Model Wears Wig Due to Hair Loss Caused by Lack of Afro Hair Knowledge

added 31st March 2015

A British fashion model, Jourdan Dunn has detailed her personal experience of hair loss which she attributes to stylists’ lack of understanding of afro hair.

The Burberry and Victoria’s Secret model told Hello! magazine that, due to the constant work demands placed on her and often working with stylists who had no real knowledge of afro hair, her hair became increasingly ravaged. Eventually this progressed to the point where her hair started falling out at the front, giving her the appearance of a receding hairline.

Dunn recounted, “I mean, I had no hair around my hairline – it was like baby hair, it was so damaged… My hair has been so damaged with heat and styling because most hairdressers still don’t know what to do with Afro hair.”

Afro hair is generally far more dry and fragile than other hair types, and also has a different texture, and afro-appropriate haircare and styling products should always be used to help prevent damage.

Despite being a health fanatic who follows a balanced diet to nourish her hair and skin from the inside out, frequent over-styling with heated appliances, tight hairstyles and the use of hair modifications such as extensions and weaves, still managed to damage the model’s hair.

Traction Alopecia causes hair loss around the hairline, leaving behind small ‘baby hairs’, when follicles are regularly subjected to extreme tension as this area takes the brunt of the pressure. Patches of hair loss where the tension occurs are also symbolic of this hair loss condition that tends to be more commonly found in people with afro hair who wear traditional, culturally significant hairstyles such as tight braids, or in people of any race who wear poorly-affixed hair extensions.

Renda Attia, Dunn’s personal hair stylist, insisted the model wear wigs in order to give her hair a rest, while her condition – thought to be Traction Alopecia – was treated. This gave the model a sense of privacy whilst addressing the damage from over-styling and too-tight hairstyles.

Jourdan took her stylists’ advice and now reports, “I’ve been wearing wigs and having them changed every month, having lots of conditioning treatments and, finally, my hair is growing back.”

The treatment for Traction Alopecia is usually a high strength minoxidil – a liquid or cream formula which is applied directly to the areas affected by hair loss. Although minoxidil is only licensed for the treatment of genetic hair loss (Female Pattern Hair Loss or, for men, Male Pattern Baldness), it has also been seen to produce regrowth in cases of Traction Alopecia.