Hello everyone,

I thought I would share my recovery story to reassure those who have recently been diagnosed with AA. In September 2011 I discovered I had AA while looking in a 3 way mirror in my bathroom. I was considering cutting my hair at the time only to notice, to my horror, 2 distinct bald spots the size of large coins on the back and side of my head. I was 24 years old at the time with no previous history of the disease. After spending my time reading through all the information online I was pretty upset, like many, at the 'randomness' of the disease. Without any real ability to control my AA a further spot developed on the top of my head. These spots continued to grow with time which got me increasingly concerned. I decided to go the doctor to see if there was any underlying health problems but got the all clear. After that I just waited but kept a close eye on the progression of the spots. Eventually small vellus hairs started to sprout. The grow rate of these hairs was agonizingly slow and the texture quality poor. However, in due time (it has been about 8 months since I noticed the spots initially) my hair has grown back to about 80 percent of its original density. I am hoping that it will continue to improve but am already feeling a lot better and more confident about its appearance.

So what did I do to help my hair regrow? Well nothing in particular other than to wait and try to focus my attention elsewhere. As AA is hard to control I tried to improve my self image by focusing on things I could control. I started to work out again so I could take more pride in my body image and health. Also I purchased some dark eye pencil makeup to cover my spots! Now as a guy this may not sound very manly thing to do but it helped a lot as it allowed me to cosmetically cover most of my bald spots. The spots were still visible but only if you were observing closely instead of sticking out obviously. This 'cover up' made me feel less insecure about peoples reactions when going out.

I have now stopped using any cosmetic products and am just letting my hair grow back to its best. Hopefully I will never feel inclined to use cover up again but know that if I suffer a setback I can always come back here for support. I promised myself that I would post something if my recovery went well. So here is my piece of good news. :) I wish everyone else here the best of luck with their recoveries too!