kastababy

45, Female

Nashville, TN

United States

Profile Information:

Relationship Status:
Single
About Me:
I'm a walking contradiction -- I'm peacefully violent, a popular nerd, wickedly innocent, and loudly quiet...in other words, I know how to make myself stand out in a crowd. I have an opinion about everything, and have an endless thirst for knowledge. One of these days I'm going to take over the world, but I have yet to come up with what I want to do when I get that small task completed. (That, and I haven't found a good sidekick yet to drive the getaway car!) I have decided that this year is the year that I start writing more in the hopes that I finally get a story published!!! Now that Barack Obama has been elected President, I'm content to stay in the good old USA for a little while longer, although I still have my escape plan to Canada in a secure location in case things change. I'm political, controversial, well-read, stubborn, opinionated, and determined to make an impact on the world, and maybe leave it a little bit better than it was when I entered it. I'm always updating and changing things, so keep checking out my page often!

About my alopecia: I was bald as a baby, and my hair didn't really grow in until I was about 2 years old, so it's impossible to say if I had alopecia then or not. However, after my hair did grow in, my mother noticed two bald spots when I was 4 years old. One was the size of a dime, the other was the size of a quarter. When she realized that I wasn't cutting plugs out of my hair and it wasn't coming out on my pillow or in the hairbrush, that was when we started going to the doctors. I wasn't officially diagnosed with alopecia areata until I was 6 years old; by that time, I was in the 3rd grade and totally bald. I stayed that way, albeit with brief periods of partial regrowth, until I reached high school. My hair started falling out again when I was a freshman in undergrad, and it has been persistent AA with brief periods of AT and AU. It's been that way ever since.

As a child, I was very comfortable with being bald, because I had two parents and a grandmother that went above and beyond to make me comfortable with myself and stress to me continually that I was beautiful inside and that being beautiful inside would translate to being beautiful outside; perhaps it is because of this that I have become somewhat of an overachiever -- not only do I have to be successful at whatever I do, but I have to excel in it. However, as an adult, the blind confidence bordering on arrogance that was so much a part of me has gradually disintegrated. I have become less sure of myself and depressed at times because I have felt the hurt and rejection that comes with not being appealing to most men. I have lashed out at the people who have supported me the most, because I feel sometimes that I was misled into believing that at some point I would outgrow alopecia, but like Krazy Glue alopecia is stuck to me and won't let go, and that fact has been more crushing than anything I have felt in a long time.

After nearly 3 years living and working in Atlanta, GA and Memphis, TN, I returned to my hometown of Nashville, TN in September 2008. Living away from home completely on my own really forced me to become more independent than I ever would be had I remained in Nashville. It has also enabled me to view alopecia with new eyes that haven't been colored by the opinions of my friends and family closest to me. Since discovering Alopecia World, I have found more healing and acceptance in the nearly 4 years of the site's existence than I did in 27 years of searching, for which I am eternally grateful!

My purpose on AW is to motivate and inspire others -- it is my hope that in leading by example and living my life to its fullest potential in spite of societal views on alopecia, bald women, and women of color specifically, others will come to their own acceptace of alopecia in their lives and let their beautiful, vibrant selves shine through!
Do you have alopecia?
Alopecia totalis
Are you age 18 or older?
Yes - I am 18 or older
Your Website (Leave blank if you don't have one):
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/kastababy

Comment Wall:

Load Previous Comments