Some history about me: 30 year old female, noticed a small round bald spot on the back of my scalp in 03/2010 at 22 years old-- doctors ran blood tests most of which came back normal, conducted a scalp biopsy and I was diagnosed with alopecia areata. 90% of my scalp hair fell out by the end of that same year. Cue depression, anxiety, grief, loss of self esteem, etc. completely discouraged by the AA diagnosis from the biopsy knowing the facts about it.

Fast forward to 2012, hair started growing again very slowly and was still very thin. Continued to go through hair loss and regrowth phases for a couple years more but my hair never grew past my shoulders and was still very thin. Beginning of 2016, my hair started to bald again in random places as well as diffusely.

By March 2016, I had my boyfriend shave my head because I couldn't take the grief of losing all my hair again in patches. That same month I found out I was 6 weeks PREGNANT. I'm ASSUMING due to my pregnancy hormones, my hair started growing back throughout my pregnancy and was actually pretty thick. By the time I had my daughter in october 2016 last year, my hair was to my chin and was thick with no spots and no diffuse thinning or shedding.

Most women who are post partum normally experience some hair loss, but surprisingly my hair didn't fall out right away. It wasn't until July this year that my hair started to diffusely shed (more like break off as it did when I was first diagnosed with aa), more heavily in certain spots than others.

About a week ago, I started birth control (apri) for the first time, my hair stopped breaking/shedding. I was strongly suspecting my hormones were imbalanced which is was I decided to take an oral contraceptive that contained no testosterone.

I'm still waiting to see if my hair will not fall out And if the bald spots will regrow hair... (hopefully) but I don't want to jinx myself either. However, I do find it VERY odd that my hair just suddenly stopped falling since starting my oral contraceptive.

I'm wondering if I always had a hormonal imbalance that possibly the doctors missed because currently my hair is the thickest and longest it has ever been and I thank my BABY daughter for that. I really didn't want to go through the grief of losing all my hair again, and I thought maybe if I can correct it now maybe my hair will just stay put with the birth control. I know I'm also risking MORE hair loss just by taking it, but it's a risk I'm willing to take.

Has anyone else been diagnosed with AA but also suspected it could have been hormonal?