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Bonnie has been a member of The Women’s Hair Loss Project since Nov. 2008. Yesterday she wrote the most incredible blog in the network, declaring victory in her war with hair loss. Myself and so many others are beyond thrilled over her recent news. So with her permission, I am posting it here for everyone to read.
Here is the post:
I’ve been thinking about writing this blog for a long time, hoping that my success with regrowth would continue and that I would have great news to share. It’s weird but I guess I was sort of waiting it out to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating or waiting for the other shoe to drop… the universe saying HAHA! and my hair to start falling out again, but I think I can now say that I feel like I’m in the clear. I think I have finally won this war. Wow.
It’s been such a challenging year and half with all of this and I still cant imagine how uncluttered my brain must have been before all of this happened. It has been such a life-changing thing that it’s VERY hard to get past it. I know all of you understand this.
Slowly, slowly, since I shaved my head on 6/1, things have been improving. My shedding stopped a couple of weeks after the buzz (I stopped Spiro the same day) and it began filling in little by little. I really had some particularly thin spots and used A LOT of Toppik for a while, but I slowly stopped using that, quit the Xanax (I do not know how I would have gotten through 2009 without Xanax!), kept going with my supplements (fish oil, flax oil, vitamins and iron) and tried to exercise real patience and it has actually worked. My thin spots have slowly filled in and they KEEP filling in and I dare say that I think my hair is back to normal. Sigh and a big deep breath! For the first time in a very long time, I can now actually say that my hair looks good. it has taken me a LONG time to be able to say that and mean it.
I am still a product junkie (maybe now more than ever) and I still take detours by every mirror to check my hair out a zillion times a day. I think I will probably always.
I’m ready for a cleansing ritual for getting past this. Today I am going to go back to the wig salon and ask them about donating the beautiful wig that I bought there (and never actually wore) and maybe even the Gremlin wig too if they’ll take it. Yeah, the pictures of that are scary but KatKat did a perfectly AMAZING job of taming that beast. I’m going to see if I can donate the wig(s) to another woman that is suffering with hair loss and can’t afford to get something that will make her feel more comfortable.
I just wanted to update all of you. I have found such amazing support here and I truly cannot imagine how I would have gotten through this battle without WHLP. it has literally been a lifesaver for me.
I wish all of us more hair than we know what to do with (only on our heads). MUAH!
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Fariha Ahmed 02.06.10 at 10:01 am
Thank you Bonnie for sharing your experience.
I am going through major hair loss after stopping bcp. Actually it has been going on for the last 5 months but got worse since I stopped the bcp 1 month ago.
I find life so difficult, nothing makes me happy, my hubby and family is very supportive but I am depressed. I can’t even take care of my 3 yr old, I am so devastated.
I wanted to ask you how was it shaving your head? How long did it take your hair to grow and waht did you do while you had no hair? I also work so it is hard thinking about how I would manage if I shaved my hair.
Thank you so much, Please help me =(
donna 02.08.10 at 10:49 pm
This is amazing to hear a success story and I am very happy for you, congratulations and you are an inspiration for everyone here! Is it possible to discuss your treatments and regimen? Thank you!
Bonnie 02.09.10 at 4:30 am
HI, Fariha - i’m sorry to hear everything that you have been going through and that it took me so long to respond to this. I could not figure out how to respond to you directly, so I hope you find it here….
Shaving my head was scary on some level, but also very exhilirating. By the time it came to that, it was just what I needed to do for my own sanity. I just could not face even one more shower with my hair basically coming out in full strands at that point. I’d been thinkig of shaving it for some time, and that day I just hit the wall. I had actually been preparing for it and had ordered a wig online, visited a salon for a wig consultation, bought a buzzer…. i was ready on all fronts but the mental one. I was plannign to wait util I received the wig I ordered online before shaving it off, but it didnt happen. I had no more fight left in me and I told my husband to shave my head. no turning back.
I had planned on probably wearing a wig after the buzz, but the one I had ordered online had not arrived yet. I went back to the salon the day after the buzz and bought a gorgeous wig that I had seen there and was goign to wear that….. but in that day of not covering up my shaved head, I sort of got used to the way it looked and I liked it! that’s not to say that baring all is not intimidating.
i work for myself but I have a job where I am dealing with people in person alot of the time and I was very nervous that first week about facing them, but I did it. i got some weird looks and a couple of “what the hell did you do to your hair?”’s but I got past it. Mostly, I got compliments….. And so I stuck it out. That gorgeous wig sat in my closet until recently.
My shedding started seriously decreasing a couple of weeks after I shaved. I quit spiro the same day I shaved and I really think that it was the spiro that completely intensified my shedding in those prior two months. I got married about 7 weeks later and I had about an inch by then…. it actually grows faster than you think when it’s shaved or super short, which is pretty exciting to see after just watching it fall out endlessly.
I hope I answered your questions.
margaret staib 02.09.10 at 10:27 am
I just found this website. I am located in Long Island NY. I have started a support group for alopecia through http://www.naaf.org . If you are interested in attending please call 631-680-0148. I myself have hair loss from alopecia and am close to shaving my head.
Thank you.
Margaret Staib
Christine 02.12.10 at 12:52 pm
What was your regimen and treatments?? How did you get it to grow back? I think if I shave my head then it wont grow back - it’ll just be a continuation of the thinning/bald mess “growing” in. Chris
Bonnie 02.13.10 at 2:37 am
@ Donna and Christine - Since about April, my consistent regimen has been fish oil, flax oil, Vitamin D (1000 IU, on the recommendation of my dr), multi-vitamin, B complex and Ultimate Iron during my period. I have at times also taken CO Q10, magnesium and a zinc/copper supplement. I’m pretty sure my hair loss was due to blood less caused by the Mirena and it was mostly about my iron levels but I’ve really been trying to stick to a reasonable vitamin regimen along with the EFA’s. My former naturopath had recommended the EFA’s for hair regrowth and I have no idea if they help with that, but i do know that they make my skin less dry and so maybe help with my hair health too(?)
mee mee 02.27.10 at 9:38 pm
Hi Bonnie, You said you stopped Spiro… why did you start to begin with? Did you hair loss began before or after Spiro? I am taking Spiro now for 7 months and wondering if its good or bad for me? Thanks!
Fariha Ahmed 03.03.10 at 8:41 am
Hi Bonnie,
Hope you are well, thanks for your responses.
Did the Dr ever diagnose you with TE? I am going for a scalp biopsy this Friday but hoping that I do not have any Alopecia Areata because i am having diffuse loss with no patches.
I would prefer to shave my head if it turns out that I have TE.
Was your hair loss diffuse, did you ever get a clear answer on what was causing the hair loss. My Iron level is normal but the iron store is slightly low but I doubt if that is causing this excessive loss. I also had chemical straightening done 4 months ago and it might be a allergic reaction to that so I would like to shave it off rather then watch it all fall off slowly and will wait for it to grow back. Thanks for your help!!
Bonnie 03.05.10 at 9:40 am
hi, Meemee - i started Spiro because i was continuously looking for any answer as to why my hair was falling out and of course it wasnt improving fast enough… My bloodwork shows a somewhat higher testosterone level and my GP sent me to an endocrinologist who prescribed spiro. I started taking spiro in April 2009, eight months after I noticed my hair loss. The spiro got my testosterone down immediately, but my shedding increased exponentially…. A month later, because I was shedding like mad, he doubled my dose and the shedding doubled too. i know Spiro helps some women, but i dont think it was going to work out well for me.
Fariha - i was never diagnosed with TE. i was diagnosed with AGA through a biopsy. but it’s a diagnosis I never believed in because of the massive shedding I was having. I dont *think* (my humble opinion of course) that AGA makes you shed like crazy.
Claire 03.05.10 at 10:07 am
Hi Bonnie,
I just wanted to chime in. I started shedding in September 09 by mid November I think I had lost about 50% (at least it felt like it) I am still losing on average 100 hair a day, some days less. I think this started with me taking emergency contraceptives 2x in July/Aug and has been spurred on by my low ferrin. I’ve been to see 2 derms and 1 endo. Tried rogaine for 2 wks but it made the shedding worse and made my head itchy (it still is ). My head is telling me to eat healthy, take my iron supplements and wait it out but every other inch if me is screaming DO SOMETHING! How long from the beginning of your mess until you saw a noticable improvement? I’ve searched on here for your story but couldn’t find anything except your happy ending, which is nice to see for a change!