On the alopecia road again or so it appears. Three months of letting my hair grow back were…different. Seems folks were more at home offering comments once I was approaching what they considered ‘normal’. Questions such as “are you better?” became common place and were, for the most part, ignored. On the upside, one lady commented that I looked ‘sexier’ without hair. OK, so it’s been a number of years since a woman offered such a generous appraisal of my appearance so I figure that I’ve earned bragging rights.

The only constant is change or so it has been said. With alopecia I’ve learned that the change pertains to the quantity, location and size. There will be spots regardless…therein lies the constant. A few news spots have appeared since I stopped shaving. Granted, far fewer and smaller than the last time around or at least that’s the case right now. Soon, perhaps, this too will change as my DD remarked the other night about the ‘holes’ in my hair on the back of my hair. A quick pass of my hand was all it took to confirm the thin areas in my otherwise thick mop of hair. I hadn’t noticed, not that there’s much I can do about it anyway.

Hair isn’t all that I remember it to be cracked up to anyway. Smoothness has its’ benefits…no bed head or helmet hair, no need to check my look in the mirror or carry a comb, not to mention all the extra head rubs. Right now, my head itches and hurts in spots. When my head was smooth, I’d work in a little lotion to quell the itch. Instead, I want to scratch like a dog after a romp through a field of fleas and find myself caving in to the urge when no one is looking. Dogs are lucky…they don’t care who’s watching or about what others think about them. Maybe this old dog doesn’t need to learn a new trick…the old mindset that my opinion of myself matters most works just fine.