Women in ancient Greece were considered essential in order to take care of their families’ well-fare, but education was not something they were allowed to invest time in pursuing. The main idea behind this concept was that women did not need a formal education because they did not need to compete with men. The fallacy of this is that women need to support the work of the men and if they are not educated then they cannot provide support and will not be able to educate their children.

A specific category of ancient Greek women, who attended special schools where they learned entertaining, conversation, and rhetoric, was the Hetaera group. Since these women kept company to men while they discussed and enjoyed long food festivities, they needed to be better educated so as to converse with the privileged men, but were not considered citizens. The ones who never received the privilege of being educated were slaves (men or women). The interesting thing is that in case they had been educated before they became slaves, they were able to work and be considered to win back their freedom.

In principal boys learned grammar, rhetoric, and dialectic; these were selected so as to help students communicate effectively. Moreover, the classic ancient educational system included a study of literature and language, apart from arithmetic, music, geometry and astronomy. On the other hand, girls were taught weaving and other household chores, like dancing, music, and physical education. The girls that were intended to become hetaerae-as mentioned above-also learned grammar, rhetoric and dialectic.

Although today’s women who read the educational system of ancient Greeks can be lead to believe that Greeks did not care about their women, historic evidence suggests that in fact Greek women seem to have been the best educated women of any culture up until fairly recently, into the 19th century. As sociologists and anthropologists support, culture involves skills that are passed on by education and training and are developed by discipline and practice. Ancient Greek women have always been involved with their own culture related to the family and child upbringing. But the interesting fact remains that they have always been involved in early childhood education as well. According to evidence, other societies involved women in later aspects of education later in history, but in ancient Greece the distinction between women and men in education emphasized a separate women’s culture that had its special religious holidays and festivals devoted to the worship of the female spirit. In fact, music was one of the main subjects for the education of women and some ancient Greek women became important in the area of entertainment-not in ancient Greek theater where all the roles were played by men. In relation to music, ancient Greece laid the theoretical foundation for contemporary polyphonic music so it is probable that the women of Greece enjoyed success in that field.

Furthermore, before the Trojan War women in Greece were permitted to vote, but they lost this privilege because men felt that they voted irresponsibly. Unfortunately, Greek women did not regain their voting privileges until the twentieth century as a result of various political, cultural and social misjudgments.

Finally, it should be noted that the schools of ancient Greece were so effective and well-known that they have been widely copied. This is true even for today’s schools. Like ancient Greek schools, the day is divided by subject periods and a teacher presents his or her subject matter to students, who are divided by age.

Hair loss can be common in females and is more common following the menopause; however, alopecia will not manifest in all cases. In many cases the sufferer will simply notice increased hair loss and thinning of the hair; early treatment can improve the outcome. Although alopecia tends to be socially accepted in males it is unacceptable in females and in many cases it can have devastating effects on the sufferer’s emotional state and confidence. But you should not despair – hair loss can be prevented and stopped once you know what causes it and what you should do.

The real causes of hair loss or alopecia, as it is clinically known, have already been explained by science, however, before we proceed to know the real causes of hair loss, let us first see and examine the prevalent myths about why hair loss occur in women.

There are many websites that try to dispel the “myths” of womens hair loss but some of these so-called “myths” do have a basis for truth. Let’s now examine many of these popular “myths” and provide a balanced response.

Myth Number One: Frequent shampooing contributes to hair loss. Many websites say this is “rubbish”, however, in textbooks of trichology it is recommended that “extra care” should be taken for fragile and thinning hair. These measures include using gentle shampoos as heavily medicated shampoos can affect the scalp and brushing should be gentle as well. Any tangles of hair should be separated without pulling of the hair. So, it’s not so much how frequently you wash your hair but what you wash your hair with!

Myth Number Two: We often hear that bad blood circulation starves the hair follicles which make them fall out. Although patients with poor blood circulation do not appear to be more likely to suffer from alopecia, tight fitting hats and wigs may cause hair loss in a very small minority of people. The mechanism is still unclear but if it occurs, this may be due to the impairment of blood flow in the scalp. That is why extreme care should be taken by alopecia sufferers who wear these garments on their heads.

Myth Number Three: Hats and wigs cause hair loss. This is untrue on the whole, all hats and wigs do is just cover your hair. Hats may even help shield your hair against the damaging causes of direct sunlight. However, if you are a sufferer of alopecia you should avoid tight fitting hats and wigs in our opinion.

Myth Number Four: 100 strokes of the hair brush daily will create healthier hair. Brushing your hair does stimulate the glands on your scalp to produce oil that will keep your hair healthy. However, a hundred brush strokes does more damage to your hair than what you wish intend. A hundred brush strokes on thinning and fragile hair will be more devastating than helpful. It is important to look after thinning and fragile hair and gentle brushing should be sufficient to maintain the condition of your hair and can be of benefit. Tangles should be separated by fingers without pulling the hair.

Myth Number Five: Permanent hair loss is caused by perms, colors and other cosmetic treatments. Whilst treatments on hair can damage the nutrients and make it less healthy it will not lead to permanent alopecia. However, should hair loss be experienced after perms etc. then you should avoid them. That is why you have to scrutinize whatever you use in your hair since improper use of products may cause potential hair loss.

Myth Number Six: Women are expected to develop significant hair loss if they are healthy. Utter rubbish.

Myth Number Seven: Shaving one’s head will cause the hair to grow back thicker. This is just not true. In fact, if you are suffering from androgenetiic alopecia, this will actually severely quicken your hair loss.

Myth Number Eight: Standing on one’s head will cause increased circulation and thereby stimulate hair growth. We’re afraid not; although poor blood circulation may cause some hair loss, increasing blood circulation just does not stimulate hair growth either.

Myth Number Nine: Dandruff causes permanent hair loss. This is simply not true. Dandruff is a condition of the scalp, not the hair. Dandruff occurs because of the excessive shedding of cells on your scalp skin. For dandruff sufferers, the natural process of scalp-cell renewal is accelerated when fighting off P. ovale, a normal fungus found on every human head.

Myth Number Ten: We often see TV personalities and even some doctors say that stress makes your hair fall out! Although it is unclear whether stress coming from severe life events can cause alopecia, there are case reports indicating that this may be so. It is however very rare and frequently no cause can be found for severe and rapid developing alopecia. Patients who have suffered hair loss following a stressful event may still benefit from specific treatment to assist in hair re-growth.

Myth Number Eleven: Hair loss does not occur in the late teens or early twenties. Whilst fairly rare this is not true. Alopecia or hair loss may happen to anyone regardless of their age.