Last Sunday, the latest season of Keeping Up with the Kardashians premiered. I didn’t watch it. I never watch it. But I do sometimes enjoy reading the recaps, and on Monday, there were so many recaps involving Khloe Kardashian. Apparently, this season was filmed in the immediate aftermath of Khloe and Tristan Thompson’s break up. Khloe claimed in the episode that Tristan was doing the most to win her back, from sending flowers to texting her constantly to hugging her just before True’s birthday. Personally, I think Khloe sounded utterly delusional and like she was pushing this “I’m so desirable, he’s still all over me” fantasy. He literally cheated on her constantly and she still clung to him. No one is buying her narrative.
So instead of covering that, I’m choosing to cover this part of KUWTK: whether or not Kourtney Kardashian is going bald because of too-tight ponytails and high buns.
Kourtney Kardashian was quick to take action after discovering a small bald spot on her head. On Sunday’s season 17 premiere of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, Kourtney, 40, took a trip to the doctor in order to address her hair problem.
“Today I’m getting PRP [platelet-rich plasma], which is where they take your blood and spin it and they use your plasma and they inject it in my head for my hair to grow back,” she said. During her visit with Dr. Jason Diamond, the reality star was told that while she should “be fine,” it could “take a long time” before everything was back to normal.
“I definitely think that we should get some injections in there,” Diamond told Kardashian. “I think you probably need two or three series, maybe once a month for the next three months and I think you’ll be fine.”
Fans were first alerted to Kardashian’s hair troubles days before the season premiere, in a trailer that showed Kim Kardashian West advising her sister to go to the hospital. “Kourtney, you have a really big spot on the top of your head,” Kardashian West, 38, said. “Look down, Kourtney. Oh my god, I’m afraid for your life. Have you seen that?”
“No, but I feel it,” her older sister replied, explaining that she blamed the lack of a hair on having recently worn an extremely tight, high ponytail at a February gala. “It’s a hole in my head. I swear it’s from my ponytail, it was so tight that I had a bump on my head like this.”
I think it was probably the high pony, but a lot of women experience hair loss too, just not as profoundly as most men. As I get older, the texture of my hair keeps changing – it used to be super-fine, oily and mostly straight. Nowadays, my hair person is always like “maybe you need a hot oil treatment or a good conditioner.” No, it’s just my hair now. Thank God I don’t have any bald spots though – it’s bad enough that I have so much grey all over. As for the Kardashians: all of the weaves can cause hair loss too, right? As for the solution of using PRP injections on the bald spot… wow. I truly didn’t know that was an option.
Here’s the clip of Kim freaking out over Kourtney’s bald spot. Kim is terrible – her immediate reaction was “this is a HUGE emergency requiring a trip to the hospital!” Which is a huge overreaction.
Season 17 premiere tonight! #KUWTK @KUWTK 9/8c on E! pic.twitter.com/VpT2fqUpKQ
— Kourtney Kardashian (@kourtneykardash) September 8, 2019
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
I’m 29. I’ve noticed more and more of my scalp showing around my temples. It put me in full panic, to be honest.
I ended up showing my doctor and he figures it’s from scalp psoriasis… which sucks. But it seems like I have a ton of baby hairs growing back in now, so the topical medication must be working which is a huge relief. My hair touches the top of my butt because it’s so long – the idea of losing it really freaked me out. I know thyroid problems run in my family a bit, so it’s something I’ll be keeping an eye on for sure.
One habit I’m really bad for is having my hair in a high ponytail almost whenever I’m home. I started making sure I was using only the invisibobble type of elastic or scrunchies in an attempt to be more gentle with it, as well as keeping the pony’s a lot looser because I’ve read about people having trouble with temple hair loss who wear their hair in tight pulled back styles – like ballerinas.
Did you have your thyroid checked? Hair loss was one of my first symptoms. I’m hoping that your doctor checked that before concluding that it was psoriasis.
I had had some bloodwork that included thyroid done shortly before (less than 3 months prior), and the levels were fine. But I’d also been writing off other psoriasis symptoms as being ‘normal’ dandruff. I had multiple spots flared up on my scalp when he checked it out, and I kind of just assumed it was simple dandruff or a reaction to a newer shampoo. Apparently it was the psoriasis. But like I said – it’s something I’ll be watching. I’ve got a pretty great Dr who I’ve had since I was a kid… and he treats my mother as well and definitely knows about the family history. Because I have another chronic condition, he’s pretty careful with testing.
@Erinn I have scalp psoriasis too! It truly sucks. Can I ask what medication your doctor recommended given that it worked, as I’m always up for suggestions!
I’ll have to check it out when I get home tonight, Amy, can’t remember off the top of my head. I’ll set a reminder on my phone to post back to you.
@Amy – I have experience with scalp psoriasis too. Check out Neutrogena’s T-gel line. Also ome of the “old fashioned” pine tar soaps/shampoos can be effective. Yes, the pine tar and coal tar can smell a bit funny and they can be considered problematic ingredients by some, but as you leave it on, then wash it right out…I think it’s fine. Also for a topical ointment (spot test, then try overnight) is made by a co called Spring Wind. It’s an herbal ointment and it’s their red one.
Good luck xo
Betamethasone is what seemed to clear it up. Took about 7-10 days to really see a difference.
Thanks for the info re: thyroid. I am under the impression that my hairline has receeded a bit in the last couple of years and I was worried that the weight of my hair or the braiding are to blame. I do have thyroid issues though, so..
Are there any treatments for this? :/
I think it’s possible that the hair braiding / weight of hair could have something to do with it – it could be putting extra stress on your hair follicles. I know that tight hairstyles over long periods of time can DEFINITELY cause problems – google traction alopecia.
But I think it’d be a good idea to get it checked out by a Dr to be sure – they could do some blood work to check your thyroid, and if needed they’d put you on a thyroid medication to help sort out your levels.
I have alopecia areata – autoimmune disease where my immune system attacks my follicles. I have flair-ups from time to time, just like Kim does with her psoriasis. All of a sudden there will be a smooth bald spot, anywhere from dime-sized to quarter-sized. If Kourtney has this kind of alopecia, there’s not much to be done about it.
Same! Only thing that has worked consistently for me is the steroid shots. I have gotten them since puberty. Sometimes they are preceded by psoriasis patches and sometimes not. But they always follow stress. I have 3 patches right now—one the size of a dime, one the size of a quarter, and one the size of 2 half dollars 🙁
My mom has this type of baldness. She has very thick hair, but stress will trigger the autoimmune response. I don’t have it, but I have other autoimmune issues that I control with the Plant Paradox way of eating. A bunch of people see that I am no longer sick, so a bunch of people at work are now using the diet to control autoimmune conditions. I’d try it to see if it works for you. So far, the diet has controlled or eliminated autoimmune symptoms for everyone I know who has tried it.
Sorry. I’m sort of an evangelical about it now since I was so sick.
@Christina – I’ve heard about the Plant Paradox, and I’ve been thinking about trying it. I’ve been very conscious about reducing inflammation causes in my diet this past year (very low sugar, low dairy, very low wheat, low alcohol), and I’ve greatly reduced my work stress. I think it has helped – I still got a spot, but it seems smaller than normal. I need to do more and heal my hyper-vigilant immune system once and for all!
That’s amazing! I have an auto-immune disease, and from a quick glance at the diet, I eat tons of stuff with lectins every day. I’m curious, how seriously do you have to follow the diet to get good results (reduction of auto-immune symptoms)? Do you know if a spot to get a few recipes to try and eat this way for a few days? Thanks!
MoopsMarie and Bree, you have to eliminate all lectins initially. After a few months, you can start eating very little at a time to see if you still have issues. I ate no sugar and eliminated everything that was listed. I still eat no sugar unless it is monkfruit or coconut sugar or yacon syrup. I eat dairy from grass fed cows only or from goats milk. I’ve been doing it for a year now. When I do have lectins, I choose wisely. For instance, I am Mexican and love corn, but I don’t eat corn anymore. Once in a while, I will have milk from a corn fed cow at a restaurant or something. It doesn’t make me sick because I don’t have the lectins proteins built up in my system anymore. If I ate corn for a couple of days, my eyes would get puffy and my joints would start to hurt.
I avoid wheat at all costs. I’ve replaced potatoes with parsnips in recipes. I eat chocolate chip cookies, but they are made by Simple Mills. They taste like Chips Ahoy, but they are made with almond flour, tapioca, and are sweetened with monk fruit.
It’s easy to do now. It was hard when I started because I didn’t know the hacks. Now it’s a way of life. When I go out with people, I’m not precious about it, but if I go too far, I WILL be in pain. I drank a bottle of white wine with my husband, and my wrists hurt. Back to red. Red wine doesn’t hurt me.
No more stroke migraines. No more back pain. I can walk normally again. No more medications. Cholesterol is in the normal range. No more dizziness. Carpal tunnel disappeared. I even make less ear wax!!! Who’d of thunk it?!?!?
As someone who lives with thinning hair due to part age, medication, & T2 diabetes I know how frustrating and disheartening it can be to see your hair thin or lose it due to the styles you like to wear.
I never had a thick, luxurious mane to start with but seeing it thin caused me a lot of upset. Its now something that I have sort of accepted, it still burns when I see how much hair shedding I have. I try to take care of my scalp, massaging every time I wash, wash as little as I can, take supplements, and use a scalp conditioner (The Ordinary Multi-Peptide Serum) which seems to help retain the hair rather than make more grow.
I have scalp thinning due to hypothyroid/hashimotos, PCOS , and heredity (my mother and her mother also have thinning hair but neither of them have thyroid or PCOS issues). It does make me self conscious and I try to do my hair to cover it. I started using the Keranique (not sure I spelled it right) line of hair products. We’ll see how it goes.
Hugs, Fifee. It’s rough. I have friends who inherited the balding gene from their dads, and their hair is thinning. It’s hard for women in our society.
I think the female pattern baldness comes from mom’s side, like the male pattern.
Well since E cameras were there when she had the treatment done, it was free for her.
I also fail to understand why injecting platelets would increase hair growths, seems like snake oil but, well, I guess she doesn’t have to care since E is paying for it!
Actually believe Boe not it does work!! My aunt is doing this as well and it is working – though it does take time. Don’t ask me about the science behind it, but I did ask some MD buddies and they agreed it does work! 🤷🏽♀️
Oops sorry about the spelling. I meant believe it or not
Lol. Weaves do NOT cause hair loss. Unless you’re getting them done by someone who doesn’t know what they are doing. Which I highly doubt is the case with Kourtney. You CAN however get hair loss from your hair being pulled too tight in buns, ponytails, braids, etc. any hairstyle that pulls the hair.
I can only imagine what JoJo Siwa’s hairline is going to look like when she’s older…
That’s what happened to me. Aside from PCOS, I used to wear my hair in a tight ponytail under my scarves and would have the scarves themselves be a little too tight for fear of sliding back, and my hairline receded quite a bit because of it. I haven’t had that issue since I adjusted how I wear my hair and scarves, but I hate looking at my hairline.
The weight of extra hair pulling down on your roots can act in the same way as tight hairstyles etc. Its all traction alopecia.
That treatment sounds like a complete scam. Come in every month for treatments and months later your hair will grow back. I bet if she just let it be it would grow back months later!
Especially if it’s just from a ponytail, not an actual medical condition.
Who on earth would rush to the hospital for a little thin spot like that?
Someone who is unhealthily focused on what they look like? 😉
My thyroid medication thinned my hair out. It’s a very unfortunate side effect.
I have androgenic alopecia, which basically means my hair follicles die off. I am so thin all over, and there’s no solution. I am going to look onto this though. I’ll take any sliver of hope.
I’m considering bariatric surgery but super worried about hair loss from it. Does anyone have experience with this? My hair is already thin around my temples, I’m 39.
Yes, you will experience significant hair loss about 5 months out. Supposedly, it grows back. You are likely to suffer extreme constipation that can send you to the ER. 400 mg magnesium citrate at night works.
I had bariatric surgery last July. I started to experience loss/thinning about 4 months out. It stabilized about a year out and I think it’s getting thicker again. Also it now takes a while for my hair to grow – which was new after the surgery. Friends/sisters claim to not see a difference but I feel it.
Since I could swallow pills, I’ve taken vivisical supplements. I’ve also added the gummy hair vitamins. Who knows if it helps but I like to feel like I’m doing something.
It’s been one of the more upsetting outcomes from the surgery (my hair has always been one of the few things I’ve liked about my appearance). But the surgery was still 100% worth it.
@lovely Rita and DK Thank was on both so much for these insights! It’s such a scary thing to think of doing, and it feels silly that hair loss is the big thing that I’m ruminating.
“I’m afraid for your life!” Really, you vapid woman? I’ve been losing my hair since I was in my mid 20’s with no explanation from doctors. Just bad luck. Truly. That is what dermatologists have said. I’m now 41, wear a hair piece (awesome when you are trying to date) and while is it embarrassing and sometimes uncomfortable I know not to BE AFRAID FOR MY LIFE. Idiots.
I mean… that was clearly just her being dramatic as a joke. People take everything they say so literally just to be angry at them for something.
They’re idiots.
Really? That’s interesting! I don’t know much about her or watch the show, but she sounded serious to me in the video, LOL!
I mean, I guess it could be a serious medical condition that causes hair loss. I know she probably was just being over the top because… that’s who this is. But it’s not out of the realm of possibility that there could have been a health issue behind it.
My daughter has a cyst on her scalp that grew and caused hair loss. Insurance wouldn’t cover removing it because said it was a cosmetic procedure. It started out small, like a pimple, but grew to almost golf ball size. It was painful. She hit it one day and it started draining (painful). She was directed to a dermatologist. They put a cortisone shot in it and that seemed to help.
I hear scalp cysts are genetic. I have a few. One got big and burst on it’s own. It was scary lol…so much blood. The doc squeezed it and it hurt like hell. There was a hard “shell” that popped out. I put coconut oil on that spot for a full year. You can’t tell it was there at all now, fully healed.
I think that woman’s hair can tie in with ideas of feminine beauty and it just be another Vehicle for unrealistic beauty norms.
Stress and other factors can definitely cause hair loss! It caused my sister to lose hair and it took years for her to recover and have thick hair again.
I have thick, curly hair which can lush and curly or bushy and dry depending on what styling products I use, what hairdresser
I see, how I brush it and if I tie it back with an elastic band or soft ribbon.
There are so many toxic Eurocentric beauty norms surrounding hair! Which lead to the kardashians being culture vultures about hairstyles while woc face social stigma if they wear their hair naturally.
I was finally diagnosed with frontal fibrosing alopecia after years of disappearing eyebrows and subsequent receding hairline. One dermatologist said it was nothing. Went to an endocrinologist and did a full workup because there is a family history of thyroid issues and everything checked out. Finally was at another derm appointment for an annual skin check and asked her about it and she IMMEDIATELY said, “This looks like frontal fibrosing alopecia.” Did some cortisone shots (not sure that did anything) and have been using a Clobetasol solution that contains steroids that are supposed to help retain the hair you have–but there’s not a lot they can do! Getting diagnosed early is the best thing possible because the efforts are really about retention. But even if you pursue it for years like I did–you have to find the right clinician. I can’t do injections in my eyebrows or do microblading because I *also* have glaucoma (I sound like I am held together with dental floss but I promise other than these two issues I am healthy and can be a lot of fun!) so I choose eyesight over eyebrows. Have not heard of these plasma injections and am no Kardashian so don’t have a fan base to impress other than my friends and family so eventually I will probably shave my head and rock that and maybe get a wig or two for those times I don’t want to deal with it otherwise. I hate to sound vain but I did have great hair and I’ll miss it! But my main point is–if you are experiencing a lot of shedding or eyebrow loss, try to find a doctor to help get to the root of the matter, and be your own best advocate!
A friend’s daughter had alopecia (I don’t know enough about it to say what kind) but they did a few treatments including acupuncture, and had good success.
Thanks @lucy2–might be worth a try!
A few years ago I was loosing hair because my psoriasis spread to my scalp. For months I had to have it in a half-pony, which is not my favorite or best look. I watched this episode on Sunday and was a smidge irked that none of the many doctors I was seeing at the time offered this to me. Maybe it wasn’t available then? Or maybe this is experimental? My hair has all grown back but it was pretty traumatic at the time.
Kim’s reaction to the small bald spot is ridiculous. God forbid one of them have a feature that isn’t EXACTLY the way they want it.
I think Kim should be freaked out that Kourtny now seems like the Kardashian still resembling their original faces. In her mind that probably is the real emergency. That her sister’s body still works like a human body rather than a mannequin. And so she definitely needs to go to the hospital, a.k.a. plastic surgeon.
omg that photo of khloe in the background hahahahaaaaaa
OMG, Kourtney has discovered the magic formula for how to grow hair!
From the video, it looks like it’s an injury rather than a life-threatening bald spot. Maybe something scabbed over, she says it feels like a hole and that’s not how ordinary hair loss feels but it is what a scabbed over injury feels like if it’s lost its scab. The injury from a viral infection such as shingles can work that way also. Don’t know about psoriasis, although she has the genetics for that (sister Kim and Demon Mother).
If so, I don’t see how blood injections will work. Except in the way natural healing works, in which case having the Koven dance around her three times every day will work as well.
John Hopkins medicine has a whole webpage on platelet rich plasma for hair regrowth and treatment of male pattern baldness. I guess there’s studies that show it works. It’s also used in sports medicine to help heal tendon injuries etc. my dermatologist suggested getting it with my microneedling treatments