Hair loss is, unfortunately, a hereditary condition.  The human race has perfected ways to cook your ready meal using a microwave, can beam satellite transmissions via space across thousand of miles to your television set and even send men to the moon, but if you’re balding baby, you just have to live with it.

At least, that was the case as little as one hundred years ago.  Enter the French nobility and their penchant for powdered wigs.  Hurrah, the day is saved!  Alas, those beautiful powdered wigs you see in the movies today hid a multitude of sins not evident on your squeaky clean television screen.  Vermin, lice, dust, dirt and grime were all unpleasant things that had to be dealt with.  Really, can you imagine going on a fox hunt with a two pound lump of fur perched on top of your head?!

Simply keeping this monstrosity of fashion in place was a feat of great courage and skill and many a ballroom dance was likely ruined by that very wardrobe malfunction.  Still, necessity is the mother of invention and over time things gradually began to improve.  Modern advancements in synthetic hair are now creating such realistic weaves that it’s extremely difficult to tell fake hair from real.

A popular option is to have the wig surgically stitched onto the scalp by means of wire loops.  This needs to be redone periodically as the new hair grows back.  Another option available to you is to have artificial hair implants, a process whereby synthetic hair is implanted into the living tissue of the scalp under anaesthetic.  Alternatively, a strip of healthy hair is surgically removed, the wound is stitched shut and the living follicles are transplanted into areas of the scalp where old follicles have died off.

Hormonal treatments are often used, but these usually have the side effect of also growing new unwanted hair on the face, back and other areas.  Hair loss is not only a problem suffered by men, but many women suffer with it as well.  It’s never a consideration until you realize that your once full head of hair is now slowly disappearing and it can be a cause for depression in a great many sufferers.

The way to deal with hair loss is a very personal decision.  Whether you choose a toupee, a wig, a weave, synthetic or natural implants or to ultimately go all the way and be the best Kojak impersonator you can be, the choice is personal and one that you have to be comfortable with.