I hate how much it costs to look normal.

I can't go wigless, I have a combo of Trichotillomania and AA, I have HUGE patchy bald spots mostly on the top of my scalp, I'm pale white with black hair, so even when I shave my head completely down to the skin they show up, black patchy spots everywhere, and when I go out in public people look at me like I'm a leper, even go as far as to avoid standing close to me or taking the long way to walk around to avoid me.

Wigs, they are so damn…

I thought I was doing ok with my great bonded on hair system and all, but the last couple of days I have been feeling worse and worse. I went to this nail place to fix a wonky nail that is probably caused by alopecia in some way for all I know, and while I was there they told me that they could fix my uneven eyelashes with their individual lash extensions, and I was so excited. I have one eye with full, long thick lashes and another one that is extremely sparse. I don't know why they took my…

Hi everyone..

I am new here, just wanted to share my story. I have had alopecia since October 2011. My hairdresser found a spot the size of a 5 cent piece. I started seeing a dermatologist and a trichologist. I too have been having monthly injections, however it was just getting worse. I was hopefull it would only be a few spots. I have cried heaps, kept it to myself with only a couple of friends knowing.

I would style my hair to cover the patches to the point I was combing my…

So the other day a man looked at me totally speechless. Then finally he pointed toward his hair and said, I have never really “seen” that in real life before. I decided not to put him on the spot and respond with “…And now that you have, what do you think?!”…

I read this online today in preparing Olympic watchers for travel in England (Google this headline if the link doesn't pop up here):

The nation explained for visitors to the Olympic Games

Each 212-word section covered things like accents, trains, pub rounds, etc. But the parts about bad puns, even in serious newspapers, or self-deprecating humor as part of the national culture brought to mind some…

Hi everyone.
I was wondering if anyone on the site is from Pittsburgh, Pa and knows of any good wig salons to go to. I thought that my hair was going to come back but it appears to be getting worse again and I going to have to resort to wearing hair again.
So,if anyone if from Pittsburgh, Pa,please let me know of any salon recommendations, that would be great.
Thanks and take good care,
Jill

In my circles a wig is worn when marriage occurs, until then it is not considered the norm (This explains why they were talking about a wig during the wedding/marriage)

I work for my mom in a special education preschool in the summer. My mom told me one of the teachers who is about 3 years older then me uses the fill in powder I use in my hair (I dont know if she knows I know that she uses it, most people don't know she uses it ). I have been debating on/trying to get the courarge to…

Depression is settling in once again...

I've never wondered "Why Me?" Until now.

I don't know why, but this condition is bothering me more than ever before. I've dealt with it since I was born. I'm 18 now and still nothing has change. I have 2 younger sisters, they both have a full head of hair, everyone in my family does. So some thinking has gotten me to the point to ask "Why me?"

I know I shouldn't be all sad about this because there are other people out there probably…

I've had AA pretty much my entire life. When I was little I had a patches of hair that just never grew. That went into remission for a few years then came back when I was in high school. I've been doing scalp injections for the last decade probably. It keeps the AA in check, but I never have had full re-growth. My AA has always been pretty easy to cover up, until the last six months when I developed a patch towards the top of my head. My hair is noticably thinner (to me anyway) and I'm…

My son has only been recently diagnosed with AU. It was quick too. in a few months he was completely hairless.

I know he is healthy and i thank god he is, but it breaks my heart knowing he is different, and he knows he's different. And after being upset about that i feel guilty that i should embrace his bald headed cuteness! I am not ashamed of him in any sense of the meaning i just fear for him, growing up in a smaller town, people are cruel and ignorant. I am mad at the world for…

This past weekend, I attended the NAAF Conference in Washington, DC. It was my first conference as an ‘adult.’ I have been to about 10 other conferences since 1994, but I was always in the kids’ camp. I loved every minute of that camp: I met a ton of people and was able to hang out with all of the friends I have made over the years. This year was different, though. I was able to go to meetings and talk about how having alopecia affects me. That was a rude awakening in itself. It was so nice…

So I just got a new job a few weeks ago and a probable diagnosis from my doctor (waiting to see my dermatologist) but all the tests so far support her conclusions.

Still this is very new to me and my hair gets worse every day. I will probably not wear a wig around family or friends but I've been fitted for one just in case I feel I need it.

The issue is now how do I tell people/boss at work, do I tell them. I don't want them to jump to conlusions about my health but I also feel…

After 3 years of cutting my own hair because I was embarrassed by my hairloss I finally went to get my hair cut by a professional. Since my hair started falling out I have been too ashamed to sit in front of a mirror and have someone else touch my hair...all those people starting and judging me. Last week I decided that I was probably being paranoid and that I should just get over my fears and go...so I did. The result is great! My hair looks so much thicker in my new bob style. It was still…

Hi everyone,



I just wanted to introduce myself here. I'm Jennifer and I recently developed alopecia areata a couple months ago. I joined this site because it looks like a great support group. I'm only 17, about to go into my senior year of high school. I'm most nervous about going back to school because I left school not having alopecia, but will be going back with now noticeable patches on the back and top of my head. I'm also on a dance team in the fall seasons, and am nervous…

I have 3 daughters.

The 2 youngest ones, 8 and 3 were playing dress up and were role playing.

Of course as usual I like listening to them, while I do my "stuff' (you know, what mom does in a house)

And so imagine my surprise when my 8 year old dressed up as a queen and had my youngest one ceremoniously bow to her and call her 'Queen Alopecia"....Of course I was startled but I was also cracking up to hear my 3 years old call her like that.

Kids have different ways to…

Sorry I hit enter too soon on the previous post. I am just popping in to mention the very relevant fact that Theophylline can cause alopecia, and probably caused mine when I took Cipro with it back in '94. Just putting that into words. Please comment if you think Theophylline could have caused alopecia in a case that you know of, be it yourself or someone else. This medication was given to me for asthma and it helped, but had such repercussions.

I saw a girl with alopecia yesterday, and a guy the other week on the bus (probably, you never know). Göteborg is pretty small in comparison so for me this was huge. Made my day!

And without my alopecia I wouldn't even have noticed. Or I might have noticed and wondered why they didn't have hair.

I'm just sorry if I stared at the guy on the bus I was so elated. But of course I didn't ask him, I didn't want to bother him, I should have instead of staring as if I was the the…

My journey with alopecia has definitely been long, hard, and lonely. As an African American female (which I am sure this may be true for other cultures) I have found it very hard to find a beautician who actually understands the considition of alopecia itself. I have been through my fair share of beauticians and most of them I have found do not understand the condition/disease itself. I have had numerous Africann American beauticians ask me how this happens, what am I doing to damage my…