Losing one's hair can be a very depressing moment in the lives of a lot of people. Most men will typically experience some hair loss once they reach a certain age, but for women it's much more rare. Considering the importance society places on a woman's hair, the loss of such a big piece of their identity can be very distressing.
This is what Jada Pinkett Smith has been going through. On the newest episode of her Facebook series, Red Table Talk, she tells her mother, Adrienne Banfield-Jones, and her daughter, Willow Smith, about her struggle coming to terms with the loss of her hair.
"I've been getting a lot of questions about why I've been wearing this turban," Jada says. "Well, I've been having issues with hair loss."
Jada says it came on suddenly one day in the shower, with chunks of hair falling off her head. She says that it was a moment in her life where she was literally "shaking with fear." As a result, she kept having to cut her hair shorter and shorter, to the point now where she just wears turbans.
Jada claims that she's done every kind of test there is, but the doctors haven't been able to determine the exact cause of her hair loss. Her friends have suggested that she might be under too much stress, or that she might have alopecia, a condition which can cause baldness in certain places or all over the body.
She seems to have made peace with herself, however. "People are out here who have cancer, people who have sick children," Jada says. "I watch the higher power take things every day, and by golly, if the higher power wants to take your hair. That's it?"
