Jada Pinkett Smith has been open about dealing with alopecia — an autoimmune disorder that causes hair loss — over the years.
Jada, now 51, first spoke about her hair loss on an episode of her Facebook Watch show, Red Table Talk. “I haven't talked about it. It's not easy to talk about. But I am gonna talk about it,” she said. “I’ve been having issues with hair loss.”
The Girls Trip actor explained to her mom, Adrienne Banfield Norris, and daughter, Willow Smith, that she realized she was losing her hair when it fell out in handfuls in the shower one day. “I was like, Oh my god, am I going bald?” she remembered thinking, noting that she was petrified.
Jada explained that she eventually learned to accept her alopecia diagnosis after putting things into a “spiritual perspective” and questioning why she was “so terrified” of losing her hair in the first place.
Ever since, Jada has been candid with her fans about the reality of her hair loss. In December 2021, she shared a raw video showing one of the bald scalp patches she’d developed as a result of her alopecia.
“Mama's gonna have to take it down to the scalp so nobody thinks she got brain surgery or something,” she wrote in the caption before adding, “Me and this alopecia are going to be friends ... period!"
“Now, at this point, I can only laugh,” she said as she showed the bald patch. “Y’all know I've been struggling with alopecia, and just all of a sudden one day, look at this line right here. Look at that.”
“So it just showed up like that, and this is going to be a little bit more difficult for me to hide,” she added. “So I thought I'd just share it so y'all are not asking any questions.”
Fast-forward to today, and Jada is sharing another candid update with her fans.
Taking to Instagram, Jada posted two photos — one from the past and one from the present — in order to showcase how her hair has started growing back.
“This here hair is act’n like it’s try’n a make a come back,” she wrote alongside the photos.
Jada noted that she still has “some trouble spots” on her head, though she appeared optimistic about her regrowth nonetheless. “Still have some trouble spots but — we’ll see,” she added.
Jada’s post was quickly met with supportive comments from her nearest and dearest, including her mom, who left a bunch of heart emojis.
As you might recall, Jada’s alopecia became a prominent topic of conversation online last year after her husband, Will Smith, slapped Chris Rock onstage at the Oscars for making a G.I. Jane joke about her bald head. The comedian reportedly had “no idea” that Jada has alopecia.
Later reflecting on the swarm of attention she faced after the Oscars, Jada explained that it allowed her to learn “a lot about detachment” and being able to let her “hair go.”
“I learned a lot about detachment,” she said. “And I learned a deeper beauty within myself, being able to let my hair go.”
She went on, “It’s been a hard one, a scary one — because specifically as Black women, we identify so much of ourselves with our hair. ... I had to really dig deep and see the beauty of myself beyond my aesthetics.”
