I don’t know if it is just me, or if there is a real shift happening in the world. I just know I have not blogged lately because I really have a difficult time thinking of something to blog about.

Few things in my everyday life remind me that I have alopecia areata. I can’t remember the last time that someone asked me why I am bald. I seriously cannot think of one instance in 2012. In fact, these days I find myself looking for opportunities to share.

My husband saw a woman with…

Occasionally I receive an email from someone saying that they wished they had my strength to handle alopecia -- as if I woke up one day without my hair and was immediately ok with it. As most members here would attest, that is hardly ever the case. Where I am today is probably where many of you will be tomorrow.

I wrote the following in response to one such email and thought that other members that are new to alopecia or struggling may benefit from it too:

You would be…

There are people lives that I believe I have touched because I was not afraid to show my “scars”.

Below is a song that the words ring so true to me and I wanted to share the lyrics with you.

Don’t Hide the Scars

(Michael Puryear/Cheryl Rogers/Jeff Silvey)

From CD: Sisters–The Story Goes On -1995

Vocals: Beverly Crawford/Cindy Morgan

I wept alone

Suffered on my own

I didn’t think that anyone would understand

Until…

My husband has been working on material for a class on character that he is teaching at a prison. He found himself researching Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who spent 8 years in an unfathomable labor camp for writing a derogatory comment about their country's leader in a letter to a friend. Solzhenitsyn later went on to write the classic book - The Gulag Archipelago: 1918-1956 -…

Most of you know that I am from Canada and rj is American. So when we married we started a whirlwind of immigration processes. I had to file yet another form and get another set of biometric done. One of the steps was another photo session at the immigration office.

I filled out the form and clicked “bald” as my hair color. For a second I wondered if I should have clicked black, since it was an official government form and being AA my black hair does show if I don't shave daily. I…

If there is one belief that I would really like to see us alopecian challenge, is when we start referring to our inner beauty as if our outer beauty couldn’t exist anymore.



I think that the thing that brings me the most joy is when an alopecian can truly start to see their beauty again. But, over and over again, I see us making comments like, “it’s our inner beauty, not our outer beauty that counts”, as if we have forfeit our rights to be beautiful the moment we lost our…

I started to post this as a response to the question “Why do you shave your head?,” which Pam Fitros asked this Alopecia World group. I posted this blog instead because I wanted to share my answer with the entire community.

Back in 2010 I saw an advertisement for “It’s All Good Hair,” a “natural hair” workshop and celebration sponsored by the Shrine…

On November 30, I was accepted as an US permanent resident. Although it was great news to know that I could now really start my life here. It also bought feelings of missing my family and friends back in Canada. It was as if it was a realization, even though I have been here for months!



Yesterday, my sister left me a phone message, asking for a…

The first time I left the house without my wig I literally stood at the door with my hand on the knob totally frozen for about five minutes. I knew once I walked out that door everyone would not only know my “secret,” but would now see it. There was a big difference between telling and showing somebody my alopecia.



To this day, I am still sometimes surprised that I opened the door and walked out of the house. I remember my heart was pounding and, I wanted to run back…

I just finished watching the Gail Porter documentary "Laid Bare", and must say that I found myself unexpectedly vulnerable. This video really touched a deep place in me. So, I felt a need to get my feelings out.



I was watching her facial expressions, reactions, body language, and it mirrored a lot of thing that I have felt during my journey.



I remember, playing it “strong” and then the…

I was camping one day in 1991 when a friend asked, “Why do you shave the back of your head and around your ears?”



I had no idea what my friend was talking about. So I found a mirror, looked closely at my head of long, thick hair, and was shocked to discover that large bald spots were developing on the sides and in the back of my head.



Confused and afraid, I consulted a doctor who told me that I was experiencing patchy hair loss (alopecia areata) due to…

First, I wanted to reiterate how we closed the original blog.



“Some people will join Alopecia World for all the wrong reasons and attempt to engage in inappropriate behavior. We take such misbehavior very seriously and strongly react to it whenever it is brought to our attention. Thus, we thank all the upstanding members of Alopecia World for helping us monitor our beloved community and…

My man (rj) has an article published in a new book entitle "Our Black Fathers - Brave, Bold & Beautiful". You can find a copy of the full article here.

This is not the first time he has been published, but I think this particular article is close to his heart because it concerns the rebuilding of his relationships with his 3 daughters.



More than me…

With alopecia I still believe that the struggle is internal and the only way to rise above it is to overcome it internally.



At one time or another in everybody lives we are going to meet up with a situation that we can not control. At that point we have 2 choices, to either keep fighting a fight that we can not ultimately win or we can choose to surrender.



Most people think of surrender as a negative, a weakness or giving up. But I see surrender as learning to…