About 9 years ago, about 1 year after moving to Atlanta, I started noticing patches of facial hair that stopped growing. I had always grown a winter beard when I lived in New England, but that was going to be a thing of the past. No problem, I thought. I can live without facial hair. Several years went by and I started noticing dime to quarter size bald spots showing up on my head. They'd show up and go away. No big deal. Now in my late 30's, I had alway had very, very thick and full head of hair. Many of the people who cut my hair would comment on how full it was and often joked that I'd never go bald....... How wrong they were. Spots came and went. I never had more than two spots that were much bigger than a 50 cent piece on the sides behind the ears. If I kept my hair cut a little longer, the spots would never show through.

Then one day in December of 2011, I started to notice that I seemed to be losing more than my normal amount of hair. Over the next couple of weeks a trickle became a flood and handfulls of hair started coming out in the shower. In the bed, all over the bathroom, and on my desk at work there was hair everywhere. I'd run my fingers through my hair and fist fulls would come out. I started telling friends and family that I was losing my hair. I was told "Don't worry about it. You're imagining it and stressing over it will only make it worse." Just before Christmas I made an appointment with my doctor. It wasn't until Jan 10.

On January 10th I went to see my doctor. Lots of blood test. Some x-rays and a trip to the dermatologist. The dermatologist took a scalp biopsy and I got some stitches. After a week the stitches came out and by this point I looked like a chemo patient. On January 24th I bought a set of clippers and my 2.5 year old daughter helped my shave my head.

It is now 5 months later. I haven't had to shave my face nor my head since March. Pretty much ALL hair has left my body. No eyebrows, no lashes, nothing in the nose, even my rear end is as smooth as baby's. I have just a little on my shins and under my arms. But it is still falling out and getting thinner by the day.

The only thing we could find medically out of whack was that my blood levels of vitamin B12 were very low (about 218). My vitamin D was also low, but just on the lower limits of the normal range (30). There was no problem with TSH, T3, or T4. I tested negative for Lupus. No syphilis. Iron levels were good. Even the pernicious anemia test came back negative (though that is a notoriously inaccurate test if it comes back negative)

So there we have it. I went from a full head of hair to bald in a matter of about a month and a half at age 43.

It hasn't been too hard for me. Guys definitely have it easier than women. I have also never been too obsessive about my appearance. I have always had a little bit of a "screw it, I'll look how I look" attitude. This has helped. However, all things being equal, I would like to have my hair back. I'd like to not have to worry about sunscreen. I'd like my eyelashes back to help keep soap out of my eyes in the shower. I'd prefer folks not to think I am battling cancer....

On the upside, I enjoy waking up and looking as good as I will all day. Showering does not have to happen first thing. I can wear ball caps without messing up my hair. And afer riding my bike home from work, sitting under a ceiling fan cools me off far quicker than it ever did before. Finally, I am spending no money on (or time on) shampooing or shaving.

Will see what the future brings....