Why Is Gaga's Hair Falling Out?
By Kate Sullivan, Allure magazine
Last week, the former brunette, current platinum Lady Gaga told People that she was going to "get a chemical haircut because my blonde hair is falling out." Is hair dye the culprit? Most likely, though "coloring, perming, or straightening the hair is fine as long as the treatment isn't painful," says George Cotsarelis, director of the Hair and Scalp Clinic at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. "When there is pain, that indicates follicle damage."
So assuming Gaga's extreme color shifts are the issue, what can she do and, more importantly, what should you do if your hair is wrecked. We asked colorist Nicole Gache of the Valery Joseph Salon in New York City-who actually colored Gaga's hair before The Fame and her subsequent fame-how to deal with busted dyed strands.
What is a chemical haircut, exactly?
That's when you put too much bleach in your hair and it falls out. They call it a "chemical haircut" but really your hair is just breaking and falling out. It doesn't help you.
So how should we be coloring our hair?
First, see a professional who has colored hair for a long time. If you're going from dark to bleach blonde like Lady Gaga, the colorist should be spending as much time doing conditioning treatments as she spends on the color. When we first took [Gaga] from jet black to platinum, that's what we did. And coloring was a process; we didn't do it all at one time.
How often is it safe to go for color?
You shouldn't dye your hair more frequently than every two or three weeks. The problem is when you're going blonde you can see your dark roots after a week, but if you color your hair every week, then you will see damage. If you're doing brunette to brunette, it's not going to be that bad. But if you're going brunette to blonde, you're using harsher products and you can lose your hair. I like to color every three weeks for blonde hair with dark roots. For highlights, every eight weeks. Highlights use bleach and stronger chemicals, and if you have a base color as well, you won't see the roots as much anyway.
Are some hair colors safer than others?
Yes; we have color with no ammonia. But if you want to be platinum, it's not possible with that kind of product. And if you have a lot of grey hair, it doesn't cover 100 percent. But it's definitely better for the hair and it gives the hair more shine.
If my hair is severely damaged or falling out already, what can I do?
First, you have to stop doing color. You have to use very strong conditioner. Take biotin, a vitamin that will make the hair stronger. If you're doing a lot of blow-drying, stop. If the dryer is very hot it can burn hair that is already sensitive from the color. If you use a flat iron, you have to stop. And maybe don't go as blonde as people seem to want to go.
If this extreme platinum blonde color is what's damaging Gaga's hair, what shade do you think she could switch to?
She looked great as a brunette, but she also looked great during the process [from dark to blonde]. Again, we didn't do it all at one time, and at one point it was a copperish-reddish color, it looked really pretty with her skin tone. And then it was a light strawberry blonde that looked pinkish. She enjoyed it also. She has a wig that's a similar color [now]. She wants something aggressive. She doesn't want a natural color.
Should Gaga go back to the wigs, while her hair heals?
No, you cannot put wigs on all the time-ultimately that, too, will make the hair weaker. It's not better than dyeing it. Really, you just have to find the color that's right for your hair and listen to your colorist.
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