I’m Sikh with Traction Alopecia and Can’t Cut My Hair

i’m a sikh guy with long hair. i m suffering with traction alopecia. my religion doesn’t allow me to cut my hair. but my doctor is suggesting to have a head shave, which i dont want to do. do i have any other option?

right now i don’t wear my hair under turban. i left it open or sometimes in pony tail.

Traction alopecia reflects pulling on the hair. Long hair under a turban would do that, so as you are keeping your hair outside the turban, then that hair will not be pulled and the insult that is causing the hair loss will have been obviated. Shaving your head might keep the traction off your scalp, but as your hair regrows, the problem will reappear. A ponytail can also lead to the same fate, depending on the tightness and how much pulling is going on. Really, your only option to prevent this is to not produce traction on your hair.

The photo at right shows a Sikh man in a turban — Balbir Singh Seechewal, one of Time Magazine’s Heroes of the Environment for 2008. I don’t know if he has traction alopecia and don’t mean to insinuate such, but I wanted to provide a photo with the post that shows readers that might not be familiar with the Sikh culture.