I’ve always been a private person, definitely more of an introverted personality. I find happiness and solace just being all by myself, never really feeling the need to have to be out and about and socializing. Well, hair loss added to that in a negative way. What once felt like a personal preference now seemed like a prerequisite to my life… solitude and isolation.

There were two monumental, emotionally catastrophic times caused by my hair loss. One was when this began in 1999, and the other crash came in 2007. I was losing my hair the whole time and having bouts of depression the whole way through, but those points mark times where I just sat constantly feeling helpless and completely without any motivation to live life. It’s definitely no coincidence that I created this site in 2007, it was an extremely sad time for me, and if you read my earlier posts you will likely feel the sadness and pain I was going through. I was withdrawn, I submerged myself into the comfort of my keyboard and I began to pour my heart out onto electronic paper. The more I typed, the more I shared, the more I started to feel better. Sharing is incredibly healing; I say it all the time.

During this time, I started to avoid my friends; I was ashamed of how much worse my hair was starting to look. It was thin before, but after having experienced a nonstop massive shedding from the 2 years prior, it was now a complete hopeless mess, and seemingly progressing each day. I didn’t want anyone to see me this way. I hid. In every sense of the word. I hid. I started avoiding phone calls, text messages and even started to skip the “reply” part of an email I would receive. It was just easier to push that part away (socializing) and focus on communicating and writing to women I met online, women who I knew understood what I was going through, that felt a whole lot safer.

As time passed I started to feel guilty for abandoning the friendships, and I started to feel empty.  I was saddened that I had pushed everyone away just so I wouldn’t have to share my secret and have them see me a way that I didn’t even want to see myself.

I wanted to reconnect, but how? So much time has passed. What do you say? Where do you pick up? “Hi, how are you… I’ve been balding for over a decade and it’s made me miserably depressed, sorry I didn’t call you back,” that just didn’t have the flow or direction I was hoping for.

I wrote emails, apologizing and explaining what has transpired in my life, or more appropriately put… what took over my life. I went out to lunch with someone else, and burst into tears over my jambalaya. I was scared, I felt vulnerable, but I was received with such love and understanding. I wasn’t judged. All that I had built up in my head of how no one would understand, was really just in my head. I also think when you share such a deeply personal part of your life with others; it can deepen and grow your friendship.

Make no mistake, this is still very much a secret of my life, but I told a few people I very much care about, and I don’t regret it. I know in writing with lots of women on this site, that others have also lost touch with their friends, and in some cases family, and I want to tell you… Your friends, your REAL friends, are still there, waiting for you to reach out. If you want to reconnect, make the choice, and decide how you feel most comfortable – phone, in person, email, telegram and do it.

It’s been quite some time since I’ve written a blog post. Now all at once I have several things I want to write about, but I’ll separate them into different posts, and play catch up that way.

Something I find myself confronted with from time to time, is balancing the things and activities in my life that I deem to be normal, with the reality of how my hair loss colors almost every situation.

Examples

A Run Is Not Just a Run

Running… turns out I love to run! Over the last few months as my asthma was improving I took to the streets with my running shoes and started pounding the pavement (quite literally) and realized, hog diggity dog, I LOVE RUNNING. I’m a slow runner, and I do have asthma, but I love it just the same. What I don’t love is being outdoors with sweat pouring out of my head highlighting how thin my hair really CAN look. So my solution is wearing a nike running headband, which is excellent at absorbing sweat and hiding the hairline and top of head. I also use a wide array of different sporty adidas and nike caps. I guess hair loss has caused me to be a tad bit more stylish out of necessity. I’d love to run sans anything on my head from time to time, but I wouldn’t be feeling the wind blowing through my hair, it would be more of a draft penetrating my scalp. So, no thanks.

Dinner Is Not Just Dinner

I’ve danced around tables at restaurants, playing musical chairs, grabbing the one that has the least overhead lighting. I’ve nearly knocked over waiters diving for the chosen one, the one that will least likely show to others that I’m losing my hair. I’ve enlisted my fiancé in this process as well, so he’s on the hunt for picking me a good one too, always asking me if I’m okay with the seat. I’ve changed tables at restaurants several times over, looking like a nut, because each table seemingly had more overhead light than the one prior. It’s dinner, it should be dark… really dark, like I want someone to put a flashlight to my menu. Ha ha.

Buying Clothes Is An Exercise In Visual Discipline

I’ve perfected the art of trying on clothes in dressing rooms without actually looking at my face. Neck down only. Unless it’s the Gap, god bless the Gap, whoever designed their dressing rooms definitely has hair loss.
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The list can go on and on, but I suppose my point is, in time we learn to adapt. In an effort to maintain our sanity, our minds adjust to a new “normal.” We have to adapt and learn to work with the hand we have been dealt. I know in time my hair loss cards will include glue, tape, a hair piece, and possibly a razor, but I’m not there just yet. When I am, it will take time to adjust, as every step always has, but history has taught me that we are so much stronger than we give ourselves credit for, and I’ll be okay. Make no mistake, I still get sad, I still have my down days, I shed more today than I have been lately, and it all does affect me… but the length of time it affects me is so much shorter, my turn over period is much quicker. Thank Goodness!

Several things have happened since I last wrote, including a 3rd trip to see Dr. Greco for PRP therapy, I’ll be writing about all that soon.

I wish you all a wonderful and beautiful Sunday! Get out there and live your life, don’t let your hair loss rob you of that. Make adjustments as necessary, there will always be those for sure, but after pretty much losing out on my entire 20’s I want to encourage others to not make that same mistake. Those years, I’ll never get back.

Cheers to moving forward ( I have my glass of wine, do you have yours?)

XOXO

When I was 23, my outlook on life was colored dramatically by my hair loss “situation.” It all seemed rather bleak, lots of doom and gloom. My coping skills dramatically improved over the years, and I have moved on from praying every single hair would grow back, to just praying for the strength to deal with the hand I’ve been dealt, but that was indeed, a hard road for me to travel.

The other day I was reading through profiles on the network and stumbled across the “About Me” of a 23 year old woman. I was so moved by what a I had read,  I emailed her and asked her permission to re-post it here.

On her profile she had written the following:

“I am honest with myself. Yes, I do have hair loss. I talk about it with people instead of ignoring it. The hair loss is there and it’s not going to go away just because I’m wishing or praying. I will be open about it when I meet someone. To some people talking about someone else’s hair loss is like talking about cancer. It shouldn’t be like that. That is why I am open and honest with people. Yes, I have hair loss. Yes, this is who I am. I might be bald by the end of the year but that’s okay. I’ll cry about it, pick myself up off the floor and keep going. Don’t hope and pray for hair. Hope that one day you can love yourself no matter what you look like.“

As I re-read that I actually find myself tearing up. So much truth, honestly, self love and acceptance. On the days I find myself feeling low, I think I will remember that, “Don’t hope and pray for hair. Hope that one day you can love yourself no matter what you look like.”

I am someone that can certainly attest to the fact that way too much time is lost mourning our hair. I nearly lost a decade of life with my face shoved into a pillow, constantly asking, “Why?” Well I’m here to tell you I don’t have an answer. I’ve done my best to walk a straight line, be a caring person, a good friend, help others, assist homeless animals, and eat my vegetables I didn’t “DO” anything wrong, this isn’t some type of morbid punishment from God. It just is. Period. Although I often reflect on that moment at the age of 5 when I told my mom her meatloaf tastes like cat food. Could that be it? I’m kidding obviously.

But I digress.

Be kind to yourself and don’t beat yourself up over your hair loss. Perhaps your time experiencing hair loss will be short lived (hopefully), or perhaps it will be a bit of a longer journey (like myself), either way it’s best to start digging deep and pulling out the big guns of Love and Acceptance.

As most everyone who frequents this network knows, I started this site in 2007 during one of my darkest and loneliest times. At that point, I had already been dealing with hair loss for 8 years, but things had taken a drastic downward turn and down I fell into the hole of isolation.

That was then.

Since that time I have had the chance to interact with so many women that have touched my life in such profound ways. I have discovered just how strong women really are, and I have learned so much.

By being able to unite women with hair loss, and helping them to find support and understanding, I have found just that for myself… understanding and support, and I no longer feel alone.  I have met a few women from the network, in California and New York, and each time it has been a truly wonderful and amazing experience.

I just wanted to say Thank You to Everyone. Thank you for helping me to find some inner peace, a strength I never thought existed, and friendship that is pure and true.

You have changed my life.

It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new life.. and I’m feeling good
~Nina Simone

A press release was issued yesterday titled “Researchers Develop First Successful Hair Cloning Technique - Major Advancement in Hair Restoration” the subtitle reads ” Gary Hitzig, M.D. and Jerry Cooley, M.D., are the first medical doctors to successfully develop a hair cloning technique using a wound healing powder.”

For years we have been hearing about scientists and doctors working to clone hair, but up until now I was beginning to think I’d be in flying vehicle like George Jetson, before it would actually come to fruition. Aren’t I cynical? But hot diggity dog, it seems to have been done.

According to the press release, using the MatriStem MicroMatrix healing powder, doctors Jerry Cooley and Gary Hitzig have been able to actually to “create a technique that multiplies the number of hair follicles in an area that had previously stopped growing hair.”

In an interview conducted yesterday between Spencer Kobren and Dr. Jerry Cooley, the following question was asked by Mr. Kobren, “What exactly is MatriStem? How is it made and what does it do?”

Dr. Cooley replied:

“It is derived from urinary bladder matrix from pigs. Now it is a very specific anatomical layer that has basement membrane proteins as well as growth factors, and this material has an ability to actually stimulate the body’s natural healing processes. When there is an injury in the body it can follow one of two pathways. It can follow regenerative pathway, which doesn’t happen very often, or more likely it can follow a scar pathway. The body just fills in a defect with scar tissue, I think like spackle. Well this material stimulates the normal regenerative pathway to occur, the body’s stem cells are recruited to come into the area of injury and actually regenerate what used to be there, normal tissue“

You can listen to the entire 20 minute interview on The Bald Truth website: http://www.thebaldtruth.com

While hair growth was not the original intended use for this healing wonder created by ACell, Inc, it seems to be a nice addition to the list of ailments it was suppose to be used for.

The magic pixie dust powder actually regrew (yes I said REGREW) a man’s finger! Watch the video below:

For more information on ACell and MatriStem visit:

acell.com

American Hair Growth Centers (aka Natural Hair Growth Institute) Steals Copyrighted Information - Are They Trying to Deceive Consumers?

What do you do when you are being sued by the state after numerous complaints have been filed against you and your company? Well if you are Steve Bennis’ Natural Hair Growth Institute, you change your domain name, steal other people’s copyrighted information and hope for a new start in the cyber world.

On Nov 17th 2009 the State of Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed a lawsuit against two Chicago based hair growth institutes, The Natural Hair Growth Institute, Omega Hair Group and their owner, Steve Bennis. [ Read About The State of Illinois Vs. Natural Hair Growth Institute, LTD ]

On Dec 4, 2009 the domain American Hair Growth Centers was registered, and the domain for The Natural Hair Growth Institute now forwards over to this new domain and website.

On December 23, 2009 William Gaunitz from Evolution Hair Centers, wrote a blog post titled “Warning Issued to American Hair Growth Centers (aka Natural Hair Growth Institute).” In this post he explains how Steve Bennis and his new American Hair Growth Centers, stole copyrighted photos directly off his website claiming to be the before and after photos of American Hair Growth Centers.

On December 29, 2009 William Gaunitz updated his blog with a new post titled “American Hair Growth Centers Took Down Stolen Photographs.” Apparently Steve Bennis is claiming he is merely acting on behalf of American Hair Growth Centers, in this far fetched explanation he states he sold the company to a firm out of Florida. Is it just me or does anyone else find that funny? There was a firm interested in buying a company that was being sued by the State of Illinois? In this post Mr. Gaunitz further reveals that there is no DBA registry for the company called “American Hair Growth Centers” in the state of Illinois.

The whole thing gets even more hairy. The new Natural Hair Growth Institute website, calling themselves American Hair Growth Centers has stolen most of their educational “Hair Loss Info,” seen on their home page, directly (word for word) off the non-profit organization website, The American Hair Loss Association (see photo below). I mean how low can a person really be? Stealing copyrighted before and after photos from another company, and stealing copyrighted information off a non-profit website is in my opinion, deplorable behavior.

The American Hair Growth Centers website is also listing an organization in their “resources” section under “organizations,” called “The American Hair Loss Society” What is that? Do you think someone is trying to confuse consumers, and make them think that is actually the legitimate non-profit organization, The American Hair Loss Association? The majority of the information on that website (if not all) is stolen directly (again word for word) off the AHLA site.

So lets recap, The Natural Hair Growth Institute (owner Steve Bennis) is currently being sued by the State of Illinois. The Natural Hair Growth Institute website now forwards to The American Hair Growth Centers’ website, which has previously stolen pictures and content from Evolution Hair Centers. In addition they stole the majority of educational content for men, women and children directly off the American Hair Loss Association. In addition to that (as if it could get worse) they, in my opinion, attempted to create a organization to confuse consumers and chose a name nearly identical to the American Hair Loss Association, and in doing so, also stole the majority of content directly off the non-profit site also. [click to continue...]

The Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, has filed a lawsuit against two Chicago based hair growth institutes, The Natural Hair Growth Institute, Omega Hair Group, and their owner, Steve Bennis.

“The defendants in this case use highly sensational marketing slogans to convince consumers to pay thousands of dollars for a service that simply isn’t proven to be effective by modern science,” Madigan said.

The Natural Hair Growth allegedly failed to provide consumers with full refunds for its service which carried an average cost of $8000 - $12,000.

Natural Hair Growth Institute uses laser therapy, scalp massage and topical hair products that it says will help consumers in regrowing hair within six months. A 100% refund is promised by the defendants if consumers are not satisfied with their results. The lawsuit alleges that the treatment method used by the defendants fails to produce the results advertised, and that the company then refuses to provide full refunds to consumers after repeated requests.The Attorney General’s Health Care Bureau has reported that nine consumer complaints have been filed against the Natural Hair Growth Institute.

The lawsuit also alleges that the company falsely claims that its “Orbit Laser Light” treatment is similar to laser light therapy that has been in use in Europe for 25 years and that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has recently approved for use in the United States. The lawsuit claims that the defendants’ laser light is not the same as the FDA-approved one.

Attorney General Lisa Madigan is asking the court to permanently ban the defendant from operating in Illinois in her lawsuit. She also requests full restitution for affected consumers and civil penalties of $50,000 for each violation of the Illinois Consumer Fraud Act.

Reference: http://www.legalnewsline.com/news/224084-lawsuit-brought-against-illinois-hair-regrowth-institute

I checked the Better Business Bureau and found that 24 complaints were filed against The Natural Hair Growth Institute. It also states “Based on BBB files, Natural Hair Growth Institute has a BBB Rating of F on a scale from A+ to F.”

These complaints concerned:

1 regarding Advertising Issues
5 regarding Contract Issues
1 regarding Customer Service Issues
10 regarding Guarantee or Warranty Issues
7 regarding Refund or Exchange Issues

I hope that this lawsuit helps to bring some peace and justice to those who have felt they were wronged.

I had written awhile back but wanted to send you my story again, and this time post some positive updates.

One thing that I noticed way back when my hairloss journey started, was that the negative posts and testimonials by far outweighed the positive ones. My fear was that most women were losing this hairloss battle. My hope was that once they solved their hairloss nightmare, they were too busy not worrying about their hair to post their updates. I want to submit my story because I am having positive results as I attempt to figure out what has happened to my hair and how to stop the cycle of loss.

It was 2004 when my life changed. It was 3 months after I had stopped taking birth control (alesse) and my hair was coming out in ropes. I’ll never forget taking a shower before going out one Friday evening, and my hands were covered with hair. At the time, I had no clue that it was related to the cessation of using birth control. I thought I was dying, from cancer, from something. I stayed home that night and didn’t go out, I’ll never forget sobbing the whole evening, scouring the internet trying to figure out what was going on. My vanity was bruised. I remember feeling too ugly and embarrassed to be social or even go to the gym. I took a 3 week leave of absence from my job to go be with my then-boyfriend (now wonderful husband!) in Europe where he was for work. I needed his support and he was truly there for me no matter how embarrassed I was. I had extensions put in after much research, just to make me feel like I had hair again. I did everything I could to mask what was going on with my hair, while I devoured information to figure out what happened to me. It was then that I realized it was the birth control pill.

I made the mistake of jumping back on birth control because doctors told me that I might be responsive to a hair-friendly pill like Yaz or Yasmin. I chose Yasmin and figured I would just stay on it the rest of my life if I had to. Back then, all I cared about was how I looked, not about my health. I kept the extensions in for about 2 years. One day I went into the salon to get them done and my stylist said - “You know you don’t need these anymore. They are just your security right now. Your hair is fine.” What?? My hair was fine?? I was so used to the weight of the extensions that I didn’t believe her. She washed my hair and cut it without the extensions, and we blowed it dry. She was right, I looked totally normal. I was ELATED. I don’t think I stopped touching my hair for days. It was all mine, and I looked absolutely normal. It had thin spots, sure, but I could wear it up or down and it had body and I looked like me again. It was not nearly as thick as it was before the loss, but it was enough. [click to continue...]

So the hot buzz on the hair loss street is that there seems to be great potential in treating hair loss with a new treatment being offered called PRP therapy. Well PRP therapy itself isn’t new, but the usage in treating hair loss is.

So what is PRP therapy anyways? If you are like me, you probably thought it sounded like the latest hot stone massage technique being offered at the spa. “I’ll have the mani/pedi and the PRP Therapy.” Well not quite.

So If That Isn’t It, What The Heck is PRP Therapy?

PRP stands for “Platelet Rich Plasma,” and it has been used by hospitals and during various surgical applications since the 1970s. In more recent times it has been used in sports medicine and orthopedics to assist and accelerate the recovery from injury.

How Does It Do That?

When concentrated platelets of a person’s blood, which contain proteins and other particles are injected into the injury site, it helps to trigger the body’s ability to grow new soft tissue or bone cells to repair muscle.

Ok, Great, So How Is That Gonna Help My Hair Loss?

According to North Carolina hair restoration surgeon, Dr. Jerry Cooley “PRP involves the application/injection of plasma that has about 5X the amount of platelets as in circulating blood. The platelets secrete numerous growth factors, including PDGF and VEGF, both of which have been shown to have positive effects on hair growth. So it is reasonable to think that PRP would not only help wound healing but also hair growth.”

While several doctors are beginning to treat their hair loss patients with this new treatment, the credit goes to Florida doctor, Jospeh Greco Ph.D as being the first to use PRP therapy in the treatment of hair loss in an attempt to reverse the effects of thinning hair.

What Is PDGF and VEGF?

PDGF stands for “Platelet Derived Growth Factor“  PDGF is one of the numerous growth factors, or proteins that regulate cell growth and division. In particular, it plays a significant role in blood vessel formation (angiogenesis), the growth of blood vessels from already existing blood vessel tissue.

VEGF stands for “Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor.” VEGF is a chemical signal produced by cells that stimulates the growth of new blood vessels. It is part of the system that restores the oxygen supply to tissues when blood circulation is inadequate. [click to continue...]