Hi Everyone, i have a rather dumb question. I am losing my hair but have not come to the point of a wig yet. Is it ok to perm hair if it is still falling out? It would probably make it worse right? Thanks for any advice.

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I never took that chance...and I felt I would be wasting my money if hair seemed to be on the way OUT. If your hairdresser has researched this and feels it is safe, I suppose some styles would allow better "ratting" within the curls to hide some spots. However, the ratting, or teasing, could pull more hairs out, too.
Thats what i was thinking too. Thanks for the advice.
A few years before I lost all my hair, I had grown my hair out from a short cut, and wanted to get a perm. At that point, I had sporadic small bald spots. My dermatologist said it wouldn't be a problem. I had the longer permed hair for a year or so, and then decided to go back to straight and short, just because I liked it better. My alopecia didn't suddenly take off and progress to AU until at least two years after I stopped getting perms. I don't think my having the perms made any difference in the progression of my AA.

One thing I will say is that during the time period when I was still getting cortisone shots into new bald areas, it was MUCH easier to spot a new bald patch with my hair short and unpermed. This became important when I started getting new bald spots more frequently and wanted to attack them with cortisone ASAP.

Good luck,
Mary
Thanks Mary!!! Did you start off with AA and now it turned into AU? I am confused by the whole thing. Does it mean you will lose all your hair when you have AA? Does AA always turn into AU? I was not given any information from the dr. They basically just said i think you have AA in a very cavalier attitude. :(
Yes, it's confusing. I started off with AA for about 7 years...no problem hiding the spots and the hair always grew back. Then in late 2007 it suddenly started to get worse and spread to most of my head being bald. I couldn't get any more cortisone shots because there was too much bald area. I shaved the remaining hair off in January 2008, and by April 2008, it had progressed to AU. I don't have to shave anything anywhere now! ( ;-)

The dermatologists I saw were pretty unhelpful and cavalier. Aside from the cortisone shots, they had nothing to tell me. I think the reason is that there IS nothing to tell. No one seems to know what causes this, and there appears to be no real "treatment" or cure.

Just because you see people like me on this wonderful site who have progressed to AU, does NOT mean you will do the same! There seem to be plenty of people with AA who never lose all their hair. Others get it all back. I grew eyebrows and eyelashes last year, but they only stayed for about 9 months.

The point is it's something we can't control...so, we can't let it control us! I've found it best to just get on with my life and accept that I'm a bald woman. Check out my blogs and photos - maybe something there will help. BUT, don't assume you will end up bald.

Take care,
Mary
Mary, Thanks for sharing your story. I find the people here to be much more helpful than the dr's. are. When you were going through AA, did you experience hair falling out everyday?
Until it really kicked into high gear in Fall 2007, I didn't notice hair falling out. But, once it started progressing rapidly, I saw hair in the shower, and picked up handfulls off the rug in front of my bathroom sink. I got really depressed and was crying every night when I picked it up. Then I shaved it off, and felt in control again!
Probably not the best choice, just don't do it yourself and be sure that the stylist bases your scalp. I'm having the same conflict. I plan to perm but to do it less frequently. At least this one time. Who knows, even though I still have most of my hair, it's pretty hard to go natural with my bald patch and still feel pretty. Go hard or go home!

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