Category: African American Hair

I am a 38 year old african american female. Like many other women of color, I began thinning in the top of my head as well as around my hairline. To make matters worse, my occupation requires me interact with many people in public places. Needless to say to go from beautiful hair to wearing a hair weave (to stop chemical processing) has damaged my self esteem(my hair is braided underneath a hair net). I am hiding my problem from family and friends and do not like being seen in public. I have acquired a biopsy and have been told that it’s probably due to genetics or stress. I have been to clinics that offer to match a hairpiece that is bonded with “medical glue” but the maintenance cost along with having to go back every six weeks for life did not appeal to me. I have not seen many photos of women of color with hair transplants; is this realistic? Please let me know if you perform this process; It is hard watching my self esteem deteriorate. Please help…

I am so glad you decided to write, because there is definitely hope for someone such as yourself and there is so little material available to TELL you that! You are correct – it is not generally advertised, but women of color do very well with hair transplant as a general rule. Because African-American hair is curly/kinky and because it matches the darker skin tones, you generally get good coverage and very nice results. You need to be careful if you do not have good donor areas, or if you have a history of keloids (abnormal scar healing), but for most cases you have a lot of options.

Clinics that offer glued attachments of hair to your head are not medical doctors and the products that they attached with the glues will accelerate hair loss and produce traction alopecia over time. Unless you plan on keeping this up, getting hair systems is not a wise choice.

The first thing you need to do is to meet with a respected hair doctor for a consultation. They may recommend a set of blood tests to rule out the many other causes of hair loss in women that can masquerade as genetic alopecia. You have had a scalp biopsy already, so you won’t have to do another (I’d bring those results to your doctor when you arrive for your appointment). Depending on your test results, there might be some drugs you can try before jumping straight into surgery.

In any case, please do not let this hurt your self-esteem. Studies show that women are especially impacted emotionally by hair loss, much more so than men and in more dramatic ways, even though men suffer it more commonly. Remember above all that there IS hope and treatments available. Go see your doctor! The fact that you have taken the time to write is an excellent first step.

I’m an African American female and want to know which is better for my hair, pressing with a hot comb or using a non lye relaxer (like Precise). Also, I have hair loss and hair is very thin. I had a hair restoration in June 2005 by Bosley. Can you please recommend things I can do to improve my hair? Do you consider yourself an expert in dealing with African American hair?

I believe that I was the first person to place follicular units into an African American and started the trend that allowed for the use of small grafts in African hair types. As you may know, hair transplantation is a ‘peg in a hole’ surgery, but African hair is curly (like a cork screw) and therefore placing it into a round hole can be a difficult challenge to the inexperienced hair transplant surgeon. I guess that would make me an expert for transplants into African American hair types.

With regard to your other question, I am not an expert in the best ways to ‘relax’ hair, but I see problems with those individuals who have this done improperly. I am an expert in the complications of such treatments. I would have to examine you to make any recommendations.

I am getting bald in the top of my head and also on the left side of my head. Not sure what the problem. I was told that if you took a lot of diet pills in your younger days (of which I did) that would cause it. Please help me on this matter. It is very embrassing to go bald at the age of 42. Not that is matters but I am a black female.

Actually, race and sex do matter since certain backgrounds tend to produce certain types of hair loss. In your case, diet pills taken many years ago are not high on my list of causes for hair loss, although extreme diets and conditions such as anorexia and bulimia definitely do weaken hair and cause loss. For a final and accurate answer, you would really have to be examined and tested by a hair doctor (get your scalp mapped out for miniaturization) or a dermatologist, but I suspect you might want to review the many previous blog entries about Female Hair Loss to understand the various causes of hair loss that must be considered.

On a more positive note, hair loss in certain hair types (for example African-American hair or kinky/curly hair types) gets better results from replacement surgery and/or other treatments. Depending on what type of hair loss you have, you may still have many options for treatment, so don’t despair!

I am a 42 y/o black female. My hair started thinning around the hairline about 2 years ago. At first I thought it was some of the chemicals being used by my hair stylist. I have changed to another stylist, but the problem persits. I recently went to a dermatologist who started me on Rogaine. However, the site for Rogaine states that it is for hairloss in the top of the scalp. Is there any treatments that will help thinning hair around the hairline? I understand that this is uncommon for women? Please help, this has effected me emotionally.

There are a few important issues to address in your question. The first thing to note is that all salons use similar chemicals so you might want to stop chemically treating your hair altogether for several months to see if it recovers. The second issue is whether or not you have a tight braid/ponytail type of hairstyle or have had recent facial plastic surgery (like a brow or a face lift) since both of these can result in the hairline thinning you describe. You are correct in that women rarely lose their hairline with female pattern/genetic hair loss, but it can happen and that is why you should be examined by a doctor who specializes in hair with an indepth assessment for miniaturization.

Finally, Rogaine has been studied best at the top of the scalp, but I have seen some hairline results in women so it is worth a try. Unfortunately for women, there are no medical alternatives for thinning hair other than Rogaine. It is also noteworthy that hairloss can profoundly affect a woman’s emotional health, much more so than with men although men suffer hairloss more commonly. I would urge you not only to proactively address the hair loss, but to take steps to treat the emotional impact it is having on you as well.