Is Donald Trump going bald? Viral video exposes harsh reality of hair loss

A viral video of Donald Trump boarding Air Force One in windy conditions has revealed an uneasy truth about the president’s hair.

The footage of President Trump was initially spotted by HuffPost journalist Ashley Feinberg, who tweeted, “At first i didn’t think this could possibly be real but…. i think it is?”

In the video, while Trump is walking to the plane, a gust of wind lifts his locks into the shape of a mohawk. Then, while ascending the air stair, the breeze whips his hair, exposing his scalp. When the president reaches the top and turns to wave goodbye, he’s hit with another blast, causing his strands to stick straight up.

Because Trump typically wears a Make America Great Again hat while boarding Air Force One, the reaction on social media was pure shock.

Trump’s distinctive ‘do has always sparked attention. In November 2016, Amy Lasch, a former stylist on The Apprentice, told the U.K.’s Mirror that his strawberry-blond dye job was a “calamity,” and product buildup left his hair “solid and matted.”

Dismissing rumors that the president wore a toupee or had undergone a transplant, Lasch said, “He has really long hair and he combs it back straight. He does it himself. It is real and it is his hair — he doesn’t have plugs.”

She added, “When I looked at the back of his hair I could tell it was not a hairdresser cutting it. It was scary. It was just cut in a straight line. The color was so inconsistent. It was not done correctly. They just colored the top and did not color what was -underneath properly. It was someone in his inner circle who was cutting and coloring his hair. His wife or maybe his daughter.”

The hairstylist also disclosed that Trump arrived on set each day with his hair styled, and her job was to maintain the shape. “I would take my comb and point out what I would like to fix and he would normally fix it himself,” she said. “I did comb the back and did the sides a bit. But everything was solid. It was matted to stay put. I tapped it with my comb and it would bounce back.”

According to Michael Wolff’s controversial new book, Fire and Fury, Trump’s comb-over has even become a family joke. “[Ivanka] often described the mechanics behind it to friends: an absolutely clean pate — a contained island after scalp-reduction -surgery — surrounded by a furry circle of hair around the sides and front, from which all ends are drawn up to meet in the center and then swept back and secured by a stiffening spray,” he wrote. “The color, she would point out to comical effect, was from a product called Just for Men — the longer it was left on, the darker it got. Impatience resulted in Trump’s orange-blond hair color.”

The president may have pulled off the illusion of full hair by making his style a talking point, according to Jared Keys, a celebrity hairstylist and makeup artist in St. Petersburg, Fla. “Trump’s hair mimics a piece of fabric like a hat,” Keys tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “It looks like he brushes his hair to the front, then essentially wraps it around his head, so that it’s difficult to tell where each strand ends.”

Celebrity hairstylist Allen Edward of A.T. Tramp Beverly Hills agrees, telling Yahoo Lifestyle, “Trump uses the wrap, a method developed years ago to conceal baldness in men. It’s when the hair is wrapped around the head, almost like a turban. And bobby pins help keep the hair in place.”

In Trump’s case, blond hair dye helps conceal baldness because the hue is closest to his natural shade. Edwards, however, advises an ash-colored toner to lessen brassiness.

“There are so many ways to conceal baldness,” says Keys. “Hair powders, laser treatments, cutting the hair short, or even high-quality toupees.”

The weather has betrayed the president in the past. On several occasions — including his inauguration ceremony — a gust of wind lifted his tie, revealing a piece of Scotch tape fastening the two ends together.

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

• Ivanka Trump will lead the Olympics’ Closing Ceremony, known for ‘party-like atmosphere’

• After a boy with braided hair violates his dress code, his mom switched schools

• Teacher makes a student’s day by rocking a matching braided hairstyle

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