Kim Jong Un’s North Korea has seen a strange rise in the number of people suffering from hair loss or going completely bald, South Korean experts reported.
Experts spoke to Radio Free Asia (RFA) and discussed how the phenomenon appears to stem from several sources, including infections that caused hair loss as a side effect and the use of soap and laundry detergent that contain “harsh” chemical ingredients. .
Choi Jeong Hoon, a North Korean doctor who fled to the south and now serves as a senior researcher at the Public Policy Research Institute at Korea University in Seoul, explained that “it is not easy” for North Koreans to find chemicals. “soft”.
“Ordinary residents cannot afford to worry about hair loss,” he told RFA, adding that the cost of treatment for the average person is too high and is often not very effective.
The treatments coincide with pharmaceutical and cosmetic treatments, which can also help accelerate hair loss.
The ingredients, which are often believed to have beneficial effects on hair or skin, actually have no verification of effectiveness due to the murky state of regulation in the country.
In North Korea, everything, including hairstyles, must be approved. Corbis via Getty Images
Ahn Kyung Soo, director of DPRKHealth.org – a blog that follows health issues in the Hermit Kingdom – wrote that many treatments are more like “eastern medicines,” which are topical tonics based on medicinal herbs that likely have minimal effects.
Such treatments include dipping a needle-shaped hair brush into a glass bottle and then rubbing it over the scalp to stimulate it.
Another expert argued that military caps can also damage hair due to lack of proper ventilation, leading to bacteria buildup and clogged pores, which can lead to hair loss.
Generally, all able-bodied men must serve 10 years in the military.
Poorly ventilated military helmets could be another culprit in the current hair loss epidemic in North Korea.Getty Images
Hair loss is not a problem unique to North Korea: South Korea has also experienced sudden and widespread hair loss in recent years, which is such a problem that it helped play a role in the year’s presidential election. past.
Candidate Lee Jae-myung, who is not bald, won voters’ support after proposing that the government should pay for hair loss treatments.
Online communities for bald people mushroomed with support for Lee, as South Korea only covered treatments for baldness caused by certain diseases.
Reports say that one in five South Koreans suffer from hair loss.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn