Scraping back your hair can make you bald

There was some interesting new research published recently about how scraping back your hair can cause baldness.

It sounds a little far-fetched but it is absolutely true.

Dermatologists have reported seeing increasing numbers of men suffering from traction alopecia around the forehead and temples afer they have tied their hair in a top-knot.

Celebrities such as Leondardo DiCaprio, Jared Leto, footballer Gareth Bale and Harry Styles from One Direction have all been pictured recently wearing these ‘hipster’ man buns.

The trouble is, if the roots are pulled at over a long period of time, they become damaged – and hair will cease to grow. The technical term for this is traction alopecia which is also common in women. Naomi Campbell has suffered from this in the past and has been seen with signifcant hair loss at the front of her scalp.

We have experience of this problem at Crown Clinic where our patient Calum Best blamed his ‘Croydon Facelift’ for accelerating his hair loss in his 20s.

Calum used to wear his hair in a tight ponytail – the so-called Croydon Facelift. His roots were weakened and he thinks this was one of the contributing factors in his early male pattern baldness.

It is a view shared by Crown Clinic hair transplant surgeon Asim Shahmalak who said: “Men can permanently damage their hair by pulling it back in this way. They need to be careful and not put too much stress on the roots.”

The good news is that you can repair this damage to your hair with a hair transplant, as Calum has done three times previously at Crown Clinic. His hair is looking better than ever and his career goes from strength to strength. Well done, Calum.

We are glad to have helped!