The Balding Handbook: mourning the death of your hair

Drawing on his own hair loss experience, David Frank Stern has used Kübler-Ross’ ‘five stages of grief’ to create The Balding Handbook.

This is a self-help book with a difference, it describes the balding process through Kübler-Ross’ five stages of mourning; Denial & Isolation, Anger & Rage, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance.

Although David is in a better place now, his painful hair loss journey is a familiar one.

Stage One – Denial and Isolation. Within this section, David delicately discusses topics like ‘the bald man’s crack’, AKA baseball caps, yet also tackles harder head-wear like fedoras, sombreros and Indian headdresses. David claims that if you own more than six hats or spend more than five minutes rearranging your hair into any combover-type style, you may be in denial.

Stage Two – Anger & Rage. There’s no doubt that the balding man will often need an outlet for his fury. Stern provides some cathartic exercises to help with this, like defacing your bald ancestors’ graves or ripping the heads off Ken dolls, which surprisingly verge on the comedic side.

Stage Three – Bargaining. By stage three, balding brothers are looking to a higher power, begging god to give them their hair back. In this stage, Stern takes his suffering brothers through the entire sales process.

Stage Four – Depression. By now, you’ve realised that your hair loss is permanent and a feeling of hopelessness overwhelms you. However, Stern lets you know where to turn for words of comfort. He also encourages you to seek recovery by finding other bald brothers.

Stage Five – Acceptance. Your journey ends with a renewed sense of energy and purpose. Stern offers tips on writing obituaries and reinforces the fact that there is power in numbers.

The book is available to buy from www.thebaldinghandbook.com

HIS Hair on BBC3 documentary

Who saw HIS Hair featured on BBC3’s ‘I Want to Change my Body’?

Aired on Monday, the programme focussed on young people aged between 16-25 who were going to extreme lengths in order to feel happier with themselves.

 

Jamie, a 25-year-old professional dancer from Blackpool, started losing his hair when he was 18 and was unhappy with his receding hair line. He spent hours styling it in the morning and found that it was holding him back in the dance world.

   

Jamie decided to opt for MHT® in order to feel more confident and develop his career.

 

In the documentary, you see Jamie attend his consultation with HIS co-founder Ian Watson at HIS Hair’s Harley Street clinic. Fellow co-founder Ranbir Rai-Watson performed Jamie’s treatments in Manchester and Paris to fit in with his schedule.

Watching the treatment in progress, you can see the huge difference it makes to Jamie’s look. He is shocked but loves the change.

By the end of his two treatments and touch-up treatment, Jamie’s new look is in full swing.

 

Since having MHT®, Jamie’s confidence has improved enormously and he has been offered a new job in the US and the Caribbean.

We are so happy that our treatment has done so much for Jamie’s self esteem and we wish him the best if luck.

You can catch ‘I Want to Change my Body’ on BBC iPlayer here.

Blogger’s documentation of her hair loss during chemotherapy makes the prospect of losing hair a much less daunting experience

This week, blogger and Breast Cancer sufferer, Laura Price, documented her hair loss experience during chemotherapy in her latest blog for The Huffington Post. The blog sees Price not only share her hair loss experience with photographic documentation, showing that it is not such a daunting thing to go through as would first seem, but she does so with wit and humour, her light hearted approach showing that hair loss cannot crush the human spirit, and that it is something that should be embraced, not feared.

As well as making light of the sensitive situation, stating ‘you save a fortune on shampoo and conditioner,’ Price gives a real, straight-forward picture of what hair loss meant for her, stating ‘Being bald hasn't exactly been the best thing to ever happen to me, but it certainly is liberating.’ While Price doesn't deny the fact that losing her hair was an unwanted obstacle to battle with, she notes that it should not be seen as a negative thing, but as something wholly liberating, if approached with a bit of humour and imagination.

Her advice on ‘How to lose your hair in 10 easy steps (ideally during chemotherapy)’ gives those going through the same process a guide to taking charge of their hair loss and not letting it beat them, with pieces of advice such as ‘ask a friendly local hairdresser to create a pixie crop,’ ‘Return to local hairdresser for full Sinead shave’ and ‘Don a wig and adopt an alter ego accordingly’ that will help people to overcome the thought of losing their hair.  

Price’s light advice gives those about to embark upon a similar experience, whether through chemotherapy or other means, some light relief, and shows that losing your hair is not as daunting as it would initially seem if you embrace the process and inject a bit of fun and humour.