Lady Gaga loses her locks

Most women are guilty of regularly colouring, singeing and bleaching their hair, however this regime could not only damage hair but make it disappear altogether.

Gaga has admitted that constantly experimenting with eccentric hair styles/colours has left her hair falling out.

Lagy Gaga's natural hair colour

While actress Neve Campbell and TV presenter Gail Porter, have both spoken out about experiencing sudden hair loss due to the autoimmune disease alopecia.

We all shed an average of between 50 and 100 hairs every day. When this natural rate of loss speeds up, it becomes noticeable and can be very distressing for some people.

Bleached and damaged locks

Hair loss in women can be caused by a variety of things; nutritional deficiency, pregnancy and thyroid imbalance to name a few.

Another common culprit is alopecia. Thought to be caused by stress, alopecia is an autoimmune disease in which the hair follicles become inflamed, causing the hairs to fall out.

Stress is also thought to cause androgenic alopecia, which is not an autoimmune disorder but a condition in which female hair loss mimics that of male-pattern baldness.

Gaga bald on Paul O'Grady Show

Another female dealing with issues of hair loss is the one and only… Barbie.

Toymakers Mattel are set to launch a new doll embracing a bald and beautiful look.

This was a response to a Facebook campaign urging the company to make a toy that children suffering with hair loss could relate to. The Barbie will be given directly to these children when production is complete next year.

Mattel to launch bald Barbie

Toy company Mattel has announced plans to add a bald Barbie doll to its line-up in order to help children suffering with hair loss.

It is in response to an ongoing Facebook campaign urging Mattel to launch a hairless doll that children battling cancer and other diseases that cause hair loss can relate to.

The Beautiful and Bald Barbie Facebook page now has over 150,000 likes.

Initially, Mattel told campaigners that they do not take unsolicited Barbie doll ideas from outsiders however it appears persistence paid off in the end.

The toymakers says the new doll will be a friend of Barbie and will come with the usual glamorous accessories including wigs, scarves and hats.

However, unlike Barbie, the doll will not be stocked on store shelves but will be given directly to children affected by hair loss.

The company says it will also give dolls to the Children's Cancer and the National Alopecia Areata foundations.

Production is set to begin next year.

The news comes shortly after Alopecia sufferer Toni Warne, 34, blew the judges away with her rendition of Will Young’s ‘Leave Right Now’ on the first episode of BBC1’s The Voice.

For more information on male alopecia visit www.hisalopecia.org