Kim Jong Un’s North Korea has experienced a strange increase in the number of people experiencing thinning hair or going bald, South Korean experts have reported.
Experts spoke to Radio Free Asia (RFA), discussing how the phenomenon emerged from several sources, including infections that cause hair loss as an after-effect and the use of soaps and laundry detergents that contain “harsh” chemicals. .
Choi Jeong Hoon, a doctor from North Korea who fled to the south and now serves as a senior researcher at the Public Policy Research Institute at Korea University in Seoul, explained that it is “not easy” for North Koreans to find “light” chemical products.
“The average citizen can’t afford to worry about hair loss,” he explained to RFA, adding that the cost of treatment for the average citizen is too much to afford – and it often doesn’t prove to be very effective.
Treatment is consistent with either pharmaceutical or cosmetic treatments, both of which can help accelerate hair loss.
Ingredients that are often believed to have a good effect on hair or skin, actually have no confirmation of effectiveness due to the murky regulatory situation in this country.
In North Korea, everything, including hairstyles, has to be approved.Corbis via Getty Images
Ahn Kyung Soo, head of DPRKHealth.org – a blog that follows health issues in the Hermit Kingdom – writes that many treatments are more akin to “oriental medicine,” which are topical tonics based on medicinal herbs that may have minimal effects.
Such treatments include dipping a needle-like hairbrush into a glass bottle and then rubbing it on the scalp to stimulate it.
Other experts argue that military hats can also damage hair due to the lack of proper ventilation, which leads to the formation of bacteria and clogged pores that can result in thinning hair.
All able-bodied men are usually required to serve 10 years in the armed forces.
Military helmets with poor ventilation could be another cause of North Korea’s current hair loss epidemic.Getty Images
Hair loss isn’t just a North Korean issue: South Korea has also seen in recent years sudden and widespread hair loss proving such a problem helped play a role in last year’s presidential election.
Candidate Lee Jae-myung, who is not bald, won support from voters after suggesting the government should pay for hair loss treatment.
The online community for bald people exploded with support for Lee because South Korea only covers treatment for baldness caused by certain diseases.
Reports say one in five South Koreans suffer from hair loss.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
