The Belgravia Centre Blog

According to recent reports, pop star Lady GaGa has become the latest celebrity to experience hair loss.

While for many celebrities their hair loss is due to genetic hair loss conditions or auto-immune disorders (as with Gail Porter’s Alopecia), Lady GaGa’s hair loss appears to be due to the way she styles and treats her hair.

The singer told People magazine that her hair is falling out because she colours it so much. A natural brunette, Lady GaGa is as well known for her platinum blonde hair as she is for her bizarre outfits and catchy pop songs. But it seems that her hair colouring regime is now catching up with her, with the pop star commenting to the magazine that she misses her natural dark hair when she has to, “get a chemical haircut because my blonde hair is falling out.”

It’s not immediately clear what the pop star means by a ‘chemical haircut’, but possibly it refers to a tidy-up at the hairdresser’s to even up the hair loss caused by the bleach.

Hair loss due to chemical over-processing

As someone whose image is integral to their act, Lady GaGa may want to lay off the (bleach) bottle for a while, or face wearing wigs more often off-stage as well as on. Constantly changing hairstyles are a large part of the visual element of her act, sometimes using a wig, and sometimes subjecting her own hair to some new torturous styling.

But with her admission that her hair is falling out, it seems likely she is suffering from a form of Traction Alopecia, a type of hair loss in which excessive tension is put on the hair and is a common cause of hair loss in women. This may be caused by tight hairstyles such as braids, pony tails and corn rows, but it can also be caused by over-processing with chemicals, such as bleaches and dyes, as seems to be the case with Lady GaGa.

Why is bleaching bad for hair?

Bleach is a popular way for those with naturally dark hair to turn it blonde. The chemical that creates this effect is hydrogen peroxide, which effectively removes the colour from hair. It does this by entering the hair shaft and dispersing the molecules which give hair its colour. While this is an effective way of lightening hair or making it blonde, repeated use can be harmful to the hair, particularly when it is used in sufficient quantities to turn naturally dark hair platinum blonde, like Lady GaGa’s. This is because, as well as lightening the hair, the active chemicals in the bleach also strip it of its moisture, making it dry, brittle and more prone to breaking. The longer the bleach is left on, the more damage is done, and a lot of female hair loss cases are triggered this way.

If, like Lady GaGa, you continue to bleach the hair again and again, the hair shafts never have time to recover, making permanent damage possible.

What should Lady GaGa do to prevent further hair loss?

The most sensible thing for the singer to do, and the kindest to her hair, would be to stop bleaching it and let it revert to its natural colour. If that isn’t an option, simply reducing the frequency of bleaching or opting for a darker shade would reduce the ongoing damage, but this would not stop it entirely.

When hair has been damaged due to over-processing it’s more important than ever to be kind to it. If hair is dry, rough or brittle it is in poor health, and will need to be nursed back to a better condition.

Treating hair loss

At the Belgravia Centre we deal with all manner of hair loss conditions, and help people to restore their hair’s health, prevent hair loss and re-grow hair.

In the case of Traction Alopecia due to chemical over-processing, we would advise Lady GaGa or anyone else with the condition to cease dyeing or bleaching their hair before trying to repair the damage.

As no two cases of hair loss are the same, our experienced hair loss experts would work with the patient to determine the best way to stimulate hair growth. We have a wide variety of tools at our disposal, including the scientifically proven pharmaceutical hair loss treatments Propecia (although this is only suitable for treating male hair loss )  and Minoxidil. We also increase our number of hair loss success stories by using  additional hair loss products to nurture hair back to health.

For more information on our treatments, please contact us for a free consultation, or fill in our online diagnostic form to find out how our treatments can stimulate hair growth.