Black Women May Be Prone to Baldness

Weaves, braiding and chemicals could cause scarring and baldness.

A number of black women in the UK could end up bald or with severe scalp scarring because they wear weaves and braids that are too tight, hair experts have warned.

The warning comes as a recent US study suggests that nearly 30 percent of middle-aged African-American women polled are already affected by severe hair loss—suffering from bald patches and scarring in the centre of their scalps as a result of their too-tight hairstyles.

Although not directly linking it to hair loss in the study, researchers also highlighted concern over the harsh chemicals some black women are using to relax or perm their hair.

“You have to stop and think about what you’re doing with your hair, and you have to look at your children’s hair,” study lead author Dr. Angela Kyei, a dermatologist at the Cleveland Clinic, warned in a Businessweek report. “You have to start thinking about what might happen later on.”

UK hair and beauty experts have also warned that black women in this country are at risk of losing their hair.

“It’s possibly more of a problem here,” said Keith Hobbs, senior consultant trichologist at the Institute of Trichologists Clinic in Tooting, South London.

“Hair loss affecting black women in Britain is a closely guarded secret which causes much misery to its many sufferers. It is hard to say how many women are involved because they all cover their hair loss, but over 60 percent of my black patients have some degree of loss, ranging from small patches to complete loss.”

Hobbs, a hair and scalp disorders expert, told The Voice: “Black women in Britain are more at risk of hair and scalp problems than people living in hotter countries where the atmosphere is more humid, because the colder, drier air in Britain makes hair more likely to break.

“The various methods of adding hair and straightening hair traumatise it further. The various traumas that cause this problem include traction including weave-ons, plaits and extensions left on too long. Also scratching and over-massaging hair. Added hair is frequently used on bald patches, making the situation worse.”

He said damage could also result from “heat—Afro-nozzles on hot hair driers and heated tongs, (and) chemical relaxers and bleach, which must never be used together. The risk is obviously worse when the methods are used at home.”