Television leading lady Gail Mabalane recently shocked fans when she debuted a new hair makeover. Renowned for her Halle Berry-esque cropped do, Mabalane chopped off all her hair.
Talking to Sowetan yesterday, she explained that the dramatic beauty transformation was triggered by her diagnosis with central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia (CCCA) two months ago.
CCCA is a common cause of hair loss in black women. Two of Mabalane's aunts also suffer from the same condition.
"It has always been a thinning that I knew was there, but I never thought it was this serious. It's something that we always brush aside and move on with our lives," she said.
"The alopecia that I'm particularly diagnosed with is hereditary." Mabalane explained that before she consulted with a dermatologist, she had for years struggled with hair loss in the centre of her scalp.
She added that last year when she was expecting her second-born child, the condition got worse as she had bleached her hair a lot.
"With me what aggravated the condition was that when I was expecting I must have coloured my hair like 10 times in a space of a month to get to a certain colour." "On top of that I used gel for that particular hairstyle for a while and that did some serious damage to my scalp." CCCA primarily occurs in the crown top of the head, before spreading outward. Failure to treat it can result in permanent hair loss.
"I just want to educate women about hair loss. We take whatever the hairstylist gives to us and we resort to hair growth activations," she said.
"In actual fact we need to consult a professional and understand what is going on. I'm grateful that my hair is growing back and it's something that can be managed."
