Hair Foundation Blog

As we enter the holiday season, there’s lots of parties and family gatherings to attend. One of the easiest and not too expensive ways to get ready is with holiday hair. This could be a new hair cut, a blowout or adding curls to your straight hair.

We took a look around the Web and found the following sites with helpful holiday hair ideas. After a closer look, we also saw that some of our partners’ products have been included with some of the hair styles.

Take a look at these sites for ideas:

From Allure magazine, here’s 31 holiday party hair ideas.

The website Monsters and Critics has an article on holiday hair that mentions the Hair Foundation’s partner, Bosley, new USA Bosley Professional Strength products.

InStyle suggests 10 holiday hair styles and includes a list of 2011′s Best Hair Products. This could help with some gift ideas.

Cosmopolitan put together a presentation of 10 hot party hair ideas.

Essence has festive holiday hairstyles.

Elle highlights holiday hair with celebrities.

Woman’s Day has four hassle-free holiday hair ideas that only take 10 minutes.

Huffington Post has holiday hair ideas with photos.

Real Beauty includes holiday hairstyles for different ages. It also includes a top 10 list of 2011 best beauty products.

Here’s a shopping list of our partners’ products:

Proctor and Gamble: Fekkai Sheet Hold Hairspray, Pantene Pro-V shampoo and conditioner, Pantene Nature Fusion Moisture Balance, Pantene Pro-V Beautiful Lengths Shampoo and Conditioner, Pantene Pro-V Medium-Thick Anti-Humidity Hairspray and Pantene Pro-V Normal-Thick Split End Repair Keratin Protection Créme.

Bosley: USA Bosley Professional Strength products – shampoos and conditioners

To learn more about hair care, check out this Hair Foundation blog by Dr. Zoe Diana Draelos and our videos.

On Nov. 25 or “Black Friday,” five cities will offer free head lice screenings through the organization, Hair Fairies. This full-service nationwide clinical salon removes head lice safely, effectively and in a kid-friendly environment.

They will spread their wings to San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and New York.

But why Thanksgiving Weekend?

According to Maria Botham, CEO of Hair Fairies, “Kids riding head-to-head on long drives or flights can make lice contagion easy. Lice also can lurk in shared bedding and spread from children to parents.  About three percent of school children have lice at any given time, so the odds for coming in contact with lice are more common than many parents realize.  As the pioneers in this service, we have perfected not only non-toxic products but also exclusive techniques that work and are the safe solution for frantic families.”

Lice may also travel head-to-head from families and relatives sharing space over Thanksgiving weekends, added Botham.

According to a press release,  Hair Fairies‘ is a full-service clinical salon that will evaluate early lice detection for free. If treatment is necessary, salon professionals can treat and eliminate lice at an affordable cost.

At the salon, Hair Fairies will manually remove lice.  They are professionally trained and their client treatments will take one to three hours, depending the severity of the condition.

Hair Fairies have a three-prong approach for treatment. They will evaluate the stage of infestation, physically or “nit-pick” the active lice and eggs and provide a treatment to condition the scalp and discourage immediate re-infestation.

The process has been developed from scientific research. The fairies use all-natural, non-toxic shampoos, combs and rinses developed and produced in the company’s laboratory in Riverside, Cal.

For more information about Hair Fairies, here’s is the website at www.hairfairies.com.

If you are unable to meet the Hair Fairies on Nov. 25, please read our recent blog post to learn more about at-home lice treatments, New Head Lice Treatment Puts An End to Nit Combing.

Cicatricial alopecia is the topic of a new book by Dr. Vera Price, UCSF dermatologist and her co-fellow Paradi Mirmirani, MD.

Called “Cicatricial Alopecia: An Approach to Diagnosis and Management,” the book is intended for dermatology residents in this field and it will be used as a training manual. The 90-page book was published by Springer in May and costs $139. The publishing house also made DVDs of the book with a $12 price tag.

Approximately 800 copies of the book have been published.

Price noted in a recent interview that she and Mirmirani decided to write the book because they saw a need for education on the topic and they decided to take the task into their own hands. It is the first book on the diagnosis and treatment of cicatricial alopecia. The book contains a lot of illustrations with text for residents and dermatologists to accurately diagnose and treat this disorder.

What is cicatricial alopecia?

According to the Cicatricial Alopecia Research Foundation (CARF), this refers to a “diverse group of rare disorders that destroy the hair follicle, replace it with scar tissue, and cause permanent hair loss.” This can be either a gradual process without symptoms or it can be a progressive disorder that rapidly progresses with hair loss and  severe itching, burning and pain.

There are various treatments for cicatricial alopecia including anti-inflammatory medications and antibiotics.

CARF

Price is a renowned expert in the field and the co-founder of CARF. The foundation has more than 1,800 patients from 35 countries. On Oct. 27 and 28, CARF will hold a Cicatricial Alopecia Research symposium for the scientific community.

The Hair Foundation has strong ties to CARF.

Hair Foundation Vice Chair Ken Washenik and Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) member, Jerry Shapiro sit on CARF’s board of directors.

In addition, other members from the Hair Foundation’s SAC are CARF scientific advisors. They include Dr. Valerie Callender, Dr. Victoria Holloway-Barbosa and Amy McMichael.

To learn more about cictricial alopecia, please see the following Hair Foundation blog post:

April 11: Braiding, Hair Weaves Increase Risk of Hair Loss, Quote by Neil Sadick

After we celebrated National Hair Loss Awareness Month in August, it’s time to turn the calendar and recognize September as Head Lice Prevention Month. The non-profit group, the National Pediculosis Association (NPA), has been the annual sponsor for Lice Prevention Month since 1985. In response to its organizational mission, it initiated Comb First! ” to assist communities in managing head lice by teaching parents how to screen regularly, detect infestations early, remove all the lice and nits (lice eggs) with an effective combing tool, and most importantly protect children” according to its recent press release.

There’s been a lot of press lately about head lice and according to the Mayo Clinic, head lice are the second most communicable disease among school children after the common cold. Additional facts about head lice includes:

• An estimated 6 to 12 million head lice infestations occur each year in the United States in children 3 to 11 years old.
• Infestations are most common among preschool children, those in day care and those in elementary, as well as their family members
• Due to hair shaft shape, Caucasian and Hispanic populations are more likely to get head lice than African-Americans.
• Some studies suggest that girls get head lice more often than boys, possibly because they have more frequent head-to-head contact with others.
• Personal hygiene or cleanliness in the home or school has nothing to do with getting head lice.
• Costs associated with head lice infestations are estimated to be as high as $1 billion per year in the United States alone.

On Monday, Aug. 15, the Indiana-based specialty pharmaceutical company, ParaPRO, announced its Natroba™ (spinosad) Topical Suspension, 0.9% lice treatment is now available in U.S. pharmacies. This FDA-approved topical product will eliminate head lice infestations without the usual nit combing and according to the company, it is nearly twice as effective as eliminating lice infestations as permethrin 1%, the current market leader.

In a statement by ParaPRO’s president, Bill Culpepper III, he noted the following about Natroba:

“Ever since Natroba™ received FDA approval earlier this year, there has been significant interest from parents and health care professionals all across the country who have requested information about product availability. We believe that based on the high level of interest, there will be strong demand for this new and effective head lice treatment. We are delighted to announce that Natroba™ is now being shipped to pharmacies around the country, just in time for the back-to-school head lice season. In clinical trials, Natroba™ was shown to be nearly twice as effective as the most commonly prescribed head lice medication, permethrin 1%, and in those trials Natroba™ was proven effective without the need for extensive and time-consuming nit combing sessions.”

This is a breakthrough treatment for those affected by head lice as Natroba is a 10-minute treatment that requires just a rinse without the customary nit combing.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are between 6 to 12 million cases of head lice infestations each year, mostly in children 3 to 12 years old. Along with treatments taking 7 to 10 days to get rid of the lice, there are also social costs associated with the treatment of lice. This includes missed time from school for affected children and absences from work for the parents to stay home with their child. Because of the 10-minute Natroba treatment time, these social costs have been eliminated.

“Lice does not have to be a time-consuming, expensive problem,” said Matt L. Leavitt, DO, MD and president, the Hair Foundation Board of Trustees. “Be sure to treat the problem quickly and use a treatment that doesn’t come with harmful side effects.”