In a way it might have been sensible to have this chapter at the beginning of the book, but it’s not that clear cut. Perhaps after the pregnancy section in the Women’s Hair Loss chapter would have been better. Again, it doesn’t quite work, so here we are!
I have already mentioned the unfortunate fact that 50 per cent of women have post-partum hair loss. However, I did not discuss the effects on the other 50 per cent.
There is no doubt that one of the prime concerns in the vast majority of women after pregnancy is their hair. By focusing on their own hair, adding to the stresses of bringing up a baby, poor baby’s hair is often an afterthought. ‘What can go wrong with a baby’s hair?’ they may think. Well, not a lot in reality, but there are aspects you should bear in mind and certainly rules that should be followed.
Firstly, a baby is born with a specific number of hair follicles, which control how much hair they will have throughout their life and whether their hair will be fine, medium, coarse, straight, wavy or curly. These factors can’t be changed, as they are all genetically predetermined. Many babies are born with barely any noticeable hair whilst others have quite a crop. If your baby looks bald, don’t worry: the hair will grow eventually. The time it takes varies enormously, and mothers have brought their one and two year olds to me, worried that they have so little hair. Hair, though, is as individual as walking, talking or becoming potty-trained–when the time is right, the hair will grow.
A newborn baby’s scalp is not fully formed. At the top of the head (the crown) the skull bones have not yet completely knitted together, leaving a ‘soft spot’–almost an indentation. Baby’s scalp bones are also soft. As a consequence, mothers are often afraid to wash their baby’s hair for fear of injury. However, the scalp should be bathed along with the rest of the baby.
The best way is to gently ladle warm water onto the scalp with the palms of your hands and pour a little of your own shampoo diluted (one part in five with purified water) onto one palm. Rub your palms together and with the flat of your hands gently caress your baby’s scalp until the shampoo lathers, then rinse it off by ladling more warm water onto it again.
You may wonder why you should use your own shampoo and not a ‘baby’ shampoo. The answer is that what suits you will usually suit your baby. Also, so-called ‘baby’ shampoos (what a wonderful name–it automatically denotes mildness) did not compare well when tested against ‘adult’ shampoos. I blind tested numerous shampoos, including baby shampoo, for my first book, and I’m sorry to say that baby shampoo didn’t get good marks. It is true that they don’t sting the eyes, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are better for the hair.
Similarly to your own, it should be washed daily. If your baby’s hair is not washed frequently, the natural scalp secretions and skin shedding can congeal into a rather unsightly yellow-brown covering of flakes called ‘cradle cap’. This can look quite unattractive, with some babies being more prone to it than others. Moreover, the latest scientific opinion suggests that some types of milk can be a factor in this condition, in which case a change in milk formula could help. Likewise, if for some reason mother’s milk isn’t suitable, a change to a milk formula bottle could be beneficial.
Cradle cap may develop if you neglect the daily washing of your baby’s scalp or it may develop for other reasons: the baby may be unduly sensitive or, as has been suggested, parents with chronic dandruff (see Chapter 10) are more likely to have babies who are extra prone to cradle cap. Either way, cradle cap can be easily removed. Warm a little light vegetable oil and gently dab it on the scalp with a cotton wool ball. Leave on for five to ten minutes and dab the scalp similarly with diluted (one part in five) shampoo. Rub the scalp gently with the palms of the hands in a circular movement, ladle more water to get a lather and gently rub this with the palms of your hands too. Finally, rinse off by ladling more warm water from your palms to the head. The number of times you will need to do this will depend upon how much cradle flaking there is. You will need to do it every day for a few days to remove the cradle cap if it is very congealed. When clear, it is a good idea to do the process occasionally anyway. This, too, will depend on the baby’s tendency to produce the condition.
As your baby gets older, washing hair becomes more difficult. Most children hate it because either the shampoo stings the eyes or water gets into them. However, it is essential to keep the hair and scalp clean. A good way to get over an infant’s dislike of hair washing is to turn it into a game. Give them a face cloth to hold over their eyes and ask them to guess where you are going to touch their head first or where most water will be felt and so on, a bit like blind man’s bluff.
To avoid tangles do not rub the hair too hard and always use a conditioner. It is odd that often mothers do not consider it necessary to use a conditioner on their child’s hair. On the contrary, it’s just as important as it is for adults, particularly if the hair is long or has been exposed to sun, wind, pool water or beach life. Comb the hair gently and never brush it hard. Also avoid tight clips and ponytails with tightly wound bare elastic bands–all of these can lead to hair breakage and traction hair loss.
The toddler and infant stages end at about three years old, and up until this age it is advisable to use a diluted version of your own shampoo. Pour 1oz (30ml) into a bottle and add 4oz (120ml) of purified water. Shake well and use as necessary. After the age of two and until the age of five, the percentage of shampoo can be increased to 50 per cent, then 75 per cent and full strength at five or six. This is what I did with my daughters, now aged nineteen and twenty-two, and their hair is wonderful.
As your child grows up, his or her hair will begin to change. A baby’s hair is very fine and has a small diameter–which is not surprising considering the size of the host. The hair’s diameter gradually increases from birth to two years, growing rather rapidly up until the age of four or five, then begins to slow down. By the age of ten or eleven, when puberty is on the near horizon, the scalp hairs have reached their full diameter–a little earlier in girls than boys.
Up until puberty, hair is relatively trouble-free, assuming you take reasonable care. This is really quite easy: children rarely have chemical processing such as bleach (unless from sun), colour, perming, tugging when blow-drying, tight ponytails or hair pulled back too tightly. Ordinary daily shampooing and conditioning should keep it in good shape.
This is more common than realized amongst school children. It’s odd that this infestation is almost always referred to as ‘nits’ and hardly ever as ‘lice’. I suppose ‘nit’ sounds more genteel. But obviously you have to have a living louse to lay the eggs (which are the nits) in the first place.
Lice are greyish white in colour and sometimes brown, particularly when they have had a feed of your blood (sorry about this), and you have to peer very closely to see them, as they are only about 3mm long, with the male being slightly smaller than the female. The female lives for about a month and lays seven to ten eggs a day, which hatch in a week into ‘nymphs’. The nymphs reach maturity in eight days or so. Nymphs and adults suck blood from the scalp and in doing so inject their saliva into the skin, causing itching; the scratching often removes the louse, which can then be seen under your nail.
Lice are not necessarily the result of dirt, although poor hygiene can be a factor, as this means that not enough overall care is being taken. Private schools are as prone to outbreaks as state schools, and infestation is more common in girls than boys because of their longer hair. It is also thought that girls’ sweat and sebum secretions are possibly more to the louse’s liking as well.
The only way to catch lice is through direct contact, either through shared combs, brushes, hats or even chair backs. The stigma attached to ‘having nits’ is very strong, but it is really no different than catching any other infection such as a cold. Furthermore, they are much easier to cure than a cold. A couple of applications (or even one application) of a shampoo or lotion made for this purpose usually kills them off. However, lice, which have been in existence for as long as we have, rapidly acquire a resistance to a specific medication, in which case changing to another should do the trick. Your doctor or chemist will advise you on this.
Removing the nits from the hair is bothersome. They are dead after the application of the ‘nit killer’, but they remain unattractively stuck on the hair shaft. A nit comb is used for this–a comb with very narrow teeth, which dislodges the nit as it is combed through the hair. It can be laborious and time-consuming.
There has been some controversy on the side effects of the drugs used in louse shampoos and lotions, most containing Malathion, with many warnings. However, shampooing the hair, following with a creamy conditioner and not rinsing it out to leave the hair slippery, then using the nit comb, can also be quite effective and has no possible side effects. This needs to be done once or twice a day for two to three days, and even longer if a live louse is found after a couple of days. A leave-in conditioner as well as the normal conditioner being left in could also make it easier–but it’s still laborious.
Puberty, leading up to the teens, is a time for rapid metabolic changes, with primary as well as secondary sexual characteristics being the most obvious developments. Primarily, there are changes in the internal reproductive processes, and external signs of these occurrences are manifested in the genitals in boys and in the breasts in girls. The hair, being a secondary sexual characteristic, also changes, not only on the scalp, but on the body as well. By the teens the scalp hair has reached its largest diameter and is at its thickest. Unfortunately, this is where the good news often ends. The oil glands work overtime, the hair is usually worn longer and the hair often acquires an odd, almost rancid odour. ‘You’ve got smelly hair’ is the taunt given from one teenager to another. The one taunting may well have the odour themselves but can’t smell it. Mothers bring their teenagers to see me to find out if anything is wrong. But it’s not really an ailment: it is natural to produce oil and sweat, and the hormone surge and its continuation can result in extra production of these secretions. The cause of the odour is lack of hygiene–it’s like body odour of the scalp. Body odour is cured by regular bathing, and smelly hair can similarly be removed by daily shampooing. Teenagers are notoriously sensitive to any negative remarks about them, so parents need to tread very carefully when trying to recommend something for smelly hair. It’s really best not to draw attention to it, but instead treat them to an expensive, premium quality, nice smelling shampoo and conditioner as a gift, perhaps for doing something to help you. And say to them, ‘These smell so nice that your boyfriend/girlfriend will love smelling you!’ Or something to that effect. Daily washing is such an easy cure–it’s just simple hygiene.
Without detracting from shampooing, teenage diets are not the best, and all the junk food with their high fat or sugary content can also effect the skin secretions adversely. However, this is really difficult to control, so you should try to counteract junk by giving them salads, vegetables and fruit at every possible occasion–if, indeed, they want to eat them when these foods are offered. Difficult, I know–I’ve been through it!
At about age eighteen the secretions will begin to slow, but by that time teenagers have usually become quite self-critical, even narcissistic, and will be taking much more notice of themselves anyway without any prompting.
I’ve not yet finished with adolescence. Added to everything else, it is the age when dandruff can rear its ugly head. And dandruff in the early teens is extremely common. But more about this in the relevant chapter–which, as it so happens, follows this.