![Untitled design - 2022-03-29T124423.897](https://img.etimg.com/thumb/msid-90513061,width-650,height-488,imgsize-1255421,resizemode-75/untitled-design-2022-03-29t124423-897.jpg)
Rock, who is a comedician, jokingly compared Pinkett-Smith to ‘G.I Jane’ for her baldness and while the actress rolled her eyes as Rock used her medical condition to elicit laughs from the audience, her husband, the ‘King Richard’ star huffed onto the stage and lodged tight slaps on Rock’s face after he cracked the joke, and warned him angrily to not take Pinkett Smith’s name.
While the incident has now snowballed into an investigation, and the Academy is deciding whether to take disciplinary action against Smith, it has also made people curious about alopecia, and why it happens.
What Is Alopecia?
Pinkett Smith revealed in 2018 that she had been struggling with alopecia. For those of you who have never heard about this condition, alopecia is an autoimmune disorder that causes all or some of the hair to fall out.The hai often falls out in clumps the size and shape of a quarter. However, how the hair loss progresses or the degree to which it happens varies from person to person.
Some people lose it only in a few spots. There are, in fact, four major types of alopecia. The first kind is called Alopecia areata totalis which causes complete hair loss, the second type is alopecia areata universali which makes a person not only lose hair on the head but also on the other parts of the body and the third type is known as Diffuse alopecia areata which is characterised by a sudden thinning of your hair and does not cause bald patches. Lastly, the fourth type of alopecia is Ophiasis alopecia areata which causes hair loss in a band shape. It generally happens on the sides or the back of the head.
In December, last year Pinkett Smith began losing hair in band shape. The actress took to her Instagram account and posted a video in which she can be seen completely bald, and wrote, "Mama’s gonna have to take it down to the scalp so nobody thinks she got brain surgery or something. Me and this alopecia are going to be friends period! (sic)."
In the video, the actress talked about living with alopecia, and the sudden twists and turns that the disease throws at you. She said, "Now at this point, I can only laugh. You all know I've been struggling with alopecia and just all of a sudden one day, look at this line right here. Look at that. So it just showed up like that and this is going to be a little bit more difficult for me to hide. So I thought I'd just share it so y'all are not asking any questions," said Jada in the video.
![alopecia alopecia](https://img.etimg.com/photo/msid-42031747/et-logo.jpg)
The Stigma Of Alopecia
While baldness in men isn’t uncommon, they are not as frequently judged for it as women. So, alopecia – a medical condition – which affects men and women alike, impacts women very differently compared to their male counterparts.
Also Read |Academy launches formal probe against Will Smith for slapping Chris Rock. Could this cost 'King Richard' star his Oscar?
Talking about her own struggles with the disorder, Jada Pinkett Smith in a 2018 Facebook interview revealed that she was terrified the first time her hair started falling out. The ‘Gotham’ actress said,“I was in the shower one day and had just handfuls of hair in my hands and I was just like, ‘Oh, my God, am I going bald?...It was one of those times in my life where I was literally shaking with fear.”
The actress said that the decision to chop off her hair wasn’t an easy one, as she took a lot of pleasure in her haircare rituals, and she thought that her hair was a big part of her.
![alopecia_2 alopecia_2](https://img.etimg.com/photo/msid-42031747/et-logo.jpg)
Why Does Alopecia Happen?
What Are The Symptoms & Diagnosis?
It is time to consult the doctor if you feel you are losing hair in clumps. If you see bald spot (s) emerging, ideally examine it to tease out the hair surrounding the bald spot, and if they come off easily when pulled, chances are you have alopecia. Alopecia is mostly characterized by those bald patches, however, excessive hair loss during cold weather and finger nails or toenails growing brittle and reddish are also indications of this ailment.
Alopecia is not curable. However, it can be treated and managed.
(Catch all the Business News, Breaking News, Budget 2024 Events and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.)
Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the ET ePaper online.
Read More News on
(Catch all the Business News, Breaking News, Budget 2024 Events and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.)
Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the ET ePaper online.