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Permalink Reply by PamFitros@boldlybaldwomen.com on November 10, 2014 at 6:21am

Hi Cam,

Welcome!  I've been there, Cam. It would help us all if we knew what to expect from AA. I have AU that started as AA . I lost all body hair in two months. But that's just me. Everybody is different.

The best way I can answer your question is with an copyrighted excerpt from Boldly Bald Women, the book I wrote as a survival guide for women struggling with the emotional and social impacts of hair loss in a hair infatuated society. Twenty five women from Alopecia World, including Cheryl (Alopecia World co-founder) and Mary Marshall (founder of International Alopecia Day" sent me their stories. I took those stories apart and rearranged them into chapters that would make sense for women just diagnosed through women who've had alopecia for most of their lives. This portion of the book is my take on the fickleness of alopecia as I was experiencing it.

When you've finished reading it,  go to the Boldly Bald Women website to access my free gift: Getting Past The Pain - 3 Things You Need to Know

"Yes, I Have No Hair Today…Maybe

 

This morning I made a cup of coffee, padded to the bathroom to shower, and sang happily as the water bounced off my bald head. While brushing my teeth I noticed a few blemishes on my face.

 

Looking closer, the front lighting of the mirror and the back lighting of the sun through the outside window merged, catching patches of colorless strands on my face where the breakouts were. HAIR! Not the fine, short, even hair that used to cover my face, but more like straggly goat beard hairs—the ones that have you grabbing for the tweezers back when hair was not a novelty. But these hairs look confused. They are the color of fishing line and have no sense of uniformity at all!

 

The more I looked the more astounded I became. Nope, no nose hair, but there were ridges growing along the outside edges of my ears like transparent pine trees storming the heights of a barren mountainside. No eyebrows, but a patch of gormless wannabes at the nape of my neck.

 

This has happened before. In the past all the hair has fallen out again leaving me once again smooth and without the blemishes of regrowth. What will happen this time?

 

Alopecia is fickle. If you let it, it will indifferently drive you crazy. Just when you’ve given up all hope, hair will grow back, stay for a while, or maybe forever, and fall out someplace else . . . or not. And when you’ve finally dared to breathe a sigh of relief because it’s all grown back and taken up permanent residence, whole communities just go, leaving bare patches of scalp behind them like abandoned camp sites. Or it may all leave en mass, and you stand looking in the mirror at a totally new personal landscape, trying to see if you are still in there somewhere.

 

One of the most difficult aspects of alopecia is that you don’t get to grieve a loss, adjust to a change in your self-concept and physical appearance and then move on with your life. It keeps you off balance and feeds both false hope and unfounded despair again and again and again until the only thing you know for sure is nothing is for sure. And that certainty of uncertainty is called acceptance. It’s a good place to be; and it’s a hard place to remain centered in.

 

For today, I feel okay about this new development, although honestly, I hope the little buggers decide to leave sooner rather than later. I’ve grown fond of my smooth skin and shining head."

Cam, I hope this helps. If there is anything I can do for you, contact me at Boldly Bald Women

With you all the way...

Pam Fitros,

Remember to snag your free copy of Getting Past The Pain - 3 Things You Need to Know