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Permalink Reply by Tallgirl on October 21, 2012 at 11:17am

I would go for the look that appears uniform while waiting for a cure. Human beings generally go for symmetry or something they can recognize someone with from across the room, so the sooner you "decide" on a look that doesn't come and go at every meeting, the sooner your friends and coworkers...and maybe you...will have one less curiosity in communicating. Examples: hat, wig (for women), beanie, or complete shave.

My own alopecia got worse and worse on the last round, and my dermatologist said that the more severe losses of longer duration, especially in older years (I was about 40 then) would probably not be helped by further treatments. So, I just stopped the shots, pills and creams and let alopecia do what The Force intended it to do. I own all of the above toppers, and Friday experimented by going into a posh happy hour in my professional clothing but with head shaved. I left my blond wig on my car seat in the parking lot. No one even blinked an eye or stared! I just started up conversations with folk, and they did not even look at my head, Amazing! (This was a French-look posh restaurant bar in an affluent subdivision.)

You could probably solve several issues at one time with shave and sunglasses, and still look professional. The dermatologists tell you shots will start regrowth in three months, but if it is just AA, doesn't it regrow in three months ANYWAY when doing nothing? I think they play on our hope to get money. If AT or AU, the shots would be excessive, painful, expensive and hurt too much...and maybe not work anymore. Sure, I hope there is a cure in my lifetime, but I refuse to stress about it any more. There are too many other things to worry about in life, and having stress DAILY over alopecia can take its toll.

What else could YOU do with that money and time?

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Permalink Reply by Christine on October 22, 2012 at 9:32pm

I agree with Tallgirl here, with guys you have that option of the shaved head being super cool right now, so many guys are pulling it off, and it can be a good look for a lot of men. as for the facial hair, I think depending on your hair color (dark for instance) this would be the most difficult, what do you do with the five o'clock spotted shadow?? If you have any facial hair left I think I would try a cream hair remover, so it would not show so soon, just to see how that would work. Great that you have your eyebrows, women get away with powders or pencils, but not a good look for men, the new hairy brows would be a great thing for that, luckily you don't have to deal with that now. You mentioned the back of your head, more specifically is it on the lower part of your head in the hairline, near the neck?? The reason I ask is this is the most difficult area to treat, and less likely to respond to the injections, when I start ten years ago with AA it began as a spot just above my neck, which evolved over the years to the Ophiasis pattern which is not so great to treat, I didn't do the injections as I was told not a good option for me, and whet with clobetasol and minoxidil, the later worked the best for me, but had to stop after a few years because I developed a reaction to it...long story short, I've lost most of my hair now, and chose to buzz off the little bits here and there, best thing I could have done. Please let us know what you decide to do, and how it goes, AA has a mind of its own, if the shots don't work in a reasonable amount of time, don't continue, they cost big bucks and cause pain and may cause divots in your head. I'm sure that you will do fine with whatever choice you make, hang in there, we are here for you.

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