I am constantly inspired by the women who have taken the bull by the horns and made the choice to move forward in their hair loss journey. Whether it is making the bold and beautiful choice of shaving their heads, or choosing to wear toppers, integrated hair, or full lace wigs — they remind me that there is life after hair loss, we are beautiful as we are, with hair or without. I think often sometimes when we are confronted with hair loss we begin to feel that life is over, on the contrary, it has only begun.

I put together a video showcasing some of the women from the network who are either wearing hair or wearing nothing at all (on their heads that is). In this video, “Hair Never Looked So Good” each woman either has a full wig, an addition, topper, or is showing her beauty sans hair. The only exception is Kendalkins friend in one of the photos, I simply had to include it because she looks stunning.

Thank you to all the ladies who agreed to be in the video. You inspire me, and I know you will do the same for others. XOXO

This beautiful story of inspiration, strength and understanding  was written by Becca, a member of The Women’s Hair Loss Project Network.

Yesterday started like one of those days that you don’t even want to get out of bed for me. Tuesday, my 2 year old and I both had the stomach flu, so between her vomiting anything that went in and me having a mind numbing headache, we survived. My husband decided that he would take the day off yesterday to help us recooperate and maybe do the five loads of vomit laundry that we accumulated. I had to get my normal bloodwork done, I have it done every two weeks because of my hypothyroidism, so we had to find a lab that would accept my new insurance. I had some bad experiences in the past with waiting in the lobby of these places, till they actually forgot I was there and turned out all the lights. I didn’t want another experience like that, especially being sicker than I normally am.

I reluctantly put on a wig, it was colder here so no bald head outside, and we left the house. Once we got to the labcorp building I just wanted to go home and lay in bed with a bucket. After registering with what I thought was just a receptionist, she informed me she does the whole shebang, registery, bloodwork, and follow-up. While she was entering all my new information, she turned around and said, “Ya know, I was just diagnosed with what you are getting bloodwork for.” I laughed a little and said good luck! Here is a woman in her early 50’s, very put together, almost looking defeated when I said that. I realized how it came across and I explained to her that what I have is a very rare form of the disease and all my symptoms are extremely heightened. She asked me about some of the symptoms, like my hands and feet fall asleep, my joints ache, exhaustion constantly, etc. And then she mentioned hair loss. I’m not one to get embarrassed, so I just told her, “Yeah, mine is so bad, I shaved my head a few weeks ago.” She just looked at me and then told me that she too, is having hair loss in quarter sized patches and it scares her. I thought of all you ladies immediately!! I could see in her face this look of upsetedness and sympathy. I knew what I had to do for her and the hairlossproject. I told her how devastating it was for me at first and how I found support with you ladies. I told her how I cried all the time at first and really felt alone. I told her that acceptance will come, no matter what happens with her hair. [click to continue...]

I would like to share with you a story written by a woman named Melba who has been with The Women’s Hair Loss Project since last October. Before I share her story, I’d like to talk a little about hair transplants and my thoughts on women being candidates for this procedure. I have written in the past that I am not particularly a fan of hair transplantation in women. The reason for this being the common diffuse pattern of hair loss prevalent among many women who experience thinning hair. I am not a physician and everything I write is simply my opinion based on my own hair loss and that of all the images I have seen published by the members of The Women’s Hair Loss Project Network, along with the many stories I have received from women who had less than favorable outcomes from hair restoration surgery.

In a hair transplant procedure a strip of hair is removed from the back of the head and the follicles are implanted into the thinning areas. For men this usually works out great because the area in the back of the head is usually DHT resistant, which is why even in the baldest male, he will usually maintain that rim of hair around the bottom portion of his scalp. In many women with female pattern hair loss, the hair falls from all over the scalp in a more diffuse pattern. I say pattern, but it is really a lack of pattern, it is just from here and there and everywhere. For myself I lose hair from the top, both sides and also the back of the head (top and bottom) and my hair has fallen this way for the last 9 years. So I know I make a very poor candidate for a hair transplant procedure since any hair moved could potentially just fall out the next day. Many of the 1400+ members of The Women’s Hair Loss Project Network have the same type of hair loss as myself, so it seems this is more the norm for female androgenetic alopecia than an occasional occurence.

Having said all that, I have to ask, how can a woman with diffuse female pattern hair loss be a candidate for surgical hair restoration? I simply cannot wrap my mind around that, yet there are some physicans who believe that hair transplantation is a viable option for women with this type of hair loss.  [click to continue...]

Hi everyone, I just want to let all you ladies know about a support group that has been started by one of our newest members, Angela. She has titled the group “Our Brave New World” and has written and introduction:

“Hello my sisters! I wanted to create a group for us to explore this new chapter in our lives. I don’t think any of us ever thought when we were little girls…”Gee, when I grow up I want to be an Alopecian!” or “I can’t wait to go bald!” But here we are. Feel free to share your thoughts, inspiration and encouragement as we step into Our Brave New World.”

Please stop by the community, join the group and join us in healing. To join the network, click here. Once you are signed up and logged in, follow this link to join the group: http://community.womenshairlossproject.com/group.php?group_id=5 or just click on the “group” button you will see in the top navigation bar, then click on the tab “Browse Groups.” As always please send me an email if you have any difficulty, women@womenshairlossproject.com

I started thinking last night about what’s left you know, before hair loss was your issue, was it losing weight or acne or your teeth or what? For me, it’s my teeth. Sometimes I  think to myself that I would have wrinkles by now if I smiled as much as most people do normally. I don’t smile much because my teeth have big spaces between them. Soo, I am going to finance myself a brand new smile, yep… I’m going to give people something to look at and compliment me on and take all the power that the hair loss has away. I am within 20 pounds of my goal weight and I am not going to stop until I’ve reached it. Winter is coming and I am going to buy some adorable hats and then next spring I will make a decision on either shaving my head or getting a hair piece.  And you know what, It is going to be OK everybody, it really is.
Visit Tangie in the Network

Hi everyone, I just wanted to announce that we will be holding a women’s hair loss support chat next Tuesday September 9, 2008 at 6:30pm - 7:30pm PST

The chat will be taking place in our network. To to sign up for the event go to: http://community.womenshairlossproject.com and login to your account, or sign up for an account if you haven’t already (it only takes a minute and it’s of course free). Once you are logged in, click on “Events” in the top navigation toolbar, and then click on “Browse Events.” You will see “Women’s Hair Loss Support Chat” listed there. Click on the link to view the event and the women who will be attending, you can then click on “attend this event” to add yourself to the group of women already participating.

Join the Women’s Hair Loss Support Chat to learn, share, and lend support to another woman with hair loss. Hope to see you there!

When I was younger I never ever could have imagined that my destiny was to be a woman with hair loss. The thick mane (clearly on loan) that I was born with was only a temporary gift. Over the last 9 years I’ve suffered a lot, but I’ve also learned a lot. I’ve become a stronger individual and also someone is more compassionate, forgiving and understanding of others around me. I suppose depending on your religious standpoint one could argue that God had wanted to challenge me, test me and make me a better person. I’ve searched for answers high and low, a deeper understanding of why, why me? For myself to live and stay sane, I have to personally believe that there is a “reason” that this was thrust upon me at 21 years of age. So I go with that, whatever helps you sleep at night right? I practically slept through my 20’s feeling sadness and despair for the future… what will be tomorrow. I feel such a heaviness and sadness when I write that, a get a lump in my throat and my eyes begin to well up with tears. I feel a sadness for yesterday even though it’s gone and far behind. Almost like I’m mourning the years I’ve left behind, the years of hair loss. I look back and I realize it was so needless to stay in bed and hide from the world. All along the way I had enough hair to get by and not have the world know my dark little secret.

I would really like to drum that message into the minds of the women who are waking up today and realizing they are losing their hair. You still have A LOT of hair, more than you know and the world isn’t staring at it, only you are. Someone once asked me what I would do differently looking back on the years I’ve dealt with hair loss… I would have lived more. I would have said yes to more dinners and social gatherings, parties and quiet get togethers, I would have let my hair down instead of trying to hide what was only visible to myself. After all during all that time, I still had enough, but I was too focused on the worry of tomorrow to appreciate what I had today.

I am 30 years old now and don’t want to make that same mistake. There is no doubt my coping skills have far advanced over the years and I can snap out of a “down time” a lot faster. I still struggle with things like talking about my hair loss, letting others into my world. I still have a long way to go (hopefully with hair still on my head) in self acceptance, but I’m pretty proud at how far I’ve come. I still run away from mirrors and turn off lights, it is all apart of how I’ve learned to cope. I hope one day I’ll be able to stare at myself in a store window or leave the harsh lights on in the bathroom, look at my reflection and love what is looking back at me. This is me, this is who I am, I have female pattern hair loss… the hand has been dealt and now it’s is up to me to either learn from the past or guarantee myself future regrets.

~Y

http://community.womenshairlossproject.com/womenshairlossproject/

Hi everyone, I just wanted to announce that we will be holding a women’s hair loss support chat next Wednesday July 9, 2008 at 6:30pm - 7:30pm  PST

The chat will be taking place in our network. To to sign up for the event go to: http://community.womenshairlossproject.com and login to your account, or sign up for an account if you haven’t already (it only takes a minute and it’s of course free). Once you are logged in, click on “Events” in the top navigation toolbar, and then click on “Browse Events.” You will see “Women’s Hair Loss Support Chat” listed there.  Click on the link to view the event and the women who will be attending, you can then click on “attend this event” to add yourself to the group of women already participating.

Join the Women’s Hair Loss Support Chat to learn, share, and lend support to another woman with hair loss. Hope to see you there!

I’ve finally set up the time to have our first Women’s Hair Loss Support Chat. The date is Thursday April 10, 2008 at 6:30pm -7:30pm PST. I’m hoping that this time and date works out for the women who are interested in participating.  I am very much looking forward to getting to chat and interact real time with the women of The Women’s Hair Loss Project so stop by to say hi! I will do my best to answer any hair loss questions you may have, and of course share with you my experience with various hair loss treatments.

The chat will be taking place in our network. To to sign up for the event go to: http://community.womenshairlossproject.com  and login to your account, or sign up for an account if you haven’t already (it only takes a minute and it’s of course free). Once you are logged in, click on “Events” in the top navigation toolbar, and then click on “Browse Events.” You will see “Women’s Hair Loss Support Chat” listed there.  Click on the link to view the event and the women who will be attending, you can then click on “attend this event” to add yourself to the group of women already participating.

Join the Women’s Hair Loss Support Chat to learn, share, and lend support to another woman with hair loss. Hope to see you there!