MovieChat Forums > Grey Gardens (1975) Discussion > my hair will grow back...i hope.

my hair will grow back...i hope.


did she have cancer?

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no, she didn't have cancer, she had alopecia. her hair never did grow back.


cancer doesn't cause hair to fall out, radiation and chemotherapy do that.

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i'm well aware of what causes hair to fall out when someone has cancer, but thanks for your concern.

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if you were aware of what causes hair to fall out when someone has cancer, why did you ask?

lol i'm not concerned at all, little edie has been dead for years!

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UMMM... in the remake they make it quite clear that under extreme duress (like at her debutante ball) little Edie would pull her hair out. I don't think they just made that part up for entertainment's sake.

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"I don't think they just made that part up for entertainment's sake."

hunter,
the movie was done by hbo, you don't think they embellished things just to make the movie more interesting?

do you think little edie would pull out her hair at the big party where she was the star?

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Having had stress induced alopecia myself, and the hair growing back I can tell you you do pick at whats left. You arrange it to hide baldness and comb it to hide baldness and this can cause the hair to fall out. Just brushing my hair big globs came out. Her picking out the hair that's falling out in the HBO film was to just show if she ran her fingers through globs came out. This is very real and very distressing often causing a cycle. Alpecia makes the hair sooo fragial all it takes it a soft brushing or finger comb to pull out stands. Not really the same and ripping it out, although to others in her family maybe it looked that way?







Why does Andrew get to get up? If he get's up we'll all get up! It'll be anarchy!

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I have noticed while looking at pictures of little Edie she alway's had hair when she was young. I think her "problem" increased when she moved back to Grey Gardens permanently because in any picture I've seen after her return she did not have hair.

...Grace beats Karma

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>>the movie was done by hbo, you don't think they embellished things just to make the movie more interesting?

this wasn't a made up movie it was based on a documentary nearly word for word.

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UMMM... in the remake they make it quite clear that under extreme duress (like at her debutante ball) little Edie would pull her hair out. I don't think they just made that part up for entertainment's sake.


Just a correction. There wasn't a "remake". The first movie was a documentary, and in 2009 Drew Barry starred in the HBO Movie based on the documentary.

Also in the 1930's and 40's, hair loss conditions as well as many major illnesses were blamed on stress or "nervousness". It was really a guess by doctors in those days before actual diseases or genetic problems were discovered scientifically.


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There are different stories, but I tend to believe she had alopecia. In the extra scenes where she appears without makeup, she has no eyebrows or eyelashes either.

Some people with alopecia do have their hair grow back with treatment or even on it's own. Which is probably why Edie was still "hoping" it might come back.

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Whatever the cause it is so sad her hair fell out. That has to be an incredibly stressful and embarrassing thing for a woman.

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Thankfully Edie seemed to take it in stride, like all things.

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