I believe that Alopecia can kill us on the inside and leave us a physical shell with a defeated spirit. It almost did that to me. We MUST nurture and pamper our emotional selves (well, too much pampering is bad of course, but go easy on yourself for at least three years) during the transition from possessing hair (and, no, I don't mean owning a wig lol) to not anymore - of course, that is, if we don't come up with a no-side-effects cure - which would be totally kick ass. Then, being bald…

I, myself, have just no time to spare,
To fret, mope, or worry over hair.
But WHY are some compelled to stare? -
It's JUST a scalp! So what, it's bare?

- Laura Adams 6-8-14

The year was 1995
I had long hair;
I felt alive.
The hair was lost-
I ceased to thrive.
To accept the loss
First failed but strived.
And in the end 
Well, I survived!

How I "broke through" the fear of going out bald: I just got angry about it, basically. I have freckles, and kept comparing hiding my bare scalp because others didn't like looking at it to hiding my face because others did not like my freckles. It just felt wrong for me to bend to others' will that way, to stifle my own happiness and FREEDOM for others' ...psychological comfort? I decided that they would just have to be uncomfortable - they would also have to get over it. Besides, their…

So my story starts way back in 1994, well 1995 really but some incident/situation in 1994 might have contributed to my acquiring AU. In case you don’t know, AU stands for Alopecia Universalis. It is the most severe and rarest of the main forms of Alopecia.

So my hair loss started in January 1995, and my long (about mid-back) brown locks departed rather quickly and efficiently. It went in a diffuse, even pattern. At one stage, when maybe 80-90% was gone, I looked a lot like the…

Just had a epiphany a few hours ago on how I feel about wigs and 'needing' (in some people's opinions) to wear them. 

     It is like putting the fact that I DON"T have hair in my face. When I wear a wig it HURTS. Like when your boyfriend broke up with you and you have to see other couples together and blissful, It just frustrates and angers you. Not so much jealousy as longing gets stirred up in me when I don a wig. It is not pleasant. I wish people could understand this, people…

Well, one day left in September. Alopecia Awareness Month. Been a good one this year, the Liverpool Alopecia Flashmob went up on Youtube and now over 23K views! Yay!

Just a bit about myself, I have had alopecia universalis since I was 16. That's almost 20 years ago as it was in 1995 that the alopecia struck. Stunned shocked dismayed - all theses words described me for the first 3 years. Then I decided wigs were going to be an accessory and things slowly got better. Not that that is going to be the answer for everyone, but ditching wigs-as-a-mandated part of the alopecian wardrobe saved my sanity I think. Oh i still buy and wear wigs when the mood…

I have been doing a lot of outreach in the subject of Alopecia Awareness. Well not as much awareness as acceptance. Because that is the hard part. Awareness is easy compared to acceptance. Not only other people accepting your blatant difference but you the alopecian accepting what is happening to your body. Not hating the changes--because that will only poison you. You need the healing salve of acceptance (however reluctantly it may come) to help ease the pain of hairloss. Does that make…

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.