Willow’s mother used this chance to address the questions that were being asked by fans about her new headcover. She began explaining why she has been wearing a turban.
Smith went on to explain, “I’ve been having issues with hair loss. And I’m going to tell you [that] it was terrifying when it first started.” She then revealed her first terrible experience of hair loss, “I was in the shower one day, and then [there was] just handfuls of hair, just in my hands.”
Sympathizing with Mom
Jada sympathized with her daughter’s unfortunate situation. She explained that her own experience was also very similar.
But instead of making her daughter feel better, these words only made Willow feel even more strongly about being “just not desirable” in young men's minds. The young girl further complained and added, “Like, is my body just like not what society likes?”
Blocking Out Negativity
Jada was quick to stop her daughter’s negative line of thinking and told her, “I tell Willow all the time she’s beautiful. Like all the time.” Her daughter agreed, and commented that she did learn how to block out people’s criticism over her body, but for a completely different reason.
Willow decided a long time ago that she wasn’t going to shave her armpit hair, which caused a lot of sexist and misogynistic criticism from both men and women.
An Extremely Uncomfortable
Jada claimed that on several occasions, she began to freak out and believe that there was something wrong with her. On more than one occasion, the actress thought that she was losing her hair and remembered how much fear she experienced. Her daughter immediately sympathized with her and became very emotional too. Luckily, her mother found a way to deal with her uncomfortable situation.
Furthermore, it seems that Pinkett Smith’s constantly changing hairstyles had a story to tell after all. For her part, she reveals during the Red Table Talk conversation that her hair loss was the reason why she started adopting shorter and more varied hairdos. Still, taking charge of an uncontrollable experience doesn’t mean it’s any easier to cope with, as the actress seemingly implies.
Coping with the Loss
One way that Jada found of dealing with her hair loss was by adopting to short and unique hairstyles. This allowed her to avoid the embarrassment and shame of watching her hair fall right out of her head in her hands. Although this certainly helped her cope with the situation, it was still extremely humbling, even somewhat damaging to her self esteem.
Finding a way to cope with her hair loss did not make it go away or hurt any less.