"Heading for an inevitable loss"

I once sat in the row above a man who had hair plugs at a Shakespeare play. I can’t remember which play it was because I spent so much time staring at the perfect rows of crop below me.

An article in last week’s FT discussed ‘male pattern baldness’; why it happens and what can be done about it. Treatments include Rogaine, hair transplants and hormone treatments, but sadly, there remains no cure or reversal for baldness.

All this talk of no hair got me thinking about our obsession with hair. We don’t really need it. A hat is a fine replacement for keeping heads warm in the winter, but everybody wants hair, even if they already have it.

Hair extensions are the latest rich girl’s must have. They are strands of synthetic or human hair, glued to your natural hair to add length and volume. They look great and cost a small fortune, but they are costing girls in India even more.

India is the biggest exporter of human hair. Human hair trade is a ruthless business where women and children are often forced to shave their heads as a sacrifice to their gods, or so they are told. Once the hair is collected, the “temple hair” is then coloured and treated, and shipped off to the US and UK for idiots like Paris Hilton.

I understand that balding can be traumatic. I have great sympathy for people who lose their hair due to illness or cancer. But leaving a child bald so that Mrs Beckham and her friends can have more hair is simply unacceptable.