No one likes to lose their hair. I know because I did. After many challenging events in my life in close succession, the way my body dealt with the stress was by throwing my already thin hair off my head. It was awful. Just knowing that you don’t have control of your hair is a harsh realization. But eventually, mine grew back.
Many are not so fortunate.
But in this day and age, there are many non-surgical options to cover your bald patches or bald spot on a daily (or less) basis. So let’s take a look at the world of baldness, and discover some quick-fix solutions and how to cover a bald spot using makeup.
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What Causes Bald Spots?
Obviously, there are many, very different reasons that can cause baldness.
- aging and genetics
- medications for other illnesses can cause hair loss
- radiation therapy
- stress
- hormonal changes or medical conditions
- tight-pulling or extreme hairstyles
Types of Baldness
Therefore, there are many different types of baldness.
- alopecia areata – which basically means patchy hair loss and the appearance of bald patches on your head. The hair follicles are attacked by your own body with this condition. You can be in perfectly good health aside from suffering alopecia areata.
- CCCA – Central Centrifugal Cicatricial Alopecia. Hair loss of this type begins in the center of your head. This can be permanent as the hair follicles are destroyed and replaced by scar tissue. Although more common in women of color, anyone can experience this form of hair loss.
- Female pattern baldness – the most common form of baldness is women. It usually occurs as a result of heredity and can be treated with the drug minoxidil.
- Frontal Fibrosing alopecia – as the name suggests, this form of alopecia affects the hair follicles being destroyed along the front hairline area and the top of the scalp. It can look like a receding hairline. It is often first seen in the form of eyebrow hair loss.
- Male Pattern Baldness – the most common type of hairloss in men. This generally begins in the hairline, and also affects the hair growth in the crown. The hair follicles tend to shrink and eventually stop new hairs growing, but the follicles remain. This can lead you to the notion that hair can possibly still grow in these areas. Treatements can include minoxidil (Rogaine), finasteride (Propecia, Proscar) and duasteride. Surgical options are now widely available, including hair transplants, and suturing a hair piece to your scalp. Obviously, surgery and hair transplant procedures are a far more permanent solution, and can be costly and require multiple treatments.
Obvious Solutions
Working as a makeup artist, or hairdresser, the chances are that you may have “painted” a scalp or two to create a full head of hair effect for someone.
I’m particularly interested in what makeup options are available today, and what hair concealers and bald spot concealers are available on the market.
The good news is that nowadays there are a lot of options for short-term and non-surgical coverage for your head.
What Can I Do?
Up Your Hair Care Routine
Be gentle when you wash your hair. It’s probably already vulnerable if you’re losing it, so try not to be too vigorous with it.
Use a gentle and moisturizing shampoo and conditioner and think about adding a leave-in conditioner to your routine as well.
Be Healthy
Pretty simple, really. But by eating a well-balanced diet, you can help to up your nutrient intake and help improve your hair’s condition.
Seek Professional Help
Yes, nip it in the bud. A board-certified dermatologist will be key in identifying exactly what is the cause of your hair loss. And then, how best to manage and treat it.
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Some Food For Thought – For Your Hair
R + Co Dallas Biotin Thickening Shampoo
This R & Co Thickening Shampoo contains biotin which helps to encourage the growth of keratin in your hair, which in turn can help increase follicle growth. And Pro-Vitamin B5 will help keep moisture in to your hair and scalp to improve your scalp condition.
Find R & Co Thickening Shampoo here.
R & Co Dallas Biotin Thickening Conditioner
R & Co Dallas Biotin Thickening Conditioner is the partner to their Shampoo of the same name above. Containing many of the same healing and nutrient-packed ingredients as the shampoo, this conditioner also contains coconut oil and loquat fruit extracts to help promote good scalp health and strengthen your hair as well.
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Vegamour Gro Hair Serum
Vegamour is a plant-based designed to revitalize scalp condition and growth. It contains mineral-filled mung bean sprouts, curcumin, and red clover. These anti-oxidant-rich ingredients aid in keeping your hair without free radicals and to detoxify and provide anti-inflammatory protection.
Find Vegamour Gro Hair Serum here.
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Living Proof Full Shampoo
Living Proof Full Shampoo is designed to help cleanse your hair while leaving it fuller and thicker in appearance.
Find Living Proof Full Shampoo here.
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Living Proof Full Conditioner
This lightweight conditioner, designed to be used with the Full shampoo, will work to soften and sheen your hair, whilst giving it a fuller appearance. All without phthalates, parabens, or silicones.
Find Living Proof Full Conditioner here.
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How To Cover Bald Spots With Makeup
Obviously, it’s a much easier task to do this on someone else (as we would working on set, or doing hair or makeup for a client, or performance, or function.
But if you’re doing this at home, on your own scalp, it may be wise to ask for help! Unless, of course, you have eyes in the back of your head. Then, by all means, go right ahead!
Here’s my pick of specially designed products to help disguise bald patches or any thinning issues you may encounter along the way.
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L’Oreal Paris Magic Root Cover Up
Designed as a root touch-up color, this product is a fantastic and easy way to blend color into your scalp and help instantly create the illusion of hair where there isn’t any.
An incredibly popular product on the Amazon market, with almost 50,000 reviews!
Find L’Oreal Magic Root Cover Up here.
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Boldify Hair Thickening Fibres
Marketed toward a male-dominated audience, this hair powder comes ready to use in an easy-to-apply shake bottle. Just sprinkle it on your head in the balding area, pat it in and you’re ready to go.
Available in 14 different shades to make it easy to match your own hair color.
Find Boldify Hair Thickening Fibres here.
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Toppik Hair Building Fibers
Toppik is made from statically charged keratin fibers that disperse onto your scalp. It is available in 9 different shades and is the go-to root concealer among hairstylists and makeup artists as far as I can tell.
Pair it with the Toppik spray for extra durability. And also the cool hairline optimizer below.
Find Toppik here.
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Toppik Hairline Optimizer
Basically a glorified stencil you can’t take away from the great idea this is. This easy to hold, and easy-to-use tool makes light work for anyone to fill in a hairline or spot that needs extra depth.
Find the Toppik Hairline Optimizer here.
Oribe Touch Up Root Spray
Similar to L’Oreal’s Hair Root Touch Up offering, this spray from Oribe is available in 6 shades.
Find Oribe Airbrush Root Touch Up Spray here.
Bumble and Bumble Brownish Hair Powder
Rounding up with my favorite pick for a bald spot concealer is the Bumble and Bumble Blondish Hair Powder. Simply spray it onto dry hair, and it stays like a soft powder all day. This spray from Bumble and Bumble would have to be one of the easiest ways to quickly camouflage your own sparse hair or bald areas. Available in 4 different hair colour shades.
Find Bumble and Bumble Blondish here.
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Endura Hair Beard and Brow
This fantastic alcohol based product is available in 22 different shades.
Use it through your airbrush or hand paint on, depending on the specific issue you are reuired to cover.
I am a massive fan of EBA (European Body Arts) and I know I mention them a lot. I love to use EBA Endura inks for big tattoo cover jobs on set.
Find the Endura Hair Beard and Brow range here.
And if you’re going to use these products, remember that they are alcohol based, and therefore, long-lasting. Even a few days. So be sure to use the appropriate removers to adequately remove the product all the while looking after your person’s skin. Find EBA Unveil and Vapor here.
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And now I have to go and prep my airbrush set and get my hair products in order – just waiting to help the next follicly challenged client!
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Featured Image by Tuva Mathilde Løland
Resources:
Mayo Clinic
American Association of Dermatology
Penn Medicine
