I had a few moments of randomness this morning while I got my coffee and I wanted to discuss this randomness in dealing with hair loss, wig wearing and ultimately… acceptance.
{ 21 comments }
womens hair loss
I’ve been meaning to update everyone on a few things, and here it finally is. I made a video which I will place at the end of this post. I’m a bit scatter brained in my video because I just had a crazy morning which threw me for a loop, so any rambling and/or incoherentness will need to be attributed to that 🙂 The video is long, so I’ll update in a post too:
Getting Ready For PRP
I know many women are wondering if I still believe in PRP therapy or feel it is working for me, the answer is, yes. I continue to go to Florida to see Dr. Joseph Greco every 4-6 months because it’s something I think is a positive thing for my hair, I feel it’s safe and while there is some discomfort in the actual treatment, the benefits for me are worth it. It currently is the only thing I do for my hair and much to my relief I’ve finally rid myself from all the pills I was taking for my hair, which I never really felt great taking nor really knew if they were actually working to do anything helpful anyways. I’ve heard from some women that felt PRP did nothing for them, and others that felt it was awesome, it’s all so very individual. I’m going to continue doing it for quite sometime because other than having to take time for travel and for the bit of discomfort during the treatment, there are no downsides for me.
This was the final pill I took, ha.
Getting Off The Birth Control Pill Update
Last July I got off the little devil pill that I felt ruled and destroyed much of my life. I made quite a long post on this, which you can read here, and I feared what the aftermath of getting off this pill would do to my hair and body in general. I didn’t experience any major shed, but I’m attributing much of that to keeping up with the PRP. I don’t know if that’s actually the reason I didn’t have a major shed, but I feel it was a strong contributing factor.
The adverse effects I experienced in getting off the pill were pretty mild I think compared to what I thought would happen. I thought I’d implode or something, I felt the sky was going to fall and the bottom would drop out from under me, but alas it didn’t. Instead I had some insomnia, facial breakouts and bad cramps during my period. I could be missing a couple things, but nothing that is sticking out glaringly in my mind which tells you it wasn’t all that big a deal, it was a bigger emotional/mental deal than anything. My periods started up normally too, and regularly, which I was surprised about, I thought they would be erratic or not come for months or stick around for months at a time, but it was normal pretty much from the time I got off the pill, which was a very pleasant surprise. So everything is going well with the cessation of the pill.
Breakfast of champions? LOL and a supportive text from a dear friend of mine 🙂
Anxiety Update
I made an anxiety sharezie in Sept, letting everyone in on my oh-so more complicated than hair life pertaining to my dealings with social, generalized, phone anxiety and OCD oopsies. Anxiety has ruled my world for quite sometime. Second fiddle only to my hair loss, but once I figured out out to put my hair loss in check in my life, it became enemy # 1. I know several people had commented and emailed me on the topic of that post, and were surprised that I dealt with this because that doesn’t come across in my videos, and it wouldn’t. I don’t really have anxiety talking to myself LOL, that’s pretty much what making a video is to me, talking to myself and I do that all time anyways 😉 It’s a solitary event. ha. [click to continue…]
{ 13 comments }
Hello Everyone!
Just wanted to wish everyone a beautiful and fabulous Holiday, filled with all the awesome yumminess that life has to offer. Hug your family, your friends, your canine and feline babies, your wigs (ha) and appreciate the joy of the day. If you need a little more joy, well then fill your glass up a little higher, that should do the trick! 😉
Hugs and Love, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Y
{ 8 comments }
I’d like to start this post by saying while this post isn’t ultimately about my hair loss, I still blame it to the nth degree because, well lets face it… it’s hair loss so it’s easy to blame, it sucks and it changes us in ways we are sometimes unaware of and it certainly can leave you with a bunch of loose pieces even once you finally think you got that puzzle put together. Someone contact Rubik’s, my cube is missing some squares!
Recently, I’ve received some emails inquiring where I’ve been, and here I am to give you that update. It’s not sexy, it’s not glamorous, but it is my life. Well there is a sexy component to the update, but that will be for another post and involves a swishy new Follea wig that I’ve named Natasha. She’s shorter (like Natalia) she’s sassy and she’s proudly joined my F-Lineup of European hair beauties, but Natasha will be for another day (though she is the girl in the pic with me).
Searching for the missing squares….
I contemplated whether or not I should write this blog, but I find that often sharing is beneficial, for me and for anyone else who reads it and who can potentially relate, whether it’s hair loss or something else. This post will be the “something else,” and it will be strongly geared toward my life dealings at the moment, and how living with hair loss impacted me in ways beyond which I could really grasp when I was so focused in the moment on the actual “loss,” as in watching my hair fall out and feeling helpless and powerless to it all. Again, hair loss isn’t all to blame, but it exacerbated an already existing condition.
Last May 2012, I did the best thing ever for myself…. I leap into wig wearing landia and never looked back. After living with hair loss since 1999, I said “FU” and got me some hair. Yay me. There is post after post and a lot of videos I’ve done on this, and how it has changed my life for the better, so you must imagine that confetti fell from the sky and life was a box of chocolates right? Well there was a box of chocolates and some cake (on many occasions) and I ate them all, but I digress. Life improved for me in so many ways (too many to count) but I was still saddled with something that has haunted me for years… Social anxiety, generalized anxiety and phone anxiety, and that last one is a real hum dinger. Most people that know me, know that I’m more of a “Don’t call me and I won’t call you” type girl. Like for real. Don’t call me (ever) I won’t answer. Text… Yes. Email… Yes. Phone… Goodbye, and I will seriously need to reevaluate our friendship if you thought that was the best mode of communication for me 🙂 I primarily do mail order for clothing, and if I do go to the mall you can expect I’ll be the first one there when it opens (less people) and grab whatever I need in 10 minutes flat. [click to continue…]
{ 35 comments }
It’s been almost a month since I went to Sarasota, Florida to have my 8th PRP treatment with Dr. Greco. I used my last PRP treatment to aid in reducing any potential shedding that would occur as I got of the 200mg of Aldactone that I had taken, seemingly forever, and I feel it was successful in doing what I had hoped (thank god). I really didn’t notice any accelerated hair loss from getting off that pill, so I’m happier than a pig in you know what!
This most recent PRP treatment I had in July will be used to help me in much the same way to get off the birth control pill. My feelings about all that were shared in this post here.
Many women contact me with questions about this treatment, so I thought I’d bring along my camera to this visit and have Dr. Greco explain the process while he does the treatment on me. Of course upon watching the video back I realized I trampled on Dr. Greco (more than once) with my own thoughts as he was speaking, interjecting my questions or some other superfluous noun or verb here and there, but hey, I just had my head stuck with a needle a zillion times, give me a break LOL! I think I have a tendency in general to rush my thoughts out because I fear I’ll forget what I wanted to say before it gets said, I’ll work on that 😉 [click to continue…]
{ 16 comments }
I’m sitting awake in my hotel room in Florida. My mind flooded with thoughts and my fiancé snoring soundly beside me. I had no chance of sleep I tell ya… no chance.
As usual, Florida time means PRP time. I did have my 8th PRP therapy treatment with Dr. Joseph Greco yesterday afternoon. At first glance all seems the same, snoring fiancé, PRP, Florida, hangover…. but it’s not. About a month or so ago I made a very hard personal decision for myself, and just to bring you up to emotional speed on this one, just starting to type the word “decision” started the tears rolling down face, because it’s a decision wrought with so many emotions and so much pain.
My hair loss started in 1999 (I was 21 years old) after the cessation of the pill Loestrin FE, dumb luck struck and that one act caused the following years of misery, sadness and self loathing as I tried to cope with losing my hair. I was so incredibly alone when this happened, I was desperate, beyond desperate and I was willing to try and do anything I could to just get the shedding to stop and hopefully get my hair to grow back, so I made a choice I have regretted ever since. At the suggestion of a physician I got back on the birth control pill. While the pill can be the cause of hair loss, doctors also use it to try and stabilize the hormones to treat it. I didn’t want to, I was so scared, but I did. Many times I’ve wished I was stronger and just said no. No to the doctor and no to myself. I knew what the pill did to me the first time, why get back on something I would forever be a slave to? Good question. Answer: Desperation and lack of foresight.
Getting back on the pill essentially meant never being able to get off it. The amount of shedding that occurred when I got off the pill the first time was INSANE, I’m talking about waking up to fist fulls of hair on my pillow. I had a ton of hair back then and while no one wants to loose their hair, looking back I had hair to spare. I have none to spare today I can assure you. Knowing this, I started to feel very trapped on the pill, how could I ever get off again? I was stuck on a medication I had so much animosity towards and worse my hair continued to decline so I had no way of knowing if it ever helped in the first place, and since we all know we just love to poke ourselves in the eye with our torture sticks, I’d constantly remind myself that I never really allowed my body the chance to heal on its own, to stabilize it’s own hormones without the use of any medication. Maybe in a few years time all would have resumed to normal, or maybe not, but I’ll never know. [click to continue…]
{ 75 comments }
I received this email, and requested permission to share it here, with all of you. Much thanks to “A” for writing me this incredibly amazing email and allowing me to share her story. I had gotten home one night and made a quick check of my email and saw this in my box, I felt moved, excited, touched and inspired all over again. Thank you!
————
I want to thank you for your wonderfully honest, heartfelt, and supportive web site. I found the womenshairlossproject site one day on the internet and my life hasn’t been the same since. I have been struggling since my late 20s with thinning hair due to androgenic alopecia and I am 49 now. I so wanted it to be a medical issue that I could then take a pill and be cured but that was not to be. I took aldactone for a while and it stopped the shedding but I hated taking pills so I went off those after a year. I found a shampoo for thinning hair that controls the shedding for me and I have used it for several years (Nisim is the brand). However, the diffuse thinning continues and it’s worse on the top of my head. I have been wearing baseball caps everywhere for over 15 years now, even at work, it’s my signature look.
I have been living (and I use the term living loosely) a subdued life, shunning social activities and just not being able to enjoy the outdoors. Being naturally shy anyway, my hair condition has made me hyper sensitive and even more uncomfortable being with other people for fear of being found out, stared at, or laughed at. You don’t realize how insidious the negative inner dialog becomes until you see yourself 20 years along in your hair loss and how much you’ve retreated from life. You also can’t help becoming more cynical of people thinking they have nothing better to do than find weaknesses in you to possibly exploit.
I have grown especially weary over the last year of wearing hats, of spending an hour fixing my hair moving one hair this way and another that way hoping for a better outcome, of feeling less worthy and less than in everything. I traversed the web to find solutions and support and I found it with you and your web site. I found hope and realized I wasn’t as alone as I felt. I began to believe that my life could be different. I began to believe that I didn’t have to hide anymore and that there are solutions. It took many months for me to finally decide to DO something. I originally shied away from wigs because I believed it’s harder to hide wearing a blonde wig and I didn’t want anyone to know I was wearing a wig. [click to continue…]
{ 13 comments }
I’m talking hair here, people!
Warning: I’ve had too much caffeine and a ton of thoughts are floating around in my head, so this may get a little disjointed. In fact this warning shall apply to all my posts, but depending on the time of day you may need swap out the word caffeine for wine, k? Good.
Onwards…
I want to talk about bangs. Yummy bangs, sexy bangs, that ooh la la Zoey Deschanel perfect full bang. That yippie skippy, I get to hide my wig line bang… yes that bang.
Before we get into bangs, lets discuss my current state of hair shall we? Ode to my crap hair… die. Oh wait, you already are, but I digress.
Seriously though, my hair is currently shedding a bit more hair than “my” normal and I feel like this might be a result of me being long overdue for my PRP session. I do those about every 6 months with Dr. Joseph Greco in Florida (I live in Los Angeles) and I do feel that it has helped to keep my shed down, but alas I’m a couple months past due and my hair is raining in my sink, my floor, my shirt, my dog.. well you get the picture. What’s a girl to do? You might be thinking: Umm, get the treatment again? Yes, that DOES seem like the most logical answer and likely what I will do, but this is all so much more complicated than just that. Isn’t it always?
Ultimately I want to be free from pills and any hair loss treatment, free from anything tethering me to having to save the hair that so clearly wants to move on from me. This is the place I so desperately want to get to after 14 years of hair loss. I was successful in getting off my 200mg of Aldactone last year and it’s an amazing feeling to have at least that be done and over with.
I wear a wig full time, I never leave the house without my wig or a hat, so why all the fuss about my hair, why not shave it, ditch the treatments and have a martini? Well, I will be having that martini, but about the other stuff, it’s all a bit of a pickle. I use my hairline on all my wigs, all of them. Every single one of them, even my lacefront. If I shaved my head, I would have to bang all my wigs? And by that I mean put bangs in all my wigs. While some women are successful in wearing wigs (even non lacefronts) without their own hairline, that isn’t how I feel most comfortable. It’s different for everyone. For me, I’d have to either wear bangs (side swept or full) or be using a tiny bit of my own bio hairline as I do now. I think part of that is because sections of my hairline are on the lower side, even after having receded over the years. When I bring the wigs to the exact frontal part of my hairline, I look like I should be sitting in the zoo having a banana with the rest of my simian friends. Not my best look I can assure you! [click to continue…]
{ 26 comments }
I posted this on the WHLP Facebook page a little while ago, and thought I’d cross post it here for everyone!
So today I had a personal organizer come out to potentially assist in getting my house more together. One of the areas I need assistance is the master bath and master closet. Decided to just leave my wigs where they were, sitting pretty front and center.
We walked into the bathroom and I pointed to them and said, “Don’t let them scare you, they don’t bite” 😉 She said “You wear wigs?” and I let her know I do, and that I was wearing one right now. She was quite shocked (in a good way) she said she would never in a million years have known. Then she asked me why I wear them, and I told her the truth. I’m getting better at telling my wig wearing reason in brief and with literally zero emotion. Just matter of fact. Which is a good thing. I’ve cried enough tears to fill up an olympic sized swimming pool during the last 14 years, and I feel very fortunate that I’ve reached a place of acceptance and that I no longer allow my hair loss to rule my life. It’s a part of my life still, I know it’s there, I know it’s happening, but I no longer give it any power to control me.
I’ve made peace with my reality and I feel good about being able to not try to hide it when I don’t want to, like today with my wigs lying around the bathroom, and I don’t mind telling people I’m wearing hair and the reasons for it. I don’t run down the street screaming “It’s a wig” though that’s a funny thought, but I’m fine spilling the beans at a bar, if someone complimented “MY” hair.
I’ll be 35 years old next month, and while it did take 14 years for me to reach this place, I thank god everyday that I did.
Happy Wednesday!
XOXO
{ 8 comments }
I didn’t choose hair loss, it chose me.
I battled for years. I felt I had lost, I felt withdrawn and depressed and a feeling of absolutely no hope. I suffered tremendously as I saw myself fade away and was confronted with a reflection of a person I no longer knew. Not just in the change of appearance as a result from hair loss, but rather just in the change in me.
I finally let go.
I let go of hoping my former self would come back, that all my hair would return, but rather accepted what was and is and took steps to do what I could to help myself.
I wear a wig.
That lone sentence by itself almost seems like it’s a part of my lost battle, but rather it was the winning move and it is what enabled me to move forward and move past the former years of depression and self loathing. It is a sentence of victory. In those 4 words, you may not see it, but it’s acceptance and an understanding that life is ever changing. WE are always changing, and what was 2 seconds ago is already the past. [click to continue…]
{ 22 comments }
