Getting to the root of hair loss, by Dr. EcclesBlog

This week, Sex & The City star Kristin Davis became the latest celebrity to open up about her battle with hair loss. Her decision to go public on the problem follows candid interviews on the same subject given recently by, among others, British television personality Nadia Sawalha and former Glee star Naya Rivera.

Hair and its associated issues have long been the butt of jokes, most of which are intended to be what people these days describe as ‘banter’, but many of which stray dangerously close to the realm of personal vilification.

Personal style choices aside, everything else to do with how your hair grows – or doesn’t – has been pretty much beyond your direct control, yet what does or doesn’t adorn our scalp seems to have an unwavering capacity for drawing unwanted attention.

Baldness, thinning hair and a receding hairline are obvious issues that routinely attract an unkind comment. But even the process of ageing doesn’t avoid the very public gaze and judgement of our peers. This is especially so for men who, in terms of combating disagreeable attention, face the lose-lose choice of either being told often that they’ve ‘gone very grey’ or risk accusations of vanity when they reach for the Just For Men.

The fact is, hair loss is a deeply personal and, almost more than any other physiological degeneration – like the appearance of wrinkles, diminished eyesight or hearing etc. – it can have a disproportionate impact on our emotional wellbeing.

We are social creatures and on a primal level we are, like all animals, driven by how we fit into and are viewed by the herd. As humans, we define this as how we are judged. As with all animals, appearance is important and so it is completely understandable that how we look plays an enormous part in how we engage with fellow members of our species.

When it all comes down to it, the role our hair plays in defining us socially comes down to pure biology and the instinctive need in all living creatures to reproduce. That’s not to say the mating game is always a conscious factor in how we feel about our hair, but it seems an unshakeable subconscious part of our self-esteem and confidence.

Research has shown that a lion’s mane is principally there to attract the ladies. In the African savannah there are just too many downsides to having that much hair for it to be anything else. A full mane is a good early indication of strong genes: a male lion has survived an awful lot to live long enough to grow those impressive locks.

And it’s not just the male of the species whose hair says something about their suitability as a prospective mate – the same is true of the female, too. Abundant healthy hair is a mating signal, whatever the gender. And in the end, we can’t cheat these instincts.

So, taking all that into account, it’s not exactly surprising that what’s going on up top is plays a significant part in how positively we view ourselves. Loss of hair, whether gradual or otherwise, prompts an emotional response that is as pre-programmed as it is possible to be. It affects our the way we see ourselves and, crucially, the way we believe others see us. It can cause a loss of confidence, depression and issued with self-esteem.

And because of that, the jibes – however they are intended – hurt and exacerbate the way we feel about our place in the world. It’s no coincidence that talking about hair loss provokes such an emotional response in the Kristin Davises and Nadia Sawalhas of the world: our hair is part of what defines us.

The hair restoration business is awash with, shampoos, creams, sprays, supplements and treatments that promise to slow hair loss. But the reality is that there are options to actually reverse the process of hair loss.

Our new clinic is seeing amazing results for men and women through Dr Eccles’ development of a natural hair restoration treatment. Although our treatments won’t work for complete baldness, for people with receding or thinning hair, it’s no longer the case that it has to be a one-way journey. Get in touch and see how our hair restoration treatments can help you to find renewed confidence and happiness.