Lab 002: Edges Snatched

One thing we all have in common is none of us want to be.

Bald, right, Nobody wants to be bald. Nobody wants to be joked on about their edges or hair loss. That's the new Yo, mama for real? Like people like shut up with no edges like it just what you say back to that.

You can't say anything because those edges are gone.

You just got to blink and just say apologies, pardon me, I overstepped, like I.

Will come back to this conversation on later.

We will reconvene tomorrow. But tomorrow you can come back strong.

Right, you need an argument, wig and yesterday you got me. But today I'm ready. I'm ready. Edges missing were rare, stiff well edges.

Here, I'm t T and I'm Zakiah and from Spotify Studios. This is Dope Labs. Today we're talking about hair.

All of y'all's hair, man hair, lady hair, non binary hair.

Some of y'all's hair that don't lay down that you keep trying to lay.

Down, straight hair, curly hair.

Places where there used to be here, but now there's none.

Hair in places where there was no hair before.

People have been obsessed with hair since the beginning of time? So why are we talking about it today? Well, recently we started to notice something different about how we're talking about hair and more importantly, who is talking about it. Let's see it up for the people.

So all of this started because Safari was doing some interviews and the age old tale was that Safari was writing Nicki Minaj's rhymes for her. Yes, but he was doing these interviews and people were asking him, did you write you know, Roman's Revenge? Did you like some of

It was it was like the whole internet. You could you could just the internet.

It was a wave, yes it was. It was a gasp, but it just would travel through time, and so of course we immediately run to the internet and did our googles image do Google dot com exactly, and you see Safari adding an extra at least half inch to his hairline.

But then we also started noticing regular regular Joe blow is adding extra interest to his hairline exactly. And not even just interest on the hairline. I'm talking about bundles. Okay, we got man added bundles to the front. And so I feel like it happened overnight. It was like I didn't know anything about it. And then the videos were everywhere. It's blowing up all over Instagram.

You've seen those those viral videos man men going from absolutely bald to looking like full on woolly Willie.

You remember those things where they dragged the magnet. You dragged the magnet up.

Yes, it's like.

You got mister potato hair hair like you went from you were.

A spud last week, exactly.

Like by Nicki Minaj out in Safari right talking about the surgery. Then all these men rallied around him and were like, you know what, I'm doing a little something over here too.

I'm gonna show you.

And now I feel like people are like, look at my new transformation. It's like when the wind blew and we saw Naomi Camel's edges. It's like the wind is going and we can see all these men's edges. All these men are having hair procedures done.

All these dudes have been lurking in the shadows and now they're out in the open doing these things and saying, hey, love me or leave me alone. So clear, and I have some feelings about what's going on here in the in the hair world. But let's see what you guys had to say.

Have you seen the Instagram videos with all the guys having these man weaves?

Yeah, I haven't seen a lot of them, but I've seen a few.

Yes, yes, yikes.

One dude that had something that looked like a mop on top of his head, and he all of a sudden looked like eat yourself. But I was like, wait, what just happened here? He was stone Colt Bald.

So you've never seen it before? I have not.

I have not, and I'm kind of shocked. I don't know what to think right now.

What's your general impression.

I just feel like for some of them, it is just better if they don't do too much. You don't have to do all of that, people are still gonna like you.

I do not think men need to wear weaves. You should just cut all your hair off. I think a bod man is a sexy man.

So would you date a dude that got a man with no dang she didn't even hesitate?

No, no, I know I would not date someone who had to hear unit we've whatever you want to call it. But I also don't think it's fair to say that men shouldn't be able to or they shouldn't do it if it's what makes them feel comfortable.

Do you think you would ever get a hair piece like that?

I don't want to knock.

I want to knock on wood, but I don't see myself getting a hair piece.

I just have to live with it.

I'll try to, like get a cool haircut around it or something to wear a baseball cap or something, but I can't do that.

Well.

It depends on how you do it, what fits your face, what fits your features, because it's not just oh, don't do it, period, but find the one that fits you.

So let's dive into the recitation and just a reminder. The recitation is where we unpack today's topic and figure out what questions you want to ask.

Let's start with what we know. And the one thing we know is that this is nothing new. Men have been getting crazy stuff done to their hair for a long time.

Remember that episode of French Prince where Uncle Phil was like trying to impress some lawyers or judges or something like that, and Carlton convinced him to get a hair piece, and he looked crazy. It was like this little curly two pey on the top of his head. And from there we've just escalated. And we also know that losing your hair is a part of getting old.

Hair loss is natural, just like hair turning gray is natural.

So one thing that I think I know already is that hair and stress go hand in hand. There was one time in grad school there was like maybe two inch by two inch patch behind my left ear where the hair just started falling out, and I was like, yo, what is happening? But I felt like I couldn't tell anybody because I was so embarrassed. So I was just like, you know, push the hair over to one side and be like, there's nothing wrong here. And to this day, I still don't know what was going on because I

Yeah, this is my first time hearing this.

Yeah, and I hope you in my mind you would have been like, here, put these coffee grounds behind your ear.

Coffee grounds. Let me tell you, it's power in the coffee. I know that when I wake up, I'm dead. I know I drink coffee and I'm a functional human being. This is a whole person. Not what else the coffee beans can do for that two by two patch. Okay, the power to restore.

It might have, but we'll never know. And so I would love to know because I know that other people experiences where it's like, like when you're stressed out, your hair falls out. That's what people just say. But why how So the other thing that I really want to know about is how social media is affecting how we feel about our hair. Like selfie culture is a real thing.

So it's time for the dissection. That's our deep dive where we talk to one of our very, very smart friends. And for today's dissection, we're talking to doctor Monty Oid Harris.

Yep, doctor Monty Oid Harris. I am a surgeon, scholar, entrepreneur, and I like to go by the name of the do good hair doctor.

But before we talk to Manty, let's all get on the same page with the hair terminology. Let's start with the scalp. Your scalp is hosting about one hundred thousand hairs, and your hair shaft is what you see. It's on the outside of your head, but there's more beneath the surface. Your hair follicle is embedded in your scalp and holds the root of your hair, and that's the part of your hair that is alive. And really, hair loss is as normal as going to bed every night. We lose

Right, He's not just telling you to rub this oil on your scalp and everything will work itself out. He's like, you might need to do some self reflection.

A big part for me is that I've been really looking at how do I kind of reframe this whole idea around hair and the notion of good hair and really making it it sort of an active and restorative process.

So I get to do good hair, got to do it. The very first question we got to ask doctor Harris is the bedrock question. What is hair loss? What are the different types of ways that people lose their hair? And why do they lose their hair?

I like to say that there's kind of a big three, a big three types of hair loss that I see day in day out, day in day out.

The first type of hair loss is called traction alopecia.

Neice hair loss related to like prolonged pulling intension, you know, like braids and weeds, and it typically happens, you know, in the temples those are that's the edges.

The second major type of hair loss is called scarring alopecia, and it's especially common with African American women.

It's more of like if the scalp ends up being shiny, and there's there's a variant of it that sort of starts at the center of the scalp, and it's called central and it's got this really long, complicated.

Name central centrifugal sickatricial alopecia. Try saying that's six times fast gobbledly. You know.

Folks call it CCCA.

Doctors haven't been able to pinpoint the cause of CCCA, but what happens is is the hair follicle gets replaced with scar tissue, which leads to permanent hair loss for some people.

When I see it, it's like, hey, we got to prevent this from getting words because we don't really have cures for it. Part of the whole mindset around it is prevention.

And the last of the big three is what we call androgenetic hair loss, and it's just natural hair loss that folks get as part of the process of agent.

And so those things can be all accelerated by your life.

Right, you know, and so you need to live different.

They're all accelerated by your life, you know, and whether that's your diet, you know, whether that's stress, and those and we can really have an holistic approach to sort of improving all of them based on essentially, you know, changing in lifestyle.

Speaking of living different, I really want to know, like why I started losing my hair in grad school? What's that about?

When you're stressed, right, your body is basically and your head is basically, oh, there is a threat. I need to protect myself.

So basically what my body was saying was T T you and danger girl.

When there's a threat, the body prioritizes blood flow to more important organs like your heart and lungs.

And so the hair then doesn't get the nutrients that in needs.

Doctor Harris has applied his holistic treatment and prevention methods for all different kinds of hair loss. One of those treatments is hair transplant surgery, right, and that's what Safari did.

And so this process is really interesting because they take this thin strip from the back of the head, So basically they pull that scalp from the back. He separates the hair follicle by follicle and then uses these teeny tiny tweezers to just plant each one of those follicles back into the thin spots in the front of your head.

Okay, but why does he take the hair from the back of the head. Why can't he take it from like the middle of your head? What's is there something different about the hair back there.

The crazy thing about it is that the hair at the back has a very special sort of like genetic programming to be extremely resilient.

That's why we see common balding patterns where people still have hair growth at the back of their head.

That's how you know, transplanting a lot of these other techniques came into being is because you could literally take that hair and move it to other places and it'll still grow.

Once it gets there. It's just like, huh, the hair follicle doesn't care where it is. It's just like new home.

Who this? Okay, So we're gonna take a quick break and process all of this, and when we get back, we'll talk to doctor Harris more about Safari Man. We selfies and social media and some of the biggest misconceptions when it comes to hair growth and hair loss. And you gotta stay tuned for this because this blew my mind.

All right, So we're back. We asked doctor Harris about social media and how that's affected people's perception and awareness of hair loss.

Is there some type of correlation between the two.

There's been no other time probably in the history of human civilization, right, that folks are engaging and looking at themselves as much as they are now. Yes, So I started to see a growing and growing misalignment related to an individual's this notion of self image and self fact, right, who are you really at your core? And then what's this layer of image that's on this and is this misaligned?

So doctor Harris thinks that looking at yourself obsessively with filters can lead to your mind being tricked into thinking that's actually how you look.

We wanted to ask, y'all, do you think social media is changing how we think about ourselves. Here's what y'all said. Do you feel like millennials like us are consumed with ourselves?

Yes, okay, honest, there are some of us that are consumed with ourselves. But I also feel like social media doesn't help because a lot of girls out here don't be feeling confident about themselves because they're trying.

To look like some I think absolutely social media is impacting that because I can't get on Instagram without the explore page showing me some new wig that I should probably explore getting, So it does make me want to click and add to cart, it does.

I think it's a combination of self obsessed and keeping up with the next person.

I just feel like we need to be able to separate what's reality and what's not, and what's healthy and what's not. Just because it looks good doesn't mean it's, you know, good for you to get. In the long run, it's gonna come back and bite you.

Do you think you take a lot of selfies? No, I'm never selfie ready. I have a one year old and a four year old. I take a lot of selfies of them, not myself.

Can you open your phone and let us see the number of selfies you have? Sure, nine and thirty one. Yeah, it's all babies. Okay, let's see I elf as you got girl. You only got three hundred and eleven. Oh, only a little bit in eleven. That's not that bad. I cannot reveal that number. Oh my god, thirteen hundred

Okay, so the Roberts cutting down most of it, so it's all down.

To a low level. And he's given him like a little fade in the back.

But wait, looks like this is this magic marker they have drawn on a hairline. It is, okay, some ninety degree angles here. They're laying the foundation for the new, the new look.

Oh no, I think this is about to be though. The man waves no.

And then he has these like are those dreads fingercool?

These are silky, silky coils just magically on here.

Yep. I don't know how they got up there, but they're.

There, right, Yeah, what do you think about that?

So it's like magic, you know, it's like boom bam, I've looked out like whoa. I think it starts to feed some degree of self divisiveness.

That's that self image rss a self fat thing. So when you see that flower crown, you don't have those sparkles, you don't have glitter raining down on you. Your chin ain't that plenty, your eyes aren't that big.

And the whites are definitely not that bright. Mostly all out here looking jaundice.

All this talk about self perception and aspirations to look like someone else is making me think of someone who a lot of girls wanted to look like back when we were growing up. Do you think you can guess who? I'm hard to know who you're talking about. It's Brandy.

Brandy had those box braids and I was like, that's my style.

I want to be her. I want that burn those ends, burn the ends. I want a short bob, I want to put it up in a ponytail. Where's Dion Moesha sing it Tuta eat Tuta Moosha. When Brandy first came out and she had all those braids, and I was like, yeah, sitting down in the shop and my hair braided, having my cousin braid my hair. I was getting crochet braids.

And recently, you know, now we can kind of we have the devices to help us see those high resolution photos. They're saying those were wigs, And I said, Brandy, you have lied to us because all of us lost our edges. Meanwhile, she has a full head of hair. Take those micro braids off every night exactly.

Yeah, you know, and so that brings up a really big point. And that and that, and that's you know, the whole thing about deception, you know, deception and costumes. As we look at celebrity, right, majority of celebrity, a lot of that's costume.

Brandy knew her hair was amazing, Okay, but it had to be. She was on TV in our living rooms every week. But now everybody's living their life in the public eye. We're taking selfies constantly, and so now everybody's feeling that same pressure. Now we all got to be out here like Moesha exactly without a hair out of place. I can't live up to that. It's like you're supposed to look like you have a million dollar hairstyle, but not that you put any effort into it.

Exactly. You're supposed to just wake up like that.

And that's not the case. It's not and you learned that from early age, Like because I didn't get a relaxer early on. It will be like, no, you can't play out there, don't sweat your hair out. Don't sweat your hair out, right, So what's that telling me? That's why I don't like to exercise?

Kind of kind of, maybe that's what that's what we'll say you need too, it's because I don't want to sweat my hair out. Before we left, we really wanted to know if there were any common misconceptions about hair care or hair loss.

Here's probably biggest misconception. It just clicked, this notion of the protective hairstyles.

Oh no, this is a problem. A protected style is a technique to stop your hair from breaking and maintaining the health of your hair. You do this by braiding your hair and usually putting on a weave or a wig, or just wearing your hair in that braided style.

But people are attributing everything to protective styles. My hair is shiny because of my protective style. My hair is long because of my protective style. I gotta raise it my job because of my protective style.

So I'm not saying there isn't a sort of a space for it, but it tends to be a limited, very circumscribed space. And folks, unfortunately have expanded this idea of protective styles in manners where they ultimately become harmful.

So it's protected for five weeks, but not five years. If you haven't seen your own scalp in that long, you got to ask yourself some questions.

It is a kia. I can think of a time where you did something to your hair in the name of hair care. Yes, I think the people need to hear this story.

Well, everybody gather around the fireside, okay, because let me tell you a tale as old as time, and it is when your friends try to help you out.

She's gonna try and blame me.

I'm not blaming t T. I should have known not to trust her, okay.

T T.

Went to this hair shop where she was getting You used to get that whip shay butter. Yes, it was so good, and you always give me some. And you said, oh, but the lady told me about this hair mask that they have, and you were like, it's a banana egg, some oil and you blend it all together, or you mix it all together and you put it on your hair and you let it sit and then you wash it out right.

And I just want to preface this story because that was very accurate the way you said it.

I never told you to do it. Yes, you never said, but you said proceed. She transferred the information, and thinking that this was a credible source, I said, I have those things at my house, right, got a very right banana Okay, well, saving it for banana bread. Little did I know that's what I was making in my hair. I mixed that stuff together. I mashed it up with a fork. I'm in my I was in my bathroom and I was like, oh, yes, because when I'm gonna put this stuff on, I put a little shower cap on.

So Midro, I have to go to the lab the next day.

I'm texting TT like, girl, I don't know, I'm really having a hard time getting this stuff out, and she's like, oh, I'm sure to be fine. I was like, I'm gonna do one more washing. That's it, because I'm tired. I'm going to bed. So I go to work the next day and I'm just like, is all the banana stuff out? Tt you came by the lab, what did you see.

The next day? She makes it sound like she was very pleasant. When she asked me. She wasn't okay. She said, this banana is still in my hair. I was she was living and I said, okay, well, let me come look. Her lab was right across the street from my lab. So I get over there, and when I tell you, from down the hall, I could see this banana. She had banana chunks in her hair. And I was like, oh my god, She's gonna kill me if I say I could see this banana. So I'm like, oh, you know,

You know, when you embarrassed like that, you lash out at the ones you love. I was very upset with T and I was like, you told me that this was work. You told me that this was supposed to be conditioning.

And I said, I didn't tell you anything. I told you with somebody else that told.

Me, so be careful of the messenger. Don't let any people.

She's gonna kill the Messenger. I definitely was ready to kill the messenger that day. I was just embarrassed. I was hurt, but it was fine. You know, you had a snack if you needed one. Hey, come on, I was getting all the servants of fruit. Hello friends.

I feel like it was like my eyes were open, but somebody peeled the film off of them.

Cataract surgery. Yes, I feel like I just had LASiS exactly right, because I knew hair was important, but I didn't even think of it as like how the stress ties in all these things are connected, Like we got to start from the inside out with these edges.

And I went straight to Whole Foods after that, because what did you get? Kale, leafy greens, all the healthy things that I felt like were gonna nourish me from the inside out.

That's a lot of fiber. I hope your tummy doesn't.

Hurt when I go from this shortcut to a bob. You're gonna be wondering how I did it fiber.

I guess. Another thing that was surprising for me was how he was talking about how with this increase of visibility and looking at yourself with social media, that he's seen a rise in people who are coming to get hair restoration and plastic surgery and things like that, and it's not just women.

When he said self image versus self fat fact read.

Exactly, I was like, I chill one up. I feel like there's definitely things I can do differently with my hair. I need to unlearn everything that I thought I knew about protective styling and what it was doing for my hair.

Apologies, let me put on my arguing wig.

Are you going to get an arguing wig? Still? I think everybody should invest in an argument wig just in case. What about you? Are you gonna do anything differently with your hair?

With my spirit, I feel like not a protective hairstyle, but a protective lifestyle about to cut the stress out out. Okay, I feel like since we kind of can predict this, if there's anybody out there listening, what is the correct stop to invest in?

Because I predict that this thing is going straight to the talk. Got to wrap on Lab two of Dope Labs and we want to hear from you. Do you like the show? Do you still have questions? Give us your thoughts.

Find us on Twitter and Instagram at Dope Labs podcast. You can go there to see some classic photos of our best maybe worst hair moments, and we want to see yours too, so be sure to tag us in your posts.

Don't try and roast feed right is a safe place. I'm sensitive. You can find me on Instagram at dr Underscore t Sho.

And you can find me at Z said So.

And if you love the show, don't forget to follow us on Spotify or wherever else you listen to your podcasts.

Dope Labs is brought to you by Spotify Studios. It's produced by Mega Own Media. Our producer is Jenny Raddle at Mass Sound Design and mixed by Hannis Brown. Our consulting producers are Raka Murthy and Graham Griffith.

Our original theme music is by Taka Yasuzawa and Alex Sugiura. Additional music by Elijah Alex Harvey.

Special thanks today to Dawn Scott and our special guest, doctor Monty Oyd Harris. To learn more about doctor Harris and his Do Good Hair platform, visit him on the web at doo Goodhair dot com.

Dope Labs is a production of Spotify Studios and Mega Own Media Group and is executive produced by us T. T. Shidia and Zakiah Watson.

Can people use armpit hairs?

Yeah? They can use hair from all over the body, pubic hair too, Yeah, folks who do that right? And then yeah, so.

M I feel like my chin is a great donor region. And why is it so? I read this thing that said that I know