Design By Flora: 'Losing their hair is like losing their thumb'

[gmonasco]

Flora Shepelsky, a wig designer by trade, never realized that her occupation would give her such a large window into the field of psychiatry.

Dealing with women struggling to come to grips with hair loss, however, has made her a caretaker of their emotions as well as their hair.

"Hair defines a woman," said Shepelsky, owner of Design By Flora in Teaneck. "Losing their hair is like losing their thumb."

http://www.northjersey.com/news/busi...ir_thumb_.html

[Tracy C]

Originally Posted by gmonasco

"Hair defines a woman," said Shepelsky, owner of Design By Flora in Teaneck. "Losing their hair is like losing their thumb."

Words cannot describe how true this statement is... Men want to have hair - but women need to have hair. Society can accept a man who has hair loss. Society rejects women who have hair loss.

Some of the guys here wonder why I loose patience with them... Try to imagine what it would be like to be treated like a leper. That is what it is like to be a woman with hair loss.

[DepressedByHairLoss]

Tracy, you do have very good points here and you are right for the most part. Hair loss is terribly depressing and miserable for a man but at least there are examples of men who can function and achieve some degrees of success with hair loss. For women, it's a totally different story, I agree. The one thing that I will say is that women with hair loss generally receive a hell of a lot more compassion and empathy from the mainstream media and other sources in general. I've seen several articles on female hair loss where the writers of the story treated the subject with respect, empathy, and compassion. Whereas in article related to male hair loss, the writers of such stories treat male hair loss with lame attempts at comedy and witty banter.

[Tracy C]

You are correct to some extent. People are more sympathetic about women who suffer with hair loss. However, out in the real world women with hair loss are still treated like lepers by most people. Men with hair loss are usually not treated like lepers. Sympathy offers so little comfort it is barely worth mentioning. If I had to choose between the jokes and being treated like a leper, I would choose the jokes. It's the lesser of the two evils.