Integrating Skin of Color Hair Care for Young Patients

In this video, Candrice Heath, MD, shares what dermatologists should consider when treating skin of color hair in younger patients. Dr Heath (Instagram @drcandriceheath, Twitter @DrCandriceHeath) is a triple board-certified dermatologist and assistant professor of dermatology at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA.

Transcript

Dr Heath:  I love this question because it's so overlooked. I speak at a lot of conferences that are directed to adult dermatologists. Sometimes, I'm also invited because some of the things I like to talk about cross over.

What people don't realize is, I take those opportunities to teach other adult dermatologists that there may be a child in the room that may need some assistance, or really, to really understand in some populations the hair care advice that they are giving that patient with tightly coiled hair or brown skin, it is being amplified. They are going to apply that to their child. They may tell friends about it, as well. Hair, especially, if you've ever read about the background of hair and people with tightly coiled hair, it is a long process to get our hair done. That starts at a very young age.

We are used to having these long periods of time sitting with our hair care giver. I coined that term. It's real now because I got it published a couple of times. Whoever that hair caregiver is, we form a bond. We are sitting with that person for hours, every week, to get our hair done, so understanding that relationship, that's my history. Then, as a dermatologist, telling people, "Well, whatever you can do to tell people even a little bit more about their hair, how they should not do hairstyles that are too tight, or talking to them about it in a way that's receptive, that those lessons will go down for generations to come because of that historic and cultural preference to do this hair thing together and over long periods of time."