Former Singaporean internet personality and radio host Dee Kosh has been actively posting about his life on social media again after his release from prison.
After making a “secret comeback” on a new Instagram account, Dee Kosh has since uploaded multiple videos of his life after prison. The account has garnered around 10,700 followers since his first post.
Apart from recently making headlines for losing 20kg, jail time has benefited Dee Kosh in more ways than one, as he shared that time in jail has also “healed” his alopecia.
Dealt with Alopecia Before Incarceratio
In the fourth update since his return from jail, a three-minute video detailing how he has healed from alopecia through jail time has garnered over 1,600 likes.
He claims that jail had healed his worsening alopecia condition by creating an ironically less stressful environment than when he wasn’t in jail.
If you’re unfamiliar with medical terminology, alopecia areata is a condition where the immune system attacks hair follicles, resulting in hair loss.
Although hair loss can occur in any part of the body, alopecia areata commonly affects the head and face, causing small bald patches to appear in a coin-shaped pattern on the scalp, face, and body.
These symptoms are precisely what Xiaxue, Dee Kosh’s long-time influencer friend, noticed when she asked to braid his “once-long and luscious” hair in June 2022, four months before his arrest on 5 October 2022.
After separating his hair locks to braid his hair, she noticed that Dee Kosh had weird bald patches across his scalp, prompting her to exclaim in shock. They soon realised that these bald patches were a sign of Alopecia.
Worsening Condition
According to him, the condition only worsened upon the discovery, and he lost more hair every time he showered. This stressed him out further throughout the month, as he also had to deal with being charged with multiple sexual offences against minors.
With his income affected by his dwindling reputation during that period, Dee Kosh did not go to any doctor for treatment or diagnosis as he claimed he couldn’t afford it.
Upon visiting “Dr Google”, he discovered that high-stress levels might exacerbate alopecia. Several studies have reported that individuals who experience hair loss in patches often recollect experiencing a stressful event a few weeks before noticing the hair loss.
This proves true as Dee Kosh only noticed these bald spots during the month when he had to attend court hearings, where he also had to prepare himself to face the reality of going to prison.
Jail Time “Healed” the Condition
Despite having his hair shaved off in jail, a mandatory procedure for inmates serving sentences exceeding one month, other prisoners still observed peculiar patches on his scalp at the beginning of his incarceration.
However, after a few months, he noticed that hair had grown back on these bald patches, and he now has a healthy, albeit short, full head of hair (which he proudly showcases to his viewers).
He then goes on to proclaim again that jail time healed his alopecia. Compared to the time before prison, when he had to worry about putting meals on his and his family’s tables and the public’s opinion of him, jail ironically provided him with a more peaceful environment.
He claimed that the solitude of prison helped take the external stress factors away from him, providing him with time for “internal self-healing”, which he claimed to have “projected externally” in the form of his now healthy hair.
Treatment for Alopecia
After jokingly (or maybe not that jokingly) crediting a big part of his hair recovery to jail time, he implored more seriously to viewers suffering from hair loss to get checked out by a doctor to find out what could be causing it.
He then joked again that an alternative would be for viewers to follow in his footsteps and enter prison to recover their scalp health.
While his recovery story was slightly motivating, we’re sure most of us don’t want to spend time in jail just to improve our scalp health. Instead, a better alternative would be to visit a dermatologist.
Numerous research studies have revealed that administering corticosteroid injections can assist with hair recovery. A dermatologist can carry out this treatment by injecting the medication into the hairless areas of the scalp.
These injections are usually given every four to eight weeks, depending on the patient’s needs, and multiple treatments are often required.
This approach is considered the most effective treatment for individuals with a few hair loss patches. In one study involving 127 patients with patchy hair loss, more than 80% of those treated with corticosteroid injections experienced regrowth of at least 50% of their hair within 12 weeks.
This is shorter than the duration of Dee Kosh’s jail term!
A more accessible type of treatment would be to apply medications such as Rogaine to the affected area. When applied consistently, it can help stimulate hair growth on the scalp, beard, and eyebrow areas.
After this incident, Dee Kosh shared that he relearned the importance of controlling one’s stress levels and having “me time”.
He emphasised that viewers should always treat themselves with kindness, “take it easy”, and set aside time for themselves whenever possible, as stress could affect an individual’s condition internally and externally.
You can watch the video here: