After hearing the powerful story of Rep. Ayanna Pressley and her battle with alopecia, I decided to bring back a personal piece I wrote in October 2018. May you find joy in being free from the opinion of others, and how you may negatively view your appearance in the world.
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As an African American female, it’s time I allow myself to become a little vulnerable and share my truth so that it will encourage another woman to do the same.
In the black community the term of having “Edges” is often seen as a right of passage into the “I know how to take care of my hair” philosophy. If you are asking yourself the question, “What are edges?” This is the hair that is precisely seen around the forehead and temple as showcased in the picture below.
(The hair on a Black woman’s head is treated as if it is a separate entity from the rest of her body—she and her family treat it that way, and other Black people treat it that way. In the wider community, the Black woman’s natural hair falls low on the scale of beauty. Prince, A. (2009). The Politics of Black Women’s Hair. London, Ont: Insomniac Press.)
Lately, I have noticed in the 21st century that more attention, detail, and a plethora of products are being created to encourage this new phenomenon of having edges on our head. We can lay our edges down with gel, special creams, or grow them back with hair vitamin pills. And believe it or not, the black hair care industry is a booming business worth billions of dollars. Click here to read an article about the increasing monetary growth of the black hair industry.
If you fall into the category of a woman that is losing her hair and it is sincerely out of your control, you will appear as a misfit or someone unworthy of socialization. Unfortunately, I know this all too well because I am a woman whose edges are slowly waning. Alopecia is now entering my world and turning it upside down as we speak.
(Alopecia areata (AA) is a common cause of reversible hair loss afflicting approximately 1-2% of the general population. It’s commonly present as round patches of hair loss which can be the first manifestation of a more severe alopecia totalisor universalis. The etiology of AA is unknown but is characterized by hair cycle dysfunction and the presence of peribulbar and perifollicular mononuclear cell infiltrates. -Allen, M. D., & Miller, E. T. (2012). Alopecia : Causes, Diagnosis and Treatment. [Hauppauge] New York]: Nova Science Publishers, Inc.)
As I age, I’m more frequently noticing that my once beautiful head of hair is thinning and/or shedding. And yes, the continuous notion of wearing weaves, braids, and etc. have contributed to this plight however, the key factor in my hair demise is a hereditary root. The women in my lineage have dealt with hair loss and it is what it is.
What annoys me most is having to explain this history to an unfamiliar hairstylist that believes you ultimately did something wrong and now you must fix it with a “Special” buy this method. It is recommended that we visit a dermatologist to understand the root of our individualized alopecia but even then, treatment of Alopecia Areata is still considered a challenging task for any dermatologist to fix.
Corticosteroids are normally used to treat this dysfunction and sometimes they don’t work. Steroids of any kind are harmful to your body when used for long periods of time. I know this all too well because I also suffer from eczema. Yes, the story of my life is an intriguing and quite complicated movie, book, documentary, and stage play to say the least.
To also help control this downward spiral of my hair I decided to go natural twice in my adulthood, meaning I wore my hair in its natural state without a relaxer. I eventually decided that a relaxer made me feel better and I could easily handle the DIY (do it yourself) maintenance of my head when a salon was unavailable.
Now I am at the point where I feel shaving it all off may work for me. In the words of my bestie, “Hair is overrated!” Only time will tell if I decide to go this route.
So for all the women out there that are having a difficult time with acknowledging that you may be suffering from hair loss, just know that you are not alone. The value of who you are as an individual is not indicative of the hair count on your head. And with edges or not, you are still beautifully and wonderfully made. Beauty is far more valuable when it is reversed from the inside out.
