HIRSUTE OR NOT HIRSUTE - THAT IS THE QUESTION

Having read an interesting little blog about hair loss and the bad language it causes, got me to wondering. If bald men don't get so much as a second glance, why is it so bad for a woman to be bald? One day this will be the norm anyway as the centuries roll on. You only have to look back a few thousand years to see how much hairier our ancestors were. I never heard of a cavewoman who made a fuss about losing any or a caveman grooming himself with duckfat brylcream to hide his bald spots.If they weren't worried, why should we be with much less hair to worry about? Maybe they just didn't have mirrors or died of the cold. My neighbour Archie Pelago is called just that because his hair is so thinly spread on his head it resembles a scattering of islands in a sea of scalp.It doesn't bother him one bit although I've been told he sleeps in a balaclava. I'm pretty sure it will be fashionable one day for both men and women to be bald and hair will be considered an unsightly throwback to our primitive past that caused untold misery to countless despairing mortals who just because they were follically challenged thought that this somehow made them a lesser person than the vain sun-tanned hairball in number 15 who spends more time in front of a mirror than a finalist on Come Dancing. So all you RA folks and that includes me, let's stop worrying too much about hair and if that's impossible then it's easy to collect it from the comb and make a wig.

[LavendarLady]

Hi Bencorde. Is that a picture of you by any chance?

I think the reason women worry so much about their hair is that it is part of our personality and we don't feel properly dressed if our hair is a mess or is thinning and we're losing chunks of it.

I had cancer 17 years ago and did lose a lot of my hair - found that scarves wrapped round my head turban style with perhaps a pretty broach pinned on it helped and attracted many admiring comments but I was very glad when it began to grow back although never as thick as before.

The drugs do thin your hair and I have extensions put in mine for thickness. Hair has always been women's crowning glory, much more so than men, and men throughout the ages have much preferred women with lots of hair to women without too much!

So I think we can blame the men for our obsession with hair! Also in caveman days, hair kept both sexes warm - women had long hair and both sexes had plentiful body hair for warmth until they managed to kill the odd dinosaur and use their skins for clothes!

By the way, you would have to collect an awful lot of hair from a comb to make a wig! But there are some good companies for hair pieces, wigs etc.

You can't blame us ladies for wanting to look our best whilst we battle with this awful disease. LavendarLady x

[sylvi]

Ben you have started something now you know that. Your going to get a lot of answers to this blog. This is going to be fun to read i can tell you. Men can put the same pair of trousers on everyday and nobody bats a eyelid,women who put on the same dress will hear hasn't she got anything else to wear. The same goes for hair,bald ladies will attract comment because its not usual for a lady to be bald.I would go nuts if i started to lose my hair as it is sooo many different colours. Its our crowning glory.

You are certainly a character and it is going to be fun reading your blogs. I'm sure it is tongue in cheek,best wishes sylvia.

[Hidden]

There are plenty of ways for a woman to make her scalp attractive without hair or having to wear a hat. Artwork comes in all sorts of forms these days from plain graffiti with non toxic colour sticks like lipstick to much more complicated and expensive stuff like fuzzy felt. Only one art form would I NOT recommend and that is tattoos which scare a lot of timid, quiet folk and are a job to get rid of although the American Indians knew a thing or two about scalp removal. As for trousers I change mine on the hour if possible because I have to be colour co-ordinated to match my surroundings. This is much more important than hair to me. I also like to draw on my shoes which is known in the trade as graffeeti

[Hidden]

PS The reason I have to match my surroundings is so the wife can't see me

[Hidden]

Ben you look gorgeous though a little thinning on the top maybe?

Baldy women! Emmm couldn't work due to the economy which would suffer badly if we went bald - no hairdressers, hair accessories, hair stylers......

So for the sake of keeping the recession from getting worse, I argue that women should not voluntarily go bald we should hold on to our locks with pride.....

[Hidden]

Good point! If there's one shop always thriving it's the women's hairdresser. There must be a dozen at least in our village alone to say nothing of the mobile ones. When mother was 109 she was still having her perm. Can't go to St Peter looking scruffy, he might refuse entry.

[Hidden]

No need to apologise scouser. If my light hearted asides have offended you it's me should apologise.

[kyrach]

Scouser having suffered total hair loss nearly 7 years ago to alopecia universal I understand how upset you were,it is not a good feeling. I hope your hair has stopped falling out now.

[PeteC]

Hmmmm ... ladies dominated forum and you mention hair. Not your best move Ben ...

[Hidden]

I agree with you Pete. I'll retreat to the safety of my own group of RA sufferers where we all enjoy a bit of gallows humour and making light of our sometimes very unpleasant predicament. It doesn't work for everyone and I fully understand this.

[PeteC]

Ben, joke about "men are better than women" or "women are better than men"

Just dont get personal, thats all I saying, ESPECIALLY when its ladies issues, Its a none brainer m8 and at your age, you should know better

[eduk8]

Love it. My daughter has Alopecia along with Fibro. It has been hell for her. (teenager) There is a fantastic book for teens, especially, called Falling Out by Leslie Menivere. I recently met her and she is a shining example of someone who has learned to leave with hair loss.

[Hidden]

Actually i've read this now Ben and I think I am taking it rather well. I've not started meds yet apart from Pred but my hair has been thinning out over the past few months anyway. It is my pride and joy - although I do nothing to it apart from getting it cut intermittently - but suddenly - it is thinning and I'm aware of it having had allopecia once as a child and twice as an adult. Maybe it's the stress of being in limbo and pain this time who knows? And it's not all I'm worth and hopefully my other half and those I fancy flirting with will still find other things about me attractive - such as my dry humour and my astonishing talent as an artist - you never know!?

And so I think this is a brave blog because if hair loss becomes a fact of life for many with RA then it's nice to have a man saying "hey it's not all you amount to .. you're a person.. find a way around this like you have with all the rest of living with a load of lemons" and that's a good thing for me to read right now so thank-you Ben! TT

[cathie in reply to Hidden]

Nice to see Ou back but wish you were better

Greetings from our weekend in plockton