Last week, Avellino Catudig, 63, from Region 1 a venturesome guy raking much money selling wigs, offered a promise to anyone in Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) and Region 1: he’s very willing to shell out thousands of pesos and give that dinero as reward to the person who can solve his problem on baldness.
Not only that. Catudig says he’s willing to shoulder the expense of that person to a life-long dream of vacationing to any island anywhere in the Philippines.
And not only that. Catudig promised if that person is still single, he will shoulder his/her wedding expense should that person decides to marry.
If the person is married, Catudig swears he will treat said person and the person’s spouse to a second honeymoon.
Catudig revealed that two years ago, he advertised in a local radio for a remedy for baldness and got swamped by response. Hundreds of persons thought they had the answer to his problem and submitted a like number of supposed cures and remedies.
Catudig wailed to Ah that not a single one proved effective to solve the man’s hirsute problem.
Happens, more often than not, this is always the case: like the proverbial search for the perfect wife or husband.
There is this man’s unceasing quest for a surefire way to keep his hair on, and this search has continued for a well-nigh 4,000 years or so. Man has yet to succeed.
You may well have heard of one of your friends or neighbors losing their hair and trying everything: hair herbs, massage, diet, oils, mud, etc., to preserve their locks.
But still, it is estimated that two out of every five men by the age of 40 and above will see the sign we dread most: a receding hairline.
Ah assured Catudig that baldness isn’t only confined to him; it’s a universal phenomenon. No race is immune to it, nor is it exclusive to a particular group.
Wherever Ah goes to places in CAR and Region 1, bald men are always a part of the walking, eating, working, drinking, quarreling, sleeping or simply idling population.
Ah is one of them and being bald, he still keeps his comb in pocket. For he simply cannot bear the heart-rending feeling of parting with his comb by discarding it.
And just as there are a multitude of baldies like Ah and Catudig, so are there methods being resorted to stop thinning hair from completely disappearing from view.
Ah is resigned to the fact that there can be three ways a man must accept about thinning hair. These are parted, unparted or departed.
Many times, Ah saw persons with falling hair “shaving off” whatever is left of their thinning hair, thinking it will help in re-growth of their hair. But scientist say such pruning works only for plants.
These scientists say baldness is associated with genetic factors. In short, if baldness runs in a family, chances are, an offspring will inherit the same. But Catudig isn’t convinced about this. For baldness doesn’t run in their family.
On the other side of the coin, physicians advise that a healthy lifestyle can help ensure one’s hair not falling to the floor.
Catudig went on that relate that he heard others, just as desperate, are a little more sophisticated in their search for methods to stop falling hair. He heard of a Kabayan, living somewhere in Pangasinan, using ground hot pepper to stimulate hair growth.
That Kabayan vigorously massages the powdery hot pepper substance onto his head, with a mixture of oil.
Others employ electrical impulses, while Catudig says he may try a new but hair-raising technique in hair growing: that is, freezing the head.
How freezing the head will help hair growth is puzzling since we all know that reduction in blood supply to the head is one among the many reasons that leads to baldness.
Today, an increasing number of hair experts are not of the belief that scalp massage or vigorous hair brushing can stimulate hair growth.
They do believe that a luxuriant growth – or lack of it – can be traced to the food that we eat. They are of the opinion that a diet of iodine-rich food will do the trick.
There is this standing observation that that those who live near the sea can seem to hold on to their hair longer than other inland inhabitants.
There are also studies conducted, pointing out that diets rich in iodine are important for the circulation of the blood streams, which feed the scalp.
Discarding all other alleged sure cures, it is now established that nutrients rich in iron help blood circulation, which in turn is good for the scalp.
One might add that physical shortcomings – tension, lack of sleep or rest, malnutrition, overwork – tend to reduce blood supply to the head, depriving hair of the food it needs.
Catudig is also bent on exploring the hair transplant technology, a method of re-planting denuded portions of the head. The operation involves removing hair from other parts of the body and re-planting it on the bald pate.
But cynics, like bald Ah, abound, who maintain that age, sex and heredity are determinants on a person going bald or keeping his hair. Hair loss is a natural process.
There comes a time when more hairs will fall than are replaced. That’s when we either grow old bald or our hair stays put till it whitens with age.
Until then, with Catudig hoping against all hopes, he says he’ll be sporting a wig and selling them until he will find the right remedy to cure his baldness.