Anyone else tired of seeing hair collect all over your floor, bed, hairbrush? My hair has gotten to my lower back, but I still have large patches over the entire back and sides, with some smaller patches on top. So, of course, my long hair sheds and it becomes very obvious that there's hair everywhere. The worst is when cooking! I'm always scared someone will find a hair in their food and be disgusted.

Makes me want to shave it all off -- a thought that's been around for a few months.…

Diagnosis

In 1998, when I was in 4th grade, my mom noticed a small patch of hair loss while she was brushing my hair one morning. She told my dad (a physician) about it, and he decided to take me to a dermatologist. The doctor told my parents that I had alopecia areata, gave me the steroid injections (every 8 year old's nightmare), told me to apply a cream (looking back, I believe it was an irritant) and come back every few weeks.

I don't remember my initial…