Hair damage at BBB

[cschulte]

The craziest thing happened today. My 8 year old woke up and was missing a patch of hair on top of her head. It was perfectly fine last night because I fixed it for soccer pictures and no hair was missing.

I took her to the doctor to see if it was ringworm or some other random misc ailment and the diagnosis was hair trauma (it was a little more technical than that).

We are assuming it is from the hair style that she had done at the MK BBB during spring break. The missing spot is in the same spot as where the pony tail was, and about the same size. The doc says the scalp condition and the fact that it happened so quickly probably means that caused it.

I know it was a fluke thing but I still can't believe it. She has had this hairstyle before as have her sisters and we've never had anything like this happen.

I will say, it was REALLY, REALLY tight. She wore it for 3 days and it didn't budge. (Maybe not such a good idea in hindsight). It truly looked just as good as when she had it done, while her sisters were both falling out by that point.

Oh well, there's nothing we can do now but wait for it to grow back and hope it doesn't take too long.

 

[momof2n2]

poor sweetie! And with summer coming = sunburns.
I hope it grows back quickly. I hope you can concoct a cute hairstyle that hides it for her!

 

[Brae's Mom]

The craziest thing happened today. My 8 year old woke up and was missing a patch of hair on top of her head. It was perfectly fine last night because I fixed it for soccer pictures and no hair was missing.

I took her to the doctor to see if it was ringworm or some other random misc ailment and the diagnosis was hair trauma (it was a little more technical than that).

We are assuming it is from the hair style that she had done at the MK BBB during spring break. The missing spot is in the same spot as where the pony tail was, and about the same size. The doc says the scalp condition and the fact that it happened so quickly probably means that caused it.

I know it was a fluke thing but I still can't believe it. She has had this hairstyle before as have her sisters and we've never had anything like this happen.

I will say, it was REALLY, REALLY tight. She wore it for 3 days and it didn't budge. (Maybe not such a good idea in hindsight). It truly looked just as good as when she had it done, while her sisters were both falling out by that point.

Oh well, there's nothing we can do now but wait for it to grow back and hope it doesn't take too long.

This same thing happened to my daughter after she went to BBB. She was walking down over the stairs in front of me and I saw this bald spot about the size of a quarter. We took her to the doctor, who sent her to a specialist and they all agreed that it was probably from the hair style she had at BBB. Needless to say she won't be doing that again. Thankfully she is older and doesn't want to do it anymore.

It grew back pretty quickly. It did go through a couple of weeks of wierdness where it stuck straight up, but she dealt with it fine.

 

[disneysplash]

Same thing happened with dd9. She said it was too tight and hurt, but she wanted to leave it in. She ended up with a bald spot slighty smaller than a dime. This was Christmas week, and it is finally growing back now. We also got her checked for ringworm by a doctor.

 

[2Tiggies]

Did your children all keep their hairstyles in for a few days? I wonder if it could be to do with cutting off blood circulation to that patch of scalp where the hair is pulled so tight. (BTW I am not suggesting that you shouldn't leave it in as long as you can - with the price of a BBB makeover I would want my DD to get the most out of it too). I am curious as I have never heard of this before.

 

[kylieh]

My DD then 7 wasn't happy with her BBB style either (at DL) She couldn't wait to get it out, too tight for her.

For our upcoming trip she has asked to go to a "regular" place, so I've booked an updo at the salon at the Yacht Club. She's ok not to have the makeup etc done.

They will do it tight, which is ok for some, but it appears not for a lot of kids.

 

[Pine View]

Once is wierd. Three times just here on this board at this time. I would have to rethink having my DD having it done.

 

[disneysplash]

Did your children all keep their hairstyles in for a few days?

She went to BBB twice in one vacation. Once when we arrived and again just before we left, so she could wear it to school. Probably, six or seven days all together.

 

[cschulte]

I'm relieved to hear it's happened to someone other than us, although sorry for your kids.

This was our third time having it done for my older two kids, first time for the youngest... and probably the last.

My girls have always worn their hair for three days with no problem. However with the other fairy tale princess buns, they were never so tight.

My oldest went with that hairstyle because we've had so many issues getting the hair extensions to stay in on a previous trip.

Sure enough, my youngest picked the blonde hair extenions (against my recommendation) to look like Rapunzel and her hair fell out within an hour of leaving the BBB. They tried to patch it and the patch lasted an hour. We went back the next day and they re-did it into the princess bun. Luckily hers wasn't as tight.

I can certainly say I've had enough of the BBB. Luckily my older two have thouroughly enjoyed the experience.

 

[MayzDisney4]

gosh, I am so sorry to hear about these girls hair! I hope it grows back quickly.


And I guess I am kind of glad my DD8 has moved passed princesses and requested Pirates League this year!

 

[Altoqueenkelly]

She went to BBB twice in one vacation. Once when we arrived and again just before we left, so she could wear it to school. Probably, six or seven days all together.

Please dont take this the wrong way, I mean no offense at all.... but that sort of explains it.... if this hairstyle is THAT tight I can see where having it in place for so long could do damage to the hair. Your daughter never complained about it bothering her?

I will just quietly ask my FGIT to not pull it so tight, I dont care for DD4 to leave the hairstyle in place more than the first day... I guess it might also be a good idea to take it out and wash it before going to sleep that night.

 

[freepixie]

I feel sorry for all your little girls but I am still having a hard time understanding this - I teach preschool and I can tell you that many African-American girls have their hair pulled into braids and ponytails MUCH tighter than they could achieve at BBB and I've never seen any of their hair fall out I'm not saying it could never happen, but I've been teaching about 10 years now, let me tell you that some of those styles are so tight the skin of the scalp is pulled away from the head, and I have actually seen some skin tearing but no hair loss due to tight pulling.

 

[disneysplash]

I guess it might also be a good idea to take it out and wash it before going to sleep that night.

I agree, if we do it again, it will come out that night.

Here is a quote from another thread on this from August of 2010

She said that her daughter left the bun in her hair for a couple days and received headaches. They attributed it to the heat, but when they took the bun out, because it was so tight on her head, she didn't realize that her hair was falling out because of pulling. She said her daughter had a bald spot for months because of it

.

Googled Hair trauma

Traumatized Hair Follicles

Trauma to hair follicles can lead to progressive or sudden hair loss. Pulling of hair, such as that caused by overly tight hair styles (cornrows, ponytails, and braids) can cause the hair to fall out prematurely.

 

[FosterA]

I'm a hairdresser and have been for 21 years and I've never seen this happen before
I've seen breakage of hair, which is different than loss of hair obviously, right around mid-shaft where the actual rubber band is positioned. If you think about a bun or ponytail the main areas of tension are the the sides/top/bottom perimeter that is all being dragged into the center so if anything you'd expect to see the "fringe" area of hair falling out or breaking versus the middle of the head hair. Know what I mean? I'm not a doctor and I totally believe that YOU believe this was the cause and it may be. I've just never seen that before. Interesting

 

[mjohnson96]

Thanks for the heads up, DD 8 is only doing it this trip because we are bring my niece who is 6 and really wants to do BBB but not alone. I will make sure to ask for it to be not so tight.

Also to the teacher, remember that everyone's hair is different and handles stress and styles differently. If DD got a sunburn I can't think that it should not have happen because my brother's kids never had one

 

[cschulte]

I'm still in disbelief myself. There is no way to prove it and I'm not trying to. I originally had wondered about the hairstyle causing it, but thought there is no way.

The doctor asked me if anything happened before I mentioned it to her. She then said she's had patients that had cornrows done on vacation before that had similar problems or allergic reactions to the gels.

There is no hair left in that spot. (no fringe or remnants of hair or breakage.) It is totally bald. And again, she has had this style before. My two other girls have had it and had no problems, inlcuding one on this trip.

I think it is probably a rather rare case. It was tighter than normal. She could probably go back and have the hair style done again and not have it happen-- but she won't.

I was just venting because it ended up adding a lot of stress to our day. She had a series of important testing starting at school today and I was trying to figure out how to get it checked out around the testing.

I think it's a case of just a different type of reaction. I was surprised to see others have the same problem. And I'm just glad it's NOT ringworm!

 

[ChrystalUnicorn]

So sorry this happened to your dd. My dd 7 had did the BBB last year she did not complain right away that her head hurt but by the end of the day she said her head hurt. I wanted her to leave it in because we were going on home the next day I am so glad I listened to her and took it out that night.

I am sure by you posting this it will alert other parents to this possibility.

 

[Jenny-momof3]

I absolutely have heard of this happening! While mine wasn't at BBB...it was done while on a cruise to the Bahamas. I had about 6 cornrows put in at the base of my hairline....remember back in the day where having all of your hair in a pony and a few braids hanging down was cool. I woke up about a week after my cruise to all 6 of the braids laying on my pillow! That was a HUGE chunk of my hair that had fallen out and left me with a great big bald spot! I immediately went to the dr. thinking ringworm as well. and the dr. said it was trauma to the hair follicles. My hair was half way down my back at the point and it took almost 2 years for the other hair to finally catch up!

 

[creativeamanda]

As a teacher in a high school where girls get their hair done all the time, I see this all the time. The hair is pulled so tight, it actually falls out. It usually happens when the hair is pulled tight and then extensions added.

I am so sorry this happened to your daughter, op. I would not be happy.

 

[DizzDoll]

That's such a shame about your daughter's hair! I have a friend who's going to WDW next week and is trying to get her granddaughter in the BBB before breakfast at the Castle. I'll tell her about this and then she can decide what she wants to do. They have the hair gels and the glitter that they're bringing with them just in case they can't get in the BBB, so maybe they'll want to do their own styling.