Hair loss can occur at any stage of life, and for a number of different reasons. And in this respect, all men are not equal:if some will carry a beautiful mane in their coffin, others must from their twenties face a bald halo in the middle of their skull. On average, however, it is considered that it affects one in two men aged fifty. Seniors are therefore very likely to be affected. So what to do when you find yourself bald? How to manage and accept it?
In most men, the reason for this premature hair loss is that of an excess of hormones called androgens , that is to say, responsible for the characteristics commonly considered masculine. However, their presence in the body is hereditary. So if you start to lose your hair in quantity and quickly, and especially if your ancestors also have a bald head, there is not much more to do to stop the carnage.
Of course, there are other reasons that can cause alopecia. This is also why it can affect, admittedly much more rarely, women as well. One of them is stress . It is not so rare for a person to lose all of their hair almost overnight following an emotional shock that is too violent, for example. All other forms of stress and traumatic experiences also lead to the production of hair-damaging hormones. Other factors that come into play are food — it is recommended, for example, to avoid acidic foods, and conversely to stock up on vitamins, trace elements and nutrients to protect your mane — or even chronic fatigue. In general, a weakened body will affect the proper functioning of the hormonal system, which in turn will affect the hair.
When you start to notice hair loss, it can quickly turn into an obsession. We notice and suddenly enumerate any hair on the pillow or in the stitches of the sweater, we observe in front of each mirror if the breakthrough of the gulfs within the hair has not been made a little deeper during the night, And so on. If the phenomenon is therefore a priori only aesthetic - at the limit, you may have a little colder head in winter, but it has been millennia that humans no longer rely frankly on their limited fur to ensure their survival — this in turn has psychological consequences sometimes quite dramatic for the people who are victims. This is undoubtedly valid, especially as one is affected by young baldness, but the elderly are not all spared. No matter the age, it's never nice to be reminded of the degradation of your body.
This is understandable, since the problem is not so much the hair loss itself, but the fact that it is imposed on you. Because yes, alopecia is first and foremost a reminder of one's own aging and therefore, ultimately, of one's mortality. Of course, just because you have a hairline in the back of your head doesn't mean you have one foot in the grave, and making baldness an existential issue might seem like a bit of an exaggeration — nevertheless. , this is what this phenomenon more or less consciously reminds us of. It is true that hair, which after all continues to grow even after death, is eminently associated with vitality. However, in our time, it is not so much the real age that counts as the symbolic age, the one that we imprint on others, and this precisely with the help of these markers of vitality. And more generally, the hairstyle in general is associated with the social group to which it belongs:a change in this respect marks a change of identity, a passage from one age to another, or from one status to another, such as recalled the Musée du Quai Branly exhibition "Dearest hair".
This association with aging reinforces another phenomenon caused by baldness:the impression of suddenly losing capital seduction, as is often the case for women who hide their white hair. Here again, it may be easier to live with advancing age — since it is no longer the only part of the body which no doubt perishes — but it remains complicated for everyone to no longer feel attractive, or at least not as much as one has been, and all the more so no doubt when one has been a charming seducer when younger. Here again, it is a question of making a cross on a past chapter of his life. And it is true that we have never seen a bald James Bond before... Between loss of self-confidence and the impression of aging prematurely, alopecia is therefore not a lethal affliction, but it can, we understands, have serious effects on the well-being of those who are affected! This can lead to a withdrawal into oneself and, at least in part, but all the more so if other factors (retirement, health problems, affecting sight for example, etc.) are added to it. , contribute to a feeling of depression. It is no longer missing that we find ourselves in this period on the "market" of seduction, and his confidence in his own power of seduction can be annihilated at the same rate as the hair that falls from his skull...
Added to this is the gaze of others . If no one will judge you for your hair loss — or else you need to think about changing friends or partners! — on the other hand, it is possible that some of them allow themselves jokes that are not always very pleasant, especially when they press precisely on an already sensitive point.
So yes, there are already the little everyday benefits :you no longer waste time at the hairdresser and you save the cost of a monthly visit, as well as the uncomfortable shampoo and the forced smile in front of the inevitably failed haircut. But hey, that remains a small consolation in the face of the real complex that baldness creates in many men.
If many of them suffer to some extent from their hair loss, few actually take the step of a medical consultation . So it seems that most men get used to it and end up mourning their hair. For those who cannot, however, there are several solutions. The most extreme and the most expensive is that of a hair transplant (very effective, but costing around 7000 euros). There are also different ways to help stop hair loss:a healthier diet and lifestyle, learning to massage the scalp to stimulate microcirculation, or using a minoxidil-based hair lotion.
For others, you simply have to face the inescapable:there is not much more pathetic than a man clinging to his last hair in order to conceal - and without the slightest success - his baldness. :we all have in mind this image of a man having folded down all his few remaining hair from one side of the skull to the other. No, the easiest way is often to have a full shave or very short skull. You have to see the change in status associated with a hair change as positive:you become a mature man, which is not without its charms and advantages either. Few older people manage to stay in touch with youth without being a little outdated:they might as well take on their age and their hair loss. As often, it is by starting to love yourself as you are that you become attractive in the eyes of others!
If the myth of Samson or the scalps that the Amerindians stole from the skulls of their victims in order to appropriate their vital energy tend to reinforce this stereotype according to which the hair would be symbolically associated with a form of power, and therefore to complex men with alopecia, we can also find many examples where it is the bald head which in turn becomes a marker of virility – if that is what complicates you. After all, it is precisely an excess of these hormones androgens (which are all hormones associated with male traits) that causes alopecia!
Remember that baldness is very common . There is no need to ask "why me?" if it happens to you one day. Unfortunately, women cannot say the same, as those with alopecia rarely run the streets and often attract all eyes despite themselves. With almost two-thirds of men inevitably affected one day or another, rest assured that no one will look back in your way, stunned to have crossed paths with a bald man!
