What is Alopecia? When you hear this word you automatically think about the most severe case of hair loss but in reality Alopecia is simply the medical term for Hair loss. Whether its thinning edges, hormonal in nature, hereditary, permanent or temporary! 

Alopecia  affects  about 50% of Black women by age 50 and 1 in 3 will deal with traction alopecia. How many of you know at least one woman affected by this? 

There is a Silent Epidemic....

Most Black women with hair loss don’t go to a doctor which means countless cases go undiagnosed and untreated.

Instead, many of us go straight to our stylist for a cover-up rather than a consultation for the cause. When hair loss is ignored or hidden, it can progress to permanent damage and we lose the chance to intervene early.

Knowledge and early diagnosis gives us the power to break this cycle!

I want to focus on 3 types of Alopecia that plague the black community. 

Traction alopecia

Traction Alopecia is the most common amongst black women and the most accepted. What do I mean by that? Think about growing up and seeing the elders of your family, your grandmother, your aunts and sometimes an occasional young cousin with micros but no edges. Thinning edges was like a staple in the family so much so stylist didn't ask questions they just covered it up, not in ignorance or lack of concern but because it wasn't alarming enough to address. Now we bond over it. Its a conversation starter, we could probably put it on a t-shirt....#teamnoedges and it would sell out! We have to start asking questions and sharing holistic information to contribute to our fellow edgeless sister self care. 

Central Centrifugal Cicatricial Alopecia (CCCA) 

The origin of the hot comb holds both beauty and oppression. Thermal styling allowed black women in the 19th century to display a Eurocentric standard of beauty, a sense of prestige even. All while collecting countless burns to the scalp and forcing what was made to stand strong, speak loud with texture, curl, snap and pop back! Our hair was made to look beauty standards in the face and say tuh! I wasn't made to lay straight! I came to take up space! Unaware of the chronic inflammation and cellular damage that was being caused by this direct heat to the scalp through generations to come, we have accumulated scalp scars of conformity. CCCA is now linked to chemical relaxers, and fungal infections. Current research shows that High blood pressure meds could also be a contributing factor.

Trichotillomania (TTM)

Nail biting, skin picking, lip biting are all forms of body focused repetitive behaviors that give a false temporary relief but cause long term damage if not treated at the root. TTM is similar in nature. It often falls under the category of OCD, because it's not classified by hormones, bad health hygiene or deficiencies in the body but by anxieties induced by trauma.

So let's dig a little deeper and exposed some unspoken truths with a few case studies....

 

Meet Erica,
A 32 year old woman who has grown limited in styling options because her temples are thin. She desires to wear her hair up but she is too ashamed to ask her stylist for a new style  because it would open up dialogue about her traction alopecia. She exchanges her frustrations with her trusted friends after noticing more spreading of her loss area. Now it's becoming difficult to hide the sides of her hair with twists so she starts digging to find solutions. Her stylist suggest that she takes a break from braiding for a while so she complies. Erica visits a local Trichologist in her area and receives a scalp consultation and medical history evaluation. She answers all the questions, but purposely leaves the question about medications blank. See Erica has been secretly living with Syphilis for some time now and listing her medication for this venereal disease would expose her secret. Her shame is keeping her from the solution that would give her clarity on the moth eaten like hair loss adding to her traction alopecia. It's often hard to detect because the area gets wider, but under the microscope reveals what's naked to the eye. Erica is experiencing a Syphilitic Alopecia episode, the bacteria from this STD is causing damage to the follicles and interrupts the hair growth cycle.....temporarily. Shame contributes to the stress, the body is a Holistic system. YOU have to treat your mind, you are not the lies you tell yourself because of this, your body needs to release the shame and your scalp seeks the proper treatment by getting to the root of the issue! 

Meet Donna,
She’s a 55 year old, Black history teacher who has spent her life teaching young people about bias, injustice, and the strength of her people. But now, in her own life, she’s facing a different kind of struggle one that shows up every morning in the mirror.

She was diagnosed with Central Centrifugal Cicatricial Alopecia, or CCCA. At first, she tried to ignore it, holding onto the hair that was left, telling herself she could push through. But the thinning in her crown kept getting worse. Cutting her hair short feels like surrender, while wearing a wig feels like weakness. She asks herself often: “How did I let it get to this point?”

The regret is heavy. She thinks about the decisions she made with her own hair over the years the hot combs, the relaxers, the styles that pulled too tight. That regret spills over into how she raises her daughters. She constantly reminds them, “Protect your hair. Wear it natural. Don’t make the same mistakes I did.”

On top of that, she’s taking metformin for her health, and it leaves her scalp irritated by many natural hair care products. She even tried PRP treatments — Platelet-Rich Plasma injections. Doctors drew her own blood, spun it down to separate the platelets, then injected it into her scalp to try to wake up the hair follicles. It was painful, expensive, and emotionally draining. After a few sessions with little progress, she felt depleted not just in her body, but in her spirit.

And for a woman who has spent her life fighting cultural bias, it feels cruel that the bias around hair around her hair is now one of her biggest triggers.

But there’s hope. Recently, she found a stylist who understands both healthy hair and the emotions tied to it. This stylist isn’t just offering treatments  she’s offering compassion. Together, they’ve created a plan: cutting some of her hair shorter to relieve the stress, while introducing a lightweight topper for her crown. It gives her volume where she needs it most, while still allowing her to feel like her hair is hers.

For the first time in a long time, she’s starting to imagine standing in front of her students, not ashamed of what she’s lost, but proud of how she’s choosing to move forward.

Her story is proof that hair loss is never just about hair  it’s about identity, legacy, and the courage to be renewed.

Meet Tameka,
A 41 years old,  single mother of four, and the leader of a nonprofit organization that serves her community. To the outside world, she looks strong, capable, and resilient. But inside, she lives in a constant state of hypersensitivity, always alert to her surroundings, always worried about her safety and the safety of her children.

Her triggers come from a painful past. Years of abusive relationships left scars that never fully healed, and the abuse she endured mirrors what she saw growing up her father abusing her mother. That childhood imprint convinced her, for far too long, that such treatment was “normal.”

One of the ways her trauma shows up is through trichotillomania hair pulling. She often doesn’t even realize she’s doing it. When she’s deep in thought, stressed, or anxious, her hands go to the front of her head. Over time, this has created a large circular bald spot near her hairline. To cover it, she ties her hair in high ponytails, trying to keep the world from seeing the evidence of her pain.

She’s tried braids, hoping that keeping her hair tucked away would stop her from pulling. But braids alone won’t fix what’s happening because this isn’t just about the hair. It’s about the trauma beneath it.

For years, she was told her hair pulling was just “a habit,” something she picked up as a child the way some children use a pacifier. But now, through therapy, she understands the truth: pulling her hair was never just a quirk. It was a coping mechanism a physical response to the emotional chaos she grew up in.

Her healing has required courage. It means having difficult but necessary conversations with her children, helping them understand the impact of her past, and breaking the cycle so they don’t carry those same scars.

She’s also learning the importance of a team of professionals:

A hair loss practitioner, who explained what happens when hair is repeatedly pulled  how it interrupts the natural growth cycle, forcing strands into the resting phase too early, leaving them brittle, sparse, and fragile.

A therapist, guiding her through cognitive behavioral therapy to reframe her thoughts and give her healthier coping strategies.

A dermatologist, providing medical support with habit reversal training and, when necessary, treatment to protect the follicles and prevent permanent scarring.

For Tameka, recovery isn’t just about regrowing hair it’s about reclaiming herself. With consistency and collaboration, her hair has a chance to grow again. But more importantly, she’s learning that her worth and her healing run deeper than what shows up on her scalp.

Her story reminds us: hair loss is often the symptom. The real healing begins when we address the root.

At 43, she wears many hats entrepreneur, wife and mother of four. From the outside, people see the image of strength: a polished professional who built a career helping women restore their confidence through healthy hair. But behind the scenes, her own journey tells a story of resilience and quiet battles.

For years, she lived with the pain of ovarian cysts, pushing through while raising her children and growing her business. Then came the iron deficiencies so severe that fatigue became her daily companion. Iron infusions became routine, another appointment squeezed between meetings, family responsibilities, and the weight of entrepreneurship.

As she entered perimenopause, her body began to change in ways she hadn’t anticipated. Hormones shifted, cycles grew unpredictable, and with those changes came a new heartbreak: her hair. Once full and strong, it now felt brittle, fragile, and thinner than before. Her “stress spot,” the area she always guarded most carefully, became increasingly weak. Each time she styled her hair, she was reminded of the very struggle she counseled her own clients through.

For a hair loss practitioner, appearance is not just personal it’s professional. She knew every consultation, every public appearance, every Instagram post carried an expectation. She was the face of healthy hair. And yet, in the mirror, she saw a woman whose crown was betraying her.

Stress only deepened the cycle. The long hours, the pressure of maintaining her brand, and the responsibilities of motherhood created a storm that her body carried quietly. Cortisol, iron deficiency, hormonal shifts together they wove a web that her hair could not withstand.

And yet, her story is not one of defeat. She turned her chair around, looking at her own scalp with the same compassion she gives her clients. The thinning at her crown was not failure it was a reminder that she, too, is human. That even the experts can walk the same road as those they serve.

She began adjusting her routine gentler shampoos, nourishing scalp oils, protective styles that honored her fragile strands. She committed to her medical treatments, monitored her ferritin levels, and leaned into nutrition and self-care. Some days required wigs or toppers, not as a mask, but as a tool of empowerment.

In this season, her story became her testimony: you can be the healer and still need healing. You can be the practitioner and still walk through the practice. And perhaps, her most powerful lesson is this: hair health is not just about beauty it’s about the whole woman, her stress, her hormones, her nutrition, and her ability to care for herself even while caring for everyone else.

Let’s end this silent epidemic together.

If you’re in the Rochester area, I offer a Mobile Scalp Health Analysis Service designed to help you understand the root cause of your hair and scalp concerns and take the first step toward real solutions. 

Ready to know what’s really going on with your scalp?

The Truth in Roots™ Mobile Scalp Health Analysis is a 1-hour professional consultation using a 60x magnified scalp scope to reveal the true condition of your hair and follicles in real time.

We assess hair loss patterns, scalp health, density, thickness, keratin levels, and pore condition so you get answers, not guesses.

You’ll receive:
✨ Detailed scalp images
✨ A personalized Dermatologist Referral Form
✨ Custom product recommendations

This is your first step toward healthier hair with clarity and confidence.

Book your Truth in Roots™ Scalp Analysis today.

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