I have rarely considered myself a man of few words. But in this case I will. I have had alopecia totalis for over 40 yrs; no hair anywhere. And even though I have grown up, much of the world has not. I know that if I had to do it all over, I would probably made a much better go of my life, despite my condition. But no man is an island. We are all social beings and what people say to us, both to our face, and behind our back, when they think we cannot hear, permeates into us and our…

I have been struggling with AA since I was 14 I just turned 18 in July. Before I went to get shots I shaved my head to a quarter inch so if the shots worked my hair would be about the same length. I've been going to get shots for three months now for AA. I had lost about 80% of my hair, my left eyebrow was 90% gone and my bottom left eyelash was gone. Since the shots I've only really only got one "spot" left on the left side of my head above my ear it seems to be stubborn but looks to have…

I've been extremely honest with my friends, sometimes even pushed myself a little bit too hard. I push myself to be ok with this and most days I can accept it or forget about it. But I'm never happy about it. Sometimes I realise I don't have any hair or catch a glints of myself in the mirror and I get sad. Most days its fine but once in a while as I said I get sad.

I walk around like I have a full head of hair, not pretending that I do but like its the most natural thing in the world…

It's getting colder. The wind is blowing, not every where you go has the heat on yet and while I struggle with the bald head I love it at the same time.

This will be my first winter without hair and it doesn't look like it will come back anytime soon, so daily I struggle with the thought of buying a wig.

What have other people done to make sure they get the right one? Online shopping? In store searches?

Does a wig ever feel like it is the right thing or like a great…

alright ladies and gents... I've been dealing with this for 15 years. I'm a survivor. Don't have any hair, but don't need it! let's fill my page with positivity. Let's get some stories on here about loving yourself and surviving!It doesn't matter if you're bald, not, or in between. I want to hear all about loving your self!

I am very thankful for this website and for the support of my fellow members. It can be very therapeutic at times!! But, I also find it can be very depressing, so I do take long breaks from it. I hear the voices of those who have accepted their condition, no longer fight it for various reasons, and I fully understand and support their positions, but that's not where I am today. I am not ready to give up hope. While I have lost well over half of my hair and still shed, I also have good hearty…

For those who may not have seen this -

Alopecia areata may soon be getting significantly greater research funding and study. As you receive this e-news today, October 25, Jan Wolf of Vienna, Virginia has just shared her alopecia areata experiences and insights at the Food and Drug Administration’s Public Meeting on Patient-Focused Drug Development. She was accompanied by Ashley Zink, 15, of Mount Airy, Maryland, as we wish to emphasize how often alopecia areata strikes children. FDA…

Just want to thank everyone for their support on this wonderful site.
I don't know anyone personally and haven't written much as yet. But have read a lot from the site. I appreciate everyone sharing their stories.
It helps so much,-- just to know someone else understands what you are going through. God bless you all!

I always had brown hair but I always wished I was a red head. I colored it bright red. A year ago i shaved what little hair I had left. The patches got smaller and smaller and it quit growing. The last couple of months my hair has been growing back very slowly I am getting more and more. Its really sparse and has no color to any of it. Any color hair would be so great. I will take gray hair over no hair any day.

Hello everyone,

My name is Emily i have had alopecia totalis since kindergarten and am now in year 12. i have a subject that i am doing for my high school certificate the subject is community and family studies and i have to do an independent research project and i am going to do it on alopecia and as a part of this project i need to interview over the internet and or a question air if you would like to take part in this please message me and it is up to you if you won't your own name…

I had an appointment to get my regularly scheduled cortisone injections at the end of the month last month and just decided I was not going to put myself through it anymore. It hurts like hell, I am an emotional wreck, and its sore afterwards. I am firm believer that continuously putting any chemical into your body over a long period of time causes some issues. As I touch my bald spots, I notice dents, which is a side effect. The dermatologist told me that it means my scalp is thinning due…

I went to get my first mammogram. I was already uncomfortable with the fact I could not wear, perfume, lotion or deodorant. I have anxiety from the horror stories of getting a mammogram. I enter the waiting area and all eyes are on me. Instantly it occured to me, my bald head was associated with me perhaps having breast cancer. I suddenly felt like the star attraction at a freak show. I was filled with many emotions in which I could not easily identify. It took every ounce of my energy not…

Found this article online, and thought it might encourage men on this site!

Men With Shaved Heads Appear More Dominant, Study Finds

The Huffington Post | By Jessica Misener Posted: 10/01/2012 5:39 pm EDT Updated: 10/01/2012 6:20 pm EDT

A new study suggests that balding men should just go ahead and Bic it all off: society sees men with shaved heads being more "manly."

Alfred Mannes, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, published…

ive been going back and forth about shaving my head ever since i was diagnosed. i started with shaving the side, then some more, and today i went to shave the other side. as i started cutting i began getting frustrated becuz all i could focus on was my thinning crown area. in that moment i decided that i was better off just doing all of it.

ive had this headache about my hair for months, and im tired of letting it consume me. everyone on this site is beautiful bald or with hair. my…

My son was diagnosed with AA at 12 months. He finally grew some hair a couple of months earlier and it started coming in nicely. Within just a few weeks, almost all of it was gone. He was left with this weird little patch of blonde curls on the top of his head that made him look like one of those cute little cartoon babies with his big blue eyes the way they are. He lost all of his eyelashes and eyebrows, too.

He is now 21 months. He has a newborn little sister and is starting to get…

I love my husband, but he has a hard time with me being bald and there are some days I just want to rip my hair system off because I do not feel like me. The real me is bald, but i guess in someways I am scared to be bald because when people ask me if I have cancer I get frustrated and have to explain the diease and people have never heard of it.

I love my husband and he has been my rock through all the tests, wig fittings, the shaving of my head ritual, and just plain breaking…

i started noticing about 5 years ago that the hair at my temples started thinning out and breaking off. the pieces will grow to about 2" as of now. then, in july of this year, i started noticing the rapid thinning of the hair on the crown of my head. i went to the dermatologist hoping it would be stress related, but i had a gut feeling it would be genetic. ive always had higher levels of testosterone, so i kind of knew. the dermatologist said that it was, in fact, genetic. androgenic…

I'm new here , don't know what to expect but I thought I'd give it a try , "suffered" for 10 years , the eyebrows disappeared around 1995,and had patches from childhood. I am 50 and happily married with 2 kids, generally go through life not thinking about this , only time I'm aware when I return to my hometown in Scotland ( I live in England) as everyone remembers me with hair as I went to live in England with a full head of hair . I am totally "accepted" although I fell very self -concious…

I have had eczema for 10 years, but have really struggled with it for the past 6 years. I have used creams and lotions as prescribed by my dermatologist.

I got so fed up with it last year and saw an allergist. I didn't show as having any allergies. The allergist suggested I could see a dietian.

I saw a dietitian in May 2011, I started a 6 week elimination diet. Basically cutting out lots of foods and get foods out of my system. This continued for a while, because I kept eating…