“Considering all that has happened in the last few weeks, the Smith family has been focusing on deep healing. The ‘slap heard around the world’ has brought the focus to the condition called Alopecia. We decided to explore the condition and its impact.
Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith have been in the spotlight a lot lately, and it’s not always been in a good way. The latest news involves Will storming the Oscars stage at the 2022 94th Oscar Awards and slapping Chris Rock making a joke about his wife. That moment is the one everyone is talking about from Sunday’s Oscars, and not the winners.
Rock made a comment about Jada’s bald head referencing the movie G.I. Jane, where actress Demi Moore shaved her head for the role.
But who is Jada Pinkett Smith?
No matter how you feel about the joke, many did not know that Jada has had issues with losing her hair for years.
“I’ve been getting a lot of questions about why I’ve been wearing this turban,” said the beautiful 50-year-old actress.
“Well, I’ve been having issues with hair loss. And it was terrifying when it first started.”
Back in 2018, Jada Pinkett Smith had been wearing headwraps and not showing her hair for months at a time. It turns out the beautiful Girl’s Trip star has been struggling with the hair loss condition, possibly linked to alopecia. She took to social media to explain it.
She also says she’s currently receiving steroid injections to help with her loss. “I’m getting steroid injections, which seem to be helping but not curing. But I’m open to other ideas,” she posted on her Instagram.
One type of steroid injection Pinkett Smith may be using is called Corticosteroid Injections. This method of treatment — the most common form of treatment for alopecia areata — uses corticosteroids that are injected into bare patches of skin with a tiny needle. These injections are repeated about every four to six weeks and are usually given by a dermatologist.
If new hair growth occurs from corticosteroid injections it is usually visible within four weeks. There are few known side effects related to this kind of treatment. But a drawback of corticosteroid injections, like all treatments for alopecia areata, is that they do not prevent new hair loss from developing.
Alopecia is defined as loss of hair from the body. Hair loss is often a cause of great concern to the patient for cosmetic and psychological reasons, but it can also be an important sign of systemic disease.
Alopecia areata, also known as spot baldness, is a condition in which hair is lost from some or all areas of the body. Often it results in a few bald spots on the scalp, each about the size of a coin. Psychological stress may result. People are generally otherwise healthy. In some, all the hair on the scalp or all body hair is lost and loss can be permanent.
Alopecia areata is believed to be an autoimmune disease. Risk factors include a family history of the condition. The underlying mechanism involves failure by the body to recognize its own cells with subsequent immune-mediated destruction of the hair follicle.
The actress recalled the “terrifying” moment she first noticed she was losing “handfuls of hair” in the shower.
“It was one of those times in my life where I was literally shaking with fear,” she said. “That’s why I cut my hair and continued to cut it.”
This revelation was featured in the third episode of her Facebook mini-series, Red Table Talk, co-hosted by her mother Adrienne Canfield Norris, and teenage daughter Willow Smith.
Other topics discussed have included coping with loss, motherhood and body image – with Willow previously disclosing she self-harmed as a child following the release of her debut single Whip My Hair.
Despite having many medical tests, Pinkett Smith said she has not been able to find the cause of her alopecia. She suspects it might be stress.
Other main factors for alopecia are: Genes and Hormones
Androgenic alopecia, also known as male pattern baldness or female pattern baldness, is the most common type of alopecia. In men, it causes balding and a receding hairline, while women may experience general hair thinning or a widening of their part. Androgenic alopecia can be genetic, and it’s also hormonal.
Dihydrotestosterone (DHT) is a hormone derived from testosterone, the male sex hormone. DHT binds to testosterone in hair follicles and weakens them. Women also have testosterone. When testosterone and estrogen, the female sex hormone, are unbalanced in women, DHT can trigger androgenic alopecia. This can happen before menopause or with other hormonal conditions, Beverly Hills-based dermatologist Tsippora Shainhouse, MD, FAAD, tells WebMD Connect to Care.
“Some women have a condition called polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), in which they make so much estrogen, that some gets converted to testosterone, which can contribute to thinning and loss of hair,” Shainhouse says.
Alopecia areata is a condition where the immune system attacks hair follicles. It could also be genetic in some cases, says the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD).
Stress
Telogen effluvium is a type of alopecia where hair sheds in excess. It can happen suddenly, or hair can thin over time. Causes of telogen effluvium include:
• Medications
• Stress
• Childbirth
• Physical trauma
• Restrictive dieting
• Life changes
Women are more likely to report telogen effluvium. A 2019 study in the journal Clinical, Cosmetic, and Investigational Dermatology found men might not notice telogen effluvium because of shorter haircuts or lack of attention to hair. “For some women, this hair loss unmasks an underlying female-pattern hair loss, and the hair may never look as thick as it once did. If you are otherwise healthy, then treatment is mostly a watch-and-wait game,” Shainhouse says.
Alopecia areata can also be triggered by:
• Asthma
• Hay fever
• Stress
• Nutrition
Nutritional deficiencies, including low iron or vitamin D, could cause alopecia, says Shainhouse. But when it comes to vitamin D and hair loss, more research is needed, according to the AAD. “See your primary care physician to treat these, in order to give your hair the best chance of growing back,” Shainhouse says. “Develop a healthy eating schedule that includes food-derived vitamins and nutrients, and ... enough protein.”
Thyroid Issues
The thyroid is a neck gland that controls metabolism-related hormones. Both low and overactive thyroid can trigger alopecia. Ask your doctor about a thyroid test if your hair loss is accompanied by:
• Unexplained weight changes
• High or low energy
• Menstruation changes
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