In 2010, pictures of supermodel Naomi Campbell’s heavily receded hairline emerged online. The general reaction was shock, as people wondered how such a beautiful woman could allow excessive weaving to have such an ugly effect on her hair and scalp.
Well, it’s two years later and it seems not much has changed. Recent pictures of the model enjoying time on the beach show her hairline still heavily receded. Every hair style choice has its cost. Natural hair requires a good moisture and detangling regimen, relaxed hair requires regular touch ups, and weaves tend to take a toll on edges and, in some cases, scalp health. Perhaps Naomi Campbell knows the risk of her decision and is simply willing to pay the cost. Ladies, what are your thoughts? Click for one more photo below.
Why does Naomi get such a hard time? We know about her hairline yet the racist DM drag pictures of her up regularly showing that hairline so the readers can gasp all over again and moan about her attitude. No one reading that article should see it as one of concern or care, the DM showbiz section is designed for mocking be it over gender, race or sexuality. Please don’t hold them up as an unbiased news source. To me, Campbell is an extreme case of what can happen when one head suffers years of abuse and it is her career that was the reward for the sacrifice of her hair. She was expected to be what designers, photographers, agencies and brands expected her to be at any given moment, on any given day or shoot. Since she has been around since the early days when black models were few and far between, her hair has undergone lengthy abuse, she was probably in a sea of straight haired white girls expected to fit the runway look that easily applied to them. Stylists will rip through a girls hair, iron it and blow dry it dry and dirty to get the look the creatives want, they are not interested in the hair’s health just the job in hand. I have seen white models who have had to pull out of the circuit for a while because the agency explained that all the peroxide that has been put into their hair has ruined it and they need some months for it to grow back. A lot of models have terrible feet full of corns and bunions due to often finding that although they are a size 10 shoe, the samples are 7s, years of this ruins your feet. It’s sad to see someone who has achieved so much become reduced to a cautionary tale about weaves.
Your post is also somewhat of a social commentary about the impossible and unrealistic beauty and fashion choices that women are measured against or try to conform to.
Whether it’s hair, weight or even shoe choices(high heels), it’s unnecessary and unhealthy.
Well it is about beauty and it isn’t. It’s more about capturing someone’s vision which could be a 6’1 bleach blonde alien with brows to match. It isn’t about what the lay person considers beautiful. Also I realise she chose this profession but I am not into the mass media’s attempts to bring people of colour down over hair so we all forget their achievements and focus on the superficial. I hope weave wearers take this picture as a warning about looking after your real hair beneath extensions but I don’t feel we have learned anything more from this than the first picture they published that shocked everyone. It’s better when the source of discussion is a place like this where the writers and commenters actually care about giving tips, support and advice to each other. The DM invited in bashers and all the ‘experts’ on us and our hair came out in force with their Ill informed statements of fact and truisms about black hair and the black women who cannot handle it. Had Naomi have not been a model, her hair may not have looked like this. Maybe she could have been a not-so-bald-not-so-super-model. We all make our choices.
I must admit these pics are sad to see. For the first time we now have natural hair product commercials that are geared toward women with textured hair. Long time to get them but a great accomplishment. If we can get more celebrities with natural texture hair to promote natural hair products and healthy hair care, they could change many more lives. The forums, vlogs, and blogs have helped so many people including myself but there has to be another way to do a massive reach out to get this message out.
Totally agree,this is shocking but we have a choice to make now we know the truth about haircare.This shows that all the money don’t buy common sense.
I’ve done some damage by not managing my natural hair properly, but this is…..I’m speechless.
When I was 17, I dyed & relaxed my hair a few times in 1 weekend (The color came out wrong. twice. I know…)and lost HUGE chunks of hair in my hairline at the temples and had no choice but to shave my head. Those areas in front have never been the same since
:(
DAMN.
There’s probably nothing she can do about her hair line at this point. If there were, I’m sure she would have done it by now… My hairline isn’t as bad as her’s, but I’be been attempting to grow it back for over 20 years. I didn’t wear weave or braids. My enemy, rolling my hair with foam rollers (back in the day) and pulling the edges too tight. Heredity plays a part also because the older females in my family have the same problem.. I’ve tried the Jamaican Black Oil, Rogain, but so far, nothing has worked. Maybe I didn’t use it long enough, who knows!! I’ve been natural for three years and I’m able to hide most of my hair line. If any of you have any other suggestions as to how I possibly grow it back, or how long I should use a particular product, plase let me know.
After a year of wearing extension kinky twists multiple times, I got some hair loss on the edges, not too adverse, but enough that I noticed. I tried multivitamins, just regular Centrum, later on I also took some Biotin-Nature’s Made brand. You can try these options but Biotin can cause you to break out, so I personally took it only once every day, instead of everyday. Try the vitamins for a month or two.
It could also be a hormonal issue, sometimes changes happen as we get older. The hair on the edges is just more fragile.
With all the money she makes one would assume she would just buy some hair implants or something. She can take a break from the weave wear a wig and still model just as good. I don’t think she really cares as long as her face and body still look nice. Women can be fickle that way I suppose.
Love that I found this site. I also want to stop wearing weaves. What are some shampoos, home remedies, Aloe Vera?….please suggest. Thank you Beautiful Ladies!!!
Check the “HAIRCARE” link on this site, there’s info on washing, conditioning and all other aspects of haircare. Check the gallery for style inspiration so you don’t have to depend on weaves only. Maybe even create your own gallery that you can refer to from time to time. You can also search for tips on proper weave installation and maintenance, they are okay in moderation.
The main thing to remember is not to pull your hair too tight in ANY style, that’s what causes hair loss eventually.
Hi, im not suggesting a home remedy but this process really works. My edges were basically bald since 4th grade. Im in my 30s now. I started getting treatments at HRS in Atlanta and one side has grown in completely and the other side has made significant improvement. I get laser and Tesla treatments. You sit under a hooded laser for 30mins and then the Tesla is a direct low frequency current for about 7 minutes. It really works ladies. Hope this helps someone :)
Sigh. Maybe she just doesn’t care. She’s probably living her life way more than she was able to in the past, and her edges are the last thing on her mind. She doesn’t have to be the poster child for healthy hair.
I totally agree. I just recently started my transition and it makes me smile when I see so many commercials using natural models. It becoming mainstream and giving us and our children positive images of women with natural hair styles being successful and accepted. When we start to see more positive images that look like us with natural healthy hair the Naomi situations will decrease and become a thing of the past.
Naomi situation is concerning and I feel for anyone that has a similar problem with their hair. We have to remember they made the choice to wear weave. I wore it myself for several months. But I knew I had to take care of my hair and not be cheap when taking care of it. I choose a professional the could maintain the weave and my hair. I had basically no damage and my hair grew about 4 inches with the weave. I never lost sight that this was not my real hair and understood that pulling or stretching the weave into certain hair styles would damage my hair.
My question is what stylist would continue to put it in seeing that each time they would that she was losing hair permanently. I know money talks but at some point I would think that the persons conscious would not allow them to continue to put it in.
Ladies do you think your current or recent beautician would continue to put weave in your hair if they recognized that it was causing permanent damage?
So glad that you asked this question! I can’t speak about the weave, but I can attest to a relaxer. Once when I was at the salon and I was still relaxed, I observed my last beautician touching up a client’s hair. Her hair was past shoulder length, but she had no edges. In that instance money definitely did the talking.
And I did the walking. Lol!
She is beautiful… she can cut it off and start over. It would fit her
If her edges will even grow back –sometimes they might not, or it will take a very long time
This is so sad. I feel really bad for her. It is bad enough that she has this damage to her hair, I’m sure it must bother her. But now to have her her picture posted online by malicious media (I
don’t mean this site.) Who only want to humiliate her. No one deserves that! I hope she has friends and family who will rally around her and keep her spirits up! I hope she does the best she can with the situation.
well it’s good to now see some models of color be they African or African-American are rocking shorter dos! And getting modeling work. Lots of it.
We have to value who are are and what we look like and be proud! And as was mentioned earlier I’m sure there is a “right” and “wrong” way to take care of hair – no matter what style one wears. Remember hair is apart of the skin and the skin is an important body organ, not just a fashion statement.
COME ON PEOPLE!!! She was THE BLACK SUPER MODEL of the 90′s!!!! I am surprise that she has any hair left at all!! If she had that same career today, her hair line would be way closer to her forehead.
Its so easy to judge someone base on a picture, but everybody seems to forget that she has a 25 year career in an industry that had ZERO knowledge once or ever on how to deal with black hair.
Its easy to judge people base on image, isn’t it…
you act like that is an excuse? I’m pretty damn sure this was a gradual process. She made a choice to stick with weaves when she could have just gone with a wig. I am probably one of the few who do not feel sorry for her. Its not like she has cancer. Other AA women have been in the business JUST as long and stil managed to keep edges. She just didn’t care and that is OKAY but its good to let other people see the consequences of her decision so they will have proof to the pros and this bald con!
If I wore weaves constantly for many years and ended up with a hairline like that I wonder if I would get as many hits on a “natural blog” as she has gotten????
Her hair looks awful! She should consider shaving it all off and rocking a bald head! It may look okay on her! She is a beautiful women, with a beautiful body! It’s a shame that her receding hairline is making her look like a crackhead with a bad weave. I’m sorry, but rocking a weave is not worth hair loss in my opinion. But, if she is okay with looking busted, then more power to her. After all, it is HER hair! :\
Occupational hazard. I’d rather have a million dollars than a hairline, but that’s just me. Leave this woman alone – you know how “fly” she looks on the catwalk and in her photos? Well, this was the price.
Really bothers me how much people are judging Naomi when the fact is we can all speculate but none of us know what is going on with her hair. It may already be too late for her to rectify, she may have other underlying issues. Either way I wish people would extend more compassion to her and less judging. The fact is the vast majority of women on this site have had their own hair issues and undertook practices which damaged their hair before they ‘saw the light’ or rather took comfort in the increasing numbers of other women of colour wearing their hair natural. When Naomi began her career being a natural haired model was not an option and maybe the cost of her hairline is the price Naomi paid for her career. But the fact remains she is not her hair! She is still a beautiful woman. Maybe given time she’ll ditch the wigs and weaves but if she has an irreparable case of traction alopecia maybe she won’t regardless of whether we approve that’s her choice. Personally, I give thanks that I don’t walk in her shoes and didn’t feel the pressure to wear my hair in a particular way in order to build a career to the extent that it caused me that level of damage, scrutiny, judgement and scorn.
^this.
I think she was also one of the first major black models, so there would be a lot of pressure to conform to what other models looked like. She made a (huge) sacrifice for her career, but I think she has problems with accepting/styling/managing her natural hair (she’s weaved it for almost 24 years). Maybe she has a medical problem. That could also be responsible.
It could also be a vicious cycle: the more weaves she has, the less hair, and the less hair, the more she will weave it to make up for it. Whatever she does, she should change her routine if she wants to keep her natural hair. If she doesn’t, she should keep weaving!
I can sympathize though; I didn’t lose my hairline that badly, but I lost inches of length because I straightened/keratin treated my hair and didn’t know how to care for it. Now I’m a month into having locs. C:
Hi All;
This is an excellent product line http://www.entyce-your-beauty.com/products.php
All Afrikan women should use it including Naiomi Campbell if they want their hair to grow again or continuing growing in a really healthy manner. After all it was created by a sistah who is in the hair business..
Just check out the link…
Peace
All I can say is Damn…. Damn…. Damn!!!!