Comment by Jessica Hoschouer on May 20, 2013 at 6:14pm

Thanks for the advice

Comment by Modern Monarch on May 21, 2013 at 12:09pm

I was losing patches towards the end of my 7th grade year, it became worse and worse. I waited till the end of the school year to completely shave my head. This may not be the same for you but once I shaved my head.. it's been 6 years and I still haven't had any hair grow back.. If you do shave your head, make sure you put some sunscreen on! trust me haha don't worry about what others say about you. Just do what makes YOU happy. We're all equal, there's no reason why others should degrade you.

Comment by Kate on May 21, 2013 at 4:05pm

I shaved my head last June, just when the patches seemed to be getting too much, a little out of control I would say. I think deep down I believed that shaving my head would mean that the hair would come back quicker, almost a year on and I still haven’t got a strand of hair on my head (or body come to that). Don't rush into shaving your head if that is the only reason for doing it because I guess it's a little disappointing on that front and I feel I could've held onto what precious bit of hair I had left for a little longer.
On the other hand, shaving my head helped a lot. I had never had hair loss before so seeing my hair come out for the first time was truly terrible. I was devastated and upset and angry and constantly reminded of what was happening by the bits of hair that seemed to be EVERYWHERE, on my clothes, in my bed, on the floor, in my car, everywhere. And then of course there’s the trauma of having a shower and watching so much hair fall out that the idea of looking in a mirror when you step out of the shower makes you feel a little bit sick. I shaved my head and of course all that stopped, I suppose it feels like you've gained a little bit of control over something that otherwise, you literally have no control whatsoever.
When it comes to sunburn, we have the upper hand with a shaved head. You can just rub in sun cream like you do on your arms and there’s not much of a problem. I’ve been in Australia for their entire summer and haven’t been burnt once, when I was in England, I used to constantly be burning the parting in my hair!
I can see you’ve given it a lot of thought and asking people on here is a great idea, it’s difficult to ask help from family or friends because even though they’re often very supportive, they don’t really know what it’s like for you (unless they have alopecia of course) and therefore they can’t understand how it feels for you to have your hair falling out or how it feels inside to look a little different on the outside.
You’re beautiful and that won’t change if you decide to shave your head, just make sure you do it when you’re completely ready and be proud of yourself for taking that step. People will look at you strange and ask questions and children especially might stare but I’ve found that a lot of the time they’re just concerned or interested, they’re not looking at you because you’re ugly (which is what I assumed to begin with) they’re just wondering why that girl has no hair and I guess that’s a fair point to wonder. Most people I’ve come across haven’t heard of Alopecia so they assume you have cancer, it’s not their fault, there’s very little publicity about alopecia so I guess by answering their questions we’re helping people to understand. If people stare, smile at them and when you look in the mirror, smile at yourself, be proud of who you are what you’ve come through.
Good luck! xx

Comment by Jessica Hoschouer on May 22, 2013 at 8:23pm

Thanks Kate and Connor for your wonderful advice

Comment by Sar90 on May 24, 2013 at 12:15am

you're a beautiful young girl! good luck!!

Comment by Jessica Hoschouer on May 26, 2013 at 5:38pm

thanks

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