As black women age...do they get bald?

[bermudabeauty]

My mother is 63yrs. old. She has very thick relaxed/colored hair short hair and grows very fast. She and I both noticed that she is beginning to have very small bald spots in her head. They are about half the size of a small pen cap. Her hair is still growing, I know you can see the gray every month. My mom has recently transitioned from no lye to lye back to no lye relaxers in the last year. Maybe that is the culprit. She does have 4 older other sisters and their once thick lustrious hair is thinning and you can see bald spots on them too. So I ask...as black women age do they get bald?

 

[naturalgurl]

I think it happens in every race and is probably hereditary.

 

[LunadeMiel]

No one in my family has gone bald. My paternal grandmother died last with a head full of thick natural hair. It would say it was about apl/bsl. My maternal grandmother is still alive and has all of her hair. All of the women that I know who still have thick hair as they age are all natural.

 

[bermudabeauty]

My mom thinks it is hereditary too.

 

[MizzBrown]

Many Factors IMO.

Aging, heredity and dont shoot me but RELAXERS! At 63 yrs old, can she count how many times she put a relaxer on her hair?

As you age, your hair is not as strong as it was before so folks are STILL putting the same strength relaxer on their heads after 30 & 40 yrs.

I really believe you should go without relaxers when your hair reaches that level of age.

 

[Leeda.the.Paladin]

I think it happens in every race and is probably hereditary.

I agree. I know quite a few white older women who are balding/thinning. However, I think it might be more prominent in BW because of the stress we can sometimes put our hair through over a lifetime.

 

[HoneyDew]

I don’t think it is a standard that we go bald as we age. I think all women and men have the risk of suffering from hairloss as they age, and from my own research, it often seems to be hereditary.

I do think that a lot of the problems that we have with our hair as we age may have something to do with years and years of over processing and heat and other bad hair habits. It is hard enough on hair of a young person, let alone on weaker graying hair.

My maternal grandmother had thick beautiful long hair until the day she died. It had special needs when it got totally grey, ie yellowing, etc, but she still got a relaxer and everything in her old age. It was beautiful and we all loved doing her hair for her.

So I don’t think it is a standard, but it should make black women think more and more about how they treat their hair in younger days.

Still I don’t think you can help problems that are hereditary except research all the products that are so popular these days for all men and women suffering from hair loss.

 

[Gracie]

I don't think that it is as much as a race thing as it is heredity. I know a lot of older black women that were able to maintain their thickness but most of them did not use perms when they were younger. My mom, 2 of her sisters, and grandmother all experienced a significant amount of thinning as they aged but her identical twin did not and neither did her younger sister.

 

[CenteredGirl]

My grandmother "Miss Mary", died a couple of years ago at the age of 108. Her head was pretty bald. Her spirit however was in really good shape. I miss her.

 

[naturalgurl]

I believe a few follicles may die and quit producing, but when it's abundant it's usually hereditary. I see Chinese, Asian Indians, White, Hispanic and Slavic women who have very thin hair mostly at the crown and front in their older age. Then you see some women of these same races with a head full of hair...comparitively speaking.

 

[bermudabeauty]

Many Factors IMO.

Aging, heredity and dont shoot me but RELAXERS! At 63 yrs old, can she count how many times she put a relaxer on her hair?

As you age, your hair is not as strong as it was before so folks are STILL putting the same strength relaxer on their heads after 30 & 40 yrs.

I really believe you should go without relaxers when your hair reaches that level of age.

You make a very valid point. My mother is mixed and she has beautiful natural hair. It wasn't until her 40's when she decided to put a relaxer in her hair. I think I will try and influence her to go all natural. Thank you for your input.

 

[Paradox]

My family does around the age of 70, and it's not from relaxing.
Many of them don't relax.

 

[spacetygrss]

It's a combo of heredity and hair practices. All women on the maternal side of my family have some thinning, but it's mostly significant in the women who relax their hair. My maternal grandmother was native american and never had a relaxer and had thinning, but not to the extent as my aunts (her daughters) who all relaxed until there was nothing left to relax. My mom's hair thinned at the crown and she started having a bald spot. Her stylist refused to relax her hair anymore and the thinning/bald spot stopped progressing.

 

[JustKiya]

My grandmother did - she actually went almost totally bald - but I steadfastly believe it was the relaxers that killed her scalp. My mom still has a lot of hair, and she's in her 50's - heck, she just got some grays a couple of years ago. My greatgrandmother died with a head FULL of waistlength snow white hair.
I think I'm taking better care of my scalp than any of them did, so I think I'll be straight.

 

[bermudabeauty]

To be honest it is making me start to worry. I don't want to be like that. I textlax my hair. I don't leave the relaxer in very long anymore. Once I put my relaxer in, I wash it right out. Maybe these natural heads have the right idea. Seeing my mom go through this....I'm considering going natural, but I love the creamy crack!

 

[MAMATO]

I think it is mainly hereditary. Have you all noticed that most Asian women pratically go bald with age. While they have very beautiful, thick and straight hair when they are young, they seem to lose all the thickness with age and I am not talking about bald spot only, it is all over their heads.

 

[Ms. Analeise]

My mother and I were just discussing this subject last night.

I was looking through her high school year book and noticing how about 90% of the females had head fulls of hair (this included the faculty as well). The only person I can compare them to is Oprah when she used to wear her hair straight.

You do not see this type of fullness (seemingly healthy) hair on high schoolers and young adults these days. Why? Most of them relax now. Back in the late 60's, most people got their hair pressed.

Also, I can see a difference in my own hair. I got relaxers from the ages of 13-26. I stopped because no matter how well I took care of my hair, what hair "professional" I went to , what products I used- it just wasn't as strong and healthy as it used to be. (Although, I believe beauticians had a lot to do with it now that I look back on it.)So, I stopped relaxing.

Almost 7 years later, my hair is much fuller and stronger and grows at a decent pace. However, I look back at pictures of when I was a child and my natural hair is still much thicker than it is now. So, within that 13 years of relaxing, I do believe in my heart that some hair follicles were permanently damaged.

This is just my personal observation of my hair. As others have mentioned; heredity, personal practices, illness/medications also are big factors.

 

[vickid]

My derm claims that by age 40 all women have lost over 35% of their hair and it’s a downhill slide after that (YIKES!). She blamed heredity, stress (to some extent), chemicals and environment. She stressed antioxidants (topical and internal) to strengthen the hair you have although she swears that none of these will actually grow hair--grapeseed, flax, rosehip seed, borage, fish, alpha lipoic acid and Vit C.

 

[firecracker]

Naw son some do and plenty don't. I have seen quite a few minority women who's hair is thinning out in the top but its more than likely due to years of relaxers, dye, stress, enviromental issues, hereditary etc.

 

[discodumpling]

In general women of all ethnicities experince thinning with age. This is not a phenomenon exclusive to us a women of African descent.

Many black womens dedication to chemically enhanced hair (among other unhealthy hair practises)just speeds up the process.

 

[Aggie]

No ladies in my family got bald, so it may have something to do with heredity. My remember my grandmother's hair before she died was wayyyyy thick and my grand aunt that is still alive today has really really thick curly hair. My hair of course is not as thick as hers or my grandmother's hair but I am alright with that. I love my hair as it is.

 

[MekyakaKinkerbelle]

Many Factors IMO.

Aging, heredity and dont shoot me but RELAXERS! At 63 yrs old, can she count how many times she put a relaxer on her hair?

As you age, your hair is not as strong as it was before so folks are STILL putting the same strength relaxer on their heads after 30 & 40 yrs.

I really believe you should go without relaxers when your hair reaches that level of age.

Fully agree with MizzBrown!

 

[Br*nzeb*mbsh~ll]

No one in my family has gone bald. My paternal grandmother died last with a head full of thick natural hair >>>this is probably why they still have their hair, they are all natural. It would say it was about apl/bsl. My maternal grandmother is still alive and has all of her hair. All of the women that I know who still have thick hair as they age are all natural >>>i think relaxers are the culprit in this balding issue......

it's something that I have observed, as well.

 

[Glib Gurl]

Many Factors IMO.

Aging, heredity and dont shoot me but RELAXERS! At 63 yrs old, can she count how many times she put a relaxer on her hair?

As you age, your hair is not as strong as it was before so folks are STILL putting the same strength relaxer on their heads after 30 & 40 yrs.

I really believe you should go without relaxers when your hair reaches that level of age.

That is a great point - I never thought of that.

On the original topic, I have noticed more and more black women 50+ yo who seem to be balding . . . I don't know if it's the relaxers or what, but it makes me very sad (and scared!)

My mom has some balding, but she's always had thin, fine hair . . . mine has always been very thick (although I do think the perms are making it less so).

 

[heyfranz]

My mom is 69 and natural. No balding or thinning. My paternal grandma is over 90 and she had a see thru crown until she went natural a couple of years ago. Her hair is longer and thicker than i've ever seen it in my life. Sooo, i know that eventually i will transition again (for the 3rd time). My maternal grandma always had long fine hair, always a natural and her hair was the same when she passed as it always was. I don't know if you can use chemicals on your hair for 70 years and expect it to stay on your head, but genetics definitely play a role.

 

[oldcrayons]

It depends on your genes, not race.

 

[DMJ's Mom]

I think it might depend my mom is 62 years old and still has thick APL length hair but my grandma's hair is super thin. (but she always wore wigs so her hair may have always been through

 

[Dak]

One plus is that as hair turns grey the diameter gets thicker, so although there's slightly less hair, it's not as thin as it was.

 

[yuriko]

Most women notice thinning of their hair as they age, and this regardless of race, just look at barbara walters' hair, and you see what I mean. This is part of normal aging, Some women suffer from hereditary baldness which causes thinning at the crown. It has nothing to do with being black

 

[empressri]

I notice the thinning usually with longterm use of heat and chemicals. Now some just have a head full of hair and can do any old thing to it and not lose hair, but mostly I believe the culprit is the aforementioned.