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At least 40% of women will experience hair loss or alopecia during their lifetime. This may be alopecia areata (patchy hair loss), traction alopecia (tension hair loss), or another form. The different ways female hair removal has been depicted throughout art history shows that it has been interpreted in different ways over the years.
For example, in 16th and 17th century England, alopecia in women was sometimes interpreted as retribution for sins, including adultery.
However, some historical art depicts a more neutral or even positive attitude towards female alopecia. In religious and mythological art, it was sometimes idealized as sacred.
The Virgin and Child (pictured above), a 15th-century painting by Italian Renaissance artist Carlo Crivelli, depicts Jesus and Mary embracing in a stylized golden setting. The two are surrounded by ripe fruits and seated behind a religious altar decorated with a halo. Madonna has a high forehead and receding blonde hair, especially on her right temple.
This association between alopecia and the divine is also reflected in the work of fellow Renaissance Italian artist Cosme Tula. His Virgin and Mary Magdalene (c. 1490) depicts a mother and child with prominent foreheads.
A 1475 glazed terracotta work by the Italian sculptor Andrea della Robbia depicts Prudence, the human embodiment of Christian morality, as a bald, two-headed figure.
Baldness in women is associated with the divine for various reasons. It removed the emphasis on personal appearance in favor of deeper, more spiritual priorities. But intentional hair removal also played a role. For some religious figures, such as Buddhist nuns and Haredi Jewish wives, a bald head is considered purer, and shaving may represent a regular sacrificial ritual. There is a gender.
An artwork on the wall of the tomb of Akhenaten, the ancient Egyptian pharaoh who ruled from 1351 to 1334 BC, depicts two naked, bald girls. Head shaving, as well as natural baldness, was common among ancient Egyptians, including women.
In fact, the ancient Egyptians had a term to differentiate between female and male alopecia. This proves how common baldness, shaving one’s head, and wearing wigs were for both men and women in ancient Egypt.
And it’s not just Egypt. Historically, partial and full head shaving was common among women in sub-Saharan Africa. One traveler observed the following about the inhabitants of the 18th century Kingdom of Isini (present-day Ghana): “Some people shave only half of their head…some leave large areas of unshaved hair here and there.”
Medieval and Renaissance alopecia
The 15th century painting “Portrait of a Woman with a Man at a Swinging Door” by Italian artist Fra Filippo Lippi depicts the aristocratic profile of a woman facing a man. She has a prominent forehead and high hairline.
The sunken appearance of the frontal hairline was fashionable in medieval and Renaissance Europe, and was even considered a symbol of intelligence, and may have encouraged the practice of shaving the forehead and plucking eyebrows.
Queen Elizabeth I of England in the 16th century was often depicted this way. One of the undated oil paintings of the British monarch depicts her in jeweled robes, with a veil adorned with pearls and a prominent frame.
At the time, removing women’s body hair, including their foreheads, was not just a matter of fashion. It may also be due to patriarchal beliefs that women’s body hair is dirty and even dangerous to men.
Today’s advertising and research tends to discuss hair loss only in medical terms, as a harmful disease. A recent BBC article refers to people with alopecia areata as “sufferers” and calls their experience “extremely difficult.” This certainly reflects the experience of some, but not those who interpret their hair loss more neutrally or with pride.
Pharmaceuticals and cosmetics are promoted as “necessary” treatments. The newly approved drug, Litoflo or light lecitinib, was hailed last month as the “first treatment” and “drug” for hair loss. However, this should be the default response, as many forms of alopecia are open-ended and the “cures” on offer have limited efficacy and potential safety issues. Not. For example, the European Medicines Agency notes that ritrecitinib causes 80% hair growth, but only 36% of people who take it grow hair. About 10% are at risk for diarrhea, acne, and throat infections.
Another study noted that similar hair loss drugs that work by immunosuppression appear to be effective only when taken continuously, but long-term safety has not been established.
Representations of alopecia in art history remind us that hair loss in women has been viewed in a variety of complex ways. Although sometimes used as a weapon as a way to humiliate women and sometimes worshiped as a sign of God, hair loss doesn’t actually indicate anything about a woman’s worth, morality, or status. is the truth.
However, historical depictions of female alopecia and baldness offer hope. They show that alopecia has been conceptualized differently at different times. This means that the current framework of alopecia as a necessarily disadvantageous disease that requires specific “treatment” may also be biased. They suggest that if our social interpretation of alopecia improves (as something that should not be stigmatized), then our individual experience of it (as something that should be feared) may also improve. Masu.
