Self-esteem and Hair. Is there a connection?
A Black Woman’s Hair…….That phrase alone can transpire into so many different conversations, but we are going to continue our conversation on hair weave and the impact it has on black women and our communities. Many women and young girls are taking wearing hair weave way to lightly and some so called professionals are doing the same. Black women are putting their hair on sale meaning that they are looking for the cheapest hairstylist to install their weave, instead of a well educated licensed professional who cares about the health of the hair. If you can’t go in the salon and get the proper maintenance such as shampooing every 2 weeks, then you can’t afford to wear weave. If you can’t afford to have it taken down in a timely manner (6-8 weeks max) then you can’t afford to wear weave. If you don’t have any edges left and your hair is 5 different lengths, you can’t afford to wear weave 🙂
If you need to have major surgery do you look for the cheapest surgeon or the best surgeon? If you were accused of a crime that you didn’t commit do you look for the cheapest attorney or the best attorney? I know that most of you have seen how women are getting botched up trying to look like someone other than themselves because they are unhappy with who they are and what they look like. They can’t afford the best doctors so they search for the bootleg doctors and self-made plastic surgeons and risk their lives by letting an untrained person inject them with anything and letting them do it any where. Sometimes they get lucky and God spares their life and sometimes they never even make it to look in the mirror!
Well if you’re going to wear weave you shouldn’t be looking for the cheapest hairstylist because your hair is not on sale and it is a woman’s glory and that goes for any race of women! Cheap products and an untrained hairstylist=hair loss, brittle hair, no edges, breakage, low self-esteem, shame and so on. Just because your nephew best friend’s cousin charges $50 and knows how to sew hair in because he/she watched a few YouTube videos doesn’t mean that they are qualified to install hair in your head. Why pay $300 for hair and pay $50 to have it installed? Now that’s dumb! The thing is your hair will only hold up so long before you start seeing breakage and hair loss and most of the time women wait until the problem gets way out of hand and then they want to run to a professional and expect a miracle on 34th street talking about I don’t want it cut, bye Felecia! Hair loss is a serious issue because it can lead to all types of problems such as stress which only makes it worse, depression and low self-esteem. Hair loss can make going to work stressful as well as cause relationship problems. Head2Toe Magazine is on a mission to help black women get back to wearing weave because they want to not because they have to! Make sure you share this article! If you have a hair weave story please email us head2toemag@gmail.com. Read the relationship between hair loss and self-esteem below and stay tuned for Part 3! Hit that follow blog button on the sidebar to keep up with all of our controversial post!
“If you look in the mirror and you don’t like what you see without weave, you have more serious issues than you think”
When hair loss starts…..
The loss of the hairline can change a person’s appearance substantially. Hair loss changes the appearance of the face by shifting the balance of the face to the forehead, resulting in an aged appearance.
A study revealed that men who had more profound hair loss were more dissatisfied with their appearance and were more concerned with their older look than those with minimal hair loss. This effect cut across all age groups but was more prominent in the younger individuals.
The research also indicates that women tend to be more upset than men by their hair loss. A 1992 study in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology that compared the psychological impact of hair loss on men and women found that women had a more negative body image and were less able to adapt to the loss.
In fact, it has been scientifically proven through studies that women tend to suffer more emotionally and psychologically than men on losing hair. The results of these tests showed that women were much more worried about the way they looked than men. They tend to feel insecure about their appearance and how the world and the people around them will accept them.
Low self-esteem
Physical beauty is one of the cornerstones of self esteem and it is one of the most vulnerable. The self-esteem levels and other measures of self-worth drop significantly when hair loss occurs.
Loss of personal attractiveness and fear of not looking attractive to others
Hair is an important determinant of physical attractiveness and a mean of expressing individuality. Hair loss affects the individual’s feelings of attractiveness.
For balding women it is especially hard to live in a society that places great value on youthful appearance and attractiveness.
Because women are famous for spending a lot of time and money grooming, dying, curling, drying, and styling their hair to make it look its best, when they begin to lose their hair, it is extremely traumatic. This cosmetic setback is quite intense when a woman is used to having hair and suddenly finds herself losing it. They can have a lot of trouble dealing with the reality of hair loss.
Embarrassment, Loss of confidence, Shyness
Although full head of hair cannot guarantee instant confidence, studies have shown that in men who suffer from hair loss, nearly 75% of them feel less confident since the onset of the hair loss, especially in dealing with the opposite sex.
And it isn’t just men. Statistics regarding female hair loss are so difficult to compile mainly because of a tendency on the part of women with hair loss to camouflage and hide a condition that they feel stigmatized by.
Social teasing and humiliation
When hair loss reaches a stage of visible condition it can make the person the object of teasing or scorn.
Feelings of depression and introversion
In extreme circumstances, some people really take hair loss badly and get highly distressed about it, up to the point of getting into depression.
Some people make assumptions that they are losing something about their control of their life, things they really can’t reverse when they start losing their hair.
Subconscious emotions of envy and jealousy
Those suffering from hair loss often experience feeling of jealousy of women with full, healthy heads of hair, because they desperately covet what non-bald people have.
Work-related problems
Hair loss may affect someone who is in front of the camera or who needs to be in the public in a very devastating way professionally.
Negative effects on social life
Hair plays an important role in our social lives. Upon meeting someone, one of the first things you notice is their hair. Before a social engagement, it is very important for us to look good, and a good lock of hair is what completes our appearance. Those affected by hair loss become aware of how important hair is in our social lives quickly.
Hair loss may cause the person to limit social activities. Some people avoid seeing friends and stop going out except to work.
Surveys have shown that around 40% of women with alopecia have had marital problems, and around 63% claimed to have career related problems. Reference: (http://www.emedexpert.com/tips/hair-loss-effects.shtml)
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