The condition that causes Jada Pinkett Smith to lose hair

"When it started, it was terrifying." It was the year 2018 and Jada Pinkett Smith spoke, for the first time, about her alopecia. It was on 'Red Table Talk', the program she presented with her daughter Willow on Facebook.

Four years later, Jada Pinkett's alophecia became the source of an infamous chapter in Oscar history. Chris Rock made a sneer about her bald head and Will Smith went on stage to slap him over it.

What's the story of Jada Pinkett Smith's struggle with alopecia? Let's have a look at statements from the actress (born in 1971 in Baltimore) about her illness, to understand how it affects her life.

Currently, the actress sports a splendid shaved head and is an advocate for the normalization of female alopecia. However, everything was very different for her in 2018, when it began.

In 2018, Jada Pinkett Smith's appearance began to change radically. While previously she'd worn wavy or curly locks in different colors, she now began covering her head with turbans.

They were elegant looks, but nevertheless they raised questions. Hair is a sensitive topic for women in the spotlights, and even more so for African-American women.

"I have been asked a lot of questions lately about the reason for wearing a turban," the actress commented on 'Red Table Talk' in 2018. She then revealed that her hair had been falling out in large quantities.

While doctors failed to establish the cause for Jada Pinkett Smith's hair loss, the actress recalled that her hair "fell out in handfuls in the shower."

"It was one of the moments in my life where I literally trembled with fear. I thought I was going totally bald and that's why I started cutting my hair," she said.

For the actress it was very "complicated to talk about my hair loss, because taking care of it used to be a beautiful ritual for me."

According to some specialists, the actress said in 2018, the cause of her hair loss could be stress. It's a plausible explanation as Hollywood stars tend to be scrutinized by the public eye and the media.

Although women tend to feel the pressure from society to hide their hair loss, alopecia affects both men and women. By wearing a turban instead of a whig, Jada Pinkett Smith helped break a taboo subject.

Alopecia is hereditary. Only one of the parents needs to have it in order to pass it on to their children.

The trigger for hair loss can be a sudden change at the hormonal level. When it comes to women, the World Health Organization points out three moments in life when hair loss can be explosive: puberty, pregnancy or menopause.

Alopecia usually affects the front area and the crown of the head. In the case of men, we are familiar with the image of bald spots in those areas of the head, but for women it is not socially normalized.

Jada Pinkett Smith, known for the 'Gotham' series and the 'Matrix' saga, is famous on her own account, but also as the matriarch of an illustrious Hollywood family. She recently published a bombshell memoir, 'Worthy,' in which she revealed many things about her private life and the interesting family she leads with (at a distance) Will Smith.

After more than three years of wearing turbans, Jada Pinkett Smith took the step of shaving her hair and showing her bald head for the first time in July 2021. Her daughter made a solidary move to also shave her head and pose with her mother for a photo on Instagram.

The image of the new Jada Pinkett was spread on the Instagram account of Willow Smith, who's supported her mother in the choice to do this makeover.

In fact, as Jada Pinkett Smith herself wrote on Instagram, it was her daughter who convinced her to shave her hair and "let it go."

Since then, all of her Instagram posts have been made with her head completely shaved. The actress is embracing her new hairdo.

The collective memory seems to stumble at times. At the end of 2021, once again the media and Pinkett's Instagram followers asked about her bald head. So at that point, once again, she gave an explanation.

"Mom has to shave to zero so that no one thinks she has undergone brain surgery or something like that," she wrote on Instagram. "This alopecia and I are going to be friends. Period."

Comparing her condition with other illnesses helped Jada Pinkett Smith put it in perspective. "My hair loss pales in comparison to other problems," she said on 'Red Table Talk' in 2018, when she first spoke about it.

That doesn't mean it's not painful when others joke about it, in front of a world audience, without recognizing the struggle of a (black) woman with her bald head. Perhaps the above explains part of the reason why Will Smith decided to violently defend his wife's honor at the 2022 Oscars.