Kaya 959 Reporter
The whole world is talking about the controversial moment between Will Smith and Chris Rock at the 2022 Academy Awards, and at the centre of it all is Jada Pinkett-Smith’s hair loss condition, also known as Alopecia.
After her husband Will Smith seemed to strike comedian Chris Rock in response to a joke he made about her shaved head, Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair loss became the subject of an unanticipated controversy at the Oscars on Sunday night.
Pinkett Smith has previously opened up about her battle with alopecia, which she initially shared in an episode of her podcast, Red Table Talk, in 2018 and has h has maintained a shaved head since July 2021 due to her alopecia.
She’s also spoken openly about her condition on Instagram, in December 2021 as she ran her finger across a bald line patch on her scalp and said “Y’all know I’ve been struggling with alopecia and just all of a sudden one day, look at this line right here. Look at that.”
“So it just showed up like that and this is going to be a little bit more difficult for me to hide. So I thought I’d just share it so y’all are not asking any questions.”
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What is Alopecia?
The term “alopecia” refers to hair loss in general, however there are various forms of alopecia.
According to Harvard Medical School, over a third of women will experience hair loss at some point in their life. In addition, according to a peer-reviewed study released in 2018, Black and Hispanic women in the United States had a “far greater” likelihood of acquiring alopecia areata, the medical term for the autoimmune illness Pinkett Smith suffers, in their lifetime than White women.
Androgenetic alopecia is a hereditary disorder that affects both males (male pattern hair loss) and women (female pattern hair loss). Hair loss is caused by alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease. This most commonly occurs in patches on the scalp or other hair-bearing areas of the body, such as the beard, eyebrows, or eyelashes.
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