Indian women are loosing their hair upon coming to the USA

Kiynwah

Kiynwah

New Member
Hi all!

I found this interesting thread by some Indian women who recently moved to the USA.

http://www.indusladies.com/general-discussions-usa-and-canada/19752-how-do-indian-women-protect.html

Many of them experience hair loss, intense tangling, breaking hair and damage within a year of being here!!

Some causes mentioned include:
- harsh weather
- chlorine in shower water
- commercial (damaging) shampoos and conditioners

Ironically, some of them have begun to use "African-American" hair care products like the Olive Oil line from the drugstores. A lot of them are also returning to using natural Ayurvedic herbs like shikaikai.

We are definitely not the only ones who have hair issues!
 
not surprising at all; it's probably the change in diet as well; less organic natural stuff, more processed stuff
 
I saw this, in following the link in another thread. I think its a combination of change in diet and hair maintainence.
 
this reminds me of the thread where africans who came here that once had clear skin in their native country are now breaking out horribly.
 
I think quite a bit of it is the water. When I lived in Michigan, I remember a lot of my white roommates had complaints that massive chunks of their hair was falling out! It turned out that the conditioners and shampoos that they were using didn't do well with the water at Michigan State (forget if it was harder or softer), and they had to buy cheaper brands (i.e. Suave, etc.) to keep from losing even more of it... Worked for most of them. I felt bad for them. :(
 
jamaraa said:
Yes...I've seen the thread and many comments like it. I think the primary issue is STRESS more than anything. Stress is a huge factor in bad hair practices AND shedding. Imagine coming to a strange country where you have to do everything differently, add to it many are housewives w/ "traditional" hubbys and contant kid care?! They simply don't have time for personal care like they once did. Then they don't have the women in their family to on hand to help them out until they go back home to visit.
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Good point. One of the girls I worked with was born and raised in Mumbai. One day she was showing her wedding pictures and pointed out her family's maid. She told us that it was quite common for middle-class families to have maids. Then everyone understood why she complained all the darn time about doing stuff American housewives can do in their sleep.
 
werenumber2 said:
Good point. One of the girls I worked with was born and raised in Mumbai. One day she was showing her wedding pictures and pointed out her family's maid. She told us that it was quite common for middle-class families to have maids. Then everyone understood why she complained all the darn time about doing stuff American housewives can do in their sleep.
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I have a friend from Ethiopia who told me that it is similar there. Most families have a maid so the housework is less stressful one the wife. We try to be super women here in the US and it just doesn't work.
 
I think it happens a lot with changes in diet and climate. A friend of mine recently moved to Japan, and she's had huge issues with her hair falling out.
 
This is so true. I have a client who is Indian and she is practically bold in the crown area. She keeps her daughters hair oiled, however her hair is always dry and crispy.
 
I almost want to register there and tell them to try all the Ayurvedic stuff I have stashed in my bathroom. At first I was thinking, hey umm shouldn't they already know this? God knows I was taught about using coconut oil when living in DR and I never listened to that either.
 
Ms Lala said:
I have a friend from Ethiopia who told me that it is similar there. Most families have a maid so the housework is less stressful one the wife. We try to be super women here in the US and it just doesn't work.
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Yeah it's like that for most middle class African families too; they have maids, personal drivers and errand boys
 
things like this happen when you make certain major moves. when i moved from the southeast to southern california, my face broke out like crazy and it has never done that. my hair was also very dry. when i went to india for five weeks my hair grew like crazy.

also, my mom had maids growing up in egypt & ethiopia. but she still knows how to clean a house. :lachen:
 
Rei said:
I think it happens a lot with changes in diet and climate. A friend of mine recently moved to Japan, and she's had huge issues with her hair falling out.
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exactly. & the stress of moving sometimes makes it worse.
 
When I went to the Caribbean, the entire left side of my face broke out. I don't know how it happened, but I was devastated about it.
 
Ellie09 said:
things like this happen when you make certain major moves. when i moved from the southeast to southern california, my face broke out like crazy and it has never done that. my hair was also very dry. when i went to india for five weeks my hair grew like crazy.

also, my mom had maids growing up in egypt & ethiopia. but she still knows how to clean a house. :lachen:
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Looks like my next vacation may be in India :look:
 
Some of my Indian and Paki and Ethiopian classmates lost their hair when they started following American trends. Natural curiosity of shampoos, serums, and leave-in's. Coloring. They had a simple regimen with their natural oils, but deviated from that after watching American commercials. The ones with wavy and curly hair wanted it bone straight all the time, and one Indian classmate told me that some of them use relaxers, I never knew that. She also told me that it was when she started straightening her hair with relaxers and flat ironing all the time and using mainline products that her hair broke off. Others experiment with blond streaks and I guess they don't know the effects of that and get breakage from that too. But most of the ones I talked to said they started having hair problems when they wanted to wear their hair straight every single day.
 
shunemite said:
The ones with wavy and curly hair wanted it bone straight all the time, and one Indian classmate told me that some of them use relaxers, I never knew that. She also told me that it was when she started straightening her hair with relaxers and flat ironing all the time and using mainline products that her hair broke off. Others experiment with blond streaks and I guess they don't know the effects of that and get breakage from that too. But most of the ones I talked to said they started having hair problems when they wanted to wear their hair straight every single day.
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I'm assuming the pressure to straighten exists in India too though, right? The standard for Bollywood stars seems to be stick-straight hair strategically tousled up with a bit of curling iron action, and I'm told many of them don't even have naturally straight hair. Considering how huge celebrity culture is in India, I can imagine the girls and women are affected by those images.
 
jamaraa said:
IOW, yes some South Asians use these things, as do many Arabs. Many of these folks DO NOT have straight hair and many of them want it. It's not just when they comes to the US/UK either....the Middle East is supposedly the 3rd largest market for buying relaxers. My friends who immigrate and relax have few problems finding hair products.
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Yes and it's not only the black arabs that have type 3 and 4 hair. I can name many arab girls I know personally who have skin as white as snow white and have type 3 and 4 hair. (Yes 4) I know a couple of them relax. I would post a pic but I would have to block out their face hmmmmmm
One of my arab friends is 23 and she just started relaxing; her hair is at least type 4 and she's white with brown hair :yep:
 
I think taking a look at the hair of Indo-Caribbean women is very revealing and confirms the phenomenon in the OP. Stress, climate change, alienation from Ayurvedic practices and products, and adoption of Western counterparts (dying, etc.) all play a role.

I know many Indo-Carib women with beautiful thick hair, however length is not as valued as much as traditional Indian women. In fact, many choose to wear their very short. I also know many who have overprocessed, damaged hair with highlights galore. :nono: Overproccessed hair is not a good look, and when it's WL+, it actually looks worse, IME.
 
werenumber2 said:
Good point. One of the girls I worked with was born and raised in Mumbai. One day she was showing her wedding pictures and pointed out her family's maid. She told us that it was quite common for middle-class families to have maids. Then everyone understood why she complained all the darn time about doing stuff American housewives can do in their sleep.
Click to expand...

It is the same in Jamaica, I also lived in Latin America and it was the same. When my jamaican cousind came to school here they had a lot of issues adjusting without a helper.:yep:
 
Indians do not have the pressure to have straight hair, in the culture as long as you have long hair, you are accepted. The trend in India is to have shorter hair lenghts (under BSL) and I guess the more modern rich women have APL/SL hair while the rural women have the unstyled (one braid, bun) Knee or Butt length.

In the States, many Indian women conform to the pressure that all women face to wear their hair out (unprotected style) and dry (without product to prevent the oil and conditioner getting all over the place) which has caused the breakage. And yes, more Indian women in the States are using flat irons and blowdying every week which also adds to the problem.

Arab women also have afro-hair textures too. I had a Algerian colleague who had white skin, green eyes but had 4a hair and would get relaxers and weaves. Yep!!! And she had short hair syndrome because of the constant breakage. And she did not consider herself African, she was Arab (Berber)!!!!

Best,
Almond Eyes
 
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