Jada Pinkett Smith keeps it positive with update on her alopecia journey
"Now at this point, I can only laugh," the actress said in a new video about her hair loss shared on social media.
In a new video shared Tuesday on social media, Jada Pinkett Smith gave fans an update on her hair loss journey, noting that she is embracing her battle with alopecia.
“Now at this point, I can only laugh,” the veteran actress said on Instagram of a bald line on her closely shaven head. “Y’all know I’ve been struggling with alopecia, and just all of a sudden, one day, look at this line right here. Look at that.”
“So it just showed up like that,” she continued, “and this is going to be a little bit more difficult for me to hide. So I thought I’d just share it so y’all are not asking any questions.”
Pinkett Smith previously opened up about her “issues with hair loss” during a 2018 episode of her Facebook Watch show, Red Table Talk. The Girls Trip star said it was “terrifying” when she first realized she was going bald.
“It was terrifying when it first started,” she said at the time, theGrio reported. “I was in the shower one day, and then just handfuls of hair in my hands. And I was just like, ‘Oh my God, am I going bald?’ It was one of those times in my life when I was literally shaking with fear.”
In recent years, Pinkett Smith has been seen wearing more headwraps and turbans to hide her hair loss.
“My hair has been a big part of me. Taking care of my hair has been a beautiful ritual — and having the choice to have hair or not. And then one day to be like, ‘Oh my God, I might not have that choice anymore,” she previously stated on Red Table Talk.
“The higher power takes so much from people. People are out here who have cancer, people have sick children,” she said. “And by golly, if the higher power wants to take your hair — that’s it? … When I looked at it from that perspective, it really did settle me.”
In the latest video shared this week on Instagram, Pinkett Smith said she prefers to maintain a positive outlook on her hair loss. “But you know mama’s going to put some rhinestones in there. I’m going to make me a little crown. That’s what mama’s going to do,” she added.
She captioned her Instagram video: “Mama’s gonna have to take it down to the scalp so nobody thinks she got brain surgery or something? Me and this alopecia are going to be friends … period!?.”
As previously reported by theGrio, according to some dermatologists, hair loss is an epidemic among Black American women. In addition, Afro-textured hair tends to be dryer and more prone to breakage, and certain hairstyles can result in stress to the scalp, hair experts say.
The most common problems for women of color are central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia (CCCA) and traction alopecia. Both these conditions can be reversible but can also lead to permanent damage to hair follicles. With CCCA, hair loss begins in the center of the scalp and spreads out; it is caused by multiple factors, including chemical relaxers or hot combing. Traction alopecia is hair loss that occurs as a result of continuous pulling of the hair.
“For traction alopecia, avoid any tight hairstyles including braids with extensions, tight weaves, tight ponytails and cornrow,” said Dr. Susan Taylor, a Harvard-trained dermatologist. “For CCCA, you will need to have a biopsy performed to confirm the diagnosis, and then begin treatment with creams, injections or pills.”
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