YOU AND BARBIE LEARNING ABOUT HAIR LOSS

Bald Barbie!

Click here for more information on Bald friend of Barbie: Bald Barbie

I feel like Barbie is often equated with everything evil about women’s body image.  Completely disproportional, if she was life size, supposedly, she would not be able to stand upright, and would have to crawl around on all fours.  It probably wouldn’t help that her feet aren’t flat, and she could only walk around on her tip toes.  While I have my doubts that Barbie is a particularly responsible for little girls feeling bad about the way they looks, it is nice to see her name pop up in a story where she might make someone feel better about themself.

A few facts: Mattel decided to make this doll based on a social media campaign by parents, to help sick children deal with the hair loss cancer patients suffer from.  The doll will not be available in stores; they will instead be donated to children’s hospitals. The doll, “a friend of Barbie,” will come with wigs, scarves, hats and other fashion accessories.

I kind of wish they would sell them at stores or online so that children struggling with hair loss but not in the hospital could still have access to the dolls. But I’m glad that Mattel is making this step!

What do you think of Barbie’s bald friend? Do you think the doll will help children deal with hair loss?

THE IMPORTANCE OF HAIR DYE

Cancer is a very serious topic, as it should be.  Articles tend to be about new discoveries of carcinogens or new cellular research.  While these articles are interesting, they generally remind us how far we are from really understanding this disease, and leave me feeling a little sad.  So it’s nice when an article about cancer is uplifting, focusing on recovery and moving on with your life.  Click here for an article on: DYING YOUR HAIR AFTER CHEMO (or click on photo above).

Hair loss is one of the most well-known side effects of chemotherapy.  The easiest way to indicate that a character has cancer is a bald actress or actor (though I feel like most characters with cancer tend to be female, why is this?). However, no one talks about what it’s like when the hair begins to regrow.

According to the article, hair tends to grow back curlier and greyer than initially, although it goes back to its normal texture within a year.  Therefore, dying it might be a slightly different process then before the chemo, but the people in this article seemed to like the opportunity to reinvent the way they looked.

I liked this article because it focused on the point that is incredibly important to the cancer treatment process, that there is life after cancer.  And that having enough hair to dye is a cause for celebration.

Also, please check out our Hera Madcapz. For every Hera Madcapz cap sold, Madcapz will donate $3.00 to the Hera Foundation, which is dedicated to fighting ovarian cancer.

Did you like the article as much as I did?  Have you or someone close to you started dying your hair again or hit a similar milestone?

Story Teaches Kids To Deal With Children With Hair Loss

CNN recently reported on a young girl whose experience with cancer evolved in to a book that teaches kids about hair loss from chemo treatment. Emma Wheeler was 5-years-old when she was diagnosed with leukemia; she required chemo and as a side effect she lost her hair.  She described how “it was embarrassing because people could not tell if she was a boy or a girl.”

The Long and The Short of it: A Tale of Hair, a book in which Emma is a character, is used to teach children about cancer and chemo and why their peers lose their hair during treatment.

Nurse Dawn Stys states, “how children cope with hair loss depends on their age; younger school age kids, deal with it right up front, it’s pretty traumatic when it does happen, but then they adjust pretty quickly.  Teenage girls are the most in to their images and obviously their hair and hair styles are a big part of that, so it’s really difficult for them.” 

To order the book, click on the photo below:

And to see the CNN story in its entirety, click here: HAIR LOSS FROM CHEMO

Olympic Gold-Medal Winning Gymnast Shannon Miller

Shares Her Chemo Experience

Shannon Miller may be an Olympic gold-medal gymnast but she is also an ovarian cancer survivor.  In a 4-entry journal, Miller shares her personal experiences with hair loss from her chemo treatment.  On Day 14 of the treatment, Miller shares “how she was in pure shock at the amount of hair left dangling from her brush after she did her hair.”  To read the complete journal about her emotional experience with women’s hair loss,  click on this link: HAIR LOSS FROM CHEMO

Autumn Brings Hair Loss for Women

Autumn is here and that means shorter days, harsher weather and, according to Swedish researchers, it means more hair loss for women. In a study published in the Journal of Dermatology, scientists found that women lose the most hair in the autumn’s months.  Hair has various growth stages and while at any given time 90% of hair is growing, the other 10% is in a resting state (known as telogen). This resting state occurs most often in July with it ending 3 to 6 months later, when the hair falls out – the autumn months!

The autumn season isn’t the only cause of unexpected hair loss in women.  According to research, a number of medications can trigger hair shedding, as can lack of iron.  Other common causes of hair loss in women include: polycystic ovaries, skin conditions, crash dieting; particularly low-carb diets, thyroid problems, contraceptive pills, being overweight, and stress.

For more info read here: AUTUMN HAIR LOSS FOR WOMEN

Donate Your Hair To Those In Need

Locks of Love is a public non-profit organization which provides hair pieces to financially disadvantaged children in the United States and Canada under the age of 21 suffering from long-term medical hair loss.  The organization’s mission is to return a sense of self, confidence, and normalcy to children suffering from hair loss by utilizing donated ponytails to provide the highest quality hair prosthetics. Most of the children that are helped by the organization have lost their hair due to a medical condition known as Alopecia Areata, which currently has no known cause or cure.  The children receive their Locks of Love free of charge or on a sliding scale, based on their financial need.

Locks of Love relies on hair donations. There are some simple guidelines that one must follow in order to donate hair: hair must be at least 10 inches long from tip to tip and must be in a ponytail before being cut. For a complete list of guidelines please click here: http://www.locksoflove.org/donate.html

To read more about this wonderful organization and find out where you can donate your locks click on the photo below:

Have you or someone you know donated to Locks of Love?

When people ask me why I started Madcapz they are often surprised to learn that I had no aspiration to be in retail or to own an online store. I created Madcapz out of a need. Simple as that. I was losing my hair from Grave’s Disease and was so anxious about my hair loss. I had always had incredibly thick hair and because of the Grave’s my hair was extremely thin and brittle and falling out. I wasn’t bald but for someone who had always had a incredible head of hair, it was devastating.

I never considered myself an exceptionally vain person, but hair loss for many women, as I’ve since learned, can be traumatic. And it was for me. I was very self conscious of going out without a hat, so every time I ventured out, I grabbed one of my husband’s baseball caps. I liked the look of a baseball cap and it was fairly comfortable, but I didn’t like the boring drab colors of the caps he had.

One day as I was heading out for my walk, I thought it would be great to have a fun colorful baseball cap to wear on my walks. So began my search. But it wasn’t easy to find one, in fact, it was impossible. After much searching, I decided to try and create one. I went to a fabric store, and I am not a crafty person, but I went and purchased some pretty fabric and cut and glued pieces of this fabric on to an existing baseball cap I owned. It looked pretty good, I have to say. After showing it to a few friends, I thought maybe I was on to something!

Who knew that what was an initially devastating experience, woman’s hair loss, would turn in to a fun fabulous business of selling colorful baseball caps for women?

See all of our fun colorful baseball caps for women and let me know which is your favorite!

Is Your Hairstyle Causing Hair Loss?

Girls with braids, weaves, tight high ponytails. What do they all have in common? They are now being linked to women’s hair loss and CCCA (Central Centrifugal Cicatricial Alopecia). These hair styles pull at hair strands and cause inflammation and then scarring. The repeated pulling causes hair loss of CCCA. Although the hairstyles are most popular in African-American women, all females are at risk. Be careful how you wear your hair and remember that a Madcapz women’s hat is always better than any old hairstyle anyway!

Firefighters donating hair

Hair loss is very frightening for children but thanks to a group of firemen from Rhode Island, they will show the children that being bald isn’t so bad after all. The firemen are turning the head shaving into a party at a local pub at the end of the month. The event also is hoping to raise money for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. The group of firemen are hoping to raise $2,500 for the foundation.

What a great idea, don’t you think? To read more click on the photo below:

Hair Loss Myths

Hair loss is quite common and yet the causes are very misunderstood. Did you know the following are not true:

1) Hair Loss is passed down from your mother’s side

2) If you’re balding, you are old – It can start as young as teenage years.

3) Hats cause hair loss – not true, we love our caps

4) Trauma can cause hair loss

5) Rogaine can prevent hair loss

6) Gel and hairspray are factors in hair loss – not true so ladies we can continue using our favorite brands

7) Exposure to sun causes hair loss

Carbs can lead to hair loss

9) Sexually active individuals go bald first

To read more on hair loss, click here: Women’s Hair Loss