“Liberated and Free, Me,” Ricki Lake wrote in Facebook caption alongside a photo of her newly-shaved head. In a long post, the actress opened up about how, after struggling with hair loss for almost 30 years, she made the decision to shave her hair entirely. She also shared additional photos (taken by Amanda Demme) on Instagram, along with a shortened version of the caption she used on Facebook.
“First things first, I am not sick. (THANK GOD),” Lake began. “I am not having a mid-life crisis. nor am I having a mental breakdown, though I have been suffering. Suffering mostly in silence off and on for almost 30 years. AND I am finally ready to share my secret.”
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In the post, Lake explained that she’s been struggling with hair loss since the early days of her career. “Ever since I played Tracy Turnblad in the original Hairspray back in 1988 and they triple-processed and teased my then healthy virgin hair every 2 weeks during filming, my hair was never the same. (Yes, that was all my own hair in the film.) From Hairspray to Hairless,” she wrote. “In my case, I believe my hair loss was due to many factors, yo-yo dieting, hormonal birth control, radical weight fluctuations over the years, my pregnancies, genetics, stress, and hair dyes and extensions. Working as talent on various shows and movies, whether DWTS or my talk show, also took its toll on my fine hair.”
Over the years, Lake tried various kinds of extensions, wigs, and hair growth supplements, and even “[got] steroid shots in the head.” Her hair extension and coloring routine was time-consuming and meant that she couldn’t leave town longer than 12 days at a time.
Along with the expense and time, the experience took an emotional toll. “It has been debilitating, embarrassing, painful, scary, depressing, lonely, all the things,” Lake wrote. “There have been a few times where I have even felt suicidal over it. Almost no one in my life knew the level of deep pain and trauma I was experiencing. Not even my therapist/s over the years knew my truth.”
Lake decided to shave her head when her hair began shedding again, “after 2 months of bliss ‘working’ in London and after my last extreme diet where I lost 20 lbs in 6 weeks.” Now, she wrote, she’s “free": “For 2020 and beyond, I want to be real.”
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According to the academic medical centre the Cleveland Clinic, over 50% of women will experience noticeable hair thinning at some point in their lives. About 30 million women in the U.S. are affected by female pattern hair loss (FPHL). It can be caused by a variety of factors, including heredity; tight ponytails, braids, or other styles (called traction alopecia); stress to the body (including weight loss, childbirth, surgery, and illness); certain medications or medical treatments; menopause; and autoimmune skin disease.
Although thinning hair is common for women, it’s still stigmatised and can take a serious emotional toll. "Those of us who don't currently have issues with hair loss take for granted that [hair thickness] has important implications with regard to self-esteem, attractiveness, desirability, and youthfulness,” Maryanne Senna, MD, a dermatologist and instructor at Harvard Medical School who specialises in hair loss, previously told Refinery29. Due to the stigma, people, particularly women, who experience hair loss often don't know how to begin seeking treatment, are reluctant to ask for help for fear of seeming vain, or are unaware that potential solutions even exist.
Other celebrities have recently opened up about their own similarly emotional experiences. Last year, Selma Blair shared about her hair loss as a side effect of chemotherapy, and in 2018, Jada Pinkett Smith opened up about her struggle with alopecia areta, an autoimmune disorder that leads to hair loss.
Lake hopes that being open about her journey will “[strike] a chord with so so many women and men," she wrote. "I am not alone in this and my goal is to help others while at the same time unshackle myself from this quiet hell I have been living in.” Her Facebook and Instagram comments, full of other people sharing their stories, prove her right.