Baldness or loss of hair is an increasingly common phenomenon in a world riddled with triggers like stress and lifestyle imbalances. While it doesn’t disturb quite a few who choose to go bald as a personal style statement, it does bother most who then go on to attempt various treatments and cures to fight baldness. Hair weaving is one such treatment that finds many takers in India, year after year. But does weaving really solve baldness? Today, Dr. Sajal Halder - Consultant, Cosmetic Surgery and Hair Transplant at the Centre for Cosmetic Surgery, Moolchand Medcity - helps us answer this question in detail. Over to Dr. Halder...

What is hair weaving?
Hair weaving essentially means the addition of hair to cover baldness or adding hair to one’s natural hair.  The added hair can be human or synthetic.  Human hair is obtained from hair cut from other individuals.  It is then processed and marketed.  Different weaving types commonly prevalent in the market are netting, fusion, bonding, tracking, lace extensions, micro braiding, etc.  One can select the hair type and style.  Hair weave is commonly used for baldness of varying stages.  There are conditions where it remains the only solution vis. a vis. in extensive baldness, alopecia areata totalis, and so on. 

Hair weaving is not a permanent solution
As these hairs are without bulb (the growing centre of the hair), it never grows.  Moreover, they tend to loosen and fall with times; they are glued to the scalp or hairs.  The fibres also get damaged with time.  Even the hair care, washing, revisits to the hair stylist depend on the type of weave being used.  The procedure is not a permanent solution and one has to revisit the hair stylist from one to six month’s time.  Therefore, it is not a cure for baldness as weaving can never give you a natural-looking hairline. 

Prolonged use can even give rise to skin problems.  Nevertheless, weaving continues to be a popular method to hide a balding scalp. The reasons for the same may be attributed to the following:
Services can be given by non-medical personnel and more available service providers
Quality of hair match and technique has become better with passing years
Completely non-invasive (no pain) and lesser time required for an individual
High density achievable
Immediate cost is lesser than hair transplant procedure in majority of the cases, though the long term maintenance may be more expensive

What other treatments can one opt for to cure baldness?
Hair transplantation replaces the bald scalp with naturally occurring follicular units.  The replaced hair continues to grow and adequate numbers of follicles give a good density as well.  FUE (follicular unit extraction) and more recently Robotic hair transplant is becoming very popular as it obviates cuts, stitches, scarring and is almost painless.  Moreover, the look is very natural, the result is permanent and the cost is not recurring.

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