Snatched Edges Podcast - Episode 12 - Too Young to go Bald

On this episode I review a documentary called 'Too young to go bald'

Episode Overview

Full Transcript

(Excited Salutations!) Welcome back to another episode of the Snatched Edges podcast. I'm your host, Ebuni where I teach you about healthy hair, healthy scalps, how to not basically go bald.

And today's episode, I wanted to talk about a documentary that was actually on UKTV yesterday. So, if you've missed it, you can go back onto BBC iPlayer and watch the replay. It's going to be available for about 11 months, so you can take your time. But you know, I think it's best to just watch it now. And if you're not in the UK, well, I'm not too sure how you can watch it. But I'm sure it might be on YouTube, where you can find clips on the Internet or in other places.

It's called Too Young To Go Bald, and it was hosted by a blogger Chidera. Who's also known as a the Slum Flower, you can follow her on Instagram. She's quite well known. And basically, it just documented her experiences with Hair loss. So, she is a young black girl, I think she's in her early 20s. She mostly wears wigs, this is kind of I think, is due to the fact that she has a lot of loss of hair at her hairline. So she's trying to like cover it and protect it and kind of like, you know, maybe a little bit of embarrassment, not really wanting it to be shown as much. Well, that's the impression I got from the beginning.

So, throughout the documentary, she meets with different people who are experiencing different types of hair loss, and it focuses on young people. So I think everyone in the show is kind of like early to late 20s. I liked that it was focused on young people, because sometimes we think that hair loss is a problem that only older people will face. But actually, it can occur at any age, children, teens, adult, you know, middle aged, older, it's not a respecter of people. It can occur at any age. And I liked that there was a good mix, it wasn't just people with genetic hair loss, it was people with kind of like self-inflicted. I don't really want to say it because it sounds a bit harsh, but basically like their hair practices had led to the types of hair loss they were experiencing.

So, in Chidera's case that she has a Diffuse hair loss, and she attributes it to wearing lots of tight braid styles. So that she was wearing a lot of extensions that were really heavy. And the styles that she was putting them in were putting a lot of tension on her hairline, which resulted in the hair follicles... some of the hair follicles being destroyed, and, you know, hair not growing at her edges. Which is kind of appropriate for this podcast, because you know, it's called Snatched Edges, we're talking about how things that we can do can literally rip out our Hair Follicles and cause us to go bald.

So some of the people she followed around and got to meet with and talked with….. one of the guys was a YouTuber called Perry and he is experiencing Male Pattern baldness. So he's got like a normal head of hair. But what he seen is that a lot of thinning out his crown, through the programme, you can see that, you know, he was trying to do different things to kind of cover up and disguise it without using anything, any hair pieces or anything, but just, you know, the styles that he was wearing.

So, brushing his hair, and he was really affected by like the wind and being out. And so, he said that it occurred maybe like in his early 20s. But he tried to like ignore it for a little while, but then his friends are like, oh actually is a little bit more noticeable. Now you can see, and it's just showing his journey, how he was like, you know, coming to terms of it.

And I like that, they talked about some of the myths associated with male pattern baldness... so that it's not just that it's genetic. So if your parents, either one, your mum or dad, you could get from either person and has experienced or one of their parents experience genetic hair loss, it definitely means that you are more likely to even though it has other triggers as well, but the main cause is genetics.

And they talked about some of the treatments for genetic hair loss, which are if you use medication, there's two main ones which are Minoxidil and Finasteride. If you don't want to hit the medications, you could have a hair transplant as well. Perry was more coming to terms of his hair loss and accepting it and he hadn't really taken any more steps rather than styling to try and disguise it or do anything to like, you know, remedy it.

But there was another gentleman who was actually going through the process of a hair transplant. And in his case, and it was said that, you know, he only had like a little bit of thinning at the top around his hairline. So it wasn't like he was completely bald or anything. But he had opted to have a hair transplant, where some of the follicles from the back of his head were moved to the front and implanted. And I liked that they showed the process but I wish they had like, you know, maybe done it more long term, but I think maybe because of time restraints, they couldn't show you know, how it develops. So they showed immediately after the surgery.

Sometimes these hair transplants don't always take so, you might have to do it two or three times to get their desired fullness that you want. Or sometimes even your body might reject the hair follicles and you end up you know, back to square one and it is very, very expensive. It can be such an expensive process to go through.

Another interview on the show was with a rapper from London who Paigey Cakey and she had actually gone to Turkey I think it was to have a hair transplant. So throughout like her younger years, another one who was you know into a lot of tight styles into like gelling her hair down, some hair practices that maybe cause her to lose her hair really prematurely and cause a lot of damage that was kind of irreversible, so she opted to have a hair transplant as well.

So, one complete side of her head, had major hair loss and she had like some recession around her hairline as well. So she went for a full frontal hair transplant where, a lot of hairs were replaced. And it's been nice because she has a YouTube channel as well, she talks about why she decided to have a hair transplant, the feelings that she had, about embarrassment, about shame, how she, the things that she used to do to hide it. Like she even used to use like mascara to try to colour in the patches, so it wouldn't be obvious. And I feel like a lot of people do this and don't realise that, you know, there's so many other people out here who are dealing with hair loss, but there's such a stigma attached to it when it shouldn't be because I know that some people feel that oh, you know, like your hair is on your face on your head.

For girls, it's a lot easier to hide it. But for guys, you know, it's kind of like there, you can't really wear hats all the time. But even if people, spoke about you know the things that they're doing…. or the things they are going through, you'd find that if you discussed it early on, some of these things can be stopped before they get too far. Or before like the follicles are damaged, and it becomes permanent hair loss. So, in her case, she had noticed that, you know, her hair was thinning for all the stuff from all the styles that she was doing. Possibly if she'd like, you know, stopped doing it, then maybe it would have gone as far. But you know, it's kind of hard to tell, because we don't know exactly the reasons why her hair was damaged. But from what she said, you know, maybe there could have been a stop to it earlier on if she had taken a different route.

And lastly, Chidera went to go see a trichologist called Iain Sallis. Now, I think this was really, really good because sometimes when we experience hair loss, or we have problems with my hair, it's kind of hard to know who to go and talk to. So, you might go talk to your hairdresser, you might go talk to friends. But sometimes they can't give you the right advice. So, going to see a trichologist or a Doctor is really the most important thing. Because they can give you, an accurate diagnosis and let you know, the right treatment options. Because he was able to diagnose her with Diffuse hair loss and say that, you know, Look, I've looked at some of the follicles, some of them look fine, and some of them are damaged where like the hair follicle is dead, so no more hair will grow from it.

And I feel like there's a lot of things on the internet that say, Oh, you know, if you just use these drops, or take these pills, or you do this and you do that, you know, hair will grow back. And if you do the Inversion method, if you listen back to some of the older episodes, I've talked about some of like the ridiculous things that people do to try and grow back their hair.

When, if the follicle is dead, there is not, there's no bringing it back to life, there's no pills, there's no potions. And you have to kind of accept, however hard it is that your hair loss may be permanent. Now there are things you can do to mask it or to minimise further damage. But I think acceptance is a really big part. And I really liked that towards the end of the episode, she decided not to wear her wig and embrace her natural hair. And I know that the trolls are getting ready because she didn't style it, she just left it out natural. And I thought it was wonderful, that she just left it in its natural state. But I know that people will look at it and be like Oh, your hair is ugly, your hair is this and your hair is that. And I feel like that's part of the problem, that causes people to do these kind of extreme measures, you know, kind of go into themselves or not even take care when they could do because of like the fear of what others will say or, or do or think or you know.

People can be really, really mean especially when it comes to Hair loss. They think that Oh, it's like, you know, you must have been doing something really, really wrong where sometimes it literally is your genetics that makes you more prone to these kinds of hair loss or your scalp is more sensitive.

So, where someone could wear braids for 10 years and not have any problems, you might it get once and experience a lot of damage. So, it really is a case by case thing. And if you have any problems, definitely go and see a Trichologist or you know, stop doing those styles for a little while because you never know how you're going to react to them.

So yeah, I thought it was a really, really good show. It was short but sweet. It got straight to the point and I feel like I would have liked it to be maybe like an hour long…. Just so they could go into more of the…. more the different types of hair loss. So they touched on….. Diffuse hair loss, Traction, Alopecia, Male pattern baldness and Alopecia Areata. But it was very brief, like they kind of gave a quick overview but didn't really dive into like, you know, the signs and symptoms, what you could do, if you're facing it. It was just kind of like, Oh, look, you know, young people go bald too, and here's like a few examples. They could have spent a little bit more time, you know, with each one so that if people at home have any of these problems, they kind of know who to go to who to talk to or kind of what the next steps are.

As I said, they brushed on some of the myths about hair loss, you know, some of the causes, some of the treatments that like kind of they are long term, you know, you can't just go on the Internet and stand on your head or like no amount of massage is going to grow back, and dead follicles or anything like that. And it was really honest, as well. So you've got to see, like, you know, the whole range of emotions that people go through when they are experiencing hair loss because it can really affect your self-esteem.

Like I've talked about my hair loss before where…... when I was young, I used to get my hair braided and I was probably about early primary school and I lost a lot of hair at the back of my head. And now I feel like at the time, I wasn't able to fully understand it. So it didn't really cause me too much distress. And luckily for me, I was able to grow it back like most of it. But I think when you're like in your early teens or early 20s, when you're really trying to find yourself. Experiencing hair loss can be very, very damaging, especially if you don't know what to do or you kind of feel lost or isolated so it is really good to talk to people about it like even if you go to your doctor or you try and research and find out what your diagnosis is and what you can do to kind of help it.

If you choose to wear wigs? Perfect! That's fine as I said there's so many wig makers out there that do a great job of concealing hair loss so, you don't have to be you know bald and proud and wear it all out and everything like it's between is how you choose to deal with it is up to you. You shouldn't feel pressured to either show it off or if you want to hide it really, however you choose to deal with it.

So yeah, I think if you haven't watched it, definitely go and give it a watch. I love that it was by a Black woman and I think it's really important that we get to tell our own stories and stuff. Go onto BBC iPlayer. I'll put the link below in the description box. Tweet the Slum Flower, tell her that you think she did a good job. And yeah, if you have any kind of like Hair loss problems or anything, literally search a Trichologist in your local area. Go and find someone to talk to find out what you're doing especially before you go and buy any like you know, creams or antidotes or things on the Internet that may not even be right for the condition you are experiencing.

If you don't already follow me on Instagram, my Instagram is ebuniajiduahhair (EA spells). My website is ebuniajiduahair.com you can guys can send me an email. I'm happy to answer your questions and, I will see you guys on the next episode. Alright then, take care. Bye-bye