I Quit My Job Because of My Alopecia

I loved swimming. I was a swimmer and as an adult, I taught swimming classes. I was great at it. Then I started losing my hair. I went bald really quickly. I have Alopecia Universalis. For about a year, I taught swimming with a wig on. Most of the instruction was simple enough that I didn't have to demonstrate for the kids. I chose a stellar student and had him demonstrate.

I wore a really cheap artificial wig. It fooled everyone. I didn't have to deal with comments on my health. I could focus on teaching. However, it was annoying. I wanted to feel the water going through my hair as I was underwater and that didn't happen. It didn't happen because I didn't have hair. 

So, I quit. It wasn't an easy job. I was cold most of time time wearing a bathing suit and standing in the water instructing kids. But I kind of wish that I had the confidence when I was teaching to go without my wig. It is tough when you've lived with hair for 33 years and suddenly you are adjusting to life without hair. 

Views: 1898

Comment by Sue on May 17, 2018 at 4:16am

Hi, I am glad that you feel well and you are happy. Not am I. My whole life is in ruins, I am 56 years old, cannt find any job or work anymore, my husband left his previous mate 35 years ago as she was bold so I do not dare to show myself without caps even at home. Never. I have no family (my son was killed, mistreated by the doctors as a newborn baby), I am quite alone with the problems. I hate myself and the mirror. There is NO hope, no solution any more. Our small private company has no future, surely I cannot work till the pension, There is no work from the home office. There is nothing more for me. I am old, ugly, disperated, hopeless and waiting for the very end. I cannot find help in this state.

All best to you!

Comment by Iwishitwasjusthair on May 20, 2018 at 11:56pm

Hey I was 32 years old when I started losing my hair, too. I cant afford the expensive swimming wigs. I have wore the swimming caps to water parks. I feel like Im wearing a condom and look horrible. I had to change positions cause I was working as a support person for someone who loved swimming too. I was loosing my hair and it was stressing me out wearing a wig. Plus super hot in the change room changing us both. I miss swimming, diving. I hate alopecia. I bought a red light helmet from the wish shopping app. Ive seem some results. Im hopeful. Im wearing a topper. Do whatever you feel you need to do. Remain hopeful. Best wishes. 

Comment by Joan Gundersen on May 21, 2018 at 8:04am

Please don’t give up what you love due to this condition... I have AU, and decided that it can’t change my life- it’s just an obstacle to work around.... I found a water wig... on the alopecia site. One is a swim cap with some hair attached to it, that is made for water and swimming...Peggy Knight has a water wig that looks like your old hair but is water permeable ad comes to life in water.... I also found a bulky style swim cap online which gives my scalp a bit more volume to swim laps with! No one ever says anything about it- in fact- I receive complements on my cool swim cap! I love that I am so streamline now with my alopecia- it is as if I am meant for water.... it only takes a minute to dry my scalp after the pool and so instead of fussing with my hair, as all the others must do- I am out of the pool locker in minutes! Just pop my wig back on and save a load of time... after a swim! There are perks to this condition and never give up what you love, because of it!

Comment by michellelc23 on May 26, 2018 at 12:48am

I went and had an allergy test ran and my whole life I didn't know that I was allergic to anything. Well it turns out that I had an egg white intolerance so it is causing inflammation on my scalp and causing my hair to fall out. I went to about 20 different doctors including dermatologist and they all said that it was alopecia areata without doing any tests. I finally went to a small-town doctor and they ran an allergy test and said that I was intolerant to egg whites. Well I was eating cartons of egg whites every week not knowing that I was intolerant because I had no other symptoms. I had no stomach problems I didn't get nauseous I had zero other symptoms. So I quit eating egg whites and all of my hair and immediately came back. It took about 4 months to get it back to it's original state, but here I am with a full head of hair and absolutely no loss, been growing hair for 9 months no problems since cutting out eggs. Anyway I came back hoping I could help at least one person.  This helped me.

Comment by CleverUsage on October 7, 2018 at 2:02am

I did almost the same and I regret nothing. I know it might sound weird but the thing is that I've been doing my best to earn some money in other ways and actually managed to live off my cryptocurrency investments. You can check some cloud mining services review here https://cloudminingpro.net/ to find out more about the predictable profit and others data.

Comment by Melinda on October 7, 2018 at 5:19am

Thanks! I don't regret quitting. I needed to move on to something else. It was a great job, but I've learned new skills. I'll have to check out cryptocurrency. It is something I don't understand well yet. 

Comment by Demixl on April 1, 2020 at 1:48pm

It's not really as bad as you think. There are so many people in the world who go without hair and many of them live quite happily. Of course, the first time will be very unusual, but over time you will understand that this is not the main thing. Finding a suitable job is not as hard as it seems. It is enough not to stand in one place, but to be constantly on the move and look for any opportunities. About a year ago, I was also in a stupor and did not know how to earn money. Fortunately, my friend told me that at iliketodabble.com I can find great part-time jobs. And for the past year, I have had a stable and good profit in addition to my main job. I realized that my capabilities are much greater than I thought. So do not despair and it is better to move only forward

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