A New Beginning

Hi everyone! So yesterday and today were HUGE days for me! I met with Karen Peterik of Freedom Wigs yesterday, and she was absolutely inspiring! She has such a positive attitude and carries herself with style and confidence; Karen and the many other women who have been through this tough journey and have come out of it that much stronger are such role models for me. We ordered my vacuum wig, and I SHAVED MY HEAD!!! It was awesome!! I was a little bit nervous, but mostly excited. My Mom, Grandma, and Dad were all there to support me, too. There were no tears, only smiles and lots of laughter.

I had read in others' blogs about how liberating the shaving experience has been for them, and now I feel that I can truly attest to that. I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about having a shaved head in terms of going out in public. So last night after the Big Shave, I went out to a bar for my friend's birthday wearing a pretty purple headscarf. I had showed a few of my friends my newly shaved head while we were at their apartment, but I put the scarf on to go out in public. After a few more of my good friends showed up at the bar, I really wanted to show them, too, but I didn't know if I should take off the scarf at the bar. But then I thought "Why not? This is me, this is who I am, and I am surrounded by friends who love me and support me, so why not?" So I pulled off the scarf and proudly showed off my bald head right there at the bar in front of lots of people! I was greeted with an insane amount of hugs, smiles, and a lot of "You look fabulous!" It was amazing. I feel like the word amazing doesn't even give justice to how liberated and beautiful I felt and feel right now.

My sister and Mom went with me today to pick up my brand new, human hair, full-lace wig (see picture below). It is everything and more that I thought it would be! I feel like I have Hollywood hair! And I also feel very grateful that my insurance company is paying for some of my wig, and that my parents are helping me out and supporting me in this, too. I am a very, very fortunate girl. I felt so sickly with my old hair in a constant state of falling out, and now I feel whole again. I am finally at peace with this. Now I have soooo many options when it comes to how to wear my hair: I can go with a hat, a head scarf, my wig, or with

nothing at all! And I feel great in each and every one of them. Thank you everyone at Alopecia World who has made this experience so less lonely and much easier for me. It is a great feeling to know that i am not alone and that you all have been through something similar and have made it out on top, smiling! Hugs to you all :)
Cheers,
Natalie

Views: 363

Comment by Jude on April 20, 2009 at 1:05pm
Wow. This is amazing and brought a tear to my eye. I wish I had your courage. I can attest to the feeling of liberation on shaving your head though - I just don't dare go out in public.
Comment by Clayton on April 20, 2009 at 8:46pm
Shaving your head can be the MOST liberating thing! Right? For one, it makes you look better, no matter what anyone says. There's nothing as bad as some one with patches on their head, man or woman. AT least now, you can look healthy, feel me?
I just hope that you continue to take ownership of what's going on with you and do those things that will ultimately have you looking at yourself and smiling.
Good luck!
Comment by Clayton on April 20, 2009 at 8:50pm
I just want to say that I wrote my comment before these large photos ever came up. I was trying to give you some honest, sincere support. But now that I see my words are the same as what's captioned, I feel like my words will not be taken as seriously and heartfelt as I wrote them.
Oh well, please believe me that they were.
Comment by lidia on April 21, 2009 at 12:19pm
WWWoowww....
You look beautifull.... with or without the wig. Congratulations on your courage... Absolutly nothing to be ashamed of... we are who we are BOLD AND BEAUTIFULL... ohh yes we are...
Enjoy your wig and let me know how you like it..Talk to me about the vacuum wig... how long to order it?
bye
Comment by Shannon on April 23, 2009 at 1:18am
hi natalie, i have been needing to come back and comment on your page and was so happy to see this post and to know that your shaving day went so well. i love your purple scarf. send me your address (you can e-mail me at shannon @ darkpenguin . com) and i will send you a few of mine for fun. but yeah, they are not hard to make--i just do them square and fold into a triangle for tying. easy!

are you still having pain in your head? regrettably for me even once i shaved my head it still hurt until hair stopped falling out. but i think the pain was not as intense as when my hair was long and falling out. for me i will get sharp stabbing pains in a spot right before the hair falls out in a patch. but when i was losing lots of hair my head was painful and achy all over.

i'm so so glad that you had a positive experience last week and your wig is beautiful. Is it human hair? that is the best so that you can curl, straighten or whatever.

take care,

shannon
Comment by Shannon on April 23, 2009 at 1:19am
p.s. i was so proud of you when i read that you took off your scarf in the bar!!! you're beautiful with your wig, scarf or au naturale!
Comment by maryc on April 23, 2009 at 6:28pm
Hey there....i was wondering if u have had or heard anything abt peggt knight..vaccum wigs....i have an apptointment next week and just wanted to know...thanks again..i tried asking u to b my friend but it didnt seem to work

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