Scots TV presenter winning battle with hair loss

Nov 2006

She has fought anorexia, post-natal depression and the break-up of her marriage, and now Gail Porter seems to be winning the greatest battle she has faced so far.

Yesterday, the 35-year-old TV presenter from Portobello in Edinburgh confirmed that a year after she went bald due to alopecia, her hair is growing back.

"It's been coming back for about four months," she told The Scotsman. "I was in Africa a few weeks ago with a charity, and when I got back about 70 per cent of my hair had grown back. Now, I've got literally 80 per cent of it back, and just four bald spots, that's it. It's the best it's ever been."

Porter was diagnosed with the stress-related hair-loss condition alopecia in September 2005 after a turbulent 12 months that saw her split from her husband, the former Toploader guitarist Dan Hipgrave.

Rather than wear a wig, she chose to shave what remained of her hair and appear bald in public. Earlier this year she made a BBC documentary about living with hair loss.

Porter said that she will continue shaving her head until the remaining bald patches disappear.

Although the signs are good, she says she is trying not to get too excited by the recent regrowth.

"I'm not dying; it's just hair, and I've learned to deal with it over the last year. I understand it's very superficial, and it's not something I should think about, and if it comes back, that's wonderful, but if it doesn't, it's not the end of the world. I just take every day as it comes.