Comment by Alliegator on April 10, 2013 at 10:43am

I know! People amaze me too. It sounds like you handled it well. I had a guy in my neighborhood say to me as we were walking past each other, "good luck". I said "for what?" He said "my wife works at a cancer hospital." I should have said "good for her. what does that have to do with me?" But, I said "I don't have cancer. I have Alopecia." It is amazing what comes out of people's mouths.

Comment by Felicia on April 10, 2013 at 10:56am

Yup...I used to get that all the time but now I think people know me. I run errands at the same places every week on a regular basis. Now it's just easier for people to recognize me and remember my name because I'm the girl with the colorful bandanas. Plus I strike up conversations everywhere I go. I used to avoid peoples eyes because they like to give me the "pity Smile". Now I just look at em and smile back. It's ok... I understand they are ignorant and it's not their fault that they don't know any alopecians .. What is sad is that most everyone knows a cancer patient.

Comment by christy murphy on April 14, 2013 at 1:59pm

And then when you tell people you have alopecia, they look disappointed! Well, excuse me for not having a life threatening illness. Sorry I ruined your day!

Comment by Jules on April 14, 2013 at 9:28pm

well done.. i bet it made you train extra hard!

Comment by Amy-Rose on April 16, 2013 at 3:34am

Isn't it ridiculous? I wear a turban and all the time people comment about it being a really nice 'hat' which they feel they need to compliment thinking I have cancer! I went through customs in an airport and had the person checking my passport ask me how my treatmemt was going!

Comment by Dena on April 18, 2013 at 1:44am

I have had several people comment on how well my daughter must be handling the chemo to be so active in her gymnastics class. It cracks me up every time. These people see her twice a week and she hasn't had hair for over 6 months. She hasn't missed a class this year and hasn't shown any signs of weakness. Do they really think she has been going through chemo this whole time? She is extremely strong for her age and can run circles around most of the boys. In the back of my mind I am wondering if they are concerned this poor cancer child is kicking their kids butts in gymnastics. People never fail to surprise me with the questions anymore.

Comment by Samantha on April 22, 2013 at 3:00pm

I know how you feel. This has happened to me so many times. The best one that happened to me was one year i had lost all of my hair and wore scarfs on me head to protect my scalp from the sun. I went to a library and wanted to rent this adult romance book and when I went to check out the lady asked me if my family would appreciate me reading something like that. It took me a minute to figure out what was going on. She thought I was a Apostolic woman. They wear scarfs on their heads too, well where i come from they do. I then explained to her that I had Alopecia Areata.

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