Your hair plays an important role in the amount of confidence you have. Hair you don’t like or having issues that affect your hair can also impact your mental health. Each individual has a different hair type, but society’s views on how your hair should look is always in a certain way. Hair is one of the first things people tend to notice on you. This can be worrying as you believe that your hair is important to you and others.
Different types of hair and how they affect your mental health
Hair comes in many types, from thin straight hair to thick coils. Each hair type can affect you negatively due to society’s views. Society has a view that hair should be long, thick and wavy and if your hair is not like this you can feel like an outcast or not attractive. Both younger men and women are more likely to be influenced more by how others’ hair is. Hair that is in thick coils or afro hair is viewed as negative.
Decades ago, people with afro hair or tight coils were seen as unprofessional. They wouldn’t be as likely to get a job compared to others with straighter hair. Those with finer hair also feel the struggle to fit in with society’s views and attempt to change their hair. Another big hair issue is hair loss. For both men and women this is an issue that deeply affects their mental health. Men’s hair eventually begins to recede with old age, this impacts a man’s mental health and can cause depression, or they begin living in fear of getting old. Although all of these hair issues mentioned have solutions, they can be very costly. At home hair care or cheaper versions of the haircare they want are being attempted more each day. It is important to remember these can do more damage than good.
Haircare and the haircare industry
With society’s views on how hair should look, haircare industries have made a fortune. The haircare industry sells all different kinds of products for all different hair types and sells items to change your hair, including hair extensions and hair dyes. A new popular trend out there is a hair transplant. This is most commonly used for men with receding hair to bring their confidence back. The haircare industry also helps with health conditions that affect your hair. Anti-dandruff shampoos and products to promote growth are just a couple of items that are out there to help those in need. On the other hand, using products from haircare industries or using regular professional haircare can become very expensive. Those facing financial difficulties may not be able to afford them and they can feel unworthy of having nicer hair.
Hair conditions and the impacts they have
There are many types of health conditions with many impacts, but some conditions have impacts on your hair. Having a health condition that affects your hair also impacts your mental health. These health conditions can cause depression and anxiety as well as other mental health issues.
Psoriasis is a skin disease that can affect the scalp, leaving scaly and sometimes itchy patches. This can be annoying and sometimes even physically painful for someone.
Alopecia is hair loss that can happen on any part of the body, your immune system attacks the hair follicles. This can cause someone to become depressed or even suffer from social anxiety.
Cancer is a growth that affects your health and can be fatal. Although cancer itself doesn’t cause hair loss, treatments for cancer do. You can develop low self-esteem as well as depression and other emotional issues.
The impacts of negative views on hair are mostly mental impacts. These include mental health issues like depression, anxiety, low self-worth and lack of confidence. Mental health issues can have ever lasting effects on a person and may need extra help to overcome these mental health conditions.
Mental health issues and hair
Depression is an overwhelming sadness that develops from many things. In this case, you can develop depression from how your hair is or isn’t. If you suffer from health issues that affect your hair, you are more likely to develop depression. Excessive dandruff or alopecia can bring on depression as you wish for your hair to be different but they can also cause anxiety.
Anxiety is a reaction your brain has to stressful situations. You will find that someone who doesn’t like their hair or has a health condition will suffer with anxiety when having to face going outside and socialising. You can also develop a low self-worth when suffering with your hair. As you begin to idolise those with hair you dream of having you begin to hate the way yours looks
and feels. The main emotion that drives a low self-worth is shame because you feel shameful about your hair, you then gather a low self-worth and begin to lack confidence. All of these mental health issues can also become an issue if you have too much hair. There are certain health conditions, mostly found in women, that can cause extreme hair growth on all parts of the body, which can be linked to anxiety and depression.
