Hair could be a deeply private a part of our our bodies and appearances, which might make coping with hair loss extraordinarily emotionally taxing. By the point they flip 40 years previous, 40 % of girls expertise hair loss, in response to the American Academy of Dermatology, and hair loss is usually linked to perimenopause and menopause — which all ladies undergo once they hit early center age. That’s a staggering variety of ladies that have hair loss, particularly contemplating how little it’s talked about. There’s not a lot of a stigma round male sample balding, however many ladies battle hair loss in silence, which is why it’s so vital for celebrities akin to Jada Pinkett Smith, Tyra Banks and Keira Knightley to open up about their expertise and present others they’re not alone.
Hair loss in ladies could be attributable to various elements, however what it comes right down to is stress. “Modifications like supply, breastfeeding, sleep deprivation and hormones place a stress on the physique,” dermatologist Dr. Lindsey Bordone told SheKnows beforehand. “In response, the physique works to preserve power and sources from areas of low precedence, akin to hair development, in favor of supporting different extra crucial adjustments happening.” When that occurs, the physique begins shifting hairs in to the “shed part” of the hair cycle, Bordone explains. Autoimmune problems like alopecia, intense sicknesses like COVID, and even easy genetics additionally come into play on the subject of feminine hair loss.
Regardless of the reason for hair loss, we all know one factor for certain: With lush heads of hair or not, everybody is gorgeous, and these celebrities are right here to show that. Although there are a number of methods to fight hair loss, from hair products and coverings to over-the-counter medications like minoxidil, typically it’s unavoidable and genetic — and typically these choices are too expensive or inconvenient anyway. To tell your self about hair loss, we collected 21 empowering tales from feminine celebrities who skilled and opened up about their hair loss.
A model of this story was initially posted February 2018.
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Ashley Tisdale
Ashley Tisdale was first identified with alopecia areata in her mid-20s, and now, she’s opening up about it.
She revealed to People on Dec 2024 that she “began to be means nicer to my hair and my scalp.”
“I used to play with a number of colours and dye my hair and bleach it, and I actually haven’t been brilliant blonde since then,” she added. “I used to put on extensions and I finished doing that as nicely. I actually began simply treating my hair higher and mainly realizing that I couldn’t take it with no consideration. So I deal with my hair higher and never stress it out a lot.”
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Jada Pinkett Smith
Picture Credit score: Santiago Felipe/Getty Photographs Jada Pinkett Smith first opened up about her alopecia diagnosis in 2018 and later shared proof of her personal hair loss journey on Instagram in 2021: “Take a look at this line proper right here,” Pinkett Smith mentioned within the video, stating among the newer naked patches. “Now that is going to be a little bit bit harder for me to cover, so I assumed I’d simply share it so y’all not asking any questions — however you understand, mama’s going to place some rhinestones in there, and I’m going to make me a little bit crown.”
Extra not too long ago, the Pink Desk Speak host has spoken about desirous to raise the disgrace round alopecia by speaking extra brazenly about it, together with in her 2023 memoir, Worthy. “Lots of people who are suffering from alopecia have disgrace about their situation,” Pinkett Smith told SheKnows in October 2023. “And one of many issues about this e-book that I’m hoping, you understand, individuals will embrace and obtain is that there’s no must have disgrace about any of it.”
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Christina Milian
Picture Credit score: Pierre Suu/Getty Photographs Christina Milian says she skilled postpartum hair loss after her first two pregnancies and, because of a stable quantity of analysis on post-pregnancy hair loss, was extra ready for it after welcoming her third little one Kenna in April 2021.
“With my first two youngsters, and most particularly with Violet, I’d say someplace between 4 and 6 months [after birth] I observed hair loss,” Milian instructed SheKnows. “It simply stored taking place, I washed my hair and subsequent factor I do know it was in my arms… It was scary, like ‘what is going on proper now?’”
She mentioned she felt self-conscious about the way in which it appeared and felt and that there was no info on the market and few individuals speaking concerning the concern outdoors hyper-specific mom-centric blogs. So she turned to her gynecologist:”He broke it down for me and instructed me to look at my weight-reduction plan, however he additionally mentioned it’s not solely the ends of your hair — it’s additionally about focusing in your scalp.”
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Ariana Grande
Picture Credit score: Stephen Lovekin/Selection Ariana Grande skilled hair loss and injury relationship again to her time on Nickelodeon’s Victorious, when she needed to bleach and dye her hair each week to realize her character’s signature purple locks. In a 2014 Facebook put up, the singer defined that the method “utterly destroyed my hair,” and she or he started carrying a ponytail steadily as a result of “my precise hair is so damaged.” Grande defined that the fashion was what “works for me now,” including that it was serving to her really feel snug “for the primary time in years.”
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Viola Davis
Picture Credit score: Michael Buckner for Selection Viola Davis started experiencing hair loss from alopecia areata at 28 years previous. After she realized her balding was from stress, she internalized the battle till she realized to embrace her hair for what it was. “I awoke in the future, and it appeared like I had a Mohawk. Massive splash of bald on the highest of my head,” Davis instructed Vulture in 2014. “I used to be like, ‘What is that this?’ Till I discovered it was stress associated. That’s how I internalized it. I don’t try this anymore. My favourite saying on the earth is, ‘The privilege of a lifetime is being who you’re.’ I’m telling you, I’ve spent a lot of my life not feeling snug in my pores and skin. I’m simply so not there anymore.”
As a result of she was embarrassed by her hair, Davis obtained into the behavior of carrying wigs wherever she went. It wasn’t till she was older that wigs, which she nonetheless wears, grew to become an possibility, not one thing to cover behind.
“I by no means confirmed my pure hair,” Davis mentioned. “[The wig] was a crutch, not an enhancement. I used to be so determined for individuals to suppose that I used to be stunning. I needed to be liberated from that [feeling] to a sure extent.”
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Lea Michele
Picture Credit score: Jamie McCarthy/Footwear Information through Getty Photographs Glee‘s Lea Michele opened up about her expertise with postpartum hair loss in early 2021, a couple of months after giving delivery to her first little one.
“The postpartum hair loss is REAL,” Michele wrote on her Instagram Story on the time, alongside a photograph of a clump of hair that hand fallen out. “Having fun with this lengthy hair whereas it lasts as a result of the mother bob is correct across the nook.”
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Lili Reinhart
Picture Credit score: Wealthy Polk for Selection In a 2024 TikTok, Lili Reinhart revealed that she was identified with alopecia whereas “within the midst of a significant depressive episode.” The Riverdale star recorded the video whereas present process purple gentle remedy, which she referred to as her “new finest pal” within the caption. (Per the Cleveland Clinic, purple gentle remedy has been promoted as a means to enhance hair development in individuals with alopecia.)
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Khloé Kardashian
Picture Credit score: Christopher Polk for Selection Khloé Kardashian obtained COVID early on within the pandemic (March 2020) and mentioned the virus induced her to lose “an excessive amount of my hair.” It fell out “in chunks,” she instructed Refinery29 in 2021 and made the fact star really feel “actually bummed — you don’t be ok with your self,” she mentioned. A couple of months later, Kardashian realized from her physician that she wasn’t alone in considering COVID induced her hair loss. It ended up being a short-term drawback, as Kardashian mentioned she’d seen “such a distinction in my hair” a yr and a half later. She attributed the renewed development to persistence, collagen, and DIY hair masks.
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Kristin Davis
Picture Credit score: Swan Gallet for WWD After she wrapped the ultimate season of Intercourse and the Metropolis, on which she performed Charlotte York, Kristin Davis started experiencing hair loss. “My hair simply was not what it was once,” Davis instructed Women’s Wear Daily in 2017. “It was very advantageous, prefer it had gone away, there simply was hardly any hair there. [It] was all the time very troublesome hair, which nobody believes after I inform them — it’s all the time been not fairly that straightforward, however as a result of I had a number of hair the professionals might assist me make it look good. It’s not like I awoke and I had Charlotte hair.”
At first, Davis ignored it and targeting different elements of her life. However when she tried to do her hair in the future, she realized she didn’t have a lot left. That’s when she turned to Volaire hair-volumizing merchandise on the advice of her hairstylist, Luke O’Connor. Davis was such a fan of the merchandise that she later grew to become the model’s ambassador.
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Keira Knightley
Picture Credit score: Dominique Maitre/WWD After color-treating her hair for years, Keira Knightley noticed that her hair was falling out. The hair loss grew to become so dangerous she wore wigs for 5 years till her hair grew again after she grew to become pregnant together with her daughter, Edie, in 2015.
“I’ve dyed my hair just about each coloration conceivable for various movies. It obtained so dangerous that my hair actually started to fall out of my head!” Knightley instructed InStyle U.Ok. in 2014, per People. “So for the previous 5 years I’ve used wigs, which is the best factor that’s ever occurred to my hair.”
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Selma Blair
Picture Credit score: Michael Buckner for Selection Selma Blair started to expertise postpartum hair loss after she gave delivery to her son, Arthur, in 2011. In an effort to maintain it actual, Blair — who like many mothers skilled the hair loss from altering hormones — opened up concerning the chunks of her hair that may fall out within the bathe and the way she would flaunt her bald patches as a substitute of carrying extensions.
“That is so not glamorous, however it’s true: I must take longer showers in order that I can accumulate the hair that falls out and throw it away so I don’t clog the drain. Why do actresses by no means speak about that?” Blair instructed People in 2011. “It simply began falling out on the three-month mark. And I’m not a lady who likes extensions, so Selma’s going to be bald!”
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Tyra Banks
Picture Credit score: Jacopo Raule/Getty Photographs for ABA Like lots of people, Tyra Banks started expertise alopecia areata, the medical time period for spot baldness, from stress. Her stress reached an all-time excessive when she was writing her 2011 e-book, Modelland, which resulted in her shedding her hair.
“Truthfully, chilling for me was consuming a meal,” she instructed The Wall Street Journal in 2011. “I couldn’t simply have a look at the ocean. And in hindsight that wasn’t wholesome. How can I say this with out tearing up? I obtained a little bit alopecia from the stress.”
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Ricki Lake
Picture Credit score: Stefanie Keenan/Getty Photographs for Academy Museum of Movement Photos After 30 years of silently coping with her “debilitating” hair loss, Hairspray star Ricki Lake opened up about her battle and took the plunge of shaving her head — and she or he says it taught her a lot about herself, her self-image and the group she surrounds herself with.
“I’ve been combating hair loss for many of my grownup life,” she wrote in a strong Instagram put up the time. “It has been debilitating, embarrassing, painful, scary, miserable, lonely, all of the issues. There have been a couple of instances the place I’ve even felt suicidal over it. Virtually nobody in my life knew the extent of deep ache and trauma I used to be experiencing. Not even my therapist/s over time knew my fact.”
In 2021, Lake revealed that she’d partnered with hair development and scalp well being model Harklinikken, which she credit for serving to her hair develop again. “It’s higher than it was. It’s more healthy and extra vibrant than I ever thought doable,” she mentioned on The Drew Barrymore Show on the time. “Those that don’t undergo hair loss, they will’t actually relate. They don’t perceive, however it was an enormous deal,” she continued. “It was one thing that consumed my life. So now that I’m on the opposite facet of it… I’m in a spot of peace and pleasure, which I didn’t count on or see coming.”
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Naomi Campbell
Picture Credit score: Gilbert Flores for WWD After rough-handling her hair for years with extensions and weaves, Naomi Campbell skilled important hair loss. She revealed to Evening Standard she “misplaced all of it.” Since then, Campbell has change into extra cautious together with her hair, resulting in most of her bald spots rising again. “I do take extra care of my hair now, as a result of I misplaced all of it with extensions,” Campbell mentioned. “I’m extra cautious, and I do various things.”
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Neve Campbell
Picture Credit score: Michael Loccisano/EveryStory2023/Getty Photographs Neve Campbell began shedding her hair when she was as younger as 23. The alopecia areata was attributable to stress from the Scream actor’s profession, a divorce she was going via on the time, and stalkers.
“I used to be horribly overworked and going via a divorce,” Campbell instructed The Daily Mail in 2011. “Additionally, I had stalkers and began receiving threatening mail. I used to be so distressed by all of it that my hair began falling out. Life hasn’t all the time been a bowl of cherries.”
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Rosie O’Donnell
Picture Credit score: Monica Schipper/Getty Photographs Rosie O’Donnell revealed her battle with hair loss on Twitter with a makeup-free photograph exhibiting off her bald spots. The comic revealed that her hair loss was attributable to growing older, which is frequent in ladies over 40. “male sample baldness … growing older is enjoyable,” she wrote on Twitter in 2016.
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Jesy Nelson
Picture Credit score: Ricky Vigil M / Justin E Palmer/GC Photographs through Getty Photographs Former Little Combine member Jesy Nelson started experiencing hair loss when she was as younger as 13. In an interview with Fabulous journal in 2012, per Daily Mail, the singer revealed she was bullied due to her alopecia areata, which induced noticeable bald spots from stress.
“I used to be in all probability about 13 when my hair simply began popping out,” she mentioned. “Stress could cause alopecia, and it wasn’t good. I obtained picked on as a result of I’ve all the time favored to decorate in a different way. I’ve by no means actually needed to slot in with everybody else.”
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Tamar Braxton
Picture Credit score: Michael Buckner for Selection Tamar Braxton skilled hair loss after the delivery of her son, Logan, in 2013. Although followers of her present Braxton Household Values tried to come back for her about her edges, she set them straight.
“When u HAVE your child …(my son) your hair falls out!!” she wrote on Instagram, per Madame Noire. Braxton additionally took the chance to present a shout-out to her favourite hair oil, Simplicity Hair Oil, for serving to her nurture her scalp and hair again to life.
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Kayla Itsines
Picture Credit score: Don Arnold/WireImage through Getty Photographs Health influencer and Sweat app founder Kayla Itsines typically had followers remark to ask about her lengthy, thick ponytail. In a 2017 Instagram put up, the Sweat app founder revealed she makes use of clip-in hair extensions as a consequence of her “genetically actually skinny hair.” Her mother and grandmother each have skinny hair, and Itsines says it’s “one thing I’ve come to phrases with over time.” She described her skinny hair as a “little insecurity” and mentioned she might see it thinning extra as she obtained older. “I’ve tried the whole lot to repair it, belief me. However, on the similar time, I’m at peace with it and I cannot let it rule my life. So as a substitute I deal with being wholesome and glad.”
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ZaraLena Jackson
Picture Credit score: Anthony Devlin/Getty Photographs It wasn’t till 2020 that ZaraLena Jackson, who starred on the fact collection Ex on the Seashore, found she had alopecia universalis, an autoimmune situation that causes hair loss everywhere in the head and physique. Jackson went on to lose all her hair in six weeks, a course of that began when the influencer broke out in rashes throughout her physique. Every week later, she instructed Look Fantastic, she observed a bald patch on the entrance of her head. “I used to be like ‘Oh my God! I’m shedding my hair, I’m bald!’” she recalled. “I didn’t anticipate what was going to occur.”
Jackson skilled anxiousness, panic, and desperation as she misplaced her hair with out realizing why. After getting identified, she started looking for therapies whereas sharing her expertise on social media. Finally, the fact star began taking a JAK inhibitor, a drugs that helps to scale back irritation and is used to deal with different autoimmune circumstances like eczema, vitiligo, and psoriatic arthritis, per the American Academy of Dermatology Association. After a yr on the remedy, Jackson had “full regrowth” of all of the hair on her head, face, and physique, she mentioned on TikTok.
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Olivia Bentley
Picture Credit score: Mike Marsland/WireImage through Getty Photographs Olivia Bentley, a star of the British actuality collection Made in Chelsea, mentioned she started experiencing alopecia and hair loss at age 16, after she began taking the contraception tablet. Bentley recalled being bullied for her hair. “It made me really feel actually insecure,” she wrote in an essay for The Sun in 2022. “I couldn’t perceive why it was taking place to me.”
Bentley finally accepted her hair loss and even ditched the lengthy wig she typically wore. “The wig was a protecting factor and I wouldn’t go wherever with out it,” she instructed The Sun in 2021. “Life is a lot extra snug now. It was like carrying a woolly hat on a regular basis… Not having to take care of that any extra feels liberating.”
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Gail Porter
Picture Credit score: David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Photographs for Hearst Scottish TV persona and actress Gail Porter misplaced her all her head and physique hair to alopecia in 2005. She’s skilled intermittent regrowth, however has embraced being bald and barely wears wigs. “Completely nothing can break me and I do know I’m a really fortunate human,” Porter instructed followers on Instagram in 2022, whereas sharing that her eyebrows and eyelashes had been falling out after “alopecia had a superb previous go at me once more.” Porter continued, “Greater than 1,000,000 extra vital issues on this world, however anybody that does get scared about shedding your hair… you’ve obtained this. Consider me.”