Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/41330
4B Daily News – Tuesday, September 6, 2011 Education Calendar September, 2011 Cardiac Support Group 7:00pm-9:00pm 9/12 2nd Monday Columba Room 527-5077 Childbirth Class (9/1 - 10/6) Thursdays 6:30pm-8:30pm Columba Room 529-8026 Community BLS/CPR 6:00pm-10:00pm 9/13 • 2nd Tuesday Columba Room, 529-8026 Grief Support Group 3:00pm-5:00pm Every Thursday Coyne Center, 528-4207 Waterbirth Class 5:00pm-9:00pm 9/14 • Wednesday Columba Room, 529-8026 St. Elizabeth Community Hospital A member of CHW www.redbluff.mercy.org/sports redbluff.mercy.org Women who lose hair struggle with identity SACRAMENTO (MCT) — Shirley Berg- er holds a photo of her- self taken at Venice Beach in 1960. She's about 20 in the picture and looks like Elizabeth Taylor: the same thick eyebrows and upturned nose. She's on her stom- ach, holding a cigarette. A layer of her dark curly hair covers her head. "My hair was so thick, you couldn't see through it at all," Berger said. "I had a ton of hair." At 58, 10 years after she hit menopause, her hair started to thin and fall out. She bought a wig, but she hated how it felt. She goes to the hair- dresser once a week now for help hiding the thin spots. At restaurants, she maneuvers herself out of the way when waiters come to the table so they can't see the top of her head. And she sleeps on satin pillowcases to avoid snagging her hair. "I'm not sure I under- stand why men can get away with aging," said Berger, who is now 70. Sitting in her Carmichael home, she splays old photos across her kitchen table. A few feature the sky-high 'do she wore in 1976. "It's scary because all of a sudden you knew, just looking in the mirror every day, you knew you were aging. ... I would give anything if I had not lost my hair," she said. Aside from menopause, the Ameri- can Academy of Derma- tology reports that 30 million women in the United States are losing their hair due to genetic factors. Thyroid disease, medication side effects and diet also can cause it. www.rollinghillscasino.com What's your FAVORITE Tehama County "Hidden Gem?" A swimming hole, favorite hike, park site, fishing spot, Sunday drive, thing to do with kids? Share yours with us. If we use it in the October edition of It's estimated that one in four women experi- ences thinning hair. "With some, it has to do with dramatic changes in their life: surgery, delivering a child ... having a very severe illness," said Pamela Prescott, an endocrinologist at the University of California- Davis Medical Center. "Sometimes, it's what we do to our hair, the styling, dyeing, straight- MCT photo Kimberly Apker, a master cosmetologist and assistant at Natural Look Transitions shows off a hair replacement restoration system. ening." Stress, Prescott said, can have a major effect on hair growth. And for some, losing their hair gives them more reason to stress than the actual medical cause. "It was very traumat- ic," said Kristy DeVaney, who lost all her hair after having a negative reac- tion to the common antibiotic minocycline. "It was very hard to deal with for a very long time. ... I kept thinking, 'What do people think of me? What do I think of myself? I'm an ugly bald person.' It's probably the worst thing I've ever been through." Maxine Craig, an associate professor in the Women and Gender Studies program at UC Davis, has researched just how much hair means to women. It means a whole lot. "Hair is seen as a marker of gender identi- ty," Craig said. In most Western cultures, short hair or no hair represents masculinity, and long hair represents feminini- ty. "These are social codes that we all learn and learn deeply," Craig said. "When a woman loses her hair, she may feel that she is losing something that identifies her as a woman." Girls who cut their gibbsautobodydsl@chiconet.com 780 EAST AVE. (behind Food Maxx) Since 1950 530-527-2649 WE ACCEPT ALL INSURANCE COMPANIES Voted BEST in Tehama County '06, '07, '08, '09 & '10 We understand you have a choice, thank you for choosing us! hair short and men who grow their hair out are considered rebels — people who want to resist the social code and be defiant. "Women who do not attempt to confirm to beauty norms are seen as somehow problematic," Craig said. "Girls start hearing at a very young age that their looks are important ... and women are constantly getting evaluated on the basis of their appearance." There is, perhaps, no better spokeswoman for the issue of baldness and beauty than Miss Delaware 2010 — and a Top 10 at this year's Miss America pageant — Kayla Martell. Martell is completely bald, the result of alope- cia areata, an autoim- mune disease that caused her hair to start falling out when she was 10. "I remember thinking, 'I probably will never be Miss Delaware now,'" said Martell, who had grown up attending the state pageant every year with her mother. She entered the pageant, and three times she strutted across the Miss Delaware stage sporting what she described as "peach fuzz" on her head. Even- tually, a judge pulled her aside and told her that if she wanted to win the crown, she needed to wear a wig. "I was so offended and appalled, I couldn't believe what I was hear- ing," she said. But after talking about it and seeing peo- ple at alopecia confer- ences wearing wigs, she changed her mind. Win- ning the pageant would give her a higher public platform from which to talk about women's bald- ness. "All I asked was for the judges to support me if I could go on TV and do interviews without my hair on," she said. They agreed, and she competed with the wig. To her relief, she lost. "Obviously I didn't enjoy not winning," she said. "But I feared that if I won the very first time with a wig, so many peo- ple would say, 'She only won now because she wore the wig.'" It took one more try before Martell — again with her wig — was crowned Miss Delaware. Since winning, she's toured the country, given numerous television interviews and spoken about alopecia at charity events. Martell long ago stopped looking for treatments to regrow her hair. When she first started losing it, she applied minoxidil, or Rogaine, to her scalp every night. She also had steroids injected into her head. When nothing worked, she stopped. "Why fight it?" she said. "It's a losing battle. You can stay up all night and stress about it, or stay in every Friday night, but where is that going to get you?" DeVaney, the Sacra- mento woman who lost her hair because of antibiotics, agreed. "I was so mentally and physically drained from losing my hair," she said. "I just wanted to get past it and move on. Even though I could- n't stand looking at myself in the mirror every day, it was like, 'OK, I'm done.'" TEHAMA ESTATES PROVIDES: Save the Date Sept. 9-18, 2011 Fall Sale @ Red Bluff Garden Center You'll receive a $25 Gift Certificate good at the Tehama County business of your choice. Send to tehamamag@redbluffdailynews.com Before 9-15-11 40% off 1 gallon & larger plants Garden Center Red Bluff 766 Antelope Blvd. (Next to the Fairground) 527-0886 Active Senior Citizens A Retirement Community for the ◆ Independent Living ◆ Private Apartments ◆ Three Nutritious Meals Daily ◆ 24 Hour Secure Environment ◆ House Keeping Services ◆ Warm & Friendly Staff ◆ Recreational Programs ◆ Scheduled Transportation ◆ Private & Formal Dining Rooms EQUAL HOUSING OPPORTUNITY 750 David Avenue, Red Bluff • 527-9193 ENTERTAINMENT Saturday, September 10th at Tehama Family Fitness Center 9:30 am Zumba and U-Jam Party 10:00 am - Fun Run 10:00 am-1:00 pm Kids Zone water play area 10:30 am Tehama's Strongest Man Competition Tehama Family Fitness Center 2498 South Main St., Red Bluff 528-8656 www.tehamafamilyfitness.com