Good afternoon, Everyone!

My name is Rebecca, 23, and I am new to Alopecia World. I thought making a blog post would be a great way to get started and to meet other people who are living life with alopecia. All of my life, I have always had long and beautiful hair. Before leaving the house, the one thing that had to be perfect was my hair.

I first noticed my hair loss starting around mid August of 2014 and was officially diagnosed with AA in October of 2014. My hair loss started as a quarter size patch on the back left side of my scalp. Over the course of the two and a half months I spent not knowing why my hair was falling out, I lost about 50% of my hair in six different patches. The first patch is and still is the biggest bald spot I have. I have two bald patches on the top right portion of my scalp and the rest are all behind.

My hair was a huge part of my identity so as I'm sure anyone who is diagnosed with this autoimmune disease, I was devastated. I was able to cover my bald patches for the first two months and then the patches started to spread like wildfire. I just couldn't cover the bald patches anymore so I made the decision to shave my head.

It's been four weeks now and I must say, shaving my head was the best decision for myself. I am no longer stressing about who is going to notice my bald spots because, well, I decided to show everyone myself. I don't cover my head with a scarf and I have not and won't be purchasing a wig. I am not ashamed of having alopecia. I do get weird looks from people in public, but that will be on their conscience - not mine.

Another great decision I made for myself after being diagnosed was denying medical treatment. By far, I am no doctor, but treating an autoimmune disease with toxins such as steroids just doesn't make sense to me. I am trying a more natural approach. I have removed gluten from my diet and everything I consume is organic. I am still transitioning all of my beauty products to organic, but I am 90% of the way there. I massage a combination of essential oils onto my scalp two to three times a week at night and sleep with the oils on my head. I practice ganja yoga every morning to start my day off relaxed, calm and happy. Most importantly, I STAY POSITIVE! Yes, there have been times where I cried because I no longer have beautiful hair. As soon as I realized and accepted that my hair does not and never has defined me - my confidence boosted and I will truly be okay if I am bald for the rest of my life. That doesn't mean I won't give it my all to put my alopecia into permanent remission!

To stay positive, I always remember - it could be so much worse. I am only losing my hair. I am alive, breathing, mobile, roof over my head and wonderful, healthy food on my plate. I am not dying from a slow and painful disease. Even with alopecia, I am truly blessed!

I believe that what I am doing is working for me. I am seeing some hair regrowth in every single one of my patches. A majority of the regrowth is peach fuzz, but peach fuzz is better than no fuzz and hopefully the peach fuzz will gain pigment and keep growing!

I hope that I can inspire people with alopecia to be positive and to not be depressed that they are losing their hair. Life is too short and too beautiful to worry about losing your hair!

Thank you for reading if you stuck through and read my ridiculously long blog post. Please feel free to reach out to me if you need someone to boost your confidence and help you along the way.

xox