Philip Kingsley - The Hair Bible: A Complete Guide to Health and Care

A Complete Guide to Health and Care

PHILIP KINGSLEY

W riting this book has made me realize, yet again, how lucky I am to have such a wide range of expert friends from whom I have been able to seek information and advice. Also, how incredibly lucky I am to have a team of trichologists and staff who go beyond the call of duty. I particularly want to single out Claire Edgecombe, my irreplaceable personal assistant, who has worked all hours with my numerous and interminable (it seems) re-writes in the attempt to make my deadline, as well as smoothing out my life.

Others I am indebted to include Glenn Lyons, my London Clinical Director; Brian Thompson, my New York Clinic Research Director; Carole Michaelides, who runs my clinic at Harrods; and Michael Steinberg, who, similar to Claire Edgecombe in London, smoothes my life in New York.

My professional advisory friends include Walter Futterweit MD, Clinical Professor of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Mount Sinai Hospital, New York City; Jeffrey I. Mechanick MD (Associated Clinical Professor) and his associate Elise Brett MD; Walter Unger MD (Toronto and New York); Jeremy Gilkes MD, FRCP; and Professor Stephen Franks MD Hon MD FRCP FRCOG, Imperial College, Institute of Reproductive and Development Biology, Hammersmith Hospital, London.

The list would not be complete without thanking Marcelle dArgy Smith (who wrote the foreword to my last book) for her encouragement; Caron Banfield for her spectacular front-cover styling; Terry ONeill for painstakingly photographing it; and to Piers Burnett at Aurum Press for his ideas and guidance.

Last, but by no means least, my wife Joan and my daughters Katherine, Anabel, Susan and Helen, who have helped in so many ways with remarks and choosing a suitable title for this book.

I am dedicating this book to Joan, who has put up with me for so many years!

W hen my publisher, Aurum Press, told me that Hair: An Owners Handbook had sold out, I was surprised. I dont know why I should have beenmy first book, The Complete Hair Book (Grosset and Dunlop USA, 1979), also sold out. It was reprinted in trade paperback for the USA and in a pocket paperback by Magnum in the UK. All of them sold out. It was suggested that Hair: An Owners Handbook was republished in paperback with a few updated changes. On reading it again, I realized that since 1995, its publication date, many things in the hair world had changed, thus minor adjustments would not be sufficient to really bring it up-to-date.

In addition, I have been a regular weekly columnist for the Sunday Times for about three years. I write for their Style magazine. At first I was asked to write a Hair tip of the week. My tips got quite a following, and I was asked to do a series on the effects of hair colouring, in which I had half a column weekly for eight months. Now I have my own column called The Hair Doctor, in which I write about all aspects of scalp and hair. Another surprise was the subjects that seemed to have had the most impactthe largest response was an article on hair twiddling, that is, playing with and twisting your own hair. My clinic had 3600 responses, more than any other article before or since, so much so that I have written a chapter entitled Hair Twiddling later in this book. Hair twiddling is much more common than thought, and it often results in a self-inflicted hair loss called Trichotillomania.

The past eight years have also seen the introduction of leave-in conditioners as styling aids, more focus on hair protectors (particularly sun protection), another scare on the possible cancer-causing effects of hair colouring, and the plethora of new products. Hair transplantation is more sophisticated and can give results that were not possible eight years ago. There have been significant advances in hair loss, too, and these are discussed in detail together with yet another surprise, the incidence of PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) in women and its effect on hair thinning.

There is no doubt that hair loss, hair fall and hair thinning (not necessarily the same) remain the number one anxiety-causing problem. Their effect on quality of life is so far-reaching, the psychological impact so sadly underestimated, the myths so diverse and the management often so complicated (although usually successful). The disdain many doctors give it as being unimportant and not life-threatening but simply an issue of cosmetics and vanity has almost broken my heart when seeing young women disturbed, agitated and verging on suicide after being told to pull yourself togetheryou can always wear a wig by their uncaring doctor.

It should be no surprise, therefore, that a lot of this book is given to the various forms and causes of hair loss. It will hopefully help to put your mind at rest and see the opportunities that are available. All the cosmetic aspects are discussed too: seasonal care, how to deal with dull hair, limp hair, frizzy hair, split ends, shampoos, conditioners, styling aids, colouring, perming, blow-drying, all the mythsin fact, everything you will ever need to know in your quest to attain the best and healthiest looking hair it is possible to have.

Y ou may wonder why you care about your hair so much. After all, if you were without it, you would still be aliveit doesnt hurt if you cut it. Yet how many times during the day do you look at your hair or touch it or think about it? Why does the way it looks, feels or behaves affect your morale so much? The answer is to do with sex.

It is impossible to understand the importance of human hair without appreciating its role as a sexual object. There is a vital link between sexuality and hair. To caress someones hair, to fondle or play with it, even to smell it, is, consciously or not, a sexual act. How we style our hair, how its cut, the care we give it and how we display it indicate to the world in a myriad of ways our sexual feelings, aggressions, insecurities, confidence or inhibitions. Hair is the single most important part of the anatomy affecting our psyche. We can wear the most fashionable clothes, the most expensive jewellery, our skin can be flawless but if our hair isnt right, we dont feel good. The reverse is also true.

Hair is a secondary sexual characteristic. The primary sexual characteristics are the genitals, but in virtually all cultures the human genitals are deliberately hidden from view. It is the taboo against genital display that gives hair much of its power as a sexual object. Hair is the only part of the human anatomy that can be sexually flaunted at will. The sexual nature of hair is so powerful that some societies demand its concealment or loss to symbolize sexual morality, celibacy or punishment. Nuns cut and then cover their hair, thus hiding their sexuality; Orthodox Jewish and Muslim women cover their hair in public as a sign of modesty; women collaborators in World War II had their heads shaved to desexualize as well as to punish them; monks shave the tops of their heads as a symbolic rejection of their sexuality. Labour camps in some countries shave not all of the head but only half to humiliate prisoners and make them figures of ridicule.