What happened to Michael\'s hair?

[Palmyra]

I know about the Pepsi hair/fire incident, but post-fire pictures/videos of Michael seem to indicate that his hair regrew in full. His hair in Bad and other videos is thick and full. Only after Michael died did I learn he wore a wig. Now it all makes sense. I kept noticing all these changes in Michael's appearance, but I never knew the changes were caused by his hair/wig.

Did Michael ever fully regrow his hair after the Pepsi incident or did he begin wearing a wig then? In the They Don't Care About Us video, his hair looks as natural as any hair I've seen on anyone. I would hate to think it is a wig. If his hair in TDCAU is natural, did he begin wearing a wig after 1996 (after TDCAU)?

I always hated how Michael wore his hair like this (long strands covering his face):

http://imgur.com/h7XgU

I hate to bring this up, but what happened to Michael's eyebrows? I am always puzzled by this. He obviously didn't have eyebrows after a certain year (when did he lose them?), but I don't know when he lost his eyebrows. Even more importantly, I don't know how he lost them. I am pretty sure eyebrows regrow, which is why I wonder why Michael replaced them with tattoos if they would regrow anyway. Did vitiligo destroy the pigment of his lips? I can only assume why he had his lips tattooed.

These questions are uncomfortably invasive of his privacy, but they're always on my mind. Again, I really would rather have not asked these questions, but I wanted to get them out of the way. I feel very uncomfortable getting into Michael's business.

 

[R e a f u]

I don't know if what I'm about to say is of any help, but it might add a little insight. I've had little burns in a few places(usually at my temples) while having my hair curled. One time I tried using a flat iron on my hair and completely fried the back of head, so badly that I ended up having to shave my hair off and sport an afro for a couple of months.

I've had my hair burnt as a result of hairdressers putting in the wrong chemical relaxer and leaving it in for too long. Since hair perming for black women involves a little thing called lye(which pretty much is Sodium hydroxide), which is very caustic, it can do a lot of damage to your hair after a while. Lots of experts say that you should give your hair a break and let it grow naturally and not straighten it with any chemicals or heat. I'm guessing that maybe Michael was doing that in his final years. The accident that caused his burns happened a good 20 years ago, surely, after all the possible skin grafting he must have had, any surgeries and any reconstructive work...his hair must have grown back. It would take a lot and I mean a whole lot for it to just not grow back. Look at chemo patients, they lose ALL their hair because of the chemicals they are bombarded with to kill off the cancer in one spot. Eventually their hair grows back. I don't see why the same couldn't have been for Michael. I'm not too sure about vitiligo(so don't quote me on this) but as far as I know, the only thing that condition would do, in terms of hair, is cause it to go white. Perhaps this was happening? Maybe it was the case of a little vanity and not wanting the world to see a few gray hairs.

Unless Mike had alopecia, I'm not sure why he'd permanently loose his hair or eyebrows. As for the lips, your guess is as good as mine.

I hope I didn't offend!

 

[MJfan01']

I read that Michael lupus caused him to lose hair. He was balding but his natural hair was curly and brown. I never heard of him losing his eyebrows. I know he tattooed his eyebrows and lips in the late 80s.

 

[susanrello]

I am only speculating here, but he may have lost his hair and eyebrows do to the lupus. Lupus can cause hair lost. DD speculates that he was anorexic and that was what caused it.

I know for a fact because I have seen it up close the ravages of vitilligo that you do loose the pigmentation in your lips. Basically wherever the pigment is lost turns white. I once saw a girl who had vitilligo, and she even lost the pigmentation in her eyelashes! She had one eye with black eyelashes and the other had white. Also I once saw a man with severe vitilligo, he didn't use anything to even out his skin tone, so his face looked stranged. His lips didn't all loose pigmentation evenly, some parts were dark, and other parts white. I said to myself, if MJ had a devestating time with acne , then vitilligo and lupus must have been unreal.

 

[OneMoreChance]

I know about the Pepsi hair/fire incident, but post-fire pictures/videos of Michael seem to indicate that his hair regrew in full. His hair in Bad and other videos is thick and full. Only after Michael died did I learn he wore a wig. Now it all makes sense. I kept noticing all these changes in Michael's appearance, but I never knew the changes were caused by his hair/wig.

Did Michael ever fully regrow his hair after the Pepsi incident or did he begin wearing a wig then? In the They Don't Care About Us video, his hair looks as natural as any hair I've seen on anyone. I would hate to think it is a wig. If his hair in TDCAU is natural, did he begin wearing a wig after 1996 (after TDCAU)?

I always hated how Michael wore his hair like this (long strands covering his face):

http://imgur.com/h7XgU

I hate to bring this up, but what happened to Michael's eyebrows? I am always puzzled by this. He obviously didn't have eyebrows after a certain year (when did he lose them?), but I don't know when he lost his eyebrows. Even more importantly, I don't know how he lost them. I am pretty sure eyebrows regrow, which is why I wonder why Michael replaced them with tattoos if they would regrow anyway. Did vitiligo destroy the pigment of his lips? I can only assume why he had his lips tattooed.

These questions are uncomfortably invasive of his privacy, but they're always on my mind. Again, I really would rather have not asked these questions, but I wanted to get them out of the way. I feel very uncomfortable getting into Michael's business.

Lupus Symptoms
By Mayo Clinic staff

No two cases of lupus are exactly alike. Signs and symptoms may come on suddenly or develop slowly, may be mild or severe, and may be temporary or permanent. Most people with lupus have mild disease characterized by episodes – called flares – when signs and symptoms get worse for a while, then improve or even disappear completely for a time.

The signs and symptoms of lupus that you experience will depend on which body systems are affected by the disease. But, in general, lupus signs and symptoms may include:

* Fatigue
* Fever
* Weight loss or gain
* Joint pain, stiffness and swelling
* Butterfly-shaped rash (malar rash) on the face that covers the cheeks and bridge of the nose
* Skin lesions that appear or worsen with sun exposure
* Mouth sores
* Hair loss (alopecia)
* Fingers and toes that turn white or blue when exposed to cold or during stressful periods (Raynaud's phenomenon)
* Shortness of breath
* Chest pain
* Dry eyes
* Easy bruising
* Anxiety
* Depression
* Memory loss

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/lupus/ds00115/dsection=symptoms

I'm not entirely sure why you are so concerned with this stuff. I mean if Michael wore a wig would that make you feel any different about him? Who cares if he got a tatoo on his lips? I mean what's really the point in questioning these things? It is Michael business and we don't have the "right" to know these things.

 

[oldschoolfan]

I always thought Michael had his eyebrows tattooed just because he wanted to, I didn't know about lupus until after he died. I did hear about the wigs before he died, but the magazines were giving him a lot of **** over it so I just brushed it off and thought it was fake. It might be stress, lupus, and being burned.
How Michael looks has never been an issue for me, I don't care wether it was intentional or he couldn't help it because of what he experienced. I don't think there is anything wrong with bringing it up, as long as people aren't nasty about it. It is a touchy subject because people can be so snide.

P.S. Palmyra I have no idea why you hate Michael's hair like that, Dangerous era, mmm baby...:licklips

 

[OneMoreChance]

I always thought Michael had his eyebrows tattooed just because he wanted to, I didn't know about lupus until after he died. I did hear about the wigs before he died, but the magazines were giving him a lot of **** over it so I just brushed it off and thought it was fake. It might be stress, lupus, and being burned.
How Michael looks has never been an issue for me, I don't care wether it was intentional or he couldn't help it because of what he experienced. I don't think there is anything wrong with bringing it up, as long as people aren't nasty about it. It is a touchy subject because people can be so snide.

P.S. Palmyra I have no idea why you hate Michael's hair like that, Dangerous era, mmm baby...:licklips

Amy's just in love with my siggy!

 

[R e a f u]

Amy's just in love with my siggy!

So am I...and the smile :wub:!

 

[Pirate.]

He defintely still had eyebrows I've seen some pictures from the 2000s where they looked rather ungroomed XD But he had them filled in. Like, tattoos. I think maybe he started wearing wigs, like full wigs in the 2000s. After Invincible maybe? He most likely had extensions or whatever before then.

He's beautiful either way

 

[Ben]

I've been wondering about Michael's hair since reading it autopsy report.

In mid 1980's I was aware had a small bald spot the size of a small coin on his head, from the Pepsi commercial accident. His hair was said to have grown back over the spot after a few months from what I read in books in the mid 1980's to 1990's. Now from what I've read and heard, is that Michael underwent quite a lot of hair therapy as the blad spot kept expanding due to Michael's developing lupus by the mid 1980's, and that he would wear small hair pieces to over the expanding bald spot. I have a book about Michael somewhere that I bought in the mid 1990's (the book was also published in the mid 1990's), that say's after Michael's accident at the Pepsi commercial in 1984 that there was something different about him, and that he was never the same person again. When I heard last year about how the Michael's accident was far more devastating than we were lead to believe, that quote from the book I have really did make a lot of sense.

I'm not sure how fast Michael's bald spot kept expanding. But from what I see, is that Michael's hair looks like it's still all his from 1984-2002. There are times on the mid 1990's to 2001 where Michael does look like he's wearing a wig. But that could also have been to give his natural afro textured hair a rest, from chemicals and any hair extentions he may have worn. Michael's hair in on the Victory Tour, Bad era, Dangerous, HIStory era, especially on at the 1995 MTV Music Video Awards where his hair is short and curly looks like his own hair and nothing like a wig.

From 2003, Michael always looked like he was wearing a wig to me, though Michael's hair at the end of the LWMJ doc wear his hear is swept back, straight but not too long looks fairly natural from his own hair line. Most but from 2003-09 most of the time Michael looked like he was wearing a wig. And I always thought the long straight hair never suited him, and the wigs never looked like they fitted him well. But I never presumed Michael had very little natural hair, I thought when he started wearing his hair with waves in them again like on the HIStory Tour, that Michael stopped wearing wigs because they looked so natural. Now in retrospect I can see Michael was wearing a wig, though it's very well fitted. But I think Michael had his biggest hair loss in the 2000's, basically he looked very ill in 2001 and had a lot of horrible things to deal with in his personal life that we the public all knew about, which would cause anyone a lot of stress.

Considering Michael's losing his hair was due to lupus, and not natural balding I don't think Michael wearing small hair pieces then wigs is such a big deal. I don't blame him for wearing them, and the majority of the time you would never have guessed Michael was losing his hair.

 

[OneMoreChance]

Extreme stress can cause severe lupus flare ups. It explains a lot to me. Although personally I don't really care why he did them. He had his reasons and it's not our place to question or know his reasons. Michael's personal life was just that his PERSONAL life. Sometimes fans seem to be under the impression that we have a right to know certain things when the exact opposite is true. We should be the people that don't care about that stuff. Leave that crap for the medialoids to speculate about. What we love about Mike has nothing to do with how much plastic surgery he has had or whether he wore a wig or had tatooed eyebrows. What is most important to me was Michael heart and what he stood for. Not to say that Michae wasn't gorgeous because he was (something he didn't really see), but that's not what i love about him.

None of this should matter. It's not going to change the way I feel about him.

Sorry to rant a little, but I feel strongly about this.

 

[oldschoolfan]

Amy's just in love with my siggy!

:dreamy:

So am I...and the smile :wub:!

It's mine, MINE!!!

 

[OneMoreChance]

:dreamy:



It's mine, MINE!!!

Yes Amy, I promised you the siggy when i decide to change it!

 

[Palmyra]

I'm not entirely sure why you are so concerned with this stuff. I mean if Michael wore a wig would that make you feel any different about him? Who cares if he got a tatoo on his lips? I mean what's really the point in questioning these things? It is Michael business and we don't have the "right" to know these things.

As someone who cares about Michael, I want to know if he was physically sick or not (based on the lupus, vitiligo, etc., he was definitely physically sick). I am concerned, because Michael's appearance changed for decades, and hair loss is one of those changes that is usually associated with very ill people. If Michael had been ill, I want to know about it, because you typically want to make sure that the people you care about are happy and healthy.

I don't care about his nose's appearance, because his nose has nothing to do with a disease. His hair loss, pigmentation loss, and everything else tells me the man was going through an extremely tough life. I like to think (and I think all fans do) that I could have been there for him in times of need. If I don't know about any of this stuff, I can't possibly be there for him.

His appearance doesn't change how I feel about him.

Who cares if he got a tatoo on his lips?

If he lost his lips to a disease, I want to know about it because it's important to know whether the people you love are healthy. If something else happened, I don't need to know about it.

It is Michael business and we don't have the "right" to know these things.

His personal choices and life are none of my business, but his health is my business. We have the right to know whether he was okay or not so that we wouldn't have to spend our time worrying. I am not asking about this stuff so that I can run to the tabloids; I am asking because I want to put my mind and heart at ease.

 

[OneMoreChance]

As someone who cares about Michael, I want to know if he was physically sick or not (based on the lupus, vitiligo, etc., he was definitely physically sick). I am concerned, because Michael's appearance changed for decades, and hair loss is one of those changes that is usually associated with very ill people. If Michael had been ill, I want to know about it, because you typically want to make sure that the people you care about are happy and healthy.

I don't care about his nose's appearance, because his nose has nothing to do with a disease. His hair loss, pigmentation loss, and everything else tells me the man was going through an extremely tough life. I like to think (and I think all fans do) that I could have been there for him in times of need. If I don't know about any of this stuff, I can't possibly be there for him.

His appearance doesn't change how I feel about him.



If he lost his lips to a disease, I want to know about it because it's important to know whether the people you love are healthy. If something else happened, I don't need to know about it.



His personal choices and life are none of my business, but his health is my business. We have the right to know whether he was okay or not so that we wouldn't have to spend our time worrying. I am not asking about this stuff so that I can run to the tabloids; I am asking because I want to put my mind and heart at ease.

His health is not your business. Michael's health is no longer anyone's concern. His autopsy proved that although Michael did have some health issues he was a relatively healthy person. Whether he did these things because he wanted to or was forced to by any of his health issues is not yours or anyone else's business! What does any of it matter now anyway? Are you still concerned about Michael's health?

 

[Ben]

His health is not your business. Michael's health is no longer anyone's concern. His autopsy proved that although Michael did have some health issues he was a relatively healthy person. Whether he did these things because he wanted to or was forced to by any of his health issues is not yours or anyone else's business! What does any of it matter now anyway? Are you still concerned about Michael's health?

I agree with you that Michael's health is none of our business, and I wish I didn't know some of the health problems Michael had which came to our knowledge through his autopsy. It makes me very sad that even in death Michael's being violated, through the release of his autopsy report giving up information that Michael preferred to keep private.

Now that fans do know about Michael's health (and we should not know anything), fans are going to be curious about certain aspects of how his vitiligo and lupus effected him. I have wondered about what Michael's hair loss was like, and even thought of creating a thread like this. But I strongly agree with you that Michael's health was his own personal business, and us fans have no right to know about his health, plus his health is no longer an issue, including the fact when he was alive he was still a healthy man. The health issues he did have weren't life threatening, and in my opinion Michael would have lived a long life if it wasn't for Dr Murray.

 

[OneMoreChance]

I don't mean to come off as a b*itch and anyone on this forum who knows me understands that this is not the case.

We know what we know about Michael's health and we shouldn't even know that much. I just don't see the point in speculating about why he wore a wig or anything. Everyone was always at Michael for the "truth" and even when he told the truth a lot of people still didn't believe him. Michael had lupus and vitiligo that did cause him some health problems. Let's just leave it at that. Speculating about all of this to me is disrespectful. Michael's legacy has nothing to do with any of this.

 

[oldschoolfan]

I do agree with you 100% Jen, I fall into the trap of finding out personal stuff, I find out all this info about Michael so that I can stand up for him, but then I look at it and think 'is it REALLY my buisiness to know that Michael wasn't circumcised just so that I can tell people Jordan was wrong?'. I always want to hit myself when I remember the things I know are things I don't really have to know, even when I use it in Michael's defense.

 

[susanrello]

Michael's legacy has nothing to do with any of this.

Rightly and wrongly said. As fans we would like the world to see MJ the way we do, and have his legacy be that of music, dance and humanitarianism, but we do not live in fan world we live in the real world. There is a large, vocal and money driven group called the tabloids that have a different agenda. Michael Jackson being dead is not going to stop the negative propaganda; in fact it fuels it because who is going to dispute them: only the fans. If fans are not well informed on the areas that they are going to talk about then how can we cross examine?

For example, a certain journalist after Michael's death said his weight loss and hair loss was caused by anorexia. Honestly if fans had not informed me about the lupus and the symptoms of lupus then how would we learn from each other and know what is rubbish, and what is the truth? Remember the fake autopsy report that said Michael weighed 112 pounds, and had a stomach full of pill? That report went viral in a matter of seconds, never mind it was fake. Had the real report not been release the public would have been stuck with the pill popping image.

The more you love a person the more you have to ask the pointy questions. I am sure Mesereau had to ask MJ some very unpleasant things. Who is to say that the hair loss might not be used as part of a defensive strategy? Knowledge is power.

 

[OneMoreChance]

Rightly and wrongly said. As fans we would like the world to see MJ the way we do, and have his legacy be that of music, dance and humanitarianism, but we do not live in fan world we live in the real world. There is a large, vocal and money driven group called the tabloids that have a different agenda. Michael Jackson being dead is not going to stop the negative propaganda; in fact it fuels it because who is going to dispute them: only the fans. If fans are not well informed on the areas that they are going to talk about then how can we cross examine?

For example, a certain journalist after Michael's death said his weight loss and hair loss was caused by anorexia. Honestly if fans had not informed me about the lupus and the symptoms of lupus then how would we learn from each other and know what is rubbish, and what is the truth? Remember the fake autopsy report that said Michael weighed 112 pounds, and had a stomach full of pill? That report went viral in a matter of seconds, never mind it was fake. Had the real report not been release the public would have been stuck with the pill popping image.

The more you love a person the more you have to ask the pointy questions. I am sure Mesereau had to ask MJ some very unpleasant things. Who is to say that the hair loss might not be used as part of a defensive strategy? Knowledge is power.

No, rightly said. Sorry but Michael's musical and humanitarian legacy has nothing to do with whether he wore a wig. Now if I was Michael lawyer of course I would have to ask a lot of personal in depth questions, but I'm not. Knowledge is power, but not when it comes to someone's personal life and medical history.

Yes, the tabloids have a different agenda and that's what they do is speculate and come to there own conclusions without the real truth. I feel that as fans we should not do that. None of it is important anymore anyway. Whether he had his lips tatooed has no bearing on how wonderful his music is or how much he did to help people. THAT'S what's important.