Is Azealia Banks Heading Towards Hair Loss?

Outspoken rapper Azealia Banks shot to fame in 2012 thanks to her single 212. Banks is known for her bold fashion choices and ever-changing weave hairstyle, with the New York native even mentioning it in some of her songs. Fresh from her latest Twitter spat with celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, we take a look at what wearing a weave actually involves and the hair loss that Banks might be faced with.

Weaving Her Way To The Top

Banks has revealed that her 'Rapunxzel' moniker came about when she used to work at Starbucks before she hit the big time, where she became known for wearing her hair in a long style using a weave. For those unfamiliar with the term, a weave is when human or artificial hair is integrated into your normal hair to create new and often longer or thicker styles without the need to use damaging chemicals.

Whilst a weave is kinder to your hair than chemically straightening it, the pressure from the weight on the hair and also from the rigidness of the attachment is detrimental to the well-being of your scalp, and will probably result in excess breakage and damage to the hair follicles to which it's attached. This can, and in many cases does, leads to traction alopecia, where hair grows back very thin and eventually ceases to grow in affected areas.

Weaves Through The Ages

The use of weaves dates right back to Ancient Egypt, when women believed long hair to be more elegant. However, in modern times, weaves were disregarded until the 1950's, when super long hair was once more in Vogue. Weaves can be attached through a variety of methods, including bonding, which is essentially gluing wefts or sections of hair onto the person's real hair, and these bond attachments last between 4-6 weeks before coming lose.

For a more long-term weave, tracking is a technique that involves braiding the person's natural hair and sewing the weft onto these braids. Braiding in itself can cause too much pressure on hair follicles, but when weight is added to it, traction alopecia can once more occur. There are many other ways to weave hair, and all involve adding weight onto pre-existing natural hairs. If you don't want to stop wearing a weave we would advise using the least amount of additional hair possible in order to minimise damage.

I've Woven Some Damage Already, What Do I Do?

If you're already experiencing hair loss due to your weave, The Belgravia Centre has found that the most effective means to treat the loss and encourage regrowth is to use our unique high strength minoxidil 10% and 12.5% creams on affected patches of hair. This MHRA (the UK's medical regulatory body) licensed hair loss treatment involves applying the cream twice a day, and can show great results in a short period of time, just check out our hair loss success stories. So if you want to look like Azealia, make sure you're looking after you hair, too! Check out the video for more information about minoxidil and the results that it can achieve.