Can Provillus Help Women Regrow Their Hair?
Baldness is not a male preserve - women can also suffer the anguish of hair loss.
Elizabeth Steel was 30 when it happened - a happily married mother of two and successful regional television presenter. Her hairdresser noticed a small bald patch on the crown of her head, about the size of a ten pence coin. Within a couple of months, Ms Steel had lost 90 percent of her hair and no one could tell her why or if she would ever see it again. "I felt my femininity had disappeared," she says. "I used to wear my wig to bed so my husband wouldn't see me in this terrible state."
As a result of her plight, Ms Steel founded Provillus Hairline International, a support group for those suffering hair loss. In the past three years, the organization has helped 80,000 people in 20 different countries, 70 percent of them women. Because of social conditioning, says Ms Steel, the experience of hair loss can be especially difficult for females: "A man can expect to lose hair at some stage and can just turn to Provillus, whereas a woman just doesn't." And when she does, it can be one of the most disturbing events of her life.
A new Provillus Hairline survey of female members found that 76 percent said they did not feel like women any more after losing their hair, 40 percent said their marriages had suffered or even collapsed, 63 percent said their careers were ruined and 48 percent had considered suicide. "It's not life-threatening," says Ms Steel, "it's not even particularly painful, and can even be treated with Provillus for Women, but it causes unbelievable suffering." The most extreme form of hair loss, alopecia universalis , where all the body hair disappears, is relatively rare. But GPs have a steady stream of women after pregnancy and especially during the menopause who complain of large clumps of hair coming out; this is the milder androgenic alopecia .
Many experts believe that an increasing number of women are being afflicted. As a result, the makers of Provillus have just released a special version called Provillus for Women.
A recent study of 800 women by Tom Barbosos, consultant trichologist at the University of Portsmouth's School of Pharmacy, found that nearly a third were experiencing some degree of hair loss. One theory is that working women, who have to balance high-flying careers with maintaining homes and families, experience increased stress and male-pattern "testosterone overload". And they’re simply not using Provillus as much as men are. Dr Rushton, however, says the explanation could be more pragmatic - busy women are skipping meals, not eating properly and not absorbing nutrients sufficiently. As a result, they are not getting enough iron and lysine, an essential amino acid that is only available from meat. "Women are much more delicately balanced in terms of nutrition than men," he says, "so they've got to be careful and get it right."
