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It’s 2008, and Camila Alves McConaughey is in the shower, crying. As the Brazilian beauty washed her lustrous mane, made famous by her many modeling campaigns, in her hands she held not the soapy foam from her favorite shampoo, but rather clumps of hair. She panicked as she watched even more circling down the drain. “My hair was so lush, then I had the baby, and all of a sudden, chunks and chunks of hair were coming out,” she recollects. McConaughey was dealing with postpartum hair loss, a condition that NYC board-certified dermatologist Michele Greene, M.D., explains affects 40-50 percent of women.
“No one warned me about this, and because of that, it really alarmed me,” McConaughey revealed to ELLE.com. “I thought I was alone in this, until I talked to my doctor, which is when I started learning about the hormonal factors that can impact your hair growth.” This is also why she joined the Nutrafol campaign #ShedTheSilence. “I put my hair through a lot, between styling for work, my pregnancies, and stress, and that takes a toll,” she says. The #ShedTheSilence campaign focuses on empowering women to open up about their hair loss, in hopes that their stories will foster a sense of community and solidarity while simultaneously eliminating silence and shame around the issue.
McConaughey has amplified this through Women of Today, her personal blog that allows her to create and connect with like-minded women around health, wellness, and style. McConaughey candidly discusses her experience with hair loss on the platform and shares her hair care solutions, including hair masks for damaged hair, while also seeking out experts. Hair care is important to McConaughey, and she explains that there is particular emphasis on hair in Brazilian beauty culture. As a child, she felt pressure to straighten her natural curls, as curly hair was not deemed beautiful by her peers. “I was treated differently if I had my hair straight vs. curly. Growing up I didn’t immediately embrace my naturally curly hair, and I wanted it to be straight, especially in my teens when chemical straighteners were popular among all my friends,” she says. The multi-hyphenate laments over how her hair insecurity and the constant straightening led to severe damage. “Even today, my natural curls have never returned to be the same.”
Nevertheless, hair care and becoming more vocal about her hair loss have led to a resurgence in her self-confidence, something she is passing down to her daughter, Vida, in an effort to ensure she loves her own curls. McConaughey beams over Zoom as as she explains how proud her daughter is of her Brazilian hair, something she didn’t personally experience. McConaughey has made hair care a bonding experience, ritualistically brushing her daughter’s hair and using products to help keep it hydrated and healthy—though it might be short-lived. “She doesn’t let me brush her hair anymore. She’s 14 and she’s like, ‘I got this. I’m going through my routine here.’ It is very cute.”
In step with Vida, McConaughey has gained a healthy relationship with her own hair, which she playfully describes as “having a life of its own.” She’s become more mindful of giving her hair proper at-home care using natural methods. She enjoys organic hair masks, hair oil, and maybe most important of all, giving her hair a break from heat styling and chemicals by wearing it in its natural state. “The curls are all out!”
She admits that community has played a large part in this journey, explaining how she’s built a supportive circle of women through her Women of Today platform. For McConaughey, it’s clear that conversation enacts change and removes those feelings of isolation. “The more we share our stories, the more we help educate ourselves and each other about our own journeys and find a solution.”