Last week … for the very first time… I saw a women with male pattern baldness. Not just the diffuse all over loss that I am used to seeing, but completely bald on top with hair on the side and in the back (just like those Propecia commericals on You Tube). The lady was probably in her late 60s with gray hair. The surprising thing for me was that the hair she had on the sides and back was still quite thick! I was impressed by the fact that she was out in public without a wig or hair covering of any type. This wasn’t a woman who doesn’t care about her appearance because she had taken the time to put on her makeup and dress nicely.She passed by me so quickly that I only had time to register her hair loss and glance at her face before she was gone. After she was out of my line of vision I actually found myself wondering if she could possibly be a cross dresser or transsexual. My mind simply could not wrap itself around the idea that a woman could really have that type of hair loss.I know that this lady was not in my line of vision long enough that looking at her could have been considered staring, but I know that if she had not walked away from me that I would have definitely tried to get a closer look. I like to think that I would have found something kind to say or some way to pay her a compliment.
I sometimes wish that I had little WomensHairLossProject business cards to hand to women I meet… but then I have to remind myself that many of these women might still be in a place that having someone notice their loss may be insulting. I feel as if this website has made me more open and accepting of my own hair loss. I think I should remind myself more frequently that not everyone is ready to discuss this condition openly with people they have never met ;o)
About the author: Dottie is a community member of the Women’s Hair loss Project. To learn more about her and read her other blog posts, visit her profile: http://community.womenshairlossproject.com/Dottie/
Here is one of those propecia commercials Dottie was making reference to.
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If you had a test that would tell you with some degree of certainty whether or not you were destined to lose your hair, would you take it? We don’t really have to make that decision because it isn’t available for women, however, men now have that choice. There has been much buzz surrounding the new genetic test called, “Hair DX.” According to their website, ” HairDX reports about a genetic variant found in more than 95% of bald men. Scientists found that people with this genetic variant are at 60% risk of going bald by the age of 40. HairDX also reports about a less common genetic variant of the same gene, that if present indicates a greater than 85% likelihood of not going bald before the age of 40. ”
A friend of mine sent this to me in an email, I’ve never actually spoken about my hair loss with this person so of course I’m thinking… SHE KNOWS!! But she sent it to like 50 other people at the same time so I guess that is me just being paranoid. Or is it? 🙂 The story is about attitude, but the subject matter was of particular interest to me. Here it is:
