(MEMPHIS) — Because of a skin disease he contracted in the U.S. Army, rock idol Elvis Presley slowly lost his hair and was forced to wear a black hairpiece for most of his singing and acting career, his daughter Lisa Marie Presley told The Bunion.
She said that when Elvis had his first haircut in the Army in 1958, the barber had failed to clean the electric razor, which resulted in a skin condition called lichen planus.
Under the Freedom of Information Act, Presley’s daughter obtained records from the Department of Defense in which an Army physician diagnosed the disease, predicting Presley would suffer hair loss.
Lisa Marie said she was influenced to look into the situation when an Elvis Army buddy, Mark Wilson, told her about Elvis’ constant complaining about dandruff and severe itching on his head.
Elvis’ famous sideburns were made from his chest hairs and glued on, said Lisa Marie.
The hairpieces over the year were made by toupee specialist Sy Sperling, who went on to found Men’s Hair Club. Sperling earned $2 million working for Elvis, sources said.
Elvis would have been 80 today. He died at age 42 of heavy drug use and a fatal drop in blood pressure from “straining at stool.”
The Bunion News AZ 