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Injectables

Treating Afro hair loss: signs, symptoms and specialist interest

02 June 2021
Clinical
02 June 2021
Volume 10 · Issue 5

Abstract

This article explores the different types of hair loss that black women may experience more than other groups of patients. Properties of African hair and the impact of hair care practices are discussed, as well as factors affecting the presentation of other hair loss conditions.

It is important for the aesthetic practitioner to be able to distinguish between the temporary forms of hair loss that they can help to treat and the permanent or scarring forms of hair loss, which need a prompt referral to a dermatologist with a specialist interest in hair. Prompt recognition and referral can help to delay the progression of hair loss.

The symptoms and signs that patients and practitioners should be alerted to are explored, as well as the treatments that can help and where referrals may be necessary. Recent developments and gaps in knowledge are summarised.

Hair type has traditionally been divided into three main categories: Caucasian, Asian/Mongolian and African. There is great diversity in the phenotype of African hair, which, in Africa, varies from very tightly coiled in the south to very straight in the north of the continent. For the purpose of this article, ‘African hair’ refers to the tightly curled black hair that is typical of people who originate from sub-Saharan Africa.

Hair loss in black women in the UK is likely to be more common than previously acknowledged. A study conducted in a West London dermatology clinic in 2015, which explored hair loss in women with ‘Afro-textured’ hair, concluded that hair loss in black women should be considered a public health issue, as it found that approximately 50% of its sample of women of African descent experienced some form of hair loss (Dadzie and Salam, 2015). Clinicians are increasingly encountering skin and hair conditions in people of colour, and it has been acknowledged that there is a significant gap in education in the UK (Ashman, 2021).

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African hair
Black hair
Central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia
Traction alopecia
Trichorrhexis nodosa