Jada Pinkett Smith has been open about her battle with hair loss for years and has discussed it in depth on social media and “Red Table Talk.”
She admitted on the May 21, 2021, episode of her Facebook show that it was “terrifying when it first started.” The star was showering when her once luscious locks came out by the “handful.” She was “shaking with fear” at the prospect of going bald.
She explained why she had systematically been cutting her hair shorter. For the actress, her hair “has been a big part of” her, and taking care of her tresses is a “beautiful ritual.” Pinkett Smith appreciated having the choice of having hair or not.
At the end of 2021, she posted a video of her bald head that showed the marks where her hair had fallen out due to alopecia. She indicated the long bare line barely an inch off her hairline, which she joked looked like she had “brain surgery or something.”
Jada Pinkett Smith Shares an Uplifting Update about Her Hair Journey
“This here hair is act’n like it’s try’n a make a come back. Still have some trouble spots, but — we’ll see✨,” Pinkett Smith posted on Monday,giving updates about her hair, which is now making a comeback.
“Slide 1: Past,” she indicated the image of her bald head, wearing a white teddy-cloth sweatshirt with a diamond necklace. “Slide 2: Present,” she wrote of her pixie cut, peroxided on top, in a casual snap taken in a garden.
Jada Pinkett Smith has been rocking a bald look for a while, but some changes appear to be in the works.
Any Thoughts???#JadaPinkettSmith #Lovelytitv pic.twitter.com/xj0sxIH1RQ
— lovelyti (@lovelyti) August 8, 2023
The Backlash against Jada Pinkett Smith Speaking about Her Alopecia
There has been a lot of discourse surrounding the infamous slap her husband, Will Smith, gave Chris Rock — who previously produced a documentary about black women’s hair— when he made an insensitive joke about her baldness at the 2022 Oscars.
Some of the negative blowback was directed at Jada Pinkett Smith, as she had made it the butt of jokes in several posts before the award show. She had rolled her eyes at Rock’s quip that he could not wait to see her in “G.I. Jane 2.”
For instance, in mid-2021, she posted a “How it started vs. how it’s going” meme that showed side-by-side photos of her with a flowing head of hair and a shaven dome.An X influencer tweeted about the star’s hair growth update, “Jada Pinkett Smith has been rocking a bald look for a while, but some changes appear to be in the works. Any thoughts???”
“She never had alopecia. That was a buzz cut; you don’t see stubble with alopecia,” one thought. “She’s a phony, lol,” another commented, ” I knew she was lyin’ about her alopecia! Your hair (for the most part) grows back!”
Jada Pinkett Smith, who has been open about her battle with alopecia, shows new look as hair is "try'n a make a come back" (via @toofab)https://t.co/4xQgNOrF9X
— TMZ (@TMZ) August 7, 2023
A TMZ post about the “come back” had a similar response on social media. “Let’s be clear, she self-diagnosed alopecia. The whole family needs to go away,” a person theorized.
“She lied about the ‘alopecia,'” one insisted. “I don’t believe she ever had alopecia. I could always tell is was just shaved down to the extreme,” an X user said.