I've had my AA since the 5th grade.. Had it the majority of my life I'm in my 40's now. It's had it's good and bad days/months It was a lil unnoticeable in grade school got a very thin in jr high and got worse in High school to where I had to wear a ponytail every day just to keep my hair together to hide the huge spots I was getting even used a pound of hairspray to keep it in place in 10th grade had to get a crappy looking wig that looked horrible 12th grade my hair came back when I got out of high school my hair looked great.. I think school made me stressed which didn't help the whole AA thing so for 18 yrs I had just lil tiny spots here and there well about 4 1/2 yrs ago my AA turned into AU it all just disappeared.. My husband knew I had this before we married he supports me 100 %.. I see so many new adult /children getting diagnosed with this disease and having a very hard time understand and coping with it..i wish they had the type of wigs when I was younger that they have now... I've been there and yes people/kids can horribly be mean.. Hair is not what makes you as a person even though others think that if you don't have good hair/or hair at all your beneath them that just tells you what type of person they are which is not a person worth hanging around... I know AA,AU, AT etc.... has a huge affect on your self esteem believe me I've been there and it's exhausting worrying about whose gonna find out or how are they going to view you when they find out and the keep up of adding eyebrows and eyeliner every day just so you look like you have some type of facial feature is wearisome also...just know that hair or no hair is not what makes you as a person in whole.. Things change every day and if you don't get your hair back don't let it stop you from living and enjoying life to the fullest...