Hi all!

I decided today to look at some alopecia websites today for the first time. I had an idea that a lot of people have alopecia but I had NO idea how badly some people struggle with it. Reading some of the posts below put things into perspective for me so I decided to tell you all about my alopecia story.

I am now 20 years old and I have alopecia universalis. I got it around this time 3 years ago. It didn’t all fall out at once. First it was a slight loss of my eyelashes. When my doctor told me I must’ve rubbed them off I felt like punching him in the face but minor details. My mom and I knew that things were getting bad then.

 Later I noticed a small patch at the top of my head and thought it would just be the usual but within two months I lost about 85% of the hair on my scalp. Along the way I also lost the hair on my whole body. I believe the trigger was a little surgery I had to remove my wisdom tooth. Since then I’ve tried two treatments – steroids which gave me hope and then shattered it (a point at which I gave up on hoping my hair would grow back) and an allergic reaction therapy (I can’t remember the name right now) which caused and allergic reaction on my scalp that was itchy as hell! It made wearing a wig a little more uncomfortable than it already was.

Since then I’ve had small regrowth but it all fell back out again. I have left my hair to do as it pleases. This summer I noticed a little regrowth again but this time around I decided to shave off whatever hair grows on my head in hope that it will grow back stronger and so far it’s been working. The hair I shaved off seems to be growing back stronger and I’ve shaved it a few times now. So fingers crossed!

I’ve had my low days where I would get really upset about it and very angry and frustrated and I know that’s okay. It’s healthy to let the emotions out once in a while. However, my attitude is that this is not the end of the world! As a teenage girl it was hard for me to lose all my hair but it didn’t completely get me down. All the girls at school had lovely eyelashes and brows I envied and hair so long that made me think ‘if mine started growing now it wouldn’t be that long for 10 years’. I try to think of this as a chance for me to develop my character. It could’ve destroyed me but I didn’t let it. I can’t. Hair doesn’t define who we are. It definitely gives us confidence but it honestly isn’t the end of the world in my opinion. You can always put on a wig and do your make up! As a lazy person I find that the wig is so convenient! And make up can really do wonders! I can’t speak for males but I know it isn’t as easy for them to cover it up.

Don’t let this get you down! You can get through it and as we can all see we’re not alone in this. 

Sorry about the length got a bit long 

Stay strong xo