betting shop manager and, at 31, finds
life very lonely. 'I hide myself away every evening, unless I go to pubs.
Where else is there to go? Then the drink problem starts again.'
So how does a man survive it? There are two ways open
to you.
You can say 'No one will ever want me without hair. I
am going to forget about sex, career ambitions, all the
things in life which are important to me, until my hair
grows back.'
Fine. Opt out, if you want to surrender before the bat¬

tle has even begun. But have you considered how long it
will take for your hair to regrow? If and when it does
grow again, it could be as long as two years before you are
anything like your old self.
The alternative is to make the best of yourself as you
are. Stop dodging mirrors. Stop denigrating yourself
FACT: Many Women are Attracted to Bald Men.

How many females have turned down Yul Brynner, Kojak
in his prime or one of those sexy, bald pop singers?
Totally bald men are often macho, devastatingly
attractive. After all, you have the same body as before.
Only your hair is missing.
FACT: Your Wife Probably Won't Give a Damn About Your Loss of Hair.
What will worry her is the effect your hair loss has on
you. She may not mind the baldness. She will mind if it
wrecks your married life, if you stop taking her out and
stop making it fun to stay in. If you call a sudden halt to
your sex life, she may not be pleased.
Decide About Wigs

Nick, an RAF sergeant, who Lost his hair, found that he Liked himseLf bet¬
ter with no hair at aLL, rather than the odd scruffy patch, 1 went to many
hairdressers but they aLL refused to shave my head.' EventuaLLy one was
persuaded and Nick feLt better. 'Once I had no hair at aLL, I didn't have
a probLem. I have noticed other peopLe suffering the same way as I do
and I must say that they aLL Look very gLum, down in the dumps. I now
enjoy myseLf os much as possibLe. Life is too short. I am what I am.'
Many men feel silly in wigs. Unless a wig is essential for

his career, a man is probably better off without one. No
matter how expensive, wigs often look a little strange,

particularly around the sides. Many men feel happier in
cloth caps.
Some feel happiest of all when they have accepted
themselves as bald, stopped apologizing . . . and go out
with a naked head to let the world think it's deliberate,
a new look chosen for fashion. So choose the way that
suits you.
Once you get to like your new self, the world will fol¬
low, I'm certain.
When it Happens to a Child
'I would mortgage the house - anything -
if I could get my daughter's hair back!'
When a child loses hair suddenly, the situation is often as

traumatic for the parent as for the child.
It is estimated that, of all patients with alopecia areata,
40 per cent of males and 31 per cent of females develop it
before they are 15.^^ Among children who lose all scalp
hair, 21 per cent show no significant regrowth and only 1
per cent achieve permanent regrowth, according to
American research.^^ But, more optimistically, 44 per cent
of the children who develop total hair loss have subse¬
quent significant periods of normal/near normal hair
growth.
Adam was 18 months old when it began with a small patch on the crown,
then another. His grandfather has always suffered from AA and was 90
per cent bald at 14. He says: 'I don't want Adam to face the teasing I
had from other children.'
Alopecia's effect on children can be horrendous as they

grow older.
Peppi, aged 13, slashed her arms with a penknife in the playground of
her comprehensive school. Her mother says: 'Peppi did it out of sheer
frustration. That day I realized just what an effect the loss of her hair
had had on her. I made a fuss and demanded that the headmaster and
our doctor call in a child psychiatrist.'
It is now two years since Peppi lost her hair totally, including eye¬
brows and eyelashes. The family still reels from the shock. Her mother
describes it as a nightmare for the entire household. 'I woke up every
morning with this strange sense of grieving. I would mortage everything
if I could only get Peppi's hair back.'
Peppi's parents have worked hard to achieve their present comfortable
lifestyle. Their detached house is the biggest in the suburban London cres¬
cent. Her father is a successful manufacturer of office equipment. He is
stunned by the extent of his daughter's condition and the fact that no
amount of money con help her. 'If only doctors would tell you the truth
from the start/ he soys. 'We were told that it was only a minor disorder
and would soon clear up. Now it looks os if it could go on for years,'
Peppi's problem began at 11. Her cousin, a hairdresser, was perming
her hair os a special treat. Peppi hod been ploying with a glitter spray, the
kind which gives hair gold and silver sparkle. Her cousin joked: 'Look, your
hair's gone green!' She looked more closely and stopped joking. There
were several small bold patches all over the child's head. Two weeks later,
Peppi was completely bold. Menstruation began around the some time.
Having on idea that it might hove been caused by stress, her mother
put it down to on incident a few weeks earlier. Her older sister hod token
Peppi to ploy with a group of other children. They went to the shops and
the others got involved in shoplifting. 'It was done only in ploy but they
hod a ticking offfrom the police. It must hove upset Peppi more than we
realized. She was only on onlooker but perhaps she felt guilty.'
As in many coses where a child has lost hair severely, it is the mother
who seems to suffer most. 'I get very withdrawn. It is awful to see a child
who has been normal and happy suddenly changing. She is aggressive
now, much too loud. When she lost her hair, the little girl who played
with dolls disappeared and this big noisy teenager come in her place. She
seems to behove like this to moke up for her lock of hair.'
When it Happens to a Child 129
Peppi is tali womanly before her time. Wearing her trendy new blond
wig, she can easily be mistaken for an 18-year-old. It has all made her
mother over-protective. On windy days, she keeps Peppi away from
school. Often she meets her in the car at tea-time.
'When she tore her arms I thought she had exploded at last after all
the teasing she gets at school. The children give her hell, particularly the
older boys. They try to drench her wig with water. It is a new one, sup¬
plied by the hospital, and they seem to try to make it look a mess.
Sometimes they throw balls at it in the playground. She was looking for¬
ward to going to a disco but a gang from school waited there with a
camera poised to take her picture as they knocked her wig off. The kids'
cruelty is unbelievable.'
When it first happened, Peppi was not keen on wearing a wig. She
preferred to wear caps, indoors and out. 'One cap fell off in the street and
blew away. But luckily I was with her so I put my coat around her head
and shoulders and rescued the cap. It made us finally decide she must
have a wig so we went to the hospital to see about it. But it caused prob¬
lems on holiday when it fell in the sea.' Her sisters, swimming with her,
managed to get the wig back in place before they came out to face the
crowded beach.
Medical treatment with systemic steroids failed. There was no
regrowth but Peppi put on a stone in weight. The family also spent a
considerable amount on homoeopathic treatment without success. Peppi
also suffers from eczema and asthma.
The family has no previous history of alopecia, though they are fairly
hair-conscious. Peppi's father recently had a hair transplant although his
problem is just mole pattern baldness.
Her mother tried to compensate by buying Peppi plenty of lovely
clothes. 'It's all I con do. I spend a fortune.'
When a child is in the public eye, coping with alopecia

can be even more difficult for a parent.
Toni Warne was only nine when she became a television star after win¬
ning BBC TV's Bob Says 'Opportunity Knocks'. She had had alopecia
areata since she was two. Patches had come and gone, growing back
each time.
Although the latest patch was growing in when she won the TV contest,
her mother soys: T still had a job to disguise it under the spotlights. So I
had her hair cut and lightly permed. Reporters asked me whether I was
trying to make her look like Shirley Temple so I hod to explain to them
about her alopecia. Some people, who read it in the papers, asked
whether she was under stress because of so much TV work but, in fact, her
hair has been a lot better since she started on TV. She really loves singing.
T used to cry over it when I washed her hair and sow the bold
patches. The doctor warned me not to let her see that I was upset. He
said that it was bod for her to know how worried I've been.
'I was also told not to spoil her, which I was doing - to compensate
for the boldness, I suppose.'
Toni finds that the natural jealousy of her peers comes to the fore
when they see her in the street. She soys; 'Other children shout "Baldie"
or "She's on the telly and she's bold!" It used to upset me but now I
realize that they ore just jealous. The trouble is that in the swimming
pool my hair gets wet and they con see the patches.'
Her hair is improving. From having four patches she now has only one,
so her parents ore optimistic.
Joanne went bold at seven, and her parents were surprised by the lack
of help they received. She hod a year's treatment from a consultant
dermatologist, using steroid creams applied to the scalp and a minoxidil
solution, without success. No further appointments were made. Her par¬
ents were told: 'There is nothing more we con do.' Says her mother: 'I just
couldn't believe it. The child hod lost nearly every hair on her head and all
they could tell us was that she must wear a wig. She won't. She hates wigs.'
At seven, Joanne was barely out of babyhood, but there was no way
her mother could persuade her to change her mind. She regarded wigs as
a hot sticky nuisance and invanably pulled them off. 'There was nothing
more the hospital could suggest I came out feeling we had been turned
away and I was just being left to get on with it by myself'
Soon, Joanne, who had had long curly hair, took to wearing only
shorts and T-shirts which matched her boyish head. She has only a small
growth of hair at the nape of her neck. 'She used to love party dresses,
nbbons and fnils. Now she won't have a dress on her back,' said her
mother.
At school, it was reported that Joanne had been seen using the boys'
toilet. The school doctor suggested she saw a psychiatnst. Joanne's
mother wasfunous. 'She doesn't need a psychiatnst and I don't believe
she went into the boys' playground. I'm having lots of talks with her and
I'm sure it's just a stage she's been going through. She is beginning to
be persuaded to put on dresses again.'
She feels guilty about her own long blonde hair. 'I feel so awful seeing
Joanne like this. It hurts to see her. I'd gladly give her all my hair if I could.'
Joanne won't talk about her loss of hair, except to report the behav¬
iour of a visiting netball team. Unlike Joanne's friends at the village
school, they had not known her before her hair loss and had not been
able to see what happened. Surpnsed by her baldness, they behaved very
badly. 'They treated me as a joke,' says Joanne. 'They pointed at me and
called me a boiled egg.' If Joanne was hurt, she didn't show it but
merely wondered off into another playground.
Her mother says this is typical. 'She never shows how much she is
upset by people stanng at her in the street and making silly remarks, but
deep down inside I know she feels it. All the visits to doctors, the poking
and prying. You can't go through all that without suffenng.
'14/e don't know the cause. It has been suggested that it was some¬
thing to do with her grandfather's sudden death. She was very close to
him and very upset when he died. I have never known a child cry so
much, all night. At seven, it obviously hit her hard.'
A few weeks later, her mother noticed long strands of hair on
Joanne's pillow. She touched the hair and great tufts came out easily
from the roots. It went very quickly, leaving only a small section at the
back.
For her parents, in their tiny fishing village, it is a strange sensation
that something 'odd' has happened to their daughter. They find it helps
to enlist the support of the local community. 'No child at the village
school has ever been nasty, mainly because the children saw it happen,
how the hair fell out over a few weeks. They knew her when she had a
normal head of hair like theirs. It is only strangers in the village who
make life unpleasant.'
Laura's father was very angry when he accompanied his wife and daugh¬
ter to see a consultant dermatologist. Laura had started to lose her hair
in tiny bald patches when only a few months old, but the worst deterio¬
ration happened at puberty, when she was 13. She lost all her hair.
Her father was horrified by the attitude of the consultant. 'He glanced
cursorily at her scalp and offered us nothing. I demanded to see on
alternative consultant but he was no better. All she has ever been
prescribed is a tube of cortisone scalp cream. What alarmed me more
than anything was the lack of counselling. No one could give us any help
in coping with the psychological problems faced by an attractive teenage
girl when she loses all her hair.'
In spite of her parents' efforts to persuade her into a wig, Laura still
wears it only occasionally. She is quiet, hardworking, very much on
achiever. She is also something of a worrier. She soys: 'That year when I
lost my hair completely - when I was 13 - is just a year blocked out of
my life. I couldn't cope with a life in which I was completely without
hair'. Her brother and sister have been teased at school about it. Some
youngsters suggested that she hod shoved her head deliberately in a
'punk' style.
Children - the doctor's dilemma
Laura's is a familiar story. Baffled parents find that the

hardest thing to take about alopecia in a child is the
bewildering silence on the part of some doctors. Often
kind and always polite, doctors may be deliberately non¬
committal. One reason for this could be that the
prognosis, especially when alopecia happens in a child
before puberty, is not hopeful.
Research in Chicago which followed up patients over
20 years found that of those developing alopecia areata
before puberty 50 per cent became totally bald and none
recovered.But if the child was older - i.e. after puberty
- the chances of regrowth were more hopeful: only 25
per cent of those developing alopecia areata after
puberty became totally bald, and 5.3 per cent recovered
completely.
As mentioned earlier, rather depressing statistics
emerged from American research which found that only
1 per cent of children with total hair loss showed com¬
plete regrowth, but 44 per cent of these developed
periods of normal or near-normal regrowth.
In Pennsylvania, a study of 50 patients with alopecia
universalis (total hair loss of scalp and body hair)
showed complete recovery in only 20 per cent of patients
of all ages, with a worse prognosis if it started in child¬
hood before puberty.^^
df the child is atopic (suffers from eczema or asthma
as a family trait) and loses hair totally before puberty, it
is unlikely to regrow permanently,' says Dr Rodney Daw-
ber, consultant dermatologist, Oxford.
When alopecia begins in childhood, it often runs quite
a lengthy course of up to 10 years, according to Japanese
research.The progress of alopecia areata is so eccentric,

however, that it is quite possible the hair will regrow at
any stage, even many years after the attack.
'It's important to tell parents that anything can happen
in terms of regrowth,' says Dr Dawber. 'We do not want to
tell them that the prognosis is bad for their child. If we
predicted that the hair would never return, it is quite pos¬
sible that we could be proved wrong.'
Some specialists prefer not to give treatment to a child.
'I feel that it is quite wrong to inflict the discomfort of
such things as scalp injections on a child,' says Dr Andrew
Messenger, consultant dermatologist at the Royal Hal-
lamshire Hospital, Sheffield. 'Some patients - and parents
- can tolerate having no physical treatment. Others can't.'
Does Alopecia Areata Run in Families?
Family history is important, say dermatologists, as it

influences whether you have a predisposition to organ-
specific auto-immune reactions, the atopic state or
emotional stress.
A positive family history of alopecia areata has been
found in between 20 and 27 per cent of cases. About a
fifth of patients with alopecia areata can recall a family
member suffering the same problem, but it is not a hered¬
itary condition - there is nothing to say that it will
definitely be passed on, so no justification for saying, 'I
will not have children in case they get alopecia.' They
might; they might not. The chances are, they won't!
When You Lose Your Hair in Childhood, What Are the

Long-Term Psychological Effects?
If losing your hair makes you feel 'different' from other

children, this can have a lasting effect.
Patnda was 13 when heraiopeda began, at puberty. She is now 33. 'Our
family doctor, trying to be kind, said it wouldn't spoil my beauty. He told
me to go away and forget about it. But I lost most of my hair as the dis¬
ease progressed. Looking back, I feel I should have been given far more
help but in those days I knew no better. My parents were well meaning
but it was all talked about in whispers.
'When it became really serious and practically all my hair had gone,
the dermatologist gave me special shampoos but they made no differ¬
ence. Heat treatment helped for a while but when that stopped so did the
hair growth. The hospital discharged me but promised to get in touch "if
any new developments would help". I never heard from them.
'School was horrific. Everyone was so polite and didn't mention it. I
found the silence harder to cope with. If only someone had talked to me
about it! If I'm honest I suppose that's the reason I left school at 16
instead of sitting A levels.'
She went into an office job and began to make relationships. 'I found
that young men accepted me as I was without guestion. I wasn't as
terrible as I had imagined.'
She is now married and has two children, both profoundly deaf. 'I
suppose the worry about the problems they will hove to face in life has
put my loss of hair into perspective. I've now been without hair longer
than with it and you do adjust. A sixth sense builds up inside you, mak¬
ing you wary of dangerous situations like windy days in public places!'
Kathleen, who has had alopecia universalis for 45 years, remembers

growing up with patchy hair loss in a little Welsh village. Ultraviolet light
- sunshine therapy - was used at Cardiff Hospital and her mother would
massage her scalp every night At six, her hair grew back, thick and
strong. In the meantine, her mother disguised the bald patches with
clever hair-styling.
But family life became fraught. Her sister was locked in permanent
conflict with her father because she didn't want to go to university. 'My
father obviously got depressed because he hadn't had the chances we
had, being a miner all his life. They were both extroverts. They could
shout and thoroughly enjoy their quarrels whereas it just depressed me.'
At 15, the problem recurred with one large patch merging into others.
'I would sit playing with my hair and it would come out in mosses. My
mother was so distressed that she threatened to kill herself if it all fell
out.' In six months it hod all gone.
'As I hod suffered before we knew the ropes but this was wartime,
1942, and so it wasn't of much significance. I hod spirit soaps and rubs
os well os the ultraviolet treatment. Someone suggested rubbing my head
with whisky and castor oil. I hate whisky to this day!
'The neighbours looked at me askance. I was going into the sixth form
at school so my mother asked the consultant whether I could wear a wig.
He agreed. He said it wouldn't stop my hair from growing.
'My first wig cost 13 guineas at a time when my father was earning
£4 a week. The chapel people offered to start a fund but this was "char¬
ity" and my mother wouldn't hear of it. Some neighbours did help us,
however, and we saved as well.'
Before she returned to her studies wearing the wig, her mother took
her on holiday to stay with her uncle in Essex. 'I wore the wig and it
seemed such a thatch, such a lot of hair! I couldn't get my hat on top
very well and in those days a hat was essential. I rammed on my "Deanna
Durbin" - big brim and all! It balanced on top of this great haystack. But
when we arrived my uncle greeted me with "What lovely hair, just like
your uncle!" which pleased me. All the cousins complimented me on my
"hair" and that went some way to restoring my confidence.'
Back at home, though, the small Welsh community was not particu¬
larly kind. 'The boy next door had been home on leave from the army. His
mother told me that he had described me as "that girl with all the hair".
They seemed to delight in putting me down.
The wig fell off in the village street. No wonder. It was like an egg
cosy balanced on a boiled egg. No one had told me that it would need
cleaning. I wore it for three years without cleaning and when it rotted I
sewed it up again.'
At her teacher training college, gym was part of the curnculum. 'One
of my bleakest moments was when we had to stand on our heads. My wig
fell off and all the domestic staff laughed.
'I also needed to wear make-up with the wig to make it look right. My
first eyebrows were a mixture of vaseline and soot applied with my little
finger. I also wore lipstick, to the horror of my teachers. Make-up was
strictly forbidden.
'I was soon in trouble and ended up in floods of tears in the deputy
head's room. There was little sympathy. They were straight-backed spin¬
ster teachers, apparently afraid to show any humanity.
'I poured my heart out to the deputy head but after that no one ever
mentioned my lock of hair. A dreadful silence had fallen over the subject.
It must have irritated them that I had three mornings off every week for
hospital treatment, not only untraviolet but a rather painful process in
which they blistered the skin and tufts of hair grew back in the affected
areas. But they soon fell out again.
'When I was 24 I decided to call a halt to the treatment as the trav¬
elling was expensive and it didn't seem very successful. My mother
didn't want me to give up hope of my hair regrowing but I explained
how I felt to the hospital consultant. He did something very clever. He
gave me my notes to take to my GP, obviously knowing I would read
them. They said "continue the treatment for the satisfaction of the
patient." I knew then that it was hopeless and my hair would never
return.'
Kathleen was forced to come to terms with it. 'One had children call¬
ing out in the street: "Hey girl! Are you bald?" But I was, so there was
no point in denying it. On open day I was interviewing parents and my
mother happened to be visiting me. A waiting parent said to her "Look

at your daughter. She's just like a painted doll."
'Another time my stepdaughter-in-law was complaining that she was
losing her hair after having a baby. I felt she was worrying unnecessar¬
ily but my sister interjected "You must remember, a woman's hair is
important to her." That left me more shaken than any other comment. I
may be a widow but according to her I wasn't even a woman.'
A lifetime without hair has had its effects. She remembers as a child
she was too shy to ask for sweets in a shop because she thought people
would laugh at her. 'What has it all made me? A fighter, I suppose. I'm
regarded asfnendly, outgoing, poised. . . but at heart I'm still that shy,
retinng little girl who was afraid to ask for sweets in the shop.
'I'm still suffenng but, by gum, they are not going to get me down.
I don't hove any dirty disease. I have my own teeth. My illness is not of
my own making. But I've yet to find a doctor who is sympathetic to the
emotional traumas.'
Survival plan
FACT: It is Far Worse For You Than it is For the Child.

You fear for your child's hairless future. You envisage the
problems it may trigger in relationships. But your child is
only concerned with today.
• Treat it as a normal ailment, as commonplace as

measles or chickenpox.
• Call it by its proper name. It is not a 'deformity', a
'handicap' or even an 'illness', neither is it any¬
thing to be ashamed of. It is a scalp disease.
• Discuss it. Please don't go silent on the child.
Explain that this is a disease which can affect anyone.
Luckily alopecia doesn't hurt; the child will not have to

stay at home from school and will be able to do every¬
thing normally. Emphasize that swimming, sports of all
kinds, can still be enjoyed. Swimming may be even
improved. Some people deliberately shave off all their
hair because they think they can move faster in the water.
If the child is embarrassed, there are swimming caps.
Towelling turbans, on sale at many chemists, are ideal. If
she is extrovert enough, your daughter could wear one of
those swim hats with big plastic flowers.
The child needs a friend, a confidante. It maybe a parent,
a friend at school or a teacher, but it is essential that there is
one person with whom the problem can be discussed.
Brothers and sisters may help. Supply them with the
facts on alopecia. They may help you by fending off
ignorant comments.
The excuse: 'I can't do it because of my hair' must be
banned from your house. Normality is the key word. Don't
give the child the impression that something strange has
happened. The silence surrounding the subject convinced
me long ago that I was not only bald but bonkers, and I
was grown up. How do you think a child feels?
If you can't cope with it - if it makes you feel guilty,
insecure, threatened, to see your child without hair - for
goodness' sake don't let that feeling rub off on to the
child. Don't make it into a tragedy. The mother who
weeps when she sees her daughter's bald patches must
make sure she weeps alone, not in front of the child.
Be positive. There is always the chance that it may get
better. But to get the hair back must not become the
be-all and end-all. Concentrate on improving the quality
of life now. Cope with baldness by finding out as much
as you can about the condition and get hold of all the
modern aids which will help, the wigs, the sticky tape, the
attractive clothes which will compensate and divert
attention to another aspect of appearance, until you are
coping as a family and living with the problem.
When, together, you have done all you can, the hair
may well grow back and it will be a bonus. But if it does¬
n't you will have learned to live without it.
Don't go to war with the dermatologists. They may
seem to be 'playing the big doctor', being busy, dismissive,
brusque. They may feel anxious and guilty about offering
so little help. All they have to offer are treatments which
rarely work on a condition which may or may not get
better by itself No wonder they feel demoralized! Unfor¬
tunately, they may go for a bland 'It's bound to clear up
soon' attitude, simply because they feel so inadequate.
There is a need for some kind of counselling for fami¬
lies - a counsellor who could help sort out the best ways
of coping with this condition. Families feel rejected by
the medics, sent home to cope alone with a condition
they do not understand. More information, more talk,
should come from a counsellor, perhaps attached to the
school. It doesn't need to be a psychiatrist. The 'stigma' of
seeing a 'shrink' often upsets people more than having no
advice.
Help the child to see the situation as an advantage over
other children. No boring sessions at the hairdressers, no
arguing with parents about getting hair cut. Your child
can have hair that looks smart any time the wig comes
out of the cupboard. Talking about it sensibly with other
children may help. A few 'fun' wigs may raise a laugh. If
the child can smile about it, you could be winning.
When It Comes to a Wig
Dermatologists emphasize the importance of persuad¬

ing a girl to wear one. Apart from improving her ap¬
pearance, she needs one to keep her head warm in
winter and protect her skull from bumps. It will help
her feel normal. Anything which makes her different
from the others at school - even a cardigan button -
upsets a child.
Indulge a little girl with wigs. Make the outing to the
shop a treat and give it plenty of time. Let her choose the
one which she likes, even if it is a totally impractical Cin¬
derella job. Let her have it. She will come round to the
more convenient short styles later. Make wigs fun. Let her
try on as many as she likes. The main thing is for her to
be happy about it.
Above all, don't put on your uptight tragic face in the
shop. Save your ‘How could this tragedy have befallen my
lovely daughter?' face for when you are away from her.
For field games, cater for windy days by sewing dou¬
ble-sided tape inside the wig to anchor it.
If the child refuses to wear a wig, don't force the issue.
Try a little friendly persuasion, appealing to the child's
good nature. Explain that a wig is a good idea for the sake
of other people's sensitivities. 'You don't want to upset
grandma' may work with an older child.
But if the child is really dead set against it, you can't
insist. After all, who is she wearing the wig for? Herself or
you? Because you want to see your pretty daughter look¬
ing glamorous again with 'pretend' hair? If she doesn't
see it that way, it is on her own head, not yours. With a bit
of luck, she might be persuaded to wear a trendy baseball
cap as a compromise.
Best of all, introduce her to another child who has lost

her hair, if possible. This is something parents often
arrange through Hairline, and it works brilliantly. Chil¬
dren, as well as adults, like to know that they are not
alone and that there are others in a similar situation.
When it Happens to Those
Who Are Single
T realized that life is too short to waste
worrying about a bit of hair. I set out to win.'
'What's your problem, Dune?' The question came from an old fnend, a
chap Duncan Goodhew had known all his life.
Champion swimmer, Olympic gold medallist, Duncan Goodhew is
world-famous. He has of course known great success, but he says: 'If that
old mate of mine hadn't asked me that question I might still be sitting
at home, moaning because I'd got no hair!'
At the time Duncan was 16. 'I was very depressed, sorry for myself. I
felt that I was a total flop. Without hair. Without hope.'
He lost his hair at the age of 10. Alopecia universalis followed a bad
fall from a tree. His hair has never regrown.
'In my teens, I had given up hope of getting my hair back. It was a
difficult age to lose your hair, when everything depends on your looks,
meeting girls and so on. So I apologized all the time. When I met a new
girl I would say, "Hello, I'm Dune. I'm sorry I'm bald." Naturally nobody
wanted me.
'Then came that question from my old mate. I saw the quizzical look
in his eyes and knew at once what he was thinking. He was a cnpple.
He'd had a lot of illness all his life. Compared with him and what he'd
been through, my loss of hair was nothing! From that moment I stopped
saying sorry.
'I might never have made anything of my lifer certainly wouldn't have
got to the top in sport if it hadn't been for my old friend and that
change of outlook.'
At school in Sussex^ he suddenly become the comedian of the class.
He would wear a long wig and wait for some visiting master to tell him
to 'Get your hair cut lad.' Then he would whip it off and have the class
falling about with laughter. As his popularity grew, girls came along
naturally. On the street he would doff his wig to them, like a hat. Dun¬
can was a joke, a good sport. He convinced them that he didn't mind
being bald. He laughed. The world loved him.
'When it first happened, I'd been hit for six. I went everywhere for
treatment, tried all sorts of quacks, let doctors put all kinds of lotions on
my head. For years Ijust lived for the day when my hair would grow back.
But it didn't, and after I changed my attitude I didn't care whether it did
or not.
'Everywhere I go we have a laugh about it. Kids tease me and I say
to them, "You've got a lot of hair. Can I have some?"
'People think it may have helped me with the swimming - they reckon
that being bald helped me to swim faster. I'm not sure about that. What
happened to my mind and approach to life was what mattered. Adversity
either makes or breaks.'
He is nov\/ married. His baldness has never bothered his wife. 'Think
how lucky I am. At my age, most men are worrying in front of the mirror
that their hair is receding. I've got the worst over. I'm lucky.'
If losing your hair when you are married brings its prob¬
lems, to go bald when you are single can be even more
traumatic. The letters that pour in to me from single peo¬
ple say it all:
• 'I am desperately worried. It's turning me into an

agoraphobic, never wanting to go out' - from a 27-
year-old girl student.
When it Happens to Those Who Are Single 145
• 'I get so very, very depressed because I don't have

all my hair. I sometimes want to die because of it.
It's an unfair and cruel disease. I hate the word
"bald"' - from a 19-year-old, losing hair in patches.
• 'I come back to my flat here in Monte Carlo and
take off my wig. Living alone, I can walk around at
home without covering my head. It stops me
thinking of getting married. A husband might find
me unacceptable, unattractive' - career woman,
early forties, working in Monaco.
When you are losing your hair and you are single, it can
ruin both your career and your hope of stable relation¬
ships.
These are the people I worry about,' says consultant
dermatologist Dr Andrew Messenger. The single patients
who have lost their hair are the ones to keep an eye on. It
has happened at a stage in their lives when they are most
vulnerable. You must talk to them, watch out for the
potential suicide.'
Jane went to a disco with her boyfriend on Chnstmas Eve. She was 18 and
had been losing her hair for two years. That night she struggled very hard
to disguise her bald patches with a scarf but it was difficult. The taxi
arrived before she had even put on her make-up ... the evening started
badly.
At the disco, a row developed with her boyfriend. His ex-girlfriend
turned up. Jane felt she couldn 't compete with the other girl. With her
bolding head, she felt a mess. She drank more than usual and took some
antibiotics she had been prescribed for influenza. When she arrived home
in tears, the family had gone to bed. Jane spotted her mother's sleeping
pills on the sideboard and took them all.
Her mother says, It was touch and go. Ail night at the hospital we
thought she was going to die. She had never come to terms with losing
her hair, and her boy's rejection of her made her try to kill herself.'
Jane is a hotel receptionist. She says: Tor months my patches had
been getting worse, so that my woman boss at the hotel used to try to
comb it up for me to hide the boldness. My boyfriend was threatening to
finish with me. I thought that if he left me, who would wont a girl with
no hair?
'After taking the overdose I realized what I'd done and panicked. I
woke up the household. But I was getting sleepy and my brother poked
his fingers down my throat, trying to moke me sick, saying: "How could
you do this to me?"
'Afterwords I realized I'd got to pull myself together and went to get
a wig. I bought a most expensive real hair job because I thought it would
be best. . . but it was dreadful. It looked just like a busby so I went to
our local store and found on acrylic. It was long and curly. I went out
that evening wearing it, but my boyfnend didn't seem to like it. ^e hod
on awful evening. I come home and cried again. But the next day he said
"I quite like it actually".'
Jane is morned now and pregnant. Her hair has not improved. She
says 'I manage. I take off the wig at night - I'd be too hot trying to sleep
in it - and I put out the light quickly so that he doesn't see me!'
Giuseppe's father come to wake him to work in the fields of their farm
near Naples, Italy, but he found his son dead. He hod token a cocktail of
garden poisons and arsenic.
Giuseppe, 17, hod left a note. 'Sorry, Dad . . . I've poisoned myself. I
can't bear to live without hair on my head because that means no girls
and no wife.'
His father said: 'He spent all his money on lotions - even "miracle"
potions - to try to moke his hair grow.'
Being bald too young can also wreck your job opportunities.
Becky, working in a Buckinghamshire supermarket, grew tired of wearing

her wig. 'It used to itch on a warm day so I started to go to work with¬
out it, but the manager told me I would be token off the checkout
immediately if I didn't put it bock on. I don't know why. The customers
didn't mind. In fact, one woman, shopping with her four-year-old, was
delighted because her little boy hod alopecia os well. She wonted to show
him that he wasn't the only one!'
Susan hod a lifelong ambition to join the police. When she was about to
leave school, she enquired about the possibilities of joining her local
force. She was visited by a woman police inspector.
'I explained that I wore a wig because I hod total alopecia, and I was
told that I wouldn't hove a chance of joining the force. The woman
explained that I might be involved in scuffles - it was a tough life - and
there was a danger I might lose my wig. I was so embarrassed and mis¬
erable, I didn't take my job application any further,'
Giving up hope ofjoining the police, Susan took a job in commerce.
She wore her wig all the time.
'But one day I was in the cloakroom brushing it -1 still hod it on, I
was just brushing it normally - when a woman colleague commented
"Your hair must be tough!" So I confessed that it was a wig. The next day
my boss colled me in. He said "We've heard you suffer from alopecia.
That's a nervous condition, isn't it, so you ore probably unstable."
'That was it. I hod to go. These days perhaps I would hove fought
bock, token it to a tribunal or something. But they were so hornble, so
ignorant, I just ran away.'
Susan went to work for the social services deportment. 'They were
fine, no problem, but I keep my wig on all the time. I don't think it's fair
to my clients to go without it.'
Lesley: 'Every Sunday when I climb into the pulpit, I hope my wig won't
slip in front of the entire congregation!'
It was the greatest day of Lesley's life. She was among the first group
of Church of England deaconesses to be ordained. The church hierarchy

had finally relented and allowed women to take holy orders.
The cathedral was packed with press, TV cameras, relatives, church
dignitanes. Lesley knelt before the Bishop. He put his hands on her head
in blessing.
'I was terrified,' says Lesley. 'In the middle of that great, awe-inspir¬
ing service, I thought "Oh please, don't let him knock my wig off.'"
Lesley's career in the church is vitally important to her, but she only
made the decision to apply for training after years of agonizing. 'It was
fear of being in the public eye. Everyone is looking at you os soon os you
step into a pulpit.'
Lesley's hair loss began at 16. At first, she suffered the patchy bold¬
ness of alopecia areata but now, at 34, she has lost most of her scalp and
body hair.
'I was working in a religious publishing house. I felt I hod a coll to
enter the church but I hesitated for a long time. Losing my hair has mode
me feel on oddity. It sets you opart from people.'
Lesley was aware that she was allowing her hair problem to put her
career in jeopardy and prevent her from taking up work which she knew
was nghtfor her. But was she the right person to enter the church, dis¬
tracted os she was by the problem of her boldness? 'I asked two very close
friends to go away and pray. "They must moke my decision for me". I'd
decided. They returned a few days later and, separately, gave me the
some advice: 'Your gift is for people and parish life. Use it.'"
On her application form she hod to admit to both poor eyesight and
alopecia. 'I dreaded the interview board, but the doctor was very under¬
standing and only referred to my hair os "your problem" so I wasn't
embarrassed.'
When she started work in a church, she was wearing a hand-mode,
real human hair wig. 'I looked a bit frumpish but I couldn't change wigs
in case people noticed the difference. When I eventually succumbed to
one of the pretty acrylic wigs it looked terrific and I took a holiday to
cover the change-over.
'It took courage to wear the new wig back at work but I felt so good
in it so modern and proud of myself that I took the plunge. Two people
have remarked that they like the new hair-style, so I think I've got away
with it
'There are a couple of people in the parish I would really like to tell
about my hair, but the opportunity has not presented itself Lying, cov-
ering up, makes you feel faintly guilty. I wonder all the time whether they
suspect.'
Lesley feeb she is missing out on a home and family, 'and wigs are
not a great help. When I first went out with a chap I felt I had to explain
about the wig before it was too late and he had knocked it off. He was a
teacher - we got on well - but when he started to kiss me I had to stop
him and explain.'
His reaction surprised her. 'The awful thing was that he thought it was
a great joke. You'd hove thought I was wearing a wig for fun. It was quite
incredible the way he fell about laughing. He made joke after joke . . .
and I had to listen to his endless cracks.
'He was buying a new house. There hod been some senous talk about
my living in it with him. But when we broke up he bought a picture of a
woman with her wig rolling off. He said it reminded him of me.
'It shattered my confidence for further relationships. Many people
can't cope with baldness. You must act out this pretence of having a head
of hair to protect others.'
Sharon, who's a social worker, disagrees. At 30, she has now been telling
people the truth for some years.
'When I first lost my hair severely, at 15, I lay on my bed and cried
for hours. Every morning I would leap up and shove my wig on quickly so
that I couldn't catch sight of myself in the mirror!
'I dreaded wearing it at school for the first time, but no one was cruel
or poked fun at me. Maybe I was just lucky. Two specialists predicted my
hair would be back "by the time I was 21". Not a bit of it. I'm afraid, and
since the age of 221 have had to wear a wig all the time.
'It's the "no one need know" argument that has been a problem for
me. The less people know you wear a wig, the more alopecia becomes a
guilty secret You start to think "X likes me but he wouldn't if he knew I
was bald."
'I realized recently that it was because so few people knew that I had
begun to view my boldness as something to be ashamed of. So I started
leaving my wig off more around the house. I started to mention to one
or two colleagues at work that I wore a wig. They were interested, sym¬
pathetic, but certainly not shocked or hornfied. One of them came up to
me a couple of days ago and remarked "You know, you are lucky! I had
to get up at six this morning to wash and set my hair!"'
Her breakthrough, she says, came the day she decided to show a man
friend - 'I'm very fond of him' - what she looked like without a wig.
'Again, no shock or horror, just interest and concern, and he seems to
have survived the ordeal. I'm not advocating that people should whip off
their wigs at every possible moment saying "Look, everyone. I'm bald!"
But if you choose your moment and your confidants, being open about
it helps enormously. I've recently started self-defence classes and have
had to mention I wear a wig in case it slips during a mock stranglehold!
'Being a social worker, I realize that some of the reason I didn't want
people to know I was bald was that I like people to think of me as some¬
one who copes with life, who is strong and not the least vulnerable. By
saying to people, 'Well, actually. I'm bald,' what you're really saying is
"Look, I'm vulnerable, just like you!"'
Sarah: 'I'm a hysteric. That's what they all think. She's lost all her hair
- sign of hysteria!'
Sarah, the sophisticate, had been used to having fun, plenty of men
friends. As a nursing sister, she enjoyed the social life of the hospital.
But, she says, losing her hair put paid to all that.
Her last steady man friend was a doctor, aged 42. 'He was kind, sen¬
sible, normal. We saw each other regularly for nine months. Everything
was wonderful. There was just one thing he kept moaning about. He
wanted me to take off my wig. I couidn't I told him that I looked awful
without it but he kept on.'
Sarah is 48 but looks much younger in her fashionable fair wigs. Her
clothes ore smart. She loves her country cottage, with its Laura Ashley
pnnts and adonng Labradors.
She had been truthful with her man friend about her alopecia right
from the start At first, it didn't seem to matter. Sarah is the kind of
attractive, trendy woman who can converse on nearly everything, bring
joy and jokes to every situation. Any man would be proud to take her for
a drink.
As their relationship became serious, she decided to comply with his
request 'In the end I thought, well it's silly to try to hide under a wig.
If you're going to share a bed with someone, he will have to know some¬
time. So, one night, reluctantly, I took it off.
'It was the worst mistake I could have made. His face changed
instantly. He looked disgusted. "My God", he said, "I had no idea you
would look as revolting as that!" Then he sat down and remarked
conversationally, "It really is repubive, isn't it?"'
That was the end of the relationship. 'I finished with him after that.'
As a nurse, Sarah remembers trying to comfort mastectomy patients
whose husbands couldn't help them. 'We would send a patient home after
the trauma of losing a breast and her husband would refuse to look at her.
He would switch off the light in the bedroom so he never had to see where
she hod been mutilated. It was always happening. "Bastards", I used to
think, "behaving like that to your poor wives." But I would soy to the
patient "Look, your husband has a problem. He feels threatened and
insecure. You've got to be strong for both of you and help him through."
'Now here I was with a man who apparently felt threatened by the fact
that I'd lost my hair. That was it, all over.'
She turned to a girlfriend for reassurance. 'But she looked at my wig¬
less scalp and agreed. "Yes. It does look revolting, doesn't it?"'
Sarah longs for the thick hair she had in her teens. 'It was long and
auburn, just like the Duchess of York's. But I had bald patches all
through my nursing career. You can imagine what fun it was trying to bal¬
ance a nurse's cap on top of a wig!'
In her early thirties her hair suddenly became worse. 'All my hair fell
out soon after a break-in at home. The burglar tried to pin me down on
the bed and sexually assaulted me, but you can't prove anything like that
so he got away with it. He had a gun and I was terrified.'
A week or so later her patchy alopecia areata deteriorated into total
scalp hair loss. 'My doctor told me I was hystencal and nothing could be
done for me.'
That was 12 years ago, but when Sarah was recently injured in
a road accident, the subject was dragged up again. 'In the court
cose afterwards, when I was trying to get some kind of compensation, an
orthopaedic surgeon gave evidence about my injuries. He said "This
woman has alopecia universalis so is clearly of a hysterical personality."
This evidence was later challenged by a consultant dermatologist who
said: "There are conflicting data on whether a dermatologist would
accept that stress can precipitate this condition in predisposed individ-
uats. I know of no good studies where a hystencal personality was
thought to be important in pathogenesis - the origin and development
of this disease." He added: "I think the orthopaedic surgeon was step¬
ping out of his speciality a little bit in his comments.'"
Sarah shares her home with a woman fnend but still finds it difficult to
meet strangers. 'People look at you and their eyeline rises to your "hair"!
They know it is a wig and you feel inexplicably ashamed. I can be talking
to someone normally and suddenly I notice that they ore not talking to my
eyes any longer but addressing their remarks to the crown of my head.
'I went out for a meal with some friends and the waiter was very
chatty. He confided that he had once token great pleasure in catching his
cufflink deliberately in a customer's hair to dislodge her wig. He said, "I
con tell a wig a mile off." Then, in front of every one, he turned to me
and said "I knew hers was a wig and I know yours is too.'"
Sarah feels that she has missed out on the chance of a husband and
family.
'People think it's contagious. I hate having to explain because they

make you feel you have something dirty and catching.
'I've never had any medical treatment for my hair. Just "Go home.
Don't think about it. Wear a wig." On the rare occasions when I've been
to bed with a man. I've always been terrified it would come off.
'I decided recently to have another attempt to make contacts and
joined a computer doting agency. I had some phone calls from a very
nice-sounding chap, a widower. We arranged to meet, but I did moke a
point of telling him I wore a wig beforehand.
'He didn't seem warned about it so I bought a new coot and got all
dressed up to meet him. Then, just os I was leaving the house, the phone
rang. He couldn't moke it I never heard from him again.'
Sarah has now resigned herself to a life without men. She enjoys the
affection of a close woman friend and her dogs, 'but I wouldn't risk
going out with another man. I've been hurt too much.'
Mananne: 'I am a fat freak. I was tossed on the scrap heap at a very
early age.'
At 40, Mananne is still fat from the side-effects of the systemic
steroids presen bed for her at 15. A teacher in Scotland, she has suffered
from alopecia areata since she was 11.
'By the time I was 15 I had lost nearly all my hair. I took steroids
for three years, put on 3 stones in weight, and ended up with a very
round face, stretch marks all over my body, and serious kidney prob¬
lems which landed me in hospital. The doctors immediately stopped the
steroids and my hair started to fall out again. Dunng the treatment it
had been regrowing quite well. The doctors told me that my hair would
never regrow. They were wrong. It has returned but nine times it has
come out again.'
Mananne is bitter. She feels that the loss of her hair has contributed
largely towards the isolation of the life she leads now, at home with her
widowed mother, teaching locally.
'In the years following the systemic steroids, I tried various things:
steroid injections into the scalp, and, most recently, minoxidil. I have
had very little help from doctors and no sympathy whatsoever.
T really feel very angry, not because I have an affliction - many peo¬
ple have handicaps - but because I feel that I was tossed on the scrap
heap at a very early age. So much seems to be done for other people and
nothing for me.
'I hove always felt very bitter about people's reactions to me -1 was
called a fat freak! Nobody has ever tried to help me come to terms with
a rather restncted life. I have never lost the weight I put on in my teens
although I hove tried many times. Being fat and bold has ruined my life.
I'll never forget the people who mode remarks at my expense, from my
childhood onwards. Some of them were for from good-looking them¬
selves. I don't hove buck teeth or acne and I am of normal height.
'As a child, I remember grown-ups recoiling in horror. "Oh, but you
were such a pretty little girl!" they used to soy.'
By the time she started college at 18 she hod to wear a wig. 'It mode
me shy, wearing a wig. All the students were having a great time except
me. Saturday was always a bod time. I lived at home though others
were shonng flats. I couldn't - everyone would hove found out that I
was bold.
'At college a girl pulled it off by mistake. She was so shocked they had
to take her to hospital. Nobody asked how I felt.
'I've never hod a very happy home life os my father was often ill.
When I got alopecia I started to postpone everything in life "until my
hair grows bock". But it didn't - at least not for long - and here I am at
40 and I've lost the chance of marriage and children.
'Somehow I've never been able to enjoy myself. Going on holiday, for
instance - what if I hod to shore a room? I could never relax and hove a
drink. If I got drunk, the wig might slip off. People would know.
'I don't get os emotional os I once did. After all, there is nobody to
listen. But I do regret my lost youth.'
Meryl, at 39, aLsofeeb that alopecia has had a disastrous effect on her
love life. She is a lecturer in biology and her career has always taken up
a great deal of her time and concentration.
'My first bout of alopecia was at the age of 13 and just meant that
my early expenences of boyfriends were delayed a few years. I was short,
fat, wore glasses and was more interested in 0 levels anyway, so it didn't
matter.
'Two further episodes in my twenties didn't worry me much either, as
I was just starting a new job. Sex has never figured highly in my life. I
am a friendly, cuddly person rather than passionate.'
But problems really began when her hair fell out again, in her thir¬
ties. 'I had met a man and started a relationship which was to last five
years. He is in computers and travels around a lot. We spent every week¬
end together but kept our separate houses os our work was for opart
'As my hair was gradually falling out I took to wearing scarves all the
time, which I hated. But he never seemed to mind. I'd lost up to 60 per
cent of my hair but the condition seemed to be improving so I started to
leave off the scarves.
'I was trying on clothes in a changing room with mirrors all around.
Suddenly I caught sight of the rear view and was hornfied. I flipped
through the yellow pages and found a new firm and my first wonderful
wig. Is it like first love? I hove such fond memories of that first one - so
thick, curly and superb that it changed my attitudes and confidence
overnight.'
But her lover's reaction was less than expected. 'What on earth is
that?' he asked. 'I think it's dreadful.'
'From then on our relationship went downhill. He refused to talk to
me about it. Lovemoking turned into just having sex, until I felt I was
just being used. Eventually I could take no more and we split up. I con
only conclude that he was undermined by my new image and confidence.
Did he wont me more under control and so unattractive that no one else
would wont me? I felt like on Orthodox Jewish woman whose religious
faith obliges her to wear a wig when she mornes.
'Since then, I've been through ternble depressions about never

having a loving sexual relationship again. At 39, I cannot think how I
would bring up the subject to someone I cored about I feel vulnerable,
even ugly.
'I hove several men friends who keep suggesting taking me to bed -
men always feel obliged to try at least - and, much os I might be
tempted, I hold bock and keep them at arm's length.
'I realize that this is not on awful illness. It is all psychological and
other people ore in a lot worse situations. But until I con come to terms
with things I shall continue to envy couples and come home from parties
alone.'
Perhaps because of the repeated disappointments of this

eccentric disease, many people lose heart. Their hair falls
out, grows back, and then, as often as not, falls out again.
It's hard to take psychologically, but some have found
that the right approach makes all the difference.
Susannah, young West End secretory, enjoyed her Saturday nights in the
cheerful company of her colleagues and flatmates.
It hod been a good party. The young man who hod token her home
was worm and affectionate. 'Very dishy indeed,' she thought, os his
hands ran odminngly over her slim figure. A trendy girl, at 24, her light
brown hair was mousse-moulded into fashionable spikes.
The handsome young graduate leaned towards her on the sofa, his
fingers eager on the buttons of her dress . . . Susannah pulled away
sharply, shottenng his mood.
'What's the matter?' He was disappointed, wondenng what he hod
done. Susannah felt downcast, her joy evaporating. She hod remembered
just in time, before he found out for himself. Her hair, her bloody, bloody
hair. . .
Susannah lost her hair at 23. In three months, small bold patches
developed into total loss. The first thing it wrecked was her sex life.
'At first, I didn't tell people. Unless there was some reason for them
to know I didn't see why I should tell them. With men, I tried to tell them
before things got close and there was imminent danger that they would
knock the wig off my head. The first chop I told - it was awful. It took
me ages to tell him. I was afraid he would jump bock in horror, moke on
excuse and leave ... or whatever men do in these circumstances.' She
hesitated so long that she was finally obliged to tell him in the middle of
a passionate embrace. 'He laughed, actually. He was amazed that I hod
mode so much fuss about it. We went on to hove quite a good relation¬
ship which, in the end, I finished myself'
When she lost her hair, she hod thought it was the end of any normal
sex life. 'I was wrong. I hove had three serious men friends since then
and I'm now happily married. Other women ought to know that losing
your hair is not the end of any chance of being happy.'
She sow on endocrinologist very early in her treatment. 'He said, "It
is unlikely your hair will ever grow bock." At that stage I hod been los¬
ing it over a few months and I hadn't mode a fuss, but when he said
that, I cried. I couldn't face going bock to my office that afternoon. I
went home and sobbed for three days. In the end my mother, very wor¬
ried about me, came to my room and said "Look, you ore going to be all
right. You con still hove on attractive appearance. You ore just going to
work harder at it." '
By the end of that week, Susannah stopped crying and mode a few
decisions. Being a strong-minded girl, she decided that she enjoyed her
job, working in the office of a whisky company. She loved the social life
of the West End, and she would try to ensure that her boldness mode os
little difference os possible.
'I continued going to parties. I bought a selection of brightly
coloured berets and arranged the hair I had left around the edges of
them. I didn't go to parties specifically to meet men, just to enjoy
myself. As it happened, I did meet men and make new relationships.
I was surprised. My lock of hair didn't put them off.'
She also found a range of wigs which she really liked. 'They were very
expensive. I spent £1,400 but they were worth it When they were dis¬
continued in the UK I had to send to Germany for them.'
After she had told the first man about her hair loss, the relationship
continued, 'but we were not really well suited. I was terrified he would
leave me because I didn't think anyone else would want me. So I was
clinging to him. He said it didn't matter. But the more my hair fell out,
the more depressed I become and I think it did affect him a bit. I wasn't
my usual cheerful self.
'In the end my mother saw what was happening and pointed out that
I was clutching at straws. I decided to end the relationship and felt much
better when he had gone - though I did think "That's it. I've throw away
my last chance.'"
Eventually, she met up with the man who became her husband. He
had known her several years earlier, before she lost her hair. He was com¬
plimentary, boosting her morale by saying he actually preferred the short
wig. 'I let him see me without a wig straight away. I wanted to say "This
is me, like it or lump it!" When we first got together my hair was start¬
ing to grow back, but it has all fallen out again so I am back to square
one. At home I wear turbans in the evenings and in bed.
'Now we're marned I won't let him see my scalp. I'm more embar¬
rassed about it than I was before. I suppose I'm less optimistic than I
was at first. This disease seems to recur so often you begin to lose heart.
'But a woman need never be afraid that no man will want her. You
hove to decide not to let this ruin your life. You must not let it stop you
doing things. You have to be positive. I was married six months ago - in
a wig - and we are very happy.'
Survival plan
You are single. Your hair - or most of it - has gone, so has

your confidence. Male or female, there are two ingredi¬
ents you need in your life now.
The first is a friend, someone close to you, willing to lis¬

ten endlessly to your worries without getting bored - or
at least not showing it! Someone who can reassure, lie
and lie and lie and say that your hair will return. At the
beginning you need to believe that your hair is coming
back. Later you may become accustomed to the thought
that it might not, but not at the beginning.
There are friends and friends. You don't want the com¬
petitive kind who will see this as the opportunity to be
one up on you at last, who looks at you, losing your hair
at 33, and says blithely, 'Well, of course, it is all caused by
the menopause.' You do not need that kind of friend. But
everyone needs a confiding relationship.
The second necessity is a good wig, for a woman, any¬
way. A man may prefer to sport the Kojak look. For a
woman, a wig is a top priority. There may be days when
you rebel and want to walk around with a naked head.
Fine, but for everyday life, you're going to be forced to
conform to some extent. For a 'normal' job or 'normal'
social life, a wig is essential.
Then the worrying begins. The first thought in a new
relationship is: 'Flow do I break the news that I'm wearing
a wig?' The second little niggle which sabotages peace of
mind is: 'Can he/she tell it's a wig, anyway?' You fret. You
let it ruin the anticipatory excitement of the first weeks of
any new relationship. You are too concerned about choos¬
ing the right moment, preferably before the wretched
thing is knocked off and it is too late for subterfuge.
Stop it. Remember Susannah who said: 'When I finally
broke it to him, after weeks of anxiety, he just laughed
and said "Is that all?"'
You may, of course, be unlucky and get one of the
types who can't take it. If he is so insecure that he feels
threatened by baldness in a woman, do you really want

him anyway? The men who are big enough to cope with
it are the only ones worth having, not that such a thought
will be much comfort to you at the time. It may be years
before you realize just what a wimp he was.
Being unmarried, you need never fear that your
boyfriend or girlfriend stayed with you because he or she
was married to you already, and had no choice.
Being without hair will only ruin your life if you let it,
if you make it the obstacle which prevents you doing
things, if you become Miss Negative - you know the sort.
Every time anyone makes a suggestion you give it an
instant veto. 'No, I couldn't do that... because of my hair.'
Be positive. College lecturer Susan Crabtree from Burn¬
ley, Lancashire, who lost all her hair when her children
were small, found it helped a lot to realize how much bet¬
ter her wigs looked than most people's hair-styles. 'It
helped me most to find a really beautiful wig in just the
right shade. I know now that my "hair" will always look
good, when I want it to, whatever happens. It boosts me
most when strangers ask where I have my hair done!'
She has been asked to take over the hairdressing class
at her technical college. 'I was even asked by the principal
whether I would let the students practise hairdressing on
my own hair! I laughed. "Yes", I said, "if they can find it!"'
But I can't wear a wig all the time, you groan. Of course
you can't, but don't forget that bald can be beautiful. A
young woman I know lost all her hair in the space of two
months. She came to a Hairline meeting at my house
where we were all decorously clad in our wigs. But the
spring afternoon grew warm. Soon she had had enough
and tossed the wig across the room. 'It's so sticky. Let's
relax,' she said.
We were all amazed. Her hairless head was revealed as

one of the most beautifully shaped I have ever seen,
pretty, vulnerable, far from repulsive. Her husband, who
married her in the days when she had hair, still thinks
she is the most attractive girl in the world.
Marilyn, a young Bristol mum who lost her hair, says:
'We used to go around in a foursome with another couple.
Now Fm bald, the other chap makes it a bit embarrassing
because he once saw me without my wig and says he fan¬
cies me. When I had hair he never gave me a second
glance!'
A Parisian model shaved her head one year for the win¬
ter collections. She was the toast of Paris. No one was
photographed more. Years later, when I was among the
press corps covering the shows we were all hoping some
model would do the same. It was a sensational story and
she was a sensational girl. Sex appeal? Fantastic, agreed
the photographers, and they are a fussy breed.
More recently, singer Sinead O'Connor shaved her
head and looked so attractive that a few of her fans were
moved to do the same.
Some people object to wearing a wig on the grounds
that they look too much like - well, wigs! The 'set piece'
appearance of beautiful curls which hardly ever move
may please your mum, but they tend to make you feel a
bit like a hotel receptionist, sitting carefully in place and
reapplying her nail varnish! You want to look young, cool,
and as though your 'hair' is just falling about in a casual,
though beautiful, way - as though you just put a quick
brush through it and emerged like this.
One answer may be the vacuum-fit wigs which have
been available in the UK now for the past two years. A
plaster cast of each customer's scalp is made to ensure an
exact fit. The wig forms a vacuum when put on the head,
which gives you extra comfort and security. You won't
have to worry that it might fall off!
The wigs are made up in real hair, matched to your
colour choice. You can also give the suppliers a good idea
of the 'movement' and length you would like in the style.
The wigs look very easy and natural. You can even go
swimming in them! The cost? This is determined by the
colour and length of the hair you have chosen, but ranges
from £970 to £1,500.
They are available in the UK from Hairline member
Sue Renigan, who has been making wigs for 28 years, hav¬
ing started out as a hairdresser. She has had her own
business. Positively Hair, for the past 15 years.
This work is a challenge,' says Sue. 'I am pleased to
help people overcome their hair loss.' Sue works from her
home in the beautiful Oxfordshire village of Woodstock.
So a trip to consult her gives Hairline members the dou¬
ble plus of a visit to the historic village and Blenheim, the
birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill - plus the comfort of
choosing a wig in privacy without facing a crowded hair
salon.
The vacuum-fit wigs come from New Zealand and are
made by Murray Barrington Studios solely for Positively
Hair in the UK. Sue also makes hairpieces and hand-
knotted real hair wigs to order at a price ranging from
£250. She works with local hospitals as well as private
individuals and supplies the Revlon and Adolfo range of
synthetic wigs and hairpieces.
Of course you may decide that your hair loss has given
you a unique opportunity to purchase a sensational
wardrobe of wigs - purple, pink, gold, silver and yellow!
You can wear a different colour every day of the week.
Whatever happens, do not despair. Being hair-free

need not prevent you from building a career, getting mar¬
ried ... or from doing anything at all!!
Treatments
The Great Alternative:
Getting Your Own Back
When I lost my hair it was quite difficult to find a doctor

who would diagnose exactly what type of hair loss it was.
Doctors said in a kindly enough manner that it might be
the result of childbirth - though as that had occurred
some time before the hair loss it might be ruled out. In
any case I had lost 90 per cent of my hair, which was
unusual for the condition they called telogen effluvium -
a break in the normal hair growth cycle caused by trauma
such as childbirth, surgery, accident or shock. It could,
thought one specialist, be put down to alopecia areata, the
patchy scalp disease which can recover of its own accord.
Well, in theory it can, but with such severe, nearly total
hair loss, this was unlikely.
Luckily I had started to work again as a freelance jour¬
nalist and through this, I had found out, almost by
chance, that topical minoxidil was working for some hair
loss patients and had been the subject of medical
research on the hair loss factor throughout the world. It
was not greasy, had no smell and it looked like water. As
it was the only medication on offer I splashed it on my
nearly naked scalp night and morning - and forgot about
it! Meanwhile I looked at other avenues of research and
checked on the hormonal complications which could
have caused my hair to thin in the first place.
In the end I have to say that after years of struggling to

find a cure, and of virtually trying everything in sight, it
is most likely that my hair came back thanks to that con¬
ventional medical treatment. My hair is with me now
thanks to the scientists who produced topical minoxidil
(Regaine and Regaine Extra Strength in the UK and
Rogaine in the USA).
But it is always difficult to say for certain what exactly
brought hair back - as often in these eccentric hair loss
conditions, it regrows of its own accord (though I doubt
that hair regrows spontaneously very often when so
much has been lost!). Indeed, specialists say firmly to
this day that hair hardly ever regrows by itself when
patients have alopecia universalis. My loss was nearly
total, so I will never know for absolute certain. I just feel
in my bones that I would still be wearing a wig if it had
not been for my introduction to topical minoxidil.
Lovely Ways of Trying to Get Your Hair Back
In Chapter 9 I describe all the modern medical treat¬

ments which will help you. But in the meantime you may
feel weary of waiting for results and feel desperate to do
something for yourself.
One in four hair loss patients try the complementary
therapies which are fast becoming respectable.
You can relax in a beautiful bath containing de-stress¬
ing oils, breathing in the glorious aromas of sweet thyme
and lavender ... or you can let your brain drift into the
visualization dreams of deep meditation induced by
Indian champissage (head massage) . . .
The Great Alternative: Getting Your Own Back 169
Serena, 32, chose the soothing and soponfic essential oils of aro¬
matherapy. She chose melissa and geranium in a jojoba base.
. . . You can enjoy the flower essences you taste on your

tongue to relieve emotional tension and then lie back and
enjoy the benefits of the Japanese healing therapy Reiki...
There are also some not-so-lovely ways to try to get
your hair back!
Michele, 32, the stunningly beautiful wife of a Yorkshire racehorse

trainer, was so desperate after she lost all her blonde hair that she took
to dnnking a potion made from stinging nettles. 'It tastes disgusting,'
she says. 'But I would do almost anything to get my hair back!'
Aluna, 40, from South Wales, anointed her head liberally with the oint¬
ment balm she saw used on a balding chimpanzee . . .
A young mother rubbed her five-year-old daughter's urine into the girl's
balding scalp.
Countless others turn to treatments such as acupuncture

and reflexology, homoeopathy and medical herbalism.
The reason? Desperation and the feeling that health
professionals dismiss hair loss as unimportant. Most peo¬
ple who resort to alternative - or complementary -
treatment do so because doctors of conventional medi¬
cine either cannot or will not offer a solution. Some
doctors feel frankly self-righteous in offering no treat¬
ment, on the grounds that 'Nothing really works to bring
hair back and it would be wrong to raise false hopes.'
Some patients, of course, use alternative therapy just
as a back-up to conventional medical treatment. You may
feel that medical treatment is taking a long time to show
results, and it does help to feel that you are doing some¬
thing for yourself!
But before chasing up alternative therapies it is
important to take the following sensible steps:
Make Sure You Know Exactly What Type of

Hair Loss You Suffer From
Is it alopecia androgenetica - thinning hair throughout

the scalp in a woman and 'male pattern baldness' in a
man, with its familiar receding temples and bald patch
on the crown? Or is it actual balding, starting with tiny
round bald patches about the size of a penny? This can be
the scalp disease alopecia areata.
Don't let the doctor's description confuse you! If a doc¬
tor names your problem 'alopecia' this means little, as all
hair loss in medicine is described as alopecia. It is just a
generic medical term for hair loss. So pin the doctor
down - if he or she calls it alopecia, ask precisely what
that means.
If You Have Thinning Hair - How to Help Yourself!
Take a look at any medications you may be taking for

other reasons.
If you are on the contraceptive pill, the progestogen it
contains may be causing the hair problem. Progestogen
is the synthetic version of natural progesterone. It is
known that progestogen has an androgenic effect - that
is, that it contains a form of the male hormone testos¬
terone and can trigger alopecia androgenetica in a
woman who is genetically already predisposed to thin

hair. The progestogen norethisterone contains more of
the male hormone testosterone than any of the other
progestogen components used in the contraceptive pill
and HRT.
Not all contraceptive pills have the same make up. If you
have thinning hair it may be advisable to avoid those pills
containing norethisterone and norgestrel. These include:
Ovysmen, Norimin, Loestrin 30, Brevinor, TriNovum and
BiNovum.
There are two contraceptive pills which are consid¬
ered better for the hair than others. These are Dianette
and Marvelon, which are high in anti-androgen content.
They contain ingredients which work against the male
hormone, the androgens, so helping the hair. However,
there is a problem with Marvelon as it is high in oestro¬
gen and may cause other adverse side-effects.
To avoid the risk of thinning hair it may be best to stop
the Pill altogether and choose another form of contra¬
ception.
Thin Hair and Childbirth
A woman's hair often looks stunning during pregnancy

thanks to the marked natural rise in levels of the female
hormones oestrogen and progesterone. The hair becomes
thick and glossy. But immediately after giving birth there
is a corresponding fall in levels of these hormones and
hair often falls out dramatically.
As a result the normal hair growth cycle is thrown
temporarily 'out of sync' and more hair than usual goes
into the telogen (resting) phase and is lost.
This 'human moult' condition is known as telogen

effluvium and occurs in about 45 per cent of all women
after childbirth. Normally it rights itself within a year,
but it can last much longer if you have a genetic predis¬
position to thinning hair (alopecia androgenetica) or you
have suffered the bald patches of the skin disease alope¬
cia areata.
Thin Hair and the Menopause
Many women find that thin hair becomes a problem

around the time of the menopause, usually in their late
forties or early fifties. This is partly due to the natural
process of ageing and also to the marked fall in levels of
the female hormones oestrogen and progesterone.
Women often ask me: 'Would Hormone Replacement
Therapy help my hair to thicken?'
Well . . . yes and no. Most versions of HRT have two
main ingredients: oestrogen, which normally helps the
hair and encourages thicker growth, and a progestogen
which, as in the Pill, also contains a form of the male hor¬
mone testosterone.
So a similar problem is created with HRT as with the
Pill - the decision faced by women is whether to take it
for its oestrogen benefits or reject it because of the male
hormone content. (This decision does not affect women
who have had a hysterectomy, as they are prescribed
oestrogen on its own anyway).
Many women ask: 'As the oestrogen content helps my
hair, can't I take oestrogen on its own - even if I have not
had a hysterectomy?' The answer here is no - if you have
an intact womb it is important to take a progestogen as
part of HRT, as it gives added protection against the pos¬

sibility of cancer of the endometrium.
HRT - The Alternative Version!
To avoid the progestogen content, many women prefer

an alternative version of HRT. This contains an oestrogen
- many types are available - plus natural progesterone,
which is available on prescription as Cyclogest. Cyclogest
has to be administered as a suppository or pessary (al¬
though a cream which you rub into the skin is also
available - see below).
Other women opt for another type of progestogen
which is called medroxyprogesterone acetate. This is a
progestogen which is different from norethisterone or
norgestrel. Medroxyprogesterone acetate is contained in
the HRT Tridestra three-month pack. This contains only
seven placebo tablets, which means that the patient has
only one bleed every three months instead of a monthly
bleed. The progestogen is therefore being taken on fewer
days than with other types of HRT, so limiting any effect
it may be having on the hair.
Another HRT which contains medroxyprogesterone is
Premique.
Unsuitable HRT brands for those with a tendency
to thin hair include Tri Sequens, Elleste, Estracombi,
Kliofem and Estrapak.
Can Natural Progesterone Cream Help the Hair?
The natural progesterone cream Progest can help the

hair to thicken, says Dr Katharina Dalton, a leading spe¬
cialist in treating premenstrual syndrome and the use
of natural progesterone. 'But Progest can not be used
effectively as part of HRT as it gives only a minimal rise
in blood progesterone levels - whereas natural proges¬
terone given by injection or vaginally or rectally is
effective in HRT.'
How to Make Thin Hair Thicker
Option One
Try conventional medical treatment. Topical minoxidil
under the name of Regaine is now available in the UK
without prescription and is directed at patients who have
alopecia androgenetica. Standard Regaine is a solution
containing 2 per cent of the active ingredient and has a
success rate of 40 per cent in achieving regrowth. It also
stabilizes hair loss in as many as 80 per cent of cases.
Regaine Extra Strength (5 per cent minoxidil) is now also
available from a UK pharmacist without prescription for
male patients, though for women it is still available only
on prescription. This situation is likely to change on com¬
pletion of further clinical trials.
This is a lively time for hair growth treatments, as at
last respectable and clinically tested products are com¬
ing onto the pharmaceutical market.
Also on the horizon is finasteride, a treatment for the
enlarged male prostate, which has now been found to act
as an anti-androgen treatment and combat hair loss. This
The Great ALternative: Getting Your Own Back 175
is available on prescription in the US and may soon be

available in the UK under the name of Propecia.
Philial is a treatment for closing wounds, which der¬
matologist Dr Ella Lindenbaum discovered also en¬
courages hair growth. This was not the aim of the work
she was carrying out, but she knew of the thousands of
hair loss cases in the world and launched a programme
of trials.
Squill is a Greek herbal-based treatment developed by
Athens-born Elias Bouras, who has succeeded in per¬
suading a UK company to launch clinical trials.
Option Two
Try alternative treatments. You will have heard of many

of these. Perhaps you have smiled at the crazy notions
some people have about magical solutions which might
bring back their hair. But there is no doubt that many of
the therapies are relaxing, soothing . . . and come under
the heading of. . .
Hair Loss - A Time to Treat Yourself
Here are some of the alternative therapies which hair

loss patients have tried.
Homoeopathy
Ruth was 20 when she left her home in Suffolk to work in Vienna for a
children's aid chanty. The Second World War had ended only recently and.
she remembers: The Third Man was being filmed there. There was an
incredible atmosphere of menace. It was the most exciting time of my
life. It was an extremely stressful period for a young and fairly naive girl
just let out after the war. I have often wondered if I would hove kept my
hair if it had not been for Vienna.'
On leaving the city, Ruth noticed that her hair was getting very thin.
In fact, it remained thin for some years and did not improve through all
the years when she was having her family. Eventually she consulted med¬
ical homoeopath Alice Campbell LCH MH MA who, being concerned to
treat 'the whole person', talked with her at length about her childhood
years in India and the intensive working years in Vienna. Ruth mentioned
her lock of height - she is very tiny at just under 4 foot 10 inches and,
os a child, hod been treated in hospital with a growth hormone.
Alice Campbell seized upon this os a possible clue. 1 think that the
hormone treatment has adversely affected the hair growth,' soys the
homoeopath. 'I am un-picking the hormones which hove done her so
much harm. There was also a problem during her time in Vienna when she
received a number of vaccinations in order to travel. I hove to pick through
a repertory of symptoms to find the correct remedies which will help her
hair. Basically I am working on the pituitary gland, but I am nearly there.'
Alice Campbell has helped many patients with thinning

hair. This type of male pattern baldness is very depress¬
ing for a woman. One woman in her twenties was really
upset because her hair had become so thin, particularly
as she is a hairdresser. It took me six months to improve
her hair. It does take rather a long time as there are no
standard remedies in homeopathy for hair loss. So I have
to work out a special treatment for each person and they
do need to have patience.'
She rarely tells her patients to improve their diet. Tf
someone was on 12 cans of Coke a day I might mention
it, but basically I leave it to their intelligenee.'
The Great ALternative: Getting Your Own Back 177
She has also achieved improvement in cases of patchy

alopecia areata by treating the stress which triggered it. d
saw a young woman with alopecia areata and discovered
that the stress of her parents' marital break up was a
major factor in her hair loss. I was able to prescribe a
remedy for the stress and help to bring back her hair.'
But total baldness in a man was too big a problem, d
was not able to help a man who had been totally bald for
some years. The only time he seemed to regrow a few
strands of hair was on holiday in the sun. Total hair loss is
usually too difficult for me to treat, but where it has been
lost in patches or as thinning hair I can achieve quite a lot.
'Stress is often a big factor and it is also due to the
androgenic effects of the many hormones we all take,
often unknowingly through the food chain. Unfortu¬
nately some cattle and sheep are fed steroids, and some of
these cannot be eliminated by recycling drinking water.'
There is still a question mark over whether homoeo¬
pathy really works in hair loss. Some say the recovery
is merely spontaneous, as can occur naturally in some
cases of alopecia areata. Often it is a mystery and impos¬
sible to know whether a treatment has worked or not. Mrs
Campbell, who in private life is the wife of a public school
headmaster, accepts that hair loss conditions such as
alopecia areata often recover spontaneously. 'The main
thing with homoeopathy is that the well-being of the
whole person receives careful attention. I know the patient
will feel generally a lot better because of my treatment
even if it has not put right the ailment which led her to me
originally.'
Many medical doctors are members of the British
Homoeopathic Association. For information on homoeo¬
pathy, you can contact this organization at: British
Homoeopathic Association, 27a Devonshire Street, Lon¬

don WIN IRJ (tel. 0171 935 2163).
Herbalism
Michele, 32, the cool and sophisticated wife of a Yorkshire racehorse

trainer, helps to run the stables as well as take care of their two young¬
sters.
She lost her hair totally soon after the birth of her first child. She
knew it was more than the normal hair loss which follows childbirth when
it started to fall out during the actual pregnancy. This was a bad sign, as
any birth-related hair loss normally occurs after the birth.
She tried several medical treatments and had brief success in
regrowth with the phenol-derivative diphencyprone she got from her local
hospital (for more about this, see Chapters). Michele was so happy and
looked forward to being a blonde once more. By New Year's Eve she had
bought champagne to shore with the nurses and was planning a party.
Then suddenly her newly regrown hair fell out again!
Desperate by now, Michele turned to a medical herbalist who offered
her a herbal tea made from stinging nettles, nerve tonic, oats and liver
tonic, holy thistle plus the kidney stimulant Golden Rod. She was also
told to take food supplement capsules containing vitamins, minerals and
amino acids, which the body uses in the formation of keratin. This is the
substance which goes towards making hair, skin and nails.
Her medical herbalist, Mrs Ann Dunning, says: 'I make up individual
recipes when I have assessed the degree of stress behind the condition
and the patient's metabolism. I moke up the recipe from os many os 150
different herbs. Most of the herbs ore English. A few are Chinese.
'The most important thing I check first is that a patient has adequate
nutrition. Many people need to drink a lot more water. Lifestyle is impor¬
tant too.'
Originally Mrs Dunning was working in agriculture, but

her interest in applied botany led her to take a four-year
degree course in medical herbalism. She finds it much
easier to treat a person with the patchy baldness of alo¬
pecia areata than someone with total scalp hair loss
(alopecia totalis).
dn alopecia areata I can get results much more
quickly. I know that this condition does sometimes clear
up spontaneously but I feel that my treatment bridges
the gap until the time when the hair does regrow of it
own accord. This brings regrowth much more quickly
than it would normally occur. But in total alopecia it
takes much longer and any regrowth I achieve may not
be permanent.'
Medical herbalists can be contacted through: The
Institute of Medical Herbalists (tel. 01724 867385.
Contact: Trudy Norris).
Indian Head Massage (Champissage)
This can hardly be hailed as a new idea in treatment,

since it began over a thousand years ago as a therapy to
help young Indian women to keep their long hair strong
and shining. It is said to improve the texture, strength
and growth of the hair.
Fifty-year-old Bombay-born osteopath Karendra Mehta
has been totally blind since he was a year old and has de¬
veloped a uniquely fine-tuned sense of touch. Twenty
years ago in India he researched champissage, and has
now developed his own special massage combining the
traditional Indian method and his own experience as an
osteopath. He is now principal of the London Centre of
Indian Champissage, where therapists are trained. His

head massage therapists are now working in hair and
beauty salons throughout the UK.
His treatment is a hands-on therapy where the patient
is treated fully dressed and sitting normally. Oils or
creams are used if the patient is being treated for hair
thinning, but for other disorders this treatment is carried
out without oil.
Tor hair improvement we use the essential oils of aro¬
matherapy including tea tree oil, sandalwood, lavender
and lemon. As I massage the circulating oils are absorbed
by the hair follicles and the hair is encouraged to thicken.
The massage also prevents the hair from becoming grey
too early in life.
'Many women these days go grey when they are only
in their twenties. They are also suffering more from
stress, particularly when they are working with comput¬
ers and staring at word processor screens for long hours
each day. I treat stress in many adults whose hair has
thinned, and also stress in children which often occurs if
the parents have split up.
'Three to six treatments can help them feel calmer and
more relaxed. My treatment helps to distribute energy
more evenly throughout the body.'
Karendra Mehta's colleague Joshua Patel runs a heal¬
ing centre in Sparkhill, Birmingham. 'When a person
comes for head massage our treatment induces a deep
form of meditation which helps us to understand the
underlying causes of the disorder. People have
visualizations which they describe as all peace, beauty
and harmony.'
The Eastern delights of the experience may be enjoy¬
able, but how much does it actually help thinning hair?
Hair stylist Alexa Goodman, who runs salons in Solihull,

West Midlands, has a beauty therapist specially trained
to carry out Indian head massage for clients who are
concerned about thinning hair. Anne, from Kenilworth,
whose visits to the salon were clouded by concern about
her thinning hair, was surprised and pleased when her
hair appeared thicker after the treatment. And Rose, who
had suffered arthritis with stiffness in the shoulders and
neck, found her condition far less painful after the
massage. 'It seems to release a lot of stress and tension,'
she reports.
For more information, contact: London Centre of
Indian Champissage, 136 Holloway Road, London N7 8DD.
Message from a Monkey: Jambo the Chimp Grows

Back His Hair!
Molly Badham, director of Leicestershire's Twycross

Zoo, is accustomed to her zoo's chimps making the place
famous. After all, these were the chimps she taught to
'talk' for the famous television tea commercials - to the
amazement and wonder of children ever since!
Sad news, then, for Molly when she discovered that
Jambo the chimpanzee had developed a sore rash all over
his chest and most of the rest of his body. It was obviously
sore and distressing him - and sadly, he had also lost his
hair. Bald and blotchy, poor Jambo was ostracized by the
other animals and seemed to be leading a very sad and
lonely life.
The zoo's team of keepers contacted zoos worldwide
for help, but failed to find a treatment. As a last resort,
they called on local writer Jean Brown to help. She
specializes in natural remedies and recipes using

hedgerow plants. Her ointment, known as a balm, has a
good reputation for soothing cases of psoriasis in humans.
She thought there was a chance it might help the
chimpanzee ... though applying it was not so easy. In the
end Jambo was sedated, and, while he lay unconscious
on the floor, he was covered liberally in the balm. He was
given it regularly for several weeks and also put on a spe¬
cial diet which cut out bananas and citrus fruit. The
balm is made from goats' milk, herbs and hedgerow
plants - plus another ingredient which Jean Brown
chooses not to reveal.
The zoo keepers had no real faith that the balm would
clear up the rash. It was just better than nothing. So they
were delighted when not only did it clear the rash but
Jambo also regrew his hair. His chimp friends welcomed
him again and he was no longer left in isolation. Back
went Jambo to live a normal life again, leaving Molly Bad-
ham to cope with the crowds. The people who had heard
Jambo's story on Midlands TV were anxious to put the
balm to better use. They wanted to try it themselves on
their balding heads.
Aluna, 40, was among the first to try it She had lost most of her hair
due to alopecia areata. The loss of her hair was triggered, she thinks, by
shock. Her baby son Chnstopher had been given whooping cough vaccine
by their family doctor. It was a mistake on the doctor's part, as Aluna
had specifically asked that he receive a vaccination against only two con¬
ditions (rubella and chicken pox) 'It had not been my doctor's fault,'
explains Aluna. 'It was just a mistake but I was really worried in case the
vaccine had damaged Christopher. I had known a friend's child who was
brain damaged by whooping cough vaccine, so when I found out what
the doctor had done I was terrified for Christopher.'
Chnstopher is a very special child, treasured perhaps more than most

because his mother had suffered a senes of miscarnages and been
unable to have other children. Fortunately the child was not harmed by
the vaccine, but Aluna feels that it was this shock which caused her hair
loss. She had suffered from alopecia since the age of 27 when she lost
her hair after the stress of marriage difficulties - particularly hard for
her, os she was working at the time as a Relate counsellor.
Then she saw Jambo on TV and heard of his treatment success. She
rang the zoo, bought some balm and goats' milk soap, and cut the
appropriate fruits out of her diet. She applied the ointment balm to her
scalp twice a day and had been using it for five months when her hair
started to regrow.
'I am sure the balm did it. I had lost my eyebrows as well but I did
not put the balm on my face. I still have no eyebrows but there is plenty
of hair on my scalp, so I can only think that it worked.'
Gillian, 64, was also impressed with Jambo's story on television. She
had lost nearly all her hair due to alopecia areata soon after a stay in
hospital where she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. She had been
on systemic steroids (prednisolone) during her hospital stay and won¬
dered whether this had triggered her hair loss, along with the emotional
shock of being told she had multiple sclerosis. 'MS is a condition which
normally starts at a much younger age,' she says. 'So I must hove had it
for quite a long time before it was diagnosed.'
The hair loss deteriorated dramatically after she left hospital. She had
been wearing a wig for two years when she saw Jambo's story on the TV
news. Like Aluna, she bought the goat's milk shampoo and soap along
with the balm and pledged to renounce grapefruit and bananas for ever.
She was delighted with the improvement in her hair. 'It began to grow
again within a few weeks,' she says. 'Six months after I began to use the
balm I looked normal enough to go without a wig.'
As far as she knows, she will not have to use the balm again. 'Mrs Brown
says that there is no need to continue using it once the hair is back.'
As always in alopecia areata, it is impossible to say

whether any particular treatment has worked, as in a
third of cases regrowth occurs spontaneously.
Reiki: The Japanese Healing Therapy
The origins of Reiki start with Dr Usui of Japan, who dis¬

covered a natural system of healing evolving from his
understanding of life and energy. This is the Chi of
Chinese medicine,' says therapist Patricia Staines, who
carries out the therapy from her East Anglian home. The
therapist gently places her hands non-intrusively in a
sequence of positions covering the whole body. Reiki
helps by increasing the energy flow in the meridians and
stimulating the body's own healing process.'
The patient, she says, often feels a heat or coolness
emanating from the therapist's hands. Though often pa¬
tients are so relaxed that they cannot tell exactly where
the therapist is working. Many people feel that their
understanding of themselves increases with each
treatment.'
Sarah, 25, a telephone company executive, was ternbly self-conscious

about her patchy alopecia areata when she went for Reiki treatment The
worst thing was not knowing whether I would be bold for life. I hod three
big bold patches and my doctor just said "One in three people regrow
their hair. That's all we know." I hod hod it for two years and there was
no sign of improvement.'
Sarah found that the Reiki helped her to feel more relaxed and posi¬
tive. 1 felt emotionally calmer with the treatment and was also helped
by the Bach Flower Essences I used to get from the pharmacy and put on
my tongue.
'I like the Reiki treatment because Pat took the trouble to talk
with me and I found it all very calming. After a few weeks she
suggested that homoeopathy might help as well. This was also good
and the homoeopathy specialist suggested phosphorus in my particu¬
lar case. Different remedies are recommended according to the
individual.'
Between the two treatments, Sarah feels that she was definitely
helped. 'My hair is all back now and looks absolutely normal.'
Traditional Chinese Medidne
Practitioners of Chinese medicine are convinced that

their treatment genuinely brings back hair in cases of
alopecia areata.
d can always tell when there is going to be no sudden
natural regrowth when people have had alopecia areata
for some time/ says Stephan of the London Registry of
Chinese Medicine. 'We have treated alopecia areata
patients with a success rate of 80 per cent/ he says. 'We
use a plum blossom - a gentle name to disguise a not-so-
gentle instrument - which is used to "tap" with a small
collection of acupuncture needles. The patient is taught
to carry out the treatment at home every day using seven
needles and possibly a tincture as well. Through this
method we are able to show up blood deficiencies.'
Traditional Chinese medicine has a growing following
in the West. At Colchester I was told that patients with
thinning hair often require a special treatment for the
liver or kidneys. This is a herbal treatment mailed
directly from China and currently in short supply. Between
60 and 80 different Chinese herbs are used, including
Dangshen, which is similar to ginseng.
A patient complaining of hair loss is first assessed. If

he or she has another disorder such as eczema or psoria¬
sis, a mixture of herbs is boiled up together to apply to
the scalp. After this the herb mixture is given to the
patient to drink. It is often a mixture of 14 herbs which
has to be taken regularly twice daily for quite a long
period. The idea is that the medicine will relieve any
stress. At Colchester the Chinese medicine doctors have
recently treated a large number of people from the army
who were concerned about their hair loss.
For information on Chinese medicine contact Stephan
on 0171 247 0204. Treatments cost around £10 plus £12
to £15 for medicines. Send £2.50 in the first instance for
information from: Registry of Chinese Herbal Medicine,
PO Box 400, London HA9 9NZ.
Aromatherapy
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine. With sweet musk roses and
with eglantine . . . There sleeps Titania sometime of the night Lulled in
her bower by dances and delight. . .
OK ... so we may not look as beautiful as Titania, and

hair loss is certainly no 'midsummer night's dream' . . .
but some hair loss victims have discovered an attractive
technique to make them a) feel good, b) feel that they are
doing something themselves towards getting their hair
back and c) enjoying the stunning perfumes of the pure
essential oils of flowers and plants.
Aromatherapy is a wonderful way of treating yourself
for hair loss, and is so straightforward that it can be done
at home.
The inspirational Shirley Price was originally a hair

stylist whose cutting was so skilful that women came to
her from all over the country to have her tackle their thin¬
ning hair. She made it look healthier and appear thicker
with her brilliant cuts. Shirley had found herself being
asked for help by women with thinning hair.
'They thought it was best to have long hair to hide
their scalps. I had to convince them that long hair is too
heavy to take a style. A set just drops out with the weight
of long hair. So I persuaded them to have it cut short all
over, making the hair appear much thicker and more
manageable.'
Shirley is no longer a hairdresser. She has discovered
another way of helping women - and men. 'I wanted a
way to help my mother, who was then suffering from
severe arthritis,' says Shirley. 'She was so ill. All twisted
up with arthritis and in so much pain she was taking 21
tablets a day and couldn't walk at all. I had to find a way
of helping her.'
She found the art of aromatherapy, where a few drops
of carefully chosen essential oils are mixed into a carrier
base and massaged vigorously into the skin. 'You must
massage correctly and for at least five minutes every
time,' says Shirley.
With her husband Len, who has also made a serious
study of essential oils, Shirley now travels the world to
select and test oils for their suitability.
She has transformed an unprepossessing corner of
Hinckley, East Midlands into a magical emporium of
floral and herb scents which offer to help many human
ills including the joint pain of arthritis, circulatory dis¬
orders, premenstrual problems and hair loss. Her hus¬
band Len has always had a special interest in hair care
and aromatherapy, and accompanies Shirley all over the

world to build up their collection of essential oils.
Besides being the author of several books on the
subject, Shirley Price trains aromatherapists and runs
special seminars and training courses. The couple have
also set up a centre in France where they offer lectures,
learning and shared experience' to aromatherapy stu¬
dents who wish to learn of the therapeutic uses of es¬
sential oils and the distillation of aromatic plants. Field
study tours are held in France, usually in July to coincide
with the harvesting of lavender and clary sage.
'Hair loss is a difficult condition to treat,' says Shirley.
'But if the massage is done correctly - you must push
your fingers and thumbs firmly into the scalp and feel it
moving as you do it - and massaged for a timed five min¬
utes every session, then aromatherapy will really help in
hair loss. It will definitely prevent further thinning.'
The massage is believed to revive dormant hair folli¬
cles and encourage them to produce hair again. The
massage is normally preceded by the application of a car¬
rier oil containing cedarwood and rosemary to improve
the texture of the hair. 'Thickening of the hair is usually
noticeable after six to eight months of regular use.'
Shirley has used this treatment on a man in his fifties
with severely thinning hair. 'It seems to take a long time,
but did eventually show signs of regrowth after three
months. At his age it took a long time for the follicles to
respond. Another chap - Frank - was totally bald and had
been wearing a wig for four years. But after aromather¬
apy treatment he was able to abandon the wig.'
For thinning hair she uses a scalp tonic containing
cedarwood, rosemary and lavandin (this is lavender
containing camphor).
She also suggests an application made up of lavender

water (50 ml) with five drops each of lavender, sweet
thyme and rosemary. An alternative is 50 ml lavender
water with eight drops of lavender and seven drops of
sweet thyme.
If pregnant, epileptic or suffering from high blood
pressure, rosemary should not be used.
'It can also be difficult to achieve results with this tech¬
nique if the patient is already applying a medical
treatment to the scalp,' says Shirley.
Full or partial body massage is important to relieve
the stress associated with hair loss. A de-stressing mix¬
ture made up of the essential oils of lavender, sweet
thyme and rosemary in a carrier of almond or jojoba oil
should be massaged in and left on to allow dermal
absorption for approximately two hours two or three
times a week.
In Aberdeen, dermatologist Dr Isabel Hay has been
running clinical trials with the use of aromatherapy in
patients who have lost their hair. She is to publish and
present her results at a major conference for dermatolo¬
gists in Nice sometime in 1999.
It is important, if you are considering aromatherapy
treatment, to make sure you find a properly trained prac¬
titioner. Contact one of the following professional bodies
for advice on your choice: ISPA (The International Soci¬
ety of Professional Aromatherapists), IFA (The Inter¬
national Federation of Aromatherapists) or RQA (The
Register of Qualified Aromatherapists).
What Medical Treatments are
Available?
'There must be something we can do - Some kind of medical help.'
Of course there is. The great improvement since I lost my

own hair is the increase in the number of treatments
available.
While the pioneer medication minoxidil (Regaine) has
led the way in providing the first proven medical treat¬
ment for hair loss, others have followed. Among them:
• Propecia, derived from finasteride, a treatment

for the enlarged male prostate.
• Philial, which started life in Israel as an ointment
for closing wounds.
• Squill, the herbal remedy, is now the subject of
clinical trials in the UK.
Countless other potions and preparations are also cur¬

rently queuing for official licensing and respectability.
Only one, Propecia, has been licensed in the US for pre¬
scribing - but only to men.
Ease of accessibility is one major innovation. To
obtain topical minoxidil in the UK, for instance, it is no
What Medical Treatments are Available? 191
longer necessary to consult a doctor. In both the UK and

the US, Regaine (or Rogaine as it is known in the US) is
now available directly from a pharmacist. As mentioned
earlier, Regaine Regular Strength contains 2 per cent mi¬
noxidil, while the more recently introduced Regaine
Extra Strength has 5 per cent of the active ingredient.
This is a breakthrough for many patients, as it cuts out
the embarrassment of having to explain about the condi¬
tion to a doctor - which many hair loss patients dread.
They feel bad enough, anyway, and usually guilty for
'bothering' a doctor with a condition he or she may con¬
sider 'cosmetic' or 'trivial'.
Medical research is still going on throughout the world
to find successful treatments. UK researchers are highly
respected and lead the field in this type of work. Many
treatments are only available because dermatologists
have been able to offer them on an experimental basis.
This, of course, would not be possible in many countries
including the US where doctors are restrained by tighter
legal controls.
Let's take a closer look at the hair loss treatments avail¬
able now.
For Less Severe Cases
For less severe cases of alopecia areata, where hair loss is

less then 60 per cent, and for alopecia androgenetica:
Minoxidil
This is sold in solution to be applied topically - that is,

directly to the scalp. Available without prescription (UK
and US). Regaine Regular Strength contains 2 per cent
minoxidil in solution; Regaine Extra Strength contains
5 per cent minoxidil solution.
(For more about minoxidil in treating alopecia areata,
see pages 197-206.)
Steroid Creams or Lotions
These are rubbed into the affected areas. Examples are

Betnovate, Elocon, Metosyn, Locoid.
Dithranol/Anthralin
This is a tar-like cream often used to treat psoriasis. It is

rubbed into the scalp and left on for several hours. It has
had some success. Can stain bedsheets.
Steroid Injections
Steroids are injected into the scalp (intra-lesional cortico¬

steroids). These can be uncomfortable, even painful, and
are appropriate only where a bald area of the scalp is
small and can be isolated - as in less severe alopecia
areata. For larger areas of baldness, injections would not
be suitable. ' •
Propeda
Propecia (pronounced 'propeesha') is the trade name of

finasteride when it is used to treat alopecia androgenet-
ica. Finasteride is a drug used to treat the enlarged male
prostate. After it appeared to promote hair growth by
blocking the action of androgens, it underwent clinical
trials for the hair growth factor and gained FDA (Food &'
Drug Administration) approval in the US for use as a pre¬
scription drug. It is taken in tablet form.
Propecia is of course a new treatment for hair loss
which may not have received official permission to be
prescribed in your country. If you are considering using
it, it is important that you know a few details about it.
How Does It Work?

In hair loss, it acts as an anti-androgen treatment. As
we've discussed, alopecia androgenetica (male pattern
baldness) occurs when unusually high levels of the male
hormone testosterone are converted to a derivative -
Dihydrotestosterone (DHT). High levels of DHT cause
hair follicles to age prematurely and to shrivel. Finas¬
teride works by blocking the enzyme 5-alpha reductase
which converts testosterone to DHT. This causes DHT
levels to fall by as much as 70 per cent in eight hours.
In a clinical analysis involving 508 men, an increase in
hair growth was demonstrated in 66 per cent of men after
two years on the treatment.
US marketing clearance was based on data from three
one-year double-blind multicentre placebo-controlled
clinical trials. These involved 1,879 men aged 18 to 41
with mild to moderate hair loss of the vertex (top of
the head) and anterior (towards the front of the head)
mid-scalp areas. In addition, 1,215 men who had hair loss

of the vertex or top of the head were studied for a further
year.
Hair count increased during the first year and was
maintained in those men taking Propecia for two years.
Men in the placebo (dummy pill) group continued to
show progressive hair loss. In an analysis of the men who
were followed up for two years, only 17 per cent of men
treated with Propecia showed any hair loss (defined by
an decrease in hair count from their base line assess¬
ment). Eighty-three per cent had the same or higher hair
count. In contrast, 72 per cent of the placebo group lost
more hair, as measured by hair count.
All the patients were asked to evaluate their response
to the treatment. Those on Propecia reported an increase
in the amount of hair, a decrease in hair loss and an
improvement in their appearance.
How Long Does It Take to Work?

In the trials, clinical improvement was seen as early as
three months after the onset of treatment.
What Type of Hair Loss Can Be Improved with Propecia?

It is for the treatment of alopecia androgenetica.
Is It Suitable for Both Men and Women?

Women of childbearing age must not use Propecia
because its manufacturers, Merck Inc, fear that it may
cause abnormalities in a male foetus. It may cause ab¬
normalities of a male baby's sex organs, a condition
known as hypospadias. In addition, women should not
handle crushed or broken tablets when they are pregnant
or likely to become pregnant. The tablets have a coating
which prevents contact with the active ingredient, pro¬

viding they do not become broken or crushed.
Clearly, because of these concerns the manufacturers
have stipulated that Propecia should not be used by
women at all, although it is known that some women out¬
side childbearing age have been obtaining Proscar
tablets privately in the UK, which contain 5 mg finas¬
teride. As Propecia contains only 1 mg finasteride, these
patients have been taking a Proscar tablet every other day
instead of daily.
What Are the Side-effects?

A small number of men on the treatment have reported
less desire for sex and/or a decrease in the amount of
semen they produce. Each of these side-effects occurred
in fewer than 2 per cent of men. They went away in the
patients who decided to discontinue the therapy, and also
disappeared in the 58 per cent of men who decided to
continue taking Propecia.
Are Doctors Happy About the Treatment?

Says consultant dermatologist Dr David Fenton, 'Results
seem good but I would feel happier if more stringent tests
were carried out on it to ensure that it does not affect
long-term male fertility.'
Philial
Philial is a treatment primarily for alopecia androgenet-

ica. As mentioned earlier, it was discovered in Haifa,
Israel by consultant dermatologist Dr Ella Lindenbaum
when she was involved in research work for an entirely
different purpose. She discovered that philial appeared

to be encouraging hair growth, and has embarked upon a
two-year programme of clinical trials. Dr Lindenbaum's
discovery was the centre of a great deal of interest after
she discussed it on the BBC science programme Tomor¬
row's World. But it will not be available until she has
completed the trials.
Squill
Squill treatment has only just begun a year's programme

of trials in three leading British hospitals. It is based on a
Mediterranean drug introduced to treat alopecia by
botanist Elias Bouras, who brought it to the UK and lob¬
bied large pharmaceutical companies to give it some
backing. He maintains that the product has helped sev¬
eral alopecia patients to regrow their hair.
It will not be available until the trials are completed.
For More Severe Cases
For more severe cases, where the hair loss is more than
60 per cent of all scalp hair:
• Counter-irritants or contact allergens applied to

the affected area to induce an eczema-like
response. Examples are dinitrochlorobenzene
(DNCB), diphencyprone, and Primula obconica
combined with systemic steroids by injection/
ACTH (or cortieotrophin, a hormone)
• Steroids by mouth
• PUVA
• Immuno-suppressive drugs, as used in transplant
surgery, sueh as Cyclosporine, usually applied
topically, in gel form, and Azathioprine, occa¬
sionally used orally in cases where other
treatments have failed.
Minoxidil
'Mummy, you're turning into a teddy bear!' said my six-

year-old daughter, tracing the tiny white hairs sprouting
on my cheeks. Below the ears, there was also a sudden
growth of vellous, downy hair, a shadow above my lips,
too. A Zapata moustache, I thought, any minute now . . .
'Doctor', I murmured, 'I'm growing a beard'. The der¬
matologist smiled. 'Oh, well... it proves minoxidil works,
doesn't it?'
Four years after I first lost my hair, I heard the news
that minoxidil, a drug used in the treatment of high blood
pressure, had been found, by accident, to make hair grow
as a side-effect. An elderly lady in Colorado was amazed
when the tablets she had been prescribed for her blood
pressure gave her the added bonus of a moustache. Young
men who had been depressed about their hair loss were
delighted when it grew back, all thanks to minoxidil, a
vasodilator - a drug used to dilate the blood vessels -
which they had been given to lower their blood pressure.
It was marketed under the name Loniten by its manu¬
facturers, the Upjohn Company (now Pharmacia and
Upjohn Ltd) from their giant pharmaceutical plant in
Kalamazoo, Michigan. For several years, this highly
respectable company ignored the drug's potential for
growing hair. It was not keen on anything so cosmetic as
a 'cure for baldness': its reputation hinged on serious

medicine. But news of the hair-growth factor leaked
when a cardiac physician, Dr Anthony Zappacosta, I
reported in the New England Journal of Medicine that one
of his patients, a bald man of 38, had regrown hair while
taking the drug for his heart condition.
Dermatologists were soon involved in world-wide tri¬
als. They applied a solution containing a tiny percentage
of minoxidil to the scalp. Volunteer guinea pigs - all with
balding heads - queued up to try it in the US, Denmark,
the UK, all of them desperate to find out whether the
miracle worked.
I was a guinea pig in the UK, prescribed minoxidil at
one of London's teaching hospitals: first, a 2 per cent
solution, then 3 per cent. Soon tiny hairs appeared in the
bald patches on my scalp. They also grew a little on my
face. The doctor thought I had splashed it too generously
on my scalp and it had run down the sides of my face.
The hair had grown there, just as it had on my face. He
added that usually the drug only made hair grow in the
wrong places when taken by mouth.
I was not complaining! I was delighted that the solu¬
tion was helping to thicken up the regrowth on my scalp.
In any case, the facial hair soon disappeared.
But what was the minoxidil miracle all about? Every¬
one was asking about it.
Some doctors hailed it as a breakthrough. The wide¬
spread research it prompted could only be a good thing
and encourage more medical interest in alopecia areata.
The minoxidil saga, said the doctors, is a modern fairy
tale.
Minoxidil: a Modern Fairy Tale

Once upon a time, there were hundreds of women hiding
away from the world, because they felt they were freaks.
They had been normal. They had been pretty. Until sud¬
denly, for no reason they knew of, they lost their hair.
Doctors couldn't help, knowing neither cause nor
cure. 'Wear a wig', they told the Cinderellas. 'It's a shame
about these unfortunate women', they told each other,
'but it doesn't hurt, won't kill them and we have more
important sicknesses to cure'.
They couldn't help the bald men, either. The young
princes should have been Prince Charmings but their
scalps were patchy with alopecia. They were so disgusted
with the way they looked that they had lost 'that loving
feeling'! They looked in the mirror and thought that no
Cinderella would ever go to the ball with them.
The Cinderellas went home and managed as best they
could. They hid under wigs and scarves. They stayed in
their kitchens and stopped wanting to go out. They were
afraid their husbands wouldn't want them any more.
Some wore their wigs in bed. Some smacked their chil¬
dren when they knew they shouldn't. Some took to drink.
The balding Prince Charmings stayed home too, afraid
their princesses would laugh at them as they had no hir¬
sute manliness to offer. They were lonely.
Then along came the Fairy Godmother. She waved her
magic wand and a quite ordinary little drug suddenly
started to make hair grow again. It was called minoxidil.
Doctors grew keen and fascinated. Men with money saw
the opportunities in a cure for baldness. Massive injec¬
tions of pharmaceutical cash were pumped into research.
The Cinderellas and the Prince Charmings were
delighted because at last someone was taking an interest
in their problem. Whether it worked or not, minoxidil

could be the key to future research. 'In other words', said
the Cinderellas, 'this is a breakthrough.'
Some of them even went to the ball. . .
It may sound like a fairy tale, but it has certainly trig¬

gered more interest in research into alopecia.
It attracts some important questions.
How Was Minoxidil's Potential for Hair Growth Discovered?

Over 25 years ago, minoxidil began life as a metabolite, a
breakdown product extracted from rats' urine, intended
as an anti-ulcer medication which would act on gastric
solutions.
But it was more use to the heart than the stomach, dis¬
covered its manufacturers, the Upjohn Company, a
pharmaceutical firm founded over a hundred years ago
by Dr William Erasmus Upjohn, whose grandfather
was English. They soon found out that it was a strong
vasodilator, funded research, and by 1979 the US Food
and Drug Administration (FDA) approved its use for the
treatment of high blood pressure, under the trade name
of Loniten.
But during these trials some patients grew hair in odd
places. A young doctor experimented privately by mak¬
ing up a solution of crushed minoxidil tablets and
applying it to the heads of his bald friends. He took out a
patent on its use as a hair restorer.
The company apologized to the FDA for the incident
and took out a separate hair use patent, promising that, in
future, it would be used only as a blood pressure drug; but
heart physician Dr Zappacosta's sudden revelation in the
medical press dragged the subject into the open again.
Upjohn launched trials into minoxidirs use as a hair

restorer. It was tested on macaque monkeys, who usually
lose their hair at adolescence. Three out of four adult
monkeys ended up with thickening hair. State prisoners
volunteered to take part in the trials, as did thousands
in hospitals in New York and Washington. Cosmetically
significant regrowth was reported in about a third of vol¬
unteers.
How Is Minoxidil Used?

For clinical trials, hospitals made up their own prepara¬
tions: a tiny percentage of the drug (from 1 to 5 per cent)
in an alcohol solution. The patient applies this to the bald
area twice daily.
How Soon Can Regrowth Be Expected?

Within four months ... if it is going to work in your case!
Dermatologist Dr John Wilkinson cautions: Jt is not a
cure for baldness and it appears that only one in three
patients obtains significant benefit. It is also expensive.'
Does Minoxidil Work for Everyone?

No. Clinical trials have found that it works best on early
male pattern baldness and patchy alopecia areata. It has
not been very successful on totally bald heads. In a major
British trial. Dr David Fenton of St Thomas's Hospital,
London, and Dr John Wilkinson of the Wycombe General
Hospital, High Wycombe, concluded: 'Although we have
little doubt that topical minoxidil can induce new hair
growth in patients with alopecia areata, those with more
severe and extensive disease have a worse response.
Those with alopecia universalis and alopecia totalis may
not respond at all.'^“
Using a 1 per cent solution of minoxidil, this study

found that, at six months, 81 per cent of patients were
responding. After a year, 50 to 70 per cent of those with
patchy alopecia areata had some regrowth; 60 per cent
had 'cosmetically acceptable' hair growth - they had no
need of a wig.
Other area results included:
• DENMARK^
One of the four cases of patchy alopecia grew 'cos¬
metically satisfying' hair. She could discard her wig.
Twenty-three patients were involved but the other
19 had extended or total hair loss. Thirteen out of the
23 had some regrowth (1 per cent minoxidil).
• UNITED KINGDOM
Manchester^^ Two out of four patients with patchy
alopecia areata had complete recovery. There was no
success with cases of total hair loss (3 per cent
minoxidil).
LiverpooP^ Out of nine patients, one grew sufficient
hair to discard her wig (1 per cent minoxidil), but
these were all patients with extensive or total hair
loss where it was known that the outlook was not so
hopeful (from the Fenton/Wilkinson trial).
Aberdeen^^ Nineteen out of 28 patients with patchy
alopecia areata showed regrowth, including one
'striking case of unilateral terminal hair regrowth' (1
per cent minoxidil). Doctors' verdict: 'worthy of fur¬
ther evalution.'
Sunderland^^ An 80 per cent success rate in regrow¬
ing the hair of 53 patients, including one with total
loss. ’ •
• USA
Chicago, 1981^® Two cases of total hair loss had com¬
plete regrowth (1 per cent minoxidil). The regrowth
occurred in a girl of 13 and a woman of 42.
Chicago, 1984^" Twenty-five out of 48 patients had
regrowth. Of those, 11 had 'cosmetically acceptable'
hair. Two patients from this group who had total hair
loss regrew it successfully (1 per cent minoxidil).
Later research here reported achieving a better qual¬
ity of hair with 5 per cent minoxidil.
Is Minoxidil Safe?
For a 1 per cent topical solution, Fenton/Wilkinson, UK,
said: 'so far no side-effects'. Dr John Wilkinson adds:
'Long-term risks have yet to be established'. Chicago
reported 'no side-effects', and Sunderland's verdict was
'safe, convenient and effective'.
Mild skin irritations were reported in one study in the
US. Two Aberdeen patients had to give up the treatment
due to dermatitis. Doctors wondered whether the fact
that they were wearing wigs was connected.
A Manchester woman on 3 per cent minoxidil devel¬
oped palpitations and chest pain but recovered when
returned to 1 per cent.^^ Doctors suggested she might
have been applying the lotion too liberally with the cus¬
tomary enthusiasm of alopecia patients. They advised
caution in the use of higher concentrations of minoxidil
in patients with extensive alopecia areata and those with
known coronary heart disease.
No patients died during the trials but five deaths were
reported in the US among the thousand who continued
using it under their own doctor's supervision.
There were also five further deaths, two in Upjohn alope¬
cia areata studies and two among users of non-Upjohn
minoxidil formulations. The tenth death was that of a man

who had been in a study for patients taking blood pressure
drugs by mouth. He was on active drugs for 16 days then
dropped out of the study. He died two months later.
It was quite clear that all the deaths were caused by
reasons other than the patients' use of minoxidil, the
causes including such serious conditions as AIDS and
heart - cardiovascular - complaints. The patients' use of
minoxidil was purely coincidental and any public scares
about the drug were quite unjustified!
All the cases were reported to the American Food and
Drug Administration and Upjohn says that minoxidil did
not have anything to do with the deaths.
The volunteers underwent exhaustive medical checks
throughout the trials. While patients on the 3 per cent
concentration had higher minoxidil blood levels than
those on the 2 per cent, observed levels were low and not
clinically significant. When prescribed for hair growth
minoxidil became known as Regaine.
Once I Start Using Minoxidil, Do I Have to Go on Using It Forever?

In some cases, yes. Some men who have male pattern
baldness find they need to continue using it after their
hair has regrown. Some have found that their hair drops
out again when they stop, usually four months after¬
wards. In patients with alopecia areata, it is hoped that
minoxidil will act as a stopgap measure to see them
through until spontaneous regrowth occurs - so that they
can stop using it.
How Does Minoxidil Work?

Several possibilities have been suggested:
• Minoxidil has a suppressive effect on the over¬

working immune system and thereby puts an end
to the overkill mechanism which is operating on
the hair follicles. In some research, minoxidil
appeared to act on the lymphocyte accumulation
surrounding the hair follicle.
• Minoxidil also seems to affect the size of hair
follicles so that they return to their normal
diameter and depth. Hair follicles in alopecia
areata are usually much reduced in size.
• As the drug is a vasodilator, it has been suggested
that it dilates the blood vessels around the hair
follicles and stimulates growth.
• It may stimulate the hair to go into a growth -
anagen - phase of its cycle, instead of a telogen -
resting - phase.
Karla lives in Belgium. Her hair started falling out after the birth of her
seond child and she lost at least half of it os diffuse alopeciOr leaving it
sparse and thin.
As soon as Regaine was licensed in Belgium, she started a course and
after four months saw considerable improvement 'not exactly regrowth
but somehow the existing hair had become thicker and the parting much
less obvious. Fewer hairs were being shed.
'After seven months, I decided to stop Regaine as I reckoned there
had been sufficient improvement. Alas, three to four months later the
fall-out began again and my hair is thinning drastically.
'They did warn me in the Regaine leaflet that this might happen and
I am now wondenng whether to return to it. It is expensive - the equiv¬
alent of about £30 for a month's supply in Belgium - but I am lucky
enough to have it reimbursed under my medical insurance scheme. It
looks as though I will have to go on using it for a very long time'.
Alex, a London secretary, had lost all her hair but had been lucky enough
to have complete regrowth. When she noticed a small bald patch she was
horrified, thinking that she was going to lose all her hair again. She was
presen bed minoxidil and found that it did seem to help the small patch
clear up again.
But it did not work for Anna, who had lost all her hair, nor
for Rowena, who had also lost all scalp hair.
Rowena was so desperate to get her hair back that she was prepared to
try almost anything. She was in her early twenties and engaged to a
young doctor 'but I was putting off everything, including marriage, until
there was some hope of getting my hair back'.
A course of steroid tablets had left her severely overweight. In des¬
peration she went to one of the commercial 'clinics', where she was
offered minoxidil in a cream form. It cost her £395, 'but I didn't hove
any sign of hair. Not one! The doctor I saw at the clinic wasn't too inter¬
ested in talking about minoxidil. He was too busy telling me to go on a
diet. I began to wonder if he was being paid commission by the manu¬
facturers of the diet he kept recommending!'
Primary irritants
It all began with an onion . . . for years all kinds of

unlikely substances were rubbed on the scalp in the hope
of upsetting the skin, to make it so red and angry that the
hair would be stimulated into growth. The ideal was a
painful 'burn' on the skin. Sometimes the onion (or what¬
ever) was rubbed in with a stiff brush! By the end of the
1960s doctors lost interest in these irritants. Their treat¬
ment wasn't doing any harm but it wasn't doing much
good either.
On the other hand, allergen contact sensitizers are

back in fashion again, now more is known about the
immunology of alopecia areata. The idea is to use a sub¬
stance to which the patient has become allergic.
The hope is that the lymphocytes - the white blood
cells of the immune system - will switch to attacking this
substance instead of the hair follicles, so that the hair is
left to grow normally.
Consultant dermatologist Dr J. A. Savin of Edinburgh,
writing in the British Medical Journal in 1982, asked
whether the wheel had turned full circle with the return
of these uncomfortable treatments.^® 'Lymphocytes make
up the bulk of the spectacular infiltrate to be seen in the
early stages of this condition', he said, 'flocking like
swarms of bees around the hair bulb'.
At that time. West German researchers were using the
strong contact sensitizer dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB)
in this way. They were hoping, said Dr Savin, to stimulate
lymphocyte accumulation in the scalp and so eliminate
the stimulus producing their aggregation. DNCB was also
used in the UK but there were worries about its possible
mutagenicity. This led to the use of other powerful aller¬
gens. One of the most hopeful was diphencyprone/
diphenylocyclopropenone.
Diphencyprone/diphenylcyclopropenone
Diphencyprone is an organic phenol derivative first used
by West German dermatologist Dr Rudolph Happie. The
solution is painted on to the heads of patients every week
in the hope of producing an allergic reaction.
Dermatologist Dr Barry Monk, formerly of King's Col¬
lege Hospital, London, now at Bedford, presented a paper
to the Royal Society of Medicine about his work with
diphencyprone. Out of thirteen patients, five had suc¬

cessful hair regrowth, though it was rather patchy. Some
of the successful cases had lost all their hair.
Many doctors see diphencyprone as a hopeful treat¬
ment because it is a harmless, non-toxic sensitizer. At
Leeds General Infirmary it has been used on 29 patients
of all ages, including a boy of 10, and induced hair growth
in a woman who had had alopecia totalis for 54 years.
'Regrowth after such a long time really improves the
patients' morale', says dermatologist Dr Susan Macdon¬
ald Hull, who worked on the trials. 'Fifty per cent of the
patients showed some regrowth and 29 per cent had a
cosmetically acceptable regrowth and could discard
their wigs.'
Linda rang me in tears when she first lost her hair. 'I have hardly any
hair at all now and it took me four visits to my doctor to get on appoint¬
ment with a dermatologist Now, after waiting weeks to see him all the
specialist can say is that nothing can be done.'
Shortly afterwards, however, her dermatologist offered her the chance
to be a guinea pig in experimental work on diphencyprone at his hospi¬
tal. The doctors explained that the idea is to get the body's immune
system to attack the drug instead of the hair follicles, i.e. induce the
body to become allergic to it.'
Linda is 33 and had lost her hair rapidly in less than a year. After two
months' treatment, there was no success apart from a mild itching for
about 48 hours afterwards. After four months, hair began to grow on the
treated side of her head, 'but within two weeks it hod all vanished. We
persevered and after four months regrowth began and never stopped.
Now both sides of my head are being treated and are beginning to even
up. My hair is growing back the same dark brown colour it was before. I'll
soon be able to go without a wig!'
Jean has also been receiving diphencyprone treatment She is 49 and has
suffered from alopecia areata since she was 16, finally losing all her hair
after she left a job in a pnnting firm, when the heavy lifting became too
much for her.
When diphencyprone was first painted on to her head she says: 'My
scalp felt rather sore for a few days and I had a feeling of swollen glands.
This made me ill at first but the doctors made up a very weak solution.
Then they strengthen it each week if it has not been too itchy,'
After four months' treatment, Jean has a short growth of hair on the
side of her head which has been treated. The other (untreated) side is
still bald,
'Last week, for the first time, they treated all my head so we shall wait
and hope something happens! I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed!'
Jean is convinced that worry about leaving her pnnting job aggra¬
vated her alopecia. She now has a part-time job in a residential home for
the handicapped and is much happier,
Pnmula obconica
Doris, 40, a school dinner lady, was very upset when she lost all her hair.
She was a little surpnsed too, in a hospital skin clinic when the consul¬
tant dermatologist instructed her to strop a leaf of the Primula obconica
to her arm! The leaf was changed every few days and replaced with a new
one. Soon the skin on her arm became red and angry. The leaf was
removed from her arm and rubbed on her head. After a month, Dons was
amazed to see that hair was growing again!
The leaf treatment was combined with injections of ACTH (corti-
cotrophin, the hormone of the anterior pituitary gland). It specifically
stimulates the adrenal cortex to produce cortisol. These injections have
to be carefully monitored os side-effects include weight gain,
Dons put on over 20 pounds in weight but her hair was marvellous.
She hod no need of a wig for eight years. She then hod a relapse and was
losing her hair again. This time her doctor used diphencyprone os a sen¬
sitizer and the hair is regrowing once more.
'I have never known it to grow so fast/ says Dons. 'In a month or so
rU be able to go around without a wig. My husband thinks it's smash¬
ing. I feel much better - the children at school don't call me "baldie"
now!'
It may sound like modern witchcraft or something out of

the Dark Ages but the amazing thing is that this leaf treat¬
ment actually seems to work, at least for some.
Dr E. L. Rhodes is a consultant dermatologist in
Surrey. She pioneered work with the primula plant and
published her research in the British Journal of Derma¬
tology/^ Dr Rhodes says that she came upon the idea
while thinking of ways to induce an allergic response. 'I
knew that some people are terribly allergic to Primula oh-
conica and it seemed the answer'.
She has been pleased with the results. 'In my experi¬
ence about a third of patients can regain their hair with
primula sensitization and weekly injections of ACTH.
The plant must be Primula ohconica - only available from
a florist. The common plant primula won't do it!'
Steroids by mouth
Sometimes patients with extensive loss of scalp hair are

prescribed systemic steroids (taken by mouth), but these
need to be carefully monitored by the dermatologist as
possible side-effects include increased appetite and
weight gain, plus, in long-term use, a greater susceptibil¬
ity to high blood pressure, diabetes and brittle bone
conditions.
Says consultant dermatologist Dr David Fenton: 'I like
to discuss with the patient the various treatment options
available so that together we can decide which is most

suitable. Systemic steroids in short bursts can control
active alopecia - an episode of alopecia when it is really
raging.' He has also achieved regrowth using combina¬
tion treatment - such as systemic steroids, such as
prednisolone, Regaine (topical minoxidil) and zinc. This
treatment has been successful even in cases of total
hair loss.
Katy is in her early twenties and had lost all her body hair. It is regrow¬
ing well after four months and she has so far had no side-effects. She is
still on the steroids.
PUVA therapy
PUVA treatment is time-consuming, as it involves two to

five sessions a week, and no results can be expected
before at least 20 sesssions. It is a pleasant treatment, pop¬
ular with patients, as it involves exposure to long-wave
ultraviolet light.
The patient has to take a sensitizing drug - psoralens -
before the sessions and, as skin is sensitive to sunshine
for a day or so afterwards, must be careful to keep out of
direct sunlight for a short time.
Dr Sylvia Marston runs a Harley Street PUVA clinic. She
says: dt is very much a second-line treatment, mainly for
someone who has plenty of time to spare and is happy with
just temporary regrowth. It is common for the regrown
hair to disappear when treatment stops. There is also con¬
troversy about possible side-effects, such as skin problems
and eye trouble'.
Roxanne went to a private clinic for her PUVA treatment as her husband
was in a medical insurance scheme. She says: T thoroughly enjoyed the
treatment and hair was coming back nicely all over my head - where I
had lost most of it But during the course of treatments I discovered! was
pregnant and had to give it up. I was rather concerned that the sensitiz¬
ing drug might have affected the baby.'
The baby was fine; Roxanne's hair was not. It fell out again a few
months after she gave birth.
PUVA is available under the NHS at some UK hospitals,

though it is primarily used for psoriasis patients.
Immuno-suppressive drugs
Doctors know how to suppress the immune system to

prevent it from rejecting transplanted organs, such as
hearts and kidneys, after transplant surgery. So could
immuno-suppressive drugs be used to prevent the
immune system from rejecting the hair as foreign?
In theory, yes, says Dr David Fenton. In practice he is
doubtful about the advisability of any interference with
the immune system which might occur if the drugs were
taken orally. They could cause the patient to become
very ill,' he says. 'He or she might have severely lowered
resistance to infection, possibly even a susceptibility to
tumours.'
He has used the immuno-suppresive drug azathio-
prine orally only occasionally in cases where other
treatments have failed, and only when very carefully
monitored for side-effects.
Another immuno-suppressive drug, cyclosporine, has
been the subject of research at a Surrey hospital to find
out whether it will help hair regrow when applied topi¬

cally, i.e. to the scalp in a 10 per cent gel. Dermatologist
Dr Ian Coulsen has said 'We were impressed with results
in France where it worked for eight out of nine patients.
Used like this, the risks are minimized and so far there
have been no side-effects on kidneys or blood pressure,
though our research is still at an early stage.' It has been
known for some years that cyclosporine promotes hair
growth as a side-effect with transplant patients. Although
the most recent trials have been disappointing, a hair
grown in a test-tube by scientists at Cambridge Univer¬
sity responded well to cyclosporine.
The thymus gland is known to be involved in hair
growth. Some alopecia patients have been found to have
a decreased level of thymulin in their bloodstream, and
some workers are carrying out research into the link
between low thymulin levels and hair loss.
What About Surgery?
'But I'm realty desperate. What about surgery?'
When people are desperate - as alopecia victims often are

- the field is wide open for commercial firms to cash in.
But no matter how depressed you are by the lack of med¬
ical help available, beware the high-street salon which
offers a 'miracle' answer. There are no miraele eures.
Transplant surgery has been around for many years
and has helped many men who needed to look pre¬
sentable for the sake of their jobs - salesmen, actors, TV
presenters - but the cost is high and the operation must
be performed by a reputable doctor. Please don't get
involved with the Sunday paper ads and the discreetly lit
upmarket city salon. You need the advice of your own
doctor and a dermatologist. With any luck he or she will
be able to assess whether your baldness is seriously
affecting you - whether you are depressed by it, whether
it has become a serious handicap in your life.
It is, of course, usually the man with common or male
pattern baldness who can be helped by a surgical trans¬
plant. In men or women with alopecia areata or general
thinning this type of surgery is not normally feasible as
the thinning is not confined to one area.
This surgery is controversial, anyway. Mr John Fir-
mage of the Institute of Trichologists says: 'The effect on
What About Surgery? 215
the scalp of many of these procedures can be horrific. I

have seen scarring and infections. Be very, very careful'.
There are several kinds of treatment, including:
• Micro-grafting. This is the newest breakthrough in

hair transplanting. Micro-plants, i.e. single hairs,
are individually planted into slight nicks in the
skin - one hair at a time. This gives a much more
natural appearance than the older techniques,
which often leave spaces between circular plugs of
hair. This procedure is very time-consuming and
may involve several operations for one transplant,
however. The cost can be as much as £6,000.
Older surgical techniques include:
• Punch grafting This involves taking a skin graft,

usually from the back of the head, and transfer¬
ring it, follicles intact, to the bald area where holes
have been punched. Cost? Several hundred
pounds.
• Flap grafting This is even more expensive, as a
large patch is moved to the bald area. Cost? Over
£1,000.
• Hair stitching Artificial fibres are implanted in
the scalp, again at cost of over £1,000.
Because she had an isolated patch of thinning hair which seemed to be

permanent, Abigail of Surrey decided to undergo a hair transplant in
Pans with a surgeon who used the modern micro-graft technique. She
was concerned that her thinning hair would be on embarrassment at her
son's wedding, and thought that a transplant might be the answer. The
result was superb. 'I am pleased with the result/ she says. 'But I was very
surprised at how sore my scalp was immediately after the operation. The
surgeon had suggested that I might like to see the sights of Paris after
the operation, but I felt that I just wanted to go home and go to bed.'
The cost was £4,000.
You may decide that something less traumatic than

surgery is required. Hair weaving is often advertised by
high-street beauty clinics. A small hair piece is matched
to the client's hair colour and it is woven very tightly into
the existing hair. This can, say dermatologists, some¬
times cause traction alopecia.
Meanwhile you wander dejectedly in your town - and
what do you see? Tempting advertisements, offers to
solve your hair problem ... but how much will it all cost?
Carolyn: 'In a year I have paid over £2,500 for treatment, including a
hair weave.'
Carolyn is 23. She lives in a city terrace near the car factories of
Coventry. A slim, attractive girl, her hair was a striking bush of dark curls,
until a year ago.
When her hair started to fall out, Carolyn was still a student. She is
now a social worker.
She then had four bald patches. Her doctor was pessimistic. He told
her bluntly that she was likely to go bald. Alopecia areata was, after all,
in the family. Her great-grandmother had lost her hair completely. She
cried. Her doctor prescribed Valium.
'I didn't want tranquillizers. I had quite a battle to persuade him to
refer me to a dermatologist and had to wait six months for an appoint¬
ment.
'While waiting, I followed up a newspaper ad for a commercial hair
clinic. They advised a course of treatment which would help my hair. I
signed on for 10 at a cost of £327.75. These were followed by a further
What About Surgery? 217
10 at the same price. I had some sort of lotion and massage. This seemed
to encourage the hair to grow back in the patches but it was still falling
out in other ports of my scalp.
'So I had another 20 treatments and had spent £1,500 by the time
my hospital appointment came around. The dermatologist was no more
helpful than my GP had been. He predicted I would lose all my hair.
'He felt I wasn't coping well -1 was upset again - and he suggested
a counsellor at college. This was a waste of time. He was used to dealing
with students' problems over their digs and relationships. He had never
come across anything like me. He had never heard of baldness in a
woman and I spent the time explaining about it.
'I went back to the clinic, very angry. "I've just been to the derma¬
tologist who says I will still go bald", I told them, "and I've paid you all
this money to prevent it." Staff at the clinic offered me a hair weave to
cover the big bald patch at the front for £1,500, but I had already spent
so much that my father was having to help me. He is retired. How could
he afford it? In the end, the clinic agreed to charge me only £500 and
throw in 10 more massage treatments as well.'
She was pleased with the result. The hairpiece matched her own hair
and it meant she did not have to wear a wig. Then came the bad news.
'It wasn't until after the weave had been done that they told me
about the upkeep. I would have to attend the clinic regularly to have the
weave adjusted to keep up with the growth of my existing hair. The cost
mounts up. It is working out at around £50 a month.'
Why did it cost so much and why wasn't she told that she would have
to go on paying out for its upkeep afterwards?
The branch manager at the hair clinic in Coventry was at pains to
explain that Carolyn had been informed: 'We explained that to her before
it was fitted.' But Carolyn says she was given no idea of the continual
payments involved.
The clinic management proudly flounshed a letter written by Carolyn,
thanking them for the treatment and saying how much she liked the
weave. Says Carolyn: 'I wrote them a letter of thanks because they asked
me to write it They said that they would be in the running for a cose of
champagne if their branch got the highest number of letters of appreci¬
ation. It was true. I did like the weave. I just didn't like having to pay
£2,500 for it. And I am still paying.'
Hair Loss and Your Diet
There is no doubt that our food really does help - or hin¬

der - hair growth. We have all heard the wise words of the
experts: A good diet is essential for healthy hair. 'Of
course/ we cry. Absolutely right! But isn't life bad enough
when we are losing our hair, without having to suffer a
"sensible" diet!' So we reach for the chocolates ... the bis¬
cuits . . . the double cream . . .
Let's face it, we all know perfectly well that a sensible
diet in which we cut out fats and sugar in favour of fibre,
fruit, lean meat and fish is an excellent idea. Putting it
into practice is a different matter.
The 'comfort eating' syndrome works roughly like this:
We are unhappy about our hair loss, self-conscious,
embarrassed and gloomy - so that social occasions which
were once fun become much more of an effort. Before
leaving home we inspect ourselves so often in the mirror
that getting ready turns into a nightmare. We make our¬
selves late. In the end it is hardly worth setting out. We
start to dread going out at all and begin to loathe appear¬
ing in public, avoiding even our closest friends. We go to
amazing lengths - even shopping in supermarkets miles
away, far off our usual beat.
At its worst we refuse all invitations and soon,
inevitably, we are stuck with long evenings at home,
where, bored with finding little chores to do and sick of
television, we eventually end up in the kitchen, hovering

dangerously near the refrigerator.
Comfort eating happens so easily. Finishing up the
scraps in the refrigerator may seem harmless enough -
until we realize that one portion of rich rice pudding
counts for 1,325 calories! So very soon we are not only
hairless but have taken on a distinctly Billy Bunterish
look as well.
Why is a sensible diet so important for hair

HEALTH?
If we are run down and have not been eating properly, the
first give-away is our hair, which soon becomes dry, life¬
less and dull. But a good eating plan, which includes a
balanced amount of protein, vitamins and minerals makes
all the difference.
A word of warning: No slimming in a drastic, irrespon¬
sible way! Female victims of the slimmers' disease
anorexia nervosa who slim right down to the bone and
become grotesquely underweight often find that men¬
struation ceases and they lose hair as well.
For your hair's sake, eat - but make it fresh, wholesome
food, not over-processed junk. Chemicals, preservation
techniques and fertilizers have often damaged these
'foods'. Often the vital minerals and vitamins in foods
have been destroyed by other factors as well. Chlorine in
drinking water, for instance, can destroy vital vitamin E.
Atmospheric pollution, including cigarette smoke,
destroys vitamins A and C. Alcohol and the drugs in
sleeping tablets can wreck B-complex vitamins.
Hair Loss and Your Diet 221
Vital vitamins for hair growth
Vitamin A (retinol)
Vitamin A helps to maintain the health and growth of

hair and skin. A deficiency of vitamin A can sometimes
cause follicular hyperkeratosis. This is a condition in
which the entire hair follicle is raised by a plug of horny
keratin, the protective layer of the skin and nails. Retinoic
acid, which is derived from retinol, is sometimes pre¬
scribed by dermatologists topically (i.e. applied to the
scalp) in the hope of promoting hair growth. Used this
way it has been known to help acne or other dry skin con¬
ditions. A deficiency can sometimes lead to eyesight
problems. Make sure you have your vitamin A; it is found
in: kidneys, milk, butter, margarine (this is fortified with
vitamin A) spinach, cabbage, carrots (the 'see in the dark'
vegetable!), egg yolk and liver.
One cautionary note: A massive overdose of vitamin A
can be dangerous as it is a fat-soluble vitamin, i.e. it is
stored in the body. A vitamin A overdose can cause
headaches, malaise, dryness of the skin and even loss of
body hair. If you have any doubts, and particularly if you
are pregnant, it is advisable to consult your doctor before
you start taking it. (See chart on page 226 for correct
nutritional intake.)
B-complex vitamins
These are most important in hair growth and are also

thought to improve hair colour. These vitamins can be
affected and harmed by such factors as stress, eating too
much sugar and an iron deficiency. The B vitamins in¬

clude the vital folic acid which is so important in
pregnancy - and B12, important for mental functions. Bg
(pyridoxine) is vital in the metabolism of protein and
amino-acids and particularly helpful to women on HRT,
pregnant women and those taking an oral contraceptive.
B-group vitamins are found in soya beans, dairy prod¬
ucts, fish, eggs, liver and brewers' yeast.
Vitamin C
Vitamin C is vital for improving the texture of hair. It is

biologically active in the production of collagen, the sup¬
portive tissue of the skin. As the body cannot store it, a
daily intake is essential. This comes from citrus fruit,
green vegetables, apples, potatoes, tomatoes, blackcur¬
rants and strawberries.
Vitamin E
Vitamin E is especially important for the hair. It is actually

fed to some animals to ensure they grow thick fur. On a
cautionary note: No one who is taking anti-coagulant
agents for conditions such as thrombosis should take vita¬
min E without first checking with their doctor. Vitamin E
is contained in most vegetable oils, soya, lettuce, nuts,
seeds and dairy products; a small amount is found in ani¬
mal produce.
Vitamin F
Vitamin F keeps the sebaceous glands in good condition

and is very important for a healthy scalp and hair growth.
Brittle hair, nails and dandruff can be the result of a defi¬
ciency of vitamin F. It comes in whole grains, soya,
peanuts and wheatgerm.
Important minerals for the hair
Some minerals are just as important as vitamins to the

hair.
Iron
Iron is a part of the proteins haemoglobin and myoglobin

which act as oxygen transporters in muscles and red
blood cells. Iron deficiency can cause anaemia, with
resultant listlessness, fatigue and hair loss.
The best sources of iron are red meat, liver, kidney and
heart, parsley, shellfish, egg yolk and cocoa. The iron in
green vegetables is often reduced by overcooking.
The hair can also be directly affected by zinc, sele¬
nium, sulphur and silicon. Lack of zinc can also cause
miscarriages, stunted growth, rough skin and generally
poor health. If zinc is taken in adequate quantities it
can improve the condition and growth of the hair as
well as being good for the skin, reducing greasiness.
Zinc is found in prawns, herrings, meat, nuts, peas and
whole grains.
Many hair loss patients have been prescribed a zinc
supplement, but sometimes this can cause nausea. Never

take it on an empty stomach.
Selenium can help in cases of dandruff. It is an anti¬
oxidant which protects the cells of our bodies against the
destructive effects of exposure to oxygen. Selenium is
found in grains, fish and most wholefoods.
Sulphur is known as the beauty mineral because it is
concentrated in hair, nails and skin. It improves the
sheen and texture of the hair and is often prescribed for
skin complaints such as psoriasis, eczema and dermati¬
tis. It is contained in proteins such as fish, meat, nuts and
eggs as well as in green vegetables and onions.
Silicon is found in hair, nails, muscles, skin, teeth and
cell walls. If you are deficient in silicon the symptoms are
tiredness and dull eyes. Cereal grains are good source of
silicon. Silicic acid is absorbed readily from foods and
beverages. Also essential for healthy hair are calcium,
magnesium, potassium, phosphorus and iodine.
Are you gehing enough?
Faced with the wide list of nutrients we have just consid¬

ered, you may find yourself wondering whether you are
getting the correct amounts in your diet or whether you
need to supplement it with health food additives.
As a guide, the Department of Health/UK published in
1979 Recommended Daily Amounts of food, energy and
nutrients (RDA). But because this often led to misinter¬
pretation, this guide was in 1991 replaced by the
Reference Nutrient Intake - Dietary Reference Values
for Food, Energy and Nutrients in the UK. The word 'Rec¬
ommended' is no longer used, as it led many to believe
that it represented the minimum desirable intake for

healthy life. In fact, for the majority of the population, the
RNI or RDA is substantially more than is needed. The
RNI represents the best estimate of those few members
of the community with particularly high needs - so if you
think the culprit for your hair loss might be your poor
diet, the amounts of nutrients in your diet could be worth
checking.
Reference Nutrient Intake - The amount of the nutri¬
ent that is enough, or more than enough, for 97 per cent
of people in a group. If the average intake of a group is at
RNI, the risk of deficiency in the group is very small.
Vitamin A. RNI: 700 micrograms (meg - one millionth of
one gram) for an adult male, 600 meg adult female.
As an overdose of vitamin A can cause liver and bone
damage, hair loss, headaches and vomiting, it is impor¬
tant not to take more than 7,500 meg (women) or 9,000
meg (men) as a regular intake. A single dose of 300 mil¬
ligrams (mg) in adults and (100 mg in children) is
harmful.
Reference Nutrient Intake for other vitamins (Daily):
Vitamin complex Adult men Adult women

Thiamin 0.9mg 0.8mg
Riboflavin 1.3mg l.lmg
Niacin 17mg 13mg
Vitamin Bg 1.4mg 1.2mg
Vitamin 1.5mcg 1.5mcg
Folate 200mcg 200mcg
Vitamin C 40mg* 40mg*
Vitamin E 4mg 3mg
* (80mg in the case of smokers)
Reference Nutrient Intake for minerals (Daily):
Mineral Adult men Adult women

Iron 8.7mg 14.8mg (women with
high menstrual losses
need more)
Zinc 9.5mg 7.0mg (SOmg daily is
helpful for those with
thin hair)
Selenium 75mcg 60mcg
Sulphur Below 0.7mg Below 0.7mg
Silicon Human requirements are not known.
Average UK diet provides 1.2g daily.
Calcium 700mg 700mg
Magnesium SOOmg 270mg
Potassium 3,SOOmg 3,SOOmg
Phosphorus SSOmg SSOmg
Iodine 140mcg 140mcg
Reference Nutrient Intake may seem to suggest very low levels of nutrients, and
many people still safely take much higher amounts as a supplement to their
diet. Vitamin C, for instance, is taken by many at a level of SOOmg daily.
A LAST WORD
Help for your hair starts in the kitchen. Whatever you do,
please do not overcook vegetables as you are destroying
vital vitamins. Avoid too much salt as this causes body
tissues to retain water in the scalp tissues.
As a general rule, it should be fairly simple to adjust
your diet to include generous helpings of the important
vitamins and minerals. A supplement may also be a good
plan, plus some brewer's yeast tablets.
On the menu: YOUR HAIR! Grapefruit Cocktail

Trout with almonds
Spinach, new potatoes,
mixed salad
Baked bananas
Your Eating for Hair Policy
• Eat: Low-fat cheese, fish, poultry, red meat, offal,

eggs, yogurt, brown rice, nuts, fresh fruit and veg¬
etables, green salads, wholemeal bread and
cereal. Drink: skimmed milk and plenty of water.
• Avoid: Ice-cream, pastries and cakes, salt, junk
food, sugar, animal fats, butter, cream, high-fat
cheese, white bread and flour, fried and processed
foods, chocolate and whole milk.
Are You Sure You Have
Alopecia?
Tm at the end of my tether trying to find support and a cure
for this condition which I hove suffered from for 13 years.'
Frances: 'I feel so guilty when a hairdresser struggles to cover up a bold

patch. He sympathizes, thinking I'm a victim of alopecia. I can't admit
to him that I pull out my hair myself.'
Frances at 26 is slim, serious and sensitive. Since the age of 12 she
has hod bold patches in on otherwise normal head of hair. They ore
unnoticeoble unless she deliberately pulls back the surrounding hair
which camouflages it.
Her problem? Trichotillomonio, a nervous stress-related condition in
which victims pull compulsively at their own hair. It is often seen in young
children, rather like a thumb-sucking habit, or in teenage girls. It often hap¬
pens in young women of very high intelligence. Psychiotnsts hove suggested
that it is linked with emotional depnvotion in the maternal relationship, or
it may be caused by repressed aggression. Doctors and parents may urge
them to stop, but it is a compulsion. Psychologically, they can't
As a child, Frances suffered from head lice. 'My scalp would itch and
I would scratch it and start pulling at my hair: single strands, dragging
them out from the crown until I hod a bore patch. I used to pretend to
my fn ends that it had just fa lien out.'
Sometimes patients with this condition refuse to admit it to their doc¬
tors and it con be confused with alopecia, but Frances told her family
Are You Sure You Have Alopecia? 229
doctor what was happening. 'My mother took me to see him. He was kind
but a bit baffled. He tried to talk with me but it wasn't much help.'
The habit began at a time when her parents' marriage was under
stress. 'They were not guarrelling. No rows, just a guiet, sad home. My
father, older than my mother, didn't really know how to play with a child.
They both hod careers. My father is a teacher, my mother a bhlliant
mathematician.'
Her hair-pulling habit continued spasmodically through college,
where she went to see the students' psychotherapist, 'but it didn't help
a lot. I was at war with myself, like being mesmerized. I would pull at it
at odd times, then "come to" and find I could see a bare patch.
'I would feel really terrible, knowing it would take months to grow in
again. You store up months of trouble for yourself and a vicious circle
builds up. Breaking out of the circle is the hardest part.
'The guilt for the damage you've done becomes a source of stress in
its own right. And all the time you're trying to pretend to the world that
nothing is wrong. You just wish you could hide your head in the sand for
three months!'
She has now been working in London for six years and is married. 'The
condition came on again with the stress of moving house and coping
with a job. My husband didn't notice at all until, on a picnic, I bent my
head to look at the dandelions.'
When she first contacted me Frances was upset. 'I'm at the end of my
tether trying to find support and a cure for this condition which I have
suffered from for 13 years. Why don't people realize that this is as much
a worry as having alopecia?' But now, over a year later, she feels she has
conguered it. 'I haven't had a bald patch for a year. My hair has all grown
in again. This time, I got some counselling and, with a lot of gn'tting my
teeth and a good long holiday in the sun, I think I've done the trick.'
Her days of guilt and struggling to hide the damage with an eyebrow
pencil are over, she feels. 'It is in the past. It can be overcome. Although
my condition is similar to alopecia in the end result - bald patches -
it is really much more like anorexia nervosa or bulimia because it is self-
induced and seif-destructive. The feelings are those of shame and self¬
blame. This is very different from being the innocent victim of a medical
condition.
'My fantasy is to find a hairdresser who is also a counsellor. People
should definitely seek professional help as the condition con mess up
your life. It becomes a block preventing you from enjoying anything.'
Trichotillomania, which is more common in females

than in males, usually starts either in childhood or the
teens. Counselling helps in some cases but a severe case
can go on for years. Some women actually pluck out
whole heads of hair.
Are you sure you are losing your hair?

Or are your eyes deceiving you?
The woman in my clinic is fiftyish, middle class, well

dressed. She has in tow her husband and a photograph
album - both to provide evidence that she is in fact losing
her hair. She is not. She can't see herself as others see her.
She just thinks she is going bald.'
Consultant dermatologist Dr Rodney Dawber knows
about alopecia. He also knows when the woman com¬
plaining of hair loss is suffering from the condition called
dysmorphophobia. When she looks in the mirror she sees
a distorted image of herself. She has a morbid conviction
that she is losing her hair.
There are a thousand and one reasons why she has
this deep-seated conviction that she is balding. She may
be suffering from anxiety or depression. She may have
difficulties in her relationship with her husband. She
may be trying unconsciously to draw attention to herself.
Are You Sure You Have ALopeda? 231
She has fixed on this one attribute, her hair, and is prob¬
ably unconsciously relieved that she has found
something to blame.
'My skill as a doctor is to find out what is really wrong.
In a skin clinic, a case of dysmorphophobia takes far
longer to see than a case of skin cancer. After all, a skin
cancer is comparatively straightforward. You know what
you are going to do and the patient will comply with what
you suggest. It can be dealt with simply. But the danger
with a dysmorphophobic patient is that she may attempt
suicide. Fm going to have to spend a lot of time with her
because she is completely sure she has a scalp disease.
She may appear in my clinic outwardly calm and confi¬
dent. My job is to dig beneath that confidence and find
out what's really causing it all.'
Out of the thousands of people for whom alopecia is a
fact, there are a few rare cases like this. A woman with a
bald head may envy the patient whose hair loss is purely
a delusion. 'I wish I was just imagining it!' she may sigh.
Dr J. A. Cotterill, consultant dermatologist at Leeds
General Infirmary, has studied this condition, which has
been described as a 'dermatological non-disease'.^^ He
says that it is a 'common and potentially fatal distur¬
bance of cutaneous body image'. He describes it as a
symptom of psychiatric disturbance and depression
which is often presented to the dermatologist.^^ 'Patients
have a disturbance of self-perception which can involve
the scalp and the face. Sometimes their disturbance cen¬
tres not on the scalp, but the breasts in women and the
genital area in men.'
Sometimes a woman who has convinced herself that
she is balding, when she definitely is not, manages to per¬
suade her husband that it is true and they become
involved in what the doctors call afolie a deux situation, a

joint delusion. Some of these patients, says Dr Cotterill,
need their symptoms to avoid situations in their lives
which might be painful. They tend to be isolated and to
use the condition - their imagined loss of hair - as an
excuse to avoid meeting people.
He described the following cases where patients were
suffering from dysmorphophobia:
• A secretary, aged 38. Her husband was often

away. She had problems at work, as her employer
had cancer. She was depressed, tearful and com¬
plained that her hair was 'coming out in handfuls'.
She was wrong - her hair was not falling out.
• A businessman and director of a company, aged
46, reported a 10~month history of hair loss. Again
there was no abnormality.
• An accountant, aged 26, reckoned his hair loss
was ruining his life and wrecking his chances with
women. The doctors diagnosed: 'an anxious,
obsessional personality'. His hair was perfectly
normal.
Doctors have suggested that these patients should always

be questioned for symptoms of marital difficulties or
depression. Dr Cotterill points out that it is not always a
good idea to send them to a psychiatrist, as they have
mostly made up their own minds which specialist they
wish to consult, i.e. the dermatologist.
The Future:
What Hope is There?
'But isn't there any research going on?
What hope is there of finding a cure?'
The woman on the phone to Hairline International wants

an answer now, a magic medicine to drink or a lotion to
splash on her scalp to give her what she wants most in the
world - a new head of hair. It may sound unlikely but her
solution may lie with two humble creatures she would
evict on sight from her sitting room: the rat and the mouse.
In Britain, scientists at Dundee University have been
working for over 20 years with cells at the base of the hair
follicle, called the dermal papillae, which seem to control
the production of hair. They have been using papilla cells
taken from rats as human cells are in many ways similar
to those of the rat. A multi-national industry has donated
a million pounds to this research.
Meanwhile, in Sheffield, consultant dermatologist Dr
Andrew Messenger has found a method of culturing
dermal papilla cells from human follicles.^'' It is an
incredibly fiddly job, he explains, 'but, once this is
achieved, cell cultures can be established.' He hopes
this will be the breakthrough - the key to solving many
problems in growing hair.
These techniques will allow the use of wider methods

for studying reactions in alopecia, the action of hor¬
mones on hair growth and the effect of drugs. It may be
possible to use dermal papilla cells or their products
directly as a form of treatment.
In Salt Lake City, Utah, dermatologists have been
experimenting with scalp grafts from people who have
lost their hair.^"^ These are grafted on to nude mice. The
researchers use these animals because they are unable to
mount a rejection response. If they grafted human skin
on to any other type of mouse it would be rapidly rejected.
The researchers wanted an answer to the question: Is the
disease alopecia areata inherent to affected tissue or sec¬
ondary to circulating factors?
As a result hair grew on the nude mice. This proved that
hairgrowth ability is normal in alopecia/areata/totalis/
universalis. The factors causing it are circulating in the
bloodstream. When the hair follicles are removed from
these factors by being transplanted, the hair is able to grow.
The nude mice were also treated with cyclosporine, the
immuno-suppressive drug used in the treatment of trans¬
plant patients. Cyclosporine was known to cause ex¬
cessive hair growth as a side-effect (see page 213). In
this research, the cyclosporine affected hair growth to
the extent that, by day 78, the number of hairs per graft
and the mean length of the hair had increased signifi¬
cantly over untreated groups.
Research was also carried out at Wayne State Univer¬
sity, Detroit, on diazoxide, a drug used to treat low blood
sugar. Like minoxidil, it has been found to encourage hair
growth as a side-effect.
At New York University, researchers have tried to dis¬
cover the triggers which turn the hair growth phase -
The Future: What Hope is There? 235
anagen - into the resting - telogen - phase. For years,

research has centred on the lymphocytes, the cells which
apparently initiate the immune response and the destruc¬
tive process. The lymphocytes which trigger the immune
response are thought to be the helper T lymphocytes.
Suppressor T lymphocytes, which turn off the immune
response and so end the destructive process, are very
much in the minority in areas of alopecia areata.
Says Dr Messenger: 'Suppressor T lymphocytes are
present in the cellular infiltrate in and around hair folli¬
cles in alopecia areata. But helper T lymphocytes
predominate. The helper/suppressor T cell ratio tends to
be similar in most inflammatory diseases - not just A A -
being around three or four to one.'
Dr Brian Jegasothy, Professor of Dermatology at the
University of Pennsylvania, has found in research that the
suppressor T lymphocytes are so much in the minority
that they are almost absent among the cells in the area of
alopecia.^'^ 'Concerning treatment', says Professor Jega¬
sothy, 'it might be desirable to reduce helper T cell activity
specifically or increase suppressor T cell activity in areas
of hair loss, but this approach is not possible using cur¬
rently available treatments.'
Professor Jegasothy has found that another cell, the
Langerhans cell, is increased by as much as 10 times in
alopecia areata. These cells appear to change foreign
material into a form which initiates the immunological
process. The most exciting aspect of these findings is that
Langerhans cells can be decreased or eliminated by local
treatment with PUVA. He used PUVA (see page 211)
applying psoralens topically - to the skin - with eight
patients who had total hair loss. They all grew terminal
(normal) hair.
'I'd pay anything to get my hair back'
All this research, fascinating though it is, is still offering

hope to alopecia sufferers only in the long term, when
they want their hair back now.
One of the most disturbing things about the lack of
structured health help is that many people are prepared
to raise enormous sums for private medicine in the hope
of getting their hair back. They head for London's Harley
Street, full of hope and clutching a cheque book. A doctor
in the private sector can look them straight in the eye and
ask for a four-figure sum for his treatment... which won't
be coming from balding millionaires or millionairesses,
but from ordinary people desperate for medical help for
their problem. They will raise the money if they can, to
the advantage of the private practitioner, even though
both doctor and patient know there is no guarantee that
hair will return.
Jane, 47, said: 'I thought that if I went to Harley Street I was paying for
the best treatment I'd been told I had male pattern baldness and thought
an endocnnologist would help. His treatment was intensive - at least he
found out that I was deficient in oestrogen. But it went on for two years
and by the time it finished I had spent over £2,000.1 still haven't got my
hair back. He did warn me at the beginning that it might not work, so I
suppose it was fair enough. But it did cost a lot of money. People should
realize that if they have pnvate treatment, it will be very expensive.'
'How DO I KNOW WHAT TYPE OF HAIR LOSS I HAVE?
The worst thing about losing your hair is often doing the
dreary round of doctors, trying to find the right specialist.
No doctor seems to consider the whole patient or really

investigate the cause. Dermatologists fight shy of any
question about hormones and it is unlikely that a woman
will see an endocrinologist at all, unless there is evidence
of virilization, menstrual or infertility problems. Surely
this situation is highly unsatisfactory from the patient's
point of view?
'Yes', said one consultant endocrinologist. Dr Christo¬
pher H. Mortimer. 'I want to co-ordinate the specialties so
that we can assess - in one clinic - the cause of the hair
loss and the complete hormonal and medical condition of
the patient.'
Seeing himself as a pioneer. Dr Mortimer founded the
Endocrine and Dermatology Centre, a £1.5 million pro¬
ject in London's Harley Street, based in a listed building
which had been expensively equipped and renovated. For¬
merly a research lecturer in medicine with the Medical
Research Council at St Bartholomew's Hospital, London,
he developed techniques for the measurement and clini¬
cal application of the brain hormones which control
fertility and body growth. He also carried out research
into the hormones which cause and protect against com¬
mon baldness in both sexes.
'My aim is to provide an internationally co-ordinated
network so that patients who have lost their hair can be
referred here for treatment. I have on my staff a nucleus
of highly trained endocrinologists with extensive
research experience both in this country and the United
States. A reverse brain drain!*
* Sadly, Dr Mortimer died suddenly in 1991. Nevertheless his work

is being continued by Dr Wayne Perry, MB, Ch B., MRCP, at the
Endocrine Centre, 69 Wimpole Street, London WIM 7DE.
'When a patient comes to us we build up a complete

picture. In a woman, we ask: Is she on the pill? It's been
known for years that some of the progestogens in the pill
can actually precipitate androgen - male hormone -
based conditions such as acne vulgaris, hirsuties or scalp
hair loss. After a long talk, I send her home. I ask her to
think and work out answers to the following questions:
What is her opinion of me? Can I help her or not? Has she
really got a problem? Am I bonkers? Or is there hope?
'When she is certain she trusts me, she can come back.
On day 21 of her cycle, we will obtain a full endocrine
profile with blood and urine tests, check on her physical
health, including heart, gynaecological history and
general medical condition. We will make certain there is
no evidence of tumours, diabetes or anaemia. Clinical
photography follows and a hair density study which
may include a scalp biopsy'. This is where a tiny piece
of tissue is taken from the scalp for study under the
microscope.
Dr Mortimer went on to complete research studies on
hair density. 'It is clearly pointless to get involved in hair
loss problems without first checking the patient's hair
density against that of a normal individual.'
Further tests were carried out on the patient and a
record kept of his or her response at three, six, nine and
twelve months. 'It's a full year of treatment and assess¬
ment but by the end of it we have a full picture and the
basis for future medical management.'
Dr Mortimer's experience included detailed research
into the treatment of women aged from 17 to 60 using
anti-androgen therapy. An increase in hair density was
achieved in each of the patients in the original study with
a similar pattern of response in wider trials.
He used various treatments and favoured the use of

diphencyprone (see pages 207-9).
Dr Mortimer saw a close relationship between
endocrine and dermatology conditions. The centre will
integrate the various medical disciplines to provide a
greater understanding of hair abnormalities.
'More attention should be paid to the psychological
damage to a woman when she loses her hair. Balding is
often an acceptable - if undesirable - condition in a man
beyond a certain age, but even minimal scalp hair loss at
any time generates considerable anxiety in women. If it
becomes clinically obvious, severe psychological symp¬
toms may occur, with feelings of loss of femininity and
self-confidence. One of our patients had severe depres¬
sion after two years of hair loss. This resolved completely
during anti-androgen therapy without the need for psy¬
chotropic drugs.'
The problem with Dr Mortimer's plan is the cost. He
once estimated that the cost to the patient would be around
£3,500 during the first year, which would probably include
systemic cyclical anti-androgen therapy, prescribed as cap¬
sules by mouth. The high cost would obviously put it out of
the range of most people, unless private medical insurance
companies were prepared to help. This is unlikely,
although one firm has agreed to reimburse those insured
with it for at least a part of the treatment.
'My hope is to find a means for funding patients myself
- possibly through the large pharmaceutical companies
involved in my research. A breakthrough in cost will
happen when topical anti-androgen therapy becomes
available for routine use.' The hope is that this will be less
expensive than the capsules. It will be a lotion applied to
the scalp.
There is so much to be done in this field: tissue cul¬

tures, new drug treatments, hair follicle cloning - even
individual fibre replacement! It may sound like science
fiction but the era of endodermal research has only just
begun and anything is possible.'
When Hair Grows Back
'Sometimes - just sometimes - there is good news.'
Sometimes the hair grows back of its own accord. About

one-third of all cases recover after the first episode of
alopecia areata - and never get another bald patch. Two-
thirds get a relapse within six months but there is still a
good chance that their condition will clear up ultimately.
Tracey is 24, an ambitious, outgoing girl with a thnving career as pro¬

motions manager of a jewellery company.
At 10, she lost all her hair. She also suffers from eczema and asthma
- both conditions run in her family - so the prognosis was not good and
her consultant took her parents aside to warn them that her hair would
probably never return.
Tracey's parents both had careers. Her mother is a musician, her
father is in market research. 'They were very good. So was my sister. The
whole family spoiled me. My parents were warned sick about it, wonder¬
ing what they had done wrong.'
But being bald throughout secondary school changed her, she thinks.
'I deliberately made myself inconspicuous. I would not do anything
which drew attention to myself. I felt I looked hideous - well, not
hideous exactly, more like an alien from another planet! Grown-ups
would make remarks, ask whether I was wearing a wig. I just went quiet,
embarrassed, and couldn't answer. There were things at school I could
not do and I never understood why the teachers were so insistent that I
do them. They knew I had to wear a wig. Why did they make me do the
high jump, when it would almost certainly fall off? People were insensi¬
tive and I didn't want to talk about it All through childhood, I remember
the subject being very hush-hush. My parents didn't mention it. After all,
it was a condition no one knew much about. You just hod to get on with
it. One teacher ordered me to wash my face -1 was only wearing make¬
up to match in with the wig. I was so hurt, but she said I looked
"painted".
'I was constantly warned and unsure of myself. I thought the wigs
looked all right at the time but, looking back, I can see that people could
tell a mile off. Some people ore so bloody rude, the ones you come across
daily in shops and so on. I didn't wont attention. But I still hod a good
social life. I used to work at a local disco on Saturdays and get to know
boys. At 17, though, I hadn't any boyfnends. I think the opportunity was
there but I was very cool about it. I suppose I just didn't wont to get
involved in cose they had to see me without my wig. I was just "holding
bock" all the time, never being completely myself.'
Then suddenly . . . the good news!
'I hod always believed my hair would grow bock and after four or five
years I started to notice the odd tuft, the odd eyelash. I realized that it
was slowly growing again. Soon it all come bock. It was the some mid¬
brown colour and it covered my head all over. YYe were going on a family
holiday which was good because it covered the break between a wig and
my own hair again. I felt marvellous and my relationships with boys just
took off after that!'
But at 22, her hair started foiling out again. 'I was really shattered,
sobbing all over doctors, really down and despairing. Patches come and
went. I started to will my hair not to fall out. I would lie on my bed and
command the hair roots to stay in place! At this stage I hod to tell my
lover about my hair history. I hod never mentioned it before. Oddly
enough, he was all right. He seemed understanding about the bold
When Hair Grows Back 243
patches but I was aware that he had never seen me totally hairless. I'm
not sure that he would hove coped if the whole lot hod fallen out
'Luckily it hasn't come to that My father paid for me to go to a der¬
matologist privately and he gave me injections into my scalp which
seemed to help. I also believe in yoga and the power of the mind. I've
recently token a big new job in marketing and I'm just going to believe
that it will never happen again - perhaps the odd patch, but nothing like
what I went through before.'
Tracey's good news is not unusual. Sometimes hair

regrows. A woman wrote to me from Regent's Park,
London, about her daughter, aged 23. 'Her lovely blonde
hair came out at an alarming rate over a period of about
a month. At an age when one is looking for a marriage
partner, she found herself too tense and upset to form
any relationships.
'Now, nearly four years later, her hair has grown, long
and thick enough for her to stop wearing a wig. The hair
is dark not fair and she still has only a few eyelashes.
However, we are thankful that her hair has recovered and
- hopefully - that this is the end of a very traumatic
experience.'
Her hair regrew without medical treatment, a classic
case reinforcing the view of the doctor who says: 'Leave it
alone. It will come back by itself.' But it also happens
after weeks of painstaking effort by a dermatologist, as in
Emma Jane's case.
Emma Jane hod tried for years to get her hair bock but it remained so
patchy that she was forced to wear a wig. For years she hod done noth¬
ing on the advice of doctors, then she was lucky enough to find a
dermatologist who tried vonous topical preparations. 'Suddenly', soys
Emma Jane, 'my hairjust grew! I walked into my dermatologist's surgery
without a wig. He looked up and ghnned. "Great/' he said. And for the
first time in years I don't have to wear wigs.'
The hopeful thing about alopecia areata is that the hair

follicles do not seem to be destroyed by the disease.
When people who have been without hair for five, ten,
even forty years, say 'I live in hope' they are not wearing
rose-tinted spectacles. Hair recently returned to a
woman in Leeds who had been without it for 54 years. It
can come back at any time. All it needs is that mysterious
trigger to set it off.
So never give up hope.
Postscript
'But I am losing my hair now. Where do I go for help?'
When it happened to me, I could find nowhere, which is

why I founded Hairline as a national support network for
women who have lost or are losing their hair. We soon
had to enrol male patients who convinced us that they
suffered with alopecia areata as much as women. We also
enrolled the parents of children with hair loss. Soon we
had members all over the UK, Europe and the Far East.
In the USA, action similar to mine was being taken by
Ashley Siegel, herself an AA victim. She advertised for
other sufferers to contact her. Their organization - the
National Alopecia Areata Foundation - now stretches
from coast to coast and in the last six years has raised
$600 million for medical research into alopecia.
I realized quickly how important hair loss can become
to the individual. I was horrified when one girl told me: 'I
would rather have had thalidomide and been born with¬
out arms, than to have lost my hair.' I was angry with her
at the time, it seemed such a wicked thing to say. But I
realized she meant it. I also understood when people told
me: 'I would rather have asthma - or appendicitis - or
pneumonia.' Perhaps this is because these are 'normal'
everyday conditions. They do not carry the stigma or the
humiliation of losing your hair, or wreak such havoc with
your looks. There are also conventional paths to treat¬

ment, not the bewildering battle to find a doctor
prepared to help.
'So WHAT HAPPENED IN YOUR CASE?

Did you get your hair back?'
Everyone asks me that question. After 11, nearly 12 years,

I can reply, at last, after years in wigs and headscarves,
YES, MY HAIR HAS REGROWN. I now have long dark
hair again. Because of the eccentric nature of this condi¬
tion, I cannot be 100 per cent certain that it regrew
because of the modern medical treatment I had. I was
prescribed topical minoxidil (Regaine) and I am 90 per
cent certain that it helped.
In the end, I have been lucky. I have people to thank:
my parents, for never making it a Tig deal' and behav¬
ing as though it was as normal as catching flu; my
husband, who did a great job of Tot noticing' even
in the early days when I looked more like an extra¬
terrestrial than a wife; and my daughter, Kathryn, who
at the age of six put the whole thing into perspective. I
had been a little concerned in case 'My mummy wears
a wig' found its way into her school diary, so I had pre¬
pared my story. 'You see', I said, over a cup of tea, 'after
you were born I had a skin disease and all my hair fell
out. It happens to quite a lot of people. So I've had to
wear a wig.' Kathryn was silent, digesting this - I
thought. I waited for some profound follow-up ques¬
tion. She opened her mouth. 'Please may I have another
lollipop?' she asked, and never mentioned my hair
again!
Postscript 247
I also thank the brave members of Hairline, who

backed me through the slogging days of asking questions,
trying to find out all I could about hair loss and what
could be done about it, generally pestering people, I sup¬
pose. It has been these wonderful people who have been
brave enough to congratulate me on my new head of hair.
I had thought that perhaps they might be upset, particu¬
larly if mine had regrown and theirs had not. Imagine my
delight then, that they have all, without exception, been
pleased for me and told me 'It gives us hope.'
I have to thank Dr David Fenton, the dermatologist
who enthusiastically runs the Hair and Nail Unit at St
Thomas's Hospital, London. He never tired of varying
his treatment in the long struggle to provoke my lazy
hair into growing again. I was lucky to find him. Such
men are rare.
I was also fortunate to have been a journalist, often
writing on medical and sociological subjects, so I was
accustomed to knocking on doors and asking questions.
I was able to find the experts who would help me.
The people who suffer most from severe hair loss are
the ones who take a doctor's word for it that nothing can
be done - as I did at the beginning, who cry over the Hair¬
line phone: 'It took me four appointments to persuade
my GP to send me to a dermatologist - and then there
was no treatment he could offer!'
These patients are not neurotics, imagining that a few
lost hairs are a crisis. They are people who have suddenly
lost all or nearly all their hair. Too often, the effect on
their lives is underestimated.
As one courageous woman of 65 told me: 'To start los¬
ing one's hair as a teenager and to see it getting worse is
extremely demoralizing. I have never had a normal head
of hair. I have always "put on an act" and assumed a

cheerfulness and contentment with life but have suffered
privately from awful depression and feelings of hopeless¬
ness. It has always seemed to me that nothing has been
done for women like us, as ours is not a physically dis¬
abling handicap. But emotionally it greatly diminishes
the quality of one's life. So much money, research and
medical help is devoted to self-inflicted ailments these
days but very little, it seems, is devoted to our problem.
Perhaps because we are too ashamed to talk about it.'
It doesn't hurt. It is not life-threatening. But sudden
hair loss can make a fair old mess of your life if you let it.
You are not going to let it. If you have followed my sur¬
vival plan, you will work at it, batter down doors to find
experts who will help, and buy the wigs and accessories
which arm you for the fight to look good again, to throw
off the feeling of being a 'freak' and claw your way back
in to the human race.
I promise that you will look good, perhaps even better
than you ever looked before.
You are going to survive alopecia.
Aren't you?
References
1 Drs Arthur Rook and Rodney Dawber, Diseases of the Hair and Scalp,
(Blackwell Scientific, 1982).
2 Drs E. Panconesi and G. Mantellassi, Rassegna di Dematologia e
Sifilografia (1955), 8:121.
3 Dr I. Macalpine, 'Is Alopecia Areata Psychosomatic?', British Journal
of Dermatology (1958), 70:117.
4 Dr A. J. M. Penders, 'Alopecia Areata and Atopy', Dermatologica
(1968) 136:395.
5 Drs S. A. Muller and R. K. Winkelmann, 'Alopecia Areata', Archives of
Dermatology (1963), 88:290.
6 Dr T. Ikeda, 'A New Classification of Alopecia Areata', Dermatologica
(1965), 131:421.
7 Drs S. A. Walker and S. Rothman, 'Alopecia Areata: A Statistical
Study, Journal of Investigative Dermatology (1950), 14:403.
8 Drs M. N. El Makhzangy, V. Wynn and Daphne M. Lawrence, Clinical
Endocrinology (1979), 10:39-45.
9 Dr E. Hoffman, H. G. Meiers and A. Hubbes, 'Wirkungen von
Antikonzeptiva auf Alopecia Androgenetica, Seborrhea Oleosa, Akne
Vulgaria und Hirsutismus', Deutsche Medizinische Wochenshrift
(1974), 99:2151-7.
10 Professor Vera Price, Department of Dermatology, University of Califor¬
nia School of Medicine. International Society of Tropical Dermatology
(1979), vol. 18, no. 2.
11 Dr H. Zaun, Ovulationshemmer in der Dematologia (1972).
12 Dr W. A. D. Griffiths, St John's (now part of St Thomas's Hospital),
London, British Journal of Dermatology (1973), 88:31.
13 Dr Sigfrid A. Muller, Epidemiological Survey (1950-1974).
14 Drs Sigfrid A. Muller and R. K. Winkelmann, 'Alopecia Areata',
Archives of Dermatology (1963), 88:290.
15 Drs S. A. Walker and S. Rothman, 'Alopecia Areata: A Statistical
Study', Journal of Investigative Dermatology (1950), 14:403.
16 Drs Sigfrid A. Muller and R. K. Winkelmann, 'Alopecia Areata',
Archives of Dermatology (1963), 88:290.
17 Dr C. L. Schmitt, 'Trauma as a Factor in the Production of Alopecia

Universalis', Pennsylvania Medical Journal (1953), 56:975.
18 Dr T. Ikeda, 'A New Classification of Alopecia Areata', Dermatologica
(1965), 131:421.
19 Dr A. R. Zappacosta, 'Reversal of Baldness in Patient Receiving
Minoxidil for Hypertension', New England Journal of Medicine (1980),
303:1480-1.
20 Drs David Fenton and John Wilkinson, British Medical Journal (1983),
287:1015-17.
21 Dr Gerda Frentz, Acta Derm Venereol (1985), 65:172-5.
22 Drs Clodagh M. King, Brian Harrop, Vinay K. Dave, British Medical
Journal (1983), 287:1380.
23 Drs S. Lewis Jones and C. F. J. Vickers, British Medical Journal (1983),
287:1380.
24 Drs J. M. Maitland, R. D. Aldridge, R. A. Main, M. I. White, A. D.
Ormerod, British Medical Journal (1984), 288:794.
25 Drs Colin Hindson, Jon Spiro, Ailean Taylor, Eilean Pratt, British
Medical Journal (1984), 288:1087.
26 Drs V. C. Weiss, D. P. West, C. E. Mueller, 'Topical Minoxidil in
Alopecia Areata', / Am Acad Dermatology (1981).
27 Drs V. C. Weiss, Dennis P. West, Tony S. Fu, Lisa A. Robinson, Brian
Cook, Rhona L. Cohen, Donald L. Chambers, Arch Dermatol (1984),
120:457-63.
28 Drs V. C. Fiedler Weiss, Dennis P. West, Cunera M. Buys, Jean A.
Rumsfield, Arch Dermatol (1986), 122:180-2.
29 Drs Victoria M. Yates, Clodagh M. King, Brian Harrop, British Medical
Journal (1984), 288:1087.
30 Dr J. A. Savin, British Medical Journal (1982), 284:445-6.
31 Drs E. L. Rhodes, W. Dolman, C. Kennedy, R. R. Taylor, 'Alopecia
Areata Regrowth Induced by Primula Obconica’, British Journal of
Dermatology (1981), 104:339.
32 Dr C. K. Meador, "The Art and Science of Non-Disease', New England
Journal of Medicine (1965), 272:92-5.
33 Dr J. A. Cotterill, 'Dermatological Non-Disease: A Common and
Potentially Fatal Disturbance of Cutaneous Body Image', British Journal
of Dermatology (1981), 104:611.
34 Dr A. G. Messenger, British Journal of Dermatology (1985), 113:639-40.
35 Drs A. Gilhar and G. G. Krueger, Arch Dermatol (1987), 123:44-51.
36 Dr Brian Jegasothy, Professor Dept of Dermatology, University of
Pennsylvania, National Alopecia Areata Foundation, 1984.
37 Dr Christopher Mortimer, 'Effective Medical Treatment for Common
Baldness in Women', Clinical and Experimental Dermatology (1984).
Index
acne 11, 66 bald patches 14, 19, 55-6, 61

ACTH (corticotrophin) 196, 209-10 beauty products, for feeling good 25,
Adolfo wigs 162 79
advantage, turning loss to 16, 144 Betnovate 192
allergen contact sensitizers 196, BiNovum 171
206-10 biopsies 238
Alopecia androgenetica 8-9, 170, 172 body hair 100-1
causes 66-72 Bouras, Elias 24, 175, 196
early signs in men 9 Brevinor 171
in women 9-12 brewer's yeast 227
Alopecia areata 9, 13-15, 172 British Homoeopathic Association
causes 45-60 177-8
effects of 19-21, 43-4 Brown, Jean 181-2
experience of 60-5 Brush, Dr Michael 70
herbal treatment 179
homeopathic treatment 177 Campbell, Alice 176-7
in men 124 causes:
Alopecia totalis 14, 177, 179 of A. androgenetica 66-72
Alopecia universalis 14, 118 of A. areata 45-60
Alphosil treatment shampoo 73 research 236-40
androgens 9, 54 champissage 168, 179-81
Anthralin 192 chemical poisoning 59-60, 112-15,
anti-androgen therapy 238, 239 121-3
appliance officers 37-9, 91 chemotherapy 27
aromatherapy essential oils 24, 168, childbirth 13, 26, 171-2
169, 180, 186-9 see also pregnancy
asthma 53, 58, 129 children;
atopic people 53, 58 effects on 16-17, 53-4
Aussie's Three-Minute Miracle 73 experiences 127-42
auto-immune disease 15, 37, 51, 235 chimpanzee Jambo, Jean Brown's
azathioprine 22, 197, 212 balm for 24, 169, 181-3
Chinese Medicine 185-6
B-complex vitamins 221-2 cicatricial alopecia 26-7
Bach Flower Essences 184 clinics 25, 76-7
Badham, Molly 181-2 combination treatment 25, 211
comfort eating 219-20 eczema 53, 129

commercial remedial products 25 electro-therapy 77
complementary treatment 168-70, Elleste 173
175-89 Elocon 192
computer work 180 Elvive (L'Oreal) 73
conditioners 73, 74 emotional well-being 19-20, 46-7
confidence, loss of 36 Endocrine and Dermatology Centre
consultants, see dermatologists 237-40
contact allergens 196, 206-10 endometrial cancer 173
contraceptive pill 10-12, 66-71, endometriosis 12
170-1 environmental factors 59-60, 177,
Cormia, Dr Frank E. 68 220
Cotterill, Dr J.A. 231-2 essential oils, see aromatherapy es¬
Coulsen, Dr Ian 213 sential oils
counselling 21, 132, 140 Estracombi 173
counter irritants 196, 206-10 Estrapak 173
Crabtree, Susan 105, 160 ‘exclamation mark’ hairs 61
Cyclogest 12, 173 eyebrows 14, 88, 104-5
cyclosporine 22, 197, 212-13, 234 eyelashes 14, 88, 104-5
Dalton, Dr Katharina 68, 70, 174 false hopes 21, 53-4, 169
Davies, Dr Stephen 75 fellow-sufferers 142
Dawber, Dr Rodney 50, 133-4, 230 Fenton, Dr David 54, 62-3, 195, 201,
dermal papillae research 233 210, 212, 247
dermatological non-disease 231 finasteride 24, 174-5, 193, 195, 213
dermatologists, treatment offered by fingernails 14
17, 21-2, 61-2, 65, 130, 132-4, 140 Firmage, John 214
deterioration 64-5 flap grafting 215
diagnosis 54, 236-40 follicles, see hair follicles
Dianette 70, 171 friction alopecia 27
diazoxide 234
diet 78, 219-7 genetic predisposition 10, 11, 27,
dihydrotestosterone (DHT) 10, 67, 67-8, 134, 172
170-1, 193 girls, feelings of looking like a boy
dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB) 196, 16-17, 131
207 Goodhew, Duncan 16, 143-4
diphencyprone 178, 196, 207-9, 239 Goodman, Alexa 13, 74, 181
diphenylocyclopropenone 207-9 grey hair 180
disguising the loss 33-5, 74, 130 Griffiths, Dr W.A.D. 68
Dithranol 192 growing back 241-4, 246
dos and don'ts 78-9, 107 hope of 36, 65
drinking 78, 124 growth hormone treatment 176
Dydrogesterone 70-1
dysmorphophobia 230-2 hair clinics 25, 76-7, 216-18
hair density studies 238
early onset 115-16 hair fall, normal 26, 61
Index 253
hair follicles; Joico volumizing reconditioners 74

cloning 240 Jordan, Dr Joe 54
effects of stress 50
lymphocyte attack 15 keratin products 74
hair loss, see loss Kliofem 173
hair stitching 215
Hair Trust 28 Langerhans cells 235
hair weaves 216-18 late first babies 13
Hairline International 19, 27-28, Leddington, Jane 77
245, 253 life, adverse effects on 15-17
hairpieces 96 life trauma 51-2
Happie, Dr Rudolph 207 Lindenbaum, Dr Ella 175, 195-6
Hay, Isobel 189 Locoid 192
herbalism 178-9 Loestrin 28 171
hereditary/congenital alopecia 27 London Centre of Indian Champis-
high-frequency electrical stimulation sage 181
77 long-term effects, of hair loss 135-38
highlights 74 long-term use, of minoxidil 204, 205
hirsutism 11, 67, 72, 197 Loniten 197
holidays 154 loss:
homoeopathy 116, 129, 175-8, 185 disguising 33-5, 74, 130
Hormone Replacement Therapy in huge clumps 19, 32
(HRT) 10, 12, 172-4 preventing more 73
hormones 9-10, 72 sudden 35, 46-7, 112-15
horrors, list 43-4 lymphocytes 15, 37, 207, 235
Hull, Dr Susa Macdonald 208
human moult 13, 26, 172 Macalpine, Dr I. 50
humour 20, 34, 89, 103 male pattern baldness 8, 15, 34, 54,
hysteria 48-9, 150, 152 71-2
Marston, Dr Sylvia 211
illness 9 Marvelon 70, 171
immuno-suppressive drugs 22, 197, massage 74, 168, 179-81
212-13, 234 medical conditions, hair loss as
incidence, increase 10-12 symptom 47
Indian head massage 168, 179-81 medroxyprogesterone acetate 69-70,
individual fibre replacement 240 173
infertility treatment 10 Mehta, Karendra 179-80
Institute of Medical Herbalists 179 men:
International Federation of Aro¬ effects on 15-16
matherapists 189 experiences 112-26
International Society of Professional feelings about wigs 45
Aromatherapists 189 increasing incidence 13
irritants 196, 206-10 menopause 12, 172-3
isolation 15, 116-18 Messenger, Dr Andrew 23, 134, 145,
233
Jegasothy, Dr Brian 235 Metosyn 192
micro-grafting 215 premenstrual syndrome 10, 67, 70-1,

micro-plants 215 174
minerals 223-4, 226-7 Premique 173
minoxidil (Regaine) 23, 25, 63-4, Price, Len and Shirley 187-9
167-9, 192, 197-206, 246 Price, Prof. Vera 67
over-the-counter 25, 190-1 primary irritants 196, 206-10
stabilizing effect 73, 174 Primula obconica 196, 209-10
Monk, Dr Barry 207 private treatment 236
Mortimer, Dr Christopher H. 237-9 Progest 174
mothers' feelings 128-32, 138-9, progesterone, see natural
141 progesterone
mousses 74 progestogens 10, 66-71, 170-1,
Muller, Prof Sigfrid A. 14 172-3
Murray Barrington Studios 162 Propecia 175, 190, 193-5
Proscar 195
National Alopecia Areata Founda¬ psychological effects 20, 135-38,
tion 245 239
natural progesterone 12, 68, 173-4 punch grafting 215
negative experiences, feelings about PUVA therapy 197, 211-12, 235
16-17, 37-9, 91
nettle drinks 169, 178 RDA 224-5
Nexus UK conditioner 74 recovery 61-4, 133-4
norethisterone 10, 11, 66, 69, 171 Reference Nutrient Intake 224-5
norgestrel 66, 69, 171 Regaine, see minoxidil
Norimin 171 Register of Qualified Aromathera¬
normality 138-9 pists 189
nutritional deficiency 9 Registry of Chinese Herbal Medicine
nutritional supplements 178 186
regrown hair 61
oestrogen 171, 172, 173 loss of 16, 21, 100, 121-3
old wives' tales 78 Reiki 169, 184-5
onions 206 relapses 61
over-eating 78 Renigan, Sue 162
Ovysmen 171 research 233-40
retinoic acid 63
Patel, Joshua 180 Revlon balsam and protein
phenol-derivative diphencyprone, conditioner 73
see diphencyprone Revlon wigs 162
Philial 24, 175, 190, 195-6 Rhodes, Dr E.L. 210
pigmentation, lack of 37, 61 Rogaine, see minoxidil
Pill, see contraceptive pill
positive attitude 104 safety 203-4
Positively Hair 162 salt 227
prednisolone 25, 183 Savin, Dr J.A. 207
pregnancy, as cause 14, 46, 54-9, scalp graft research 234
171-2 scalp massage 74, 168, 179-81
Index 255
scarring alopecia, see cicatricial teenagers 124

alopecia telogen effluvium 14, 26, 33, 54, 167,
secrecy 15, 28, 98-100 171-2
'see-through' hair 11,19, 74 terminal hairs 61
selenium 223-4 testosterone 10, 67, 170-1, 193
self-pity 103 tests 238
setting lotions, thickening 74 thickening treatments 74, 174-5
sex hormone binding globulin thinning, diffuse 54, 68-9, 71-2
(SHBG) 67, 70 hair management 74-7
sex life 84-5, 155-8 self-help 170-5
sexual attraction 125 thymus gland 213
shampoos, recommended 73 thyroid problems 9, 47, 55
shaved heads 125, 161 tinting 73
Sheppard, Prof Michael 69, 72 tissue culture 233, 240
shock 26, 52, 182-3 toupee tape 109-10
Siegel, Ashley 245 traction alopecia 27
silence: Traditional Chinese Medicine 185-6
need for discussion 138-9 transplants 214-16
shutting up about it 78-9, 103 treatment 190-1
silicon 223-4 less severe cases 191-6
single people, experiences 143-63 more severe cases 196-213
skull: very limited success of 21-2, 36
protecting 141 tretinoin lotion 63
reality of 102 Tri Sequens 173
Squill 24, 175, 190, 196 trichologists 77
Staines, Patricia 184 trichotillomania 228-30
Stephan (TCM practitioner) 185-6 Tridestra 173
Stephens, Dr S.R. 67 triggers:
steriods 25, 118, 129, 153-4, 183 hormones 9-10
creams/lotions 192 research on 234-5
injections 192 unknown 37
by mouth 196, 210-11 TriNovum 171
Stewart, Dr Alan 75
strangers, meeting 152 Upjohn Company 197, 200-1, 203-4
stress 36-7, 48-53, 151-2, 177 urine rubs 169
at work 12, 17-8, 180
suicide 15-16, 20, 88, 127-9, 145-6 vaccination 117, 176
sulphur 223-4 vacuum-fit wigs 161-2
support groups 43 vellous hairs 61
support networks 245 vitamin-based thickening gel 74
surgery 214-8 vitamins 221-3, 225, 226-7
surrender 124-5
survival plan 27-8, 102-4 weaves 216-8
swimming 129, 139 weddings 87, 102, 118-20
weight gain 153-4, 219-20
T lymphocytes 235 white (unpigmented) hair 37, 61
wig lore 110-11 trying on in public 40, 41, 107

wig parties 95 vacuum-fit 161-2
wig tape 109-10 washing 40, 109
wigs; wearing at home 42-3
acrylic 40-1, 106, 109-10, 146 wearing at work 41-2, 119,
advantages 108-9, 140 147-52
being measured for 39 wearing backwards 109
bespoke 106 wearing in bed 83-4, 94, 107-9,
and bravery 65, 95, 101-2 146, 153
and children 141 and women 147-62
falling off 110 Wilkinson, Dr John 52, 201, 203
fun 106, 140 wives, effects on 125
hiding 45, 99, 108 women:
and men 116, 117, 125-6 A. androgenetica in 9-12
on NHS 17, 36, 38-9, 40, 61-2, 94-5 experiences 83-111
optional 92-4 feelings of looking like a man
by post 41, 107 16-17, 102-3, 131
private fitting rooms 41, 106-7 male characteristics 71-2
real hair 38-9, 40, 106, 146 work:
refusing 130-2 stress 12, 17-8, 180
scarf trick 107 wigs at 41-2, 119, 147-52
and school bullying 17, 127-9 worrying 79
setting 109
and sexual encounters 149, 150-1, Zappacosta, Dr Anthony 198, 200
156-9 zinc 25,75, 223-4
Lmcoln Park
1381 Southfcrfd.
Uncoln Park. Ml 48148
Millions of men and women suffer from sudden , ' /
hair loss or gradually thinning hair - this

breakthrough guide explains what to do if it
happens to you.
Sudden hair loss, also known as alopecia areata, is a disturbing condition

which can have disastrous effects on self-confidence. It can strike men
and women at any age and is on the increase. Gradually thinning hair
is equally distressing and affects young women nearly as much as men.
When Elizabeth Steel lost 90% of her hair she found that she was not
alone it was happening to thousands of others. Several years later,
after exploring the causes and options for treatment, her hair grew back.
This book combines her personal experience with the latest research.
It offers practical and sympathetic advice to help anyone suffering from
hair loss, and shows why no matter how severely you lose your hair -
you can get it back. Includes:
• What causes alopecia areata and thinning hair

• The latest drug treatments available
• Effective complementary treatment such as nutrition,
aromatherapy and herbal remedies
• What to do when it happens to a child
• A wide range of inspiring case histories
. ^
Elizabeth Steel is the founder of Hairline International, the Alopecia

Patients Society, an international support network for sufferers.
She is a well-known freelance broadcaster on both television and radio.
HEALTH

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HOW TO TREAT

How to treat alopecia

Unooln Park Public libiQit

First published by Thorsons 1988

©Wendy Jones 1988, 1995, 1999

Printed and bound in Great Britain by

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be

About the author 4

Hairline International can be contacted for advice and information at

Hairline International - The Alopecia Patients' Society

Loss of hair can cause profound emotional difficulties.

There can be few more distressing situations in life than

the ultimate prognosis depends more on fate than med¬

'A very readable and useful book.' Nursing Standard

The Two Main Types of Hair Loss

Hair loss can be bewildering because there are several

• Alopecia androgenetica - the 'male pattern bald¬

• Thinning hair now affects more than one-third of all

Thinning Hair (Alopecia Androgenetica)

More women now have the female version of 'male pat¬

the progestogen content of the contraceptive pill, or of

Why Is There a Rise in the Number of Cases?

The culprits are the progestogens, a synthetic version of

• acne vulgaris and come out in skin blemishes!

Today's hormonal medications are having a 'triggering'

Julie is angry. 'Why don't doctors tell us that we may lose

• Anna, 23, was horrified when her hair thinned

medical treatment for endometriosis. 'I had

Thinning hair often starts at the same time as a woman

More Men Are Also Going Bald!

An increasing number of men also complain now about

Hair Loss and Childbirth

Many women also suffer the 'human moult' hair loss

Alopecia areata strikes suddenly, without warning. It can

disease. Neither, by and large, will your doctors. They

when I lost my hair I felt totally alone and a complete

• David, 32, blamed his baldness for the break up of

• Amanda, 10, couldn't bear the total loss of hair

roles of most modern women, I had the newly acquired

Let me make it dear. I did not lose just a

While my own hair loss produced the

After losing my own hair I discovered the true extent

yourself. When your hair goes and your self-esteem with

suffering caused by baldness. At last the problem was

There are many ways to beat baldness. The best way is to

• Serena, 32, is a young mother who started to lose

Until recently, many alopecia patients have reported that

relented and thrown in a few banalities such as 'Don't

Can Medical Advances Help?

Doctors know how to suppress the immune system to

Medical Treatments Have Improved

The good news in the UK is that a small group of derma¬

• Topical minoxidil (Regaine) - has been the first

Forced on to the medical market by inspired pharmacists

a commercial gimmick, the minoxidil success has been

• In Haifa, Israel, a woman dermatologist discov¬

Although officially only for patients with alopecia andro-

There Has Never Been a Better Time to Be Bald

The chances of treatment and recovery are much