Hair also plays a key role in preferences. When the same women were shown digitally-modified images of the same men, with and without hair, they said that men with hair looked more appealing
Healthy hair denotes wellness. Fragile, dull hair, likewise, represents a 'causal' health concern, or illness. Hair is a key investigative factor - it holds a vital place in terms of diagnoses. Early hair loss, for instance, can predict the onset of heart disease, or diabetes - much before it shows up in a blood test. The exemplar also holds good for 'detecting' thyroid syndromes, anaemia, ovarian cysts, anxiety, depression and sleep disorders, among others.
Most of us lose 50-100 strands, or tresses, a day. With over 100,000 hair strands, on the scalp, this should not cause any perceptible change in one's appearance. What's more, a measured thinning of hair is a typical part of aging. However, when hair loss leads to bald spots, or the percentage of shedding surpasses the rate of regrowth, it is a cause for alarm - as hair loss may gradually lead to a state where new hair is thinner than the hair shed, or lost.
Here's why. You need not look in the mirror to comprehend who you are, when you have a scalp filled with hair, because you present a good impression of yourself, also personality, to the world. However, the image you hold may take a 'thumping' when you begin to lose hair, for whatever reason - from genetics to scalp and hair disorders. The end result, any which way you look at it, is hair can make, or break, your composure.
Hair denotes power, or perpetual charisma - from gods, kings, emperors, generals, politicians and celebrities to common folks like us. When you flip through the pages of any mythology - Eastern, or Western - all divine beings are shown to bear a head full of hair. Gods, who have a thick mane, are thought to be perpetually young, free from the ravages of old age, or ill-health.
Legend has it that the Goddess Hathor was so erotic that she was called "the lovely haired one". "The Book of the Dead" describes the idea of seduction represented a 'birdtrap' set up by a woman with long, beautiful hair. In the "Bible", God blesses the mother of Samson (meaning 'fighter', whose colossal strength resides in his hair) - the Western corollary of Bhima in the "Mahabharata" - that she will bear a mighty son. He tells her that "the blade will never pass over his head because he will be dedicated to God." Legend also has it that the mystifying Cleopatra sported lush, beautiful hair as a divine blessing and 'pampered' her hair with a variety of concoctions - from exotic beauty blends to nature's wholesome extracts and oils.
All of us carry a mental, or 'mindful', picture of ourselves. This gets well-defined at a certain point in life, with not just the picture of your face, or body, but also of how others perceive you. Just think of it. Many tinsel stars, in Bollywood and Hollywood, legendary sportspersons, celebs and others, have undergone medical treatment, hair weaving, or transplant - to recapture their crowning glory. This is primarily because a head full of hair 'subtracts' the years vis-à-vis your appearance. Hair loss, on the contrary, 'adds' years to your 'looking-old' appearance.
A study reveals that men who had "more profound hair loss were more discontented with their looks". They were also more concerned with their older look than those with minimal hair loss. The 'marker' was common across all age groups, but more than profound in younger individuals.
Yet another study published in "The Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology" compared the psychological and psychosocial impact of hair loss on men and women. It found that women had a more negative body image and were less able to adapt to hair loss. Other studies have, likewise, found that women were much more worried about their appearance and how the world and people around accepted them with hair loss. What also stands out is a good number of men with hair loss tend to be more than a tad 'withdrawn' in terms of 'wearing their attitude' and decision making.
Want to compliment, or win the heart of a woman? Just ask her whether she has changed her hair style, or lost weight, recently. You have established an instant connect; also, rapport. Nothing influences the psyche of a woman more than hair - what's more, hair, with its various rhythms, reflects her fluctuating moods in everyday life. This holds good for well-groomed men too, the difference being of degree.
Hair also plays a key role in preferences. A survey about women's 'liking' reported that a majority believed that baldness did not swing their attraction to the opposite sex. Wait a minute. When the same women were shown digitally-modified images of the same men, with and without hair, they said, time and again, that men with hair looked more appealing and sensually attractive to them.
It is also a given that most men with hair loss say they don't care about hair loss. For a fact, they are actually worried about hair loss - they are constantly on the lookout to 'reverse' the process. Picture this. The media, especially newspapers and magazines, are fixated, for all the right reasons, with models, actors and actresses, with a head full of hair. The most desirable macho man, for instance, is depicted with a full head of hair, although it is nowadays a 'style-statement' for some celebrity actors and sportsmen to 'sport' natural baldness, or shaved heads.
What about stress and hair loss- a pertinent question in our increasingly stressful world. Stress is a significant trigger for hair loss. You'd blame it on a host of emotional and psychosocial factors, stress-related psoriasis and atopic dermatitis (eczema) of the scalp, too. The fact also is individual responses to stress often vary, because what's stressful for one individual is 'no worry' for the other -albeit the outcome, either way, is tress distress.
Nidamboor is a wellness physician, independent researcher and author
