womens hair loss

Hope For Sale – A Hair Loss Woman’s Dream Sign

by Y on December 14, 2007

Hope For Sale - A hair loss woman's dream signToday is a struggle and yesterday was too. I was trying to leave the house yesterday, my fiance waiting by the door and I was upstairs struggling to make my hair look normal. It seems normal is no longer an option for me, and hasn’t been for quite some time. But yesterday I noticed that my V shaped deeply recessed temporal region had gotten worse. The recession is so deep it just about spans my whole side of my head to the back, it looks awful and is impossible to cover up. So there I was upstairs in front of the mirror, trying to re-tie my ponytail a million times, each one ever so slightly different… lower, higher, much lower… this hair over that one, clip here, clip there etc etc. I felt so defeated, I eventually gave up on trying to cover the deep V recession, lowered my head and headed out the door. That sort of sent me into a depressed like state which I unfortunately awoke with. But what are my options?… I can go back to bed and pull the covers over my head, but that would get old and quite boring after a hour or so, or I can just move on as I always do. I am much better at dealing with these “down” times than I was years ago. It seems hair loss has caused forced me to develop much better coping skills, so I guess that is a plus.

But I’m doing alright. I drank some coffee, took the dog for a walk and decided to write a post about this. I am incredibly good at finding hope when it seems there is none left, but I think that if “hope’ was for sale I’d have to purchase just a little to get me by today 🙂 Hope is what keeps me going. I don’t just hope for my hair loss to stop, but I hope that I get stronger and more accepting of myself despite the amount of hairs on my head. I hope that I truly realize and understand that I am more than my hair, and I hope that all this happens before I am a very old woman. So I will look forward and I will get on with my day, because I have no other choice, life is waiting at the door, and I best go answer it before it passes me by.

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National Women’s Magazine Is Looking For A Woman To Tell Her Hair Loss Story

by Y on December 7, 2007

National Women's Magazine Is Looking For A Woman To Tell Her Hair Loss StoryI was contacted yesterday by a national women’s magazine who is looking for a woman suffering with hair loss who is willing to share her story. The woman needs to be between 18-35 and willing to go public with her full name and photo as well. This is potentially a tremendous opportunity to really help further women’s hair loss. I declined for myself because I’m just not there yet in self acceptance of my own hair loss to reveal myself to the world. I wish I was, and I hope in time I will be able to proudly show my face and represent women with this disorder. Although I won’t be the “face” for this possible new story, I really want to help the magazine find a woman who is willing to share her story, name and face with the world. Since a lot of female hair loss sufferers read this blog, I thought I would put this request out there.

If you are interested, please send me an email with your contact info, brief (or long if you wish) story and photo and I will send it on over to my contact at the magazine. Email it to: women@womenshairlossproject.com

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21 and Have Been Losing My Hair For Years – Jessica’s Hair Loss Story

by Y on December 5, 2007

21 and have been losing my hair for years - Jessica's Hair Loss StoryI think I started noticing my hair loss when I was mid-teens. It was not that big of an ordeal at the time, seeing as I knew I was a stressed and busy teenager (I was busy at school ALL of the time). However, as the years rolled by, I began to lose more and more hair. I am now losing hair at an exponential rate and I have no idea what to do about it.

My hair is very thin at the crown and sides of my head.. so thin that I can EASILY see my scalp. I try to hide it, but I really have nothing to hide it with, save a hat. I have gone to a doctor and a dermatologist, and all bloodwork is normal and I have no skin problems which would cause this. I was on birth control once when I was 18 or 19, but that really didn’t cause me to lose any more hair than usual. I am at a loss.

I am usually not one to care about these kinds of issues, but it has consumed my thoughts to the point where there isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t want to break down and cry. I know that my lifestyle is not helping, but I can’t really change it without changing my career goal. I am a full time student and I work part time as a lab assistant. Outside of school, I spend a lot of time studying for the MCAT and doing other school work.. all signs point to stress, but I don’t know what to do about it. It would really help if there was someone to talk to or if anyone has any advice. I feel like I am falling apart…

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Dear Jessica,

I am curious to know if the doctors you’ve seen were able to offer you any type of possible cause for your hair loss? Women with hair loss frequently get back blood test results that “falls within normal range.” I know how unhelpful and frustrating that is because we want to point to something on paper as the identifying cause then work towards fixing it. Blood test results being categorized as “normal” gets to me, because what is “normal” for me may not be normal for another 29 year old and vice versa. So perhaps there is something there for all of us that seems to be consistently getting overlooked by physicians. [click to continue…]

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Hair Loss At 16 – Larissa’s Hair Loss Story

by Y on November 25, 2007

Hair Loss At 16 - Larissa's Hair Loss StoryHi, I was happy to stumble across your site. I’ve been living with hair loss since I was 16 and have finally begun steps to healthfully and happily “deal” with it.

My mother, father and younger sister are all faced with baldness. It’s most definitely genetic for me. Through out high school I dealt with the rude remarks from other kids and never felt entirely pretty. I started on rogaine when I was 16 and saw very little response, finally stopping it at 18.

I then began wearing my hair pulled back in a pony tail, but as my hair continued to thin I had to cover my hair with an additional folded scarf or bandana to cover my hair on the top of my scalp where it was thinning the most. I was extremely self conscious and had trouble being in public with out my hair strategically covered. When I turned 25, just this last March, I decided that I needed a change and bought my first wig because I wanted to wear my hair down. I’m not trying to fool anyone, and there’s still a lot to get used, but it seems natural enough that I can pass as a woman with hair. It’s just hard considering I don’t know any other 25 year old women who wear wigs. I just needed to take control and I felt I deserved for once, as a young woman, to feel pretty and feminine.

No swimming, no wind in my hair, no warmth of the sun on my head and face.
Those are things I really miss and hope to one day gain the self confidence
to enjoy again. I’m contemplating shaving my head completely and hope to one
day feel confident enough to do that.

I look forward to reading your’s and others’ stories and hope to find strength in the knowledge that there are other young women out there dealing with the same issues.

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Dear Larissa,

Thank you so much for writing and sharing your story with everyone. You wrote that you hope to find strength in reading other women’s stories, I found strength in reading yours. I admire women who find the courage in themselves to move forward and take whatever steps necessary to make them feel good, like buying a wig, adding hair or shaving their head. I haven’t reached that point myself, but I feel like I’m getting closer…Baby steps.

Like you, I also didn’t have any success with Rogaine. Is your family supportive? Are you able to talk to them about your hair loss. It is hard for my family to truly understand my hair loss no matter how hard they may try because most of them have all their hair. It seems I was the only one left without a chair when the music stopped… or dare I say, left without my hair 🙂 But seriously, it’s hard and I hate feeling uncomfortable around my own family. My mother’s hair started to thin when she went through menopause, but she still has more hair than me, and while it bothers her she doesn’t understand what it is like to be to start losing your hair at 21 and devastation it causes.

For myself, suffering with hair loss has taken so much from me and left me feeling alone. Being able to communicate with other women and read their stories has helped me tremendously. I want more than anything to be able to put a period on this part of my life and move on and I want to help other women to be able to do the same. Part of that healing is reading the hair loss stories of other women, knowing we are not alone in this. So thank you again Larissa for sharing your story with us.

~Y

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The Hair Loss Around Us – Reflection

by Y on November 11, 2007

The Hair Loss Around Us - ReflectionI was at the mall yesterday with my fiance and he pointed out a young girl that was working at a mall kiosk. She was very young, definitely still in high school, and she had severe female pattern hair loss. It appeared she had put some extensions in as well which were quite apparent due to the extreme thinning. She was interacting normally and didn’t really seem shy. I was thinking how hard it must be for her, to go to high school and work in a mall with a lot of young people and have to be going through something like hair loss. It was very hard on me to begin to lose my hair at a 21,but I can’t even imagine how hard it is to have to go through it while still in high school. Everyday I see so many women losing their hair, some are young girls and some are older. I’ll never forget a librarian I met back when I was 21 and in the infancy of my hair loss. I was of course at the library researching hair loss to try and help myself. She was sitting at a desk and I went up to ask her a question. Her part was so very thin and wide and I thought to myself “Oh my god, thank god my hair loss isn’t so bad,” but I was also worried I would be in her shoes very soon. From that point on I began to compare my hair loss to everyone around me. Her’s isn’t as bad as mine… mine isn’t as bad as hers etc etc. Sadly my answers are more toward the first statement nowadays. This was just recent though, mainly the last couple years. Before that, even though I was losing so much hair and suffering inside I was still able to fake it to the world. But I didn’t enjoy what I had along the way for that day, how could I when it continually fell out?

I look back and I wish I hadn’t missed out on so much because of my hair loss. The few people I had told about it along the way were always surprised to hear I even had hair loss. They didn’t know me before and know the thick thick hair I once had. My hair is so much thinner now, but I try and not let it get in my way anymore. After all, I’ve missed out on so much already. I’ll be 30 next year and realize I missed out on my entire 20’s. So why am I writing this? I want the women who are just losing their hair to know a couple things.

Hair loss is a journey. For some it is short and they luckily recover quickly, for others such as myself, we have to realize we have a long road ahead of us. The right side of the road is paved with sadness the left with happiness and in the middle there is acceptance. I spent 8 years walking on the right, always depressed, and never realizing I could move to the other side. I would try and get toward the middle but there always a strong force pulling me back. I am happy to report that more and more I stay to the middle of the road walking on acceptance and sometimes even making it along the border of happiness. Oddly enough this epiphany happened when I was at the thinnest stage of my hair loss. I don’t want other women to miss out on their lives. I know from the depths of my heart how hard and devastating hair loss is. I live it everyday. But at some point we have to appreciate what we have for that day and just do the best be can with what we have.

I still get sad about my hair loss and have my low days, I still run past mirrors to avoid looking at myself. [click to continue…]

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At What Point Do We Let Go?

by Y on October 27, 2007

At What Point Do We Let Go?As I got up today I was pondering at what point do I let go of the thoughts that I need my hair. I certainly don’t need it to live. If I was stuck on a deserted island I wouldn’t mind one bit if I had my hair. But unfortunately by nature people seem to be incredibly judgmental, so the fact that at I live in a populated society in contrast to the solitary island, my mind convinces me that without my hair I am somewhat less than.

Less than… Less than… Less than what? Less than a woman with hair? Sounds ridiculous when I say it out loud or write it down. Who I am, and all my qualities certainly amount to more than the sum of follicles attached to my scalp. And I know in my heart, I am not my hair. We all have our challenges to face in life, and this, in this moment, is mine. I can either submit to defeat or accept myself. I choose to accept myself, however hard it is each time I look in the mirror. But I get stronger all the time, and I know I will get though this and be a better person for it.

When I first started losing my hair 8 years ago, I used to pray and pray that I would recover completely from whatever ailment or messed up hormone was causing me to lose my hair and that it would all grow back. As the years went by my attitude changed and I started pray that I could just keep what I had and have it stop falling out. More years past, and I started pray that I could be given strength to mentally deal with my hair loss and move on. That is where I am today. Oh course I want my hair back, I always keep hope that things may turn around, but ultimately I really want to learn how to accept myself as I am, today.

At what point do we let go? For me, its been quite sometime that I’ve been working on letting go and accepting myself more and more. I never thought that I could have endured all the hair loss and pain and loss of self, that accompanies it. But I have, and I do. And I still have plenty of happy, smiling, laughing moments even with the the thin wisps of hair that I have left. Those moments remind me that I will be okay.

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Letting My Hair Down – How Bout A Little Inspiration?

by Y on October 24, 2007

Letting My Hair Down... How bout a little inspirationSo this weekend I decided to let my hair down… literally. I usually just pull it back, but Sunday I had to go to an event that required that I look more proper, a little more put together. Also for the outfit I was wearing I thought it would look so much nicer with my hair down. So for the first time in a long time I did the “hair routine.” I have avoided doing it for quite sometime because it seemed pointless. My hair is so thin and lifeless that the less time I spend working on it the better. If you haven’t already read it in one of my past postings, the hair routine usually takes about 1 – 1 1/2 hours and involves the use of a thickening shampoo and conditioner, then the use of a defrizzer that is applied after I’ve combed through my wet hair, then a thickening agent, and then I use a giant roll brush and blowdryer to make my hair look fuller. The final thing is the use of a flat iron to smooth it out.

Part of why I hate wearing it down is because it feels like nothing is there, I can’t feel the weight of my hair anymore, I haven’t for quite sometime, but it’s even worse now. I sucked it up anyways. You know what, most of those people I saw on Sunday didn’t have any idea I was losing my hair… I was able to perform hair magic one more time. I didn’t see any wandering eyes drifting upwards to stare at my thinning hair. I do look like a person with thin hair, but to them they probably thought it was just naturally thin. Even with that I still consider shaving my head because it is complete torture to lose 500+ hairs on some days. That is the type of extreme shedding that has started the last couple years, mainly the last year. I do think it is getting a little better now for whatever reason. Hair is cyclical and maybe I’m finally on the upswing. *fingers crossed*

But there is more…So after I finally made it through Sunday with the hair down, I kept it down, after all that effort I wanted to squeeze out another day of trying to feel normal. My fiance made a comment that I seemed so much more confident and social with my hair down, that I was like a different person. That makes sense, I hate wearing my hair up all the time, and I’m always feeling self conscious so I never have a chance to really be me. Monday night we out to a nice dinner and then went to a blues club to listen to music and have drinks. For a split second I sort of forgot about everything and enjoyed myself. I haven’t done that in a really really long time. It felt wonderful. Those moments are few and far between and I really appreciated it. In fact I told my fiance I wanted to start doing that at least once a week, get dressed up have a nice dinner, listen to some music… be normal. Even if I have to go with my hair pulled back in a not so attractive manner, I want to live life. [click to continue…]

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My Sister Is Losing Her Hair And I Want To Help Her

by Y on October 21, 2007

My Sister Is Losing Her Hair And I Want To Help HerHi all. I don’t know if i’m stepping over the boundaries here and if I am, please let me know. I mean no disrespect. I am a family member of someone who has recently experienced hair loss. she’s my big sister and we live together. this has been an absolutely devastating experience for her. She started to really notice thining about a month or so ago and she has been to a couple of doctors, but hasn’t had too many tests done yet. I’ve been trying to find doctors and information for her, but i don’t know if i’m just making it harder. she is having a hard time so i try to take over the logistical stuff so she doesn’t have to think about it.

I guess i’m posting this just to ask you if there is anything i can do to help her or make this less painful. I know i can’t know what she’s feeling, but thought I would reach out to see if any of you could tell me stories of someone helping you make the situation better. She is a very guarded person and she doesn’t let people in very easily. I know she must feel completely isolated and I just want her to know she isn’t. We have a very close family and everyone is here for her when she needs it.

Again, I apologize if I am making anyone feel violated. I just want to help my sister any way I can. Thanks for listening.

~Brooke

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Dear Brooke –

Thank you so much for writing. I think it is really wonderful that you are trying to take on an active role in helping your sister through this extremely difficult time. Hair loss is devastating for any woman, and your sister is not alone in this. I’m certain your support means more to her than you even realize, and I certainly don’t think you are making anything worse by being there for her. Just a couple questions, how old is your sister? Did she recently start or stop taking birth control pills, nuva ring or the patch or experienced any recent extreme weight loss?

You asked for stories of situations where someone was able to make the situation better for the woman experiencing hair loss. For myself, the biggest help was just having someone there to listen to me. My fiance was there from the beginning and he always listened and understood my emotional pain, sense of confusion and fear for the unknown future. He understood my real loss. Having my feelings validated was extremely important to me, it still is. Having someone who believed my words “I am losing my hair” and fully comprehending the impact that was having on me, was helpful to me. What do I mean by believing? By believing I mean not denying or trivializing my pain by telling me “oh you look fine, you’re not losing your hair.” If a woman is losing her hair, she knows it, end of story. On the flip side, words that helped me was when he told me ” I know you are losing your hair, but to the rest of the world you look like you have a full head of hair, so try and enjoy today.” It was very delicate wording. He validated my situation and then gave the best hair complement a women with hair loss could get 🙂 He wasn’t lying either, it was the truth. When we are engulfed in the early stages of hair loss we struggle with what our former image was…. a full head of hair. As it thins, nothing is good enough and the depression and sadness creeps to an all time high even when no one else can really tell. Now people can tell I’m losing me hair, but I’d say definitely for the first 5 years, my secret was known to only me. That didn’t prevent me from feeling ugly, sad and avoiding social gatherings, but it was something I wish I fully realized back then. Having my fiance tell me it “looked like I had a full head of hair” reminded me what I couldn’t remind myself, I was still OK. [click to continue…]

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Schoolgirl struck by alopecia loses all her hair – in THREE days

by Y on October 20, 2007

Schoolgirl Struck By Alopecia Loses All Her Hair - In Three DaysBy: Liz Hull

A schoolgirl has described how she went bald in three days after developing an extreme form of alopecia.

Jordana Seville, 15, spotted the first bare patch among her thick blonde locks last Wednesday.

The same day further large clumps of hair started falling out. Within 72 hours she had lost nearly all the hair on her head.

“It was really scary when my hair just started coming out for no reason,” she said.

“At first I could cover the front with a bandana, but then the back started falling out too so I had to shave it off.

“People have been really shocked to see me but people have reacted much better to it than I thought.

“Last week I had a full head of hair and now I have none.”

It is not clear why Jordana developed alopecia although it can be triggered in teenage girls by hormonal changes or stress.

Jordana’s mother, Ashley, 43, took her to see their GP who has referred her to a specialist dermatologist.

“I’m a qualified hairdresser so as soon as Jordana showed me the bald patch I knew to take her to a doctor,” said the mother-of-three from Poulton-le-Fylde in Lancashire.

“At this stage we don’t know whether or not her hair will grow back, but I have to say I’m very proud of the way she has coped.

“I actually think her new look is quite striking. Many people have commented that it looks nice.”

Jordana, who has been off school since her hair loss began, said: “I’m a bit worried about going back. A lot of my friends have long hair like I had, so I’m not sure what people will say.

“I wanted to speak out because alopecia is more common than people think and often occurs in teenage girls.

“It isn’t all that bad, the doctor has been brilliant and I have looked into the possibility of wigs.” [click to continue…]

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Hair Loss Has Won Today

by Y on October 16, 2007

Hair Loss Has Won TodayIn the ever constant battle I have with my hair loss I strive to be victorious and triumph over all that it has seemed to take away from me. Some days I feel I am a clear winner and remain productive, pushing the obsessive hair loss thoughts aside, tying what’s left of my hair back, and walking out the door to get on with my life. Other days I feel like I got kicked in the head by godzilla’s foot. Obviously since I’m writing this today, it is clear that today is one of those kicked to the head days and my hair loss has got the best of me… for this moment anyways.

What frustrates me is that I try so hard to move on, but I’m constantly reminded that I have so little hair on my head. I just got done doing a pretty decent session of cardio. I ran on the treadmill for 60 minutes, hoping the run would clear my mind and help me to be more positive today. But… it’s hard to enjoy the run when the sweat rolls straight down my head and I can feel it all over, itching every part of my scalp. When I had all my hair this wasn’t a problem, the hair would just absorb the sweat. In the absence of my former tresses I now am confronted with pools of sweat soaking what’s left of my hair and rolling down into my eyes, into my ears…. everywhere. I manage to get through all of that, constantly patting my face and head with a towel. I then go to my room to change, and there in the mirror I see the reflection of disaster staring back. My soaked head has a million streaked gaps of bald scalp showing threw my very fine hair. It was just awful.

Sometimes it feels like no matter what I do, I end up getting pulled back down and receive a forceful reminder that I’m losing my hair and things will never be the same.

I’ve had these emotional ups and downs long enough to know that there will be better days ahead, I will not give up. I will continue to fight to reclaim myself because…

I am not my hair
I am not my hair
I am not my hair
I am not my hair

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