Hi. I'm Shelly. I am 45 years old and live in the middle of the United States. I love to travel. I like to make stuff. My favorite thing is to sit outside and read in the sun.

I started losing my hair in my early 30s when my daughter was young. I started thinking the hair around my temples was getting really thin. Then I found a blad spot. After a while there were more bald spots than hair and I couldn't really pretend it was normal anymore. I kind of felt like I had the mange.

So I shaved my head, all except a little bunch of bangs I still had in the front. It wasn't so bad at first, especially while I still had some bangs. But after a few years I lot it all. I kept it shaved and wore a lot of hats.

Inexplicably, it almost all grew back for a while. I let it grow and eventually I got rid of the hats and it looked like normal (although not great) hair.

A few years later, after some life losses, it started to fall out again. It hasn't come back.

Now I have a mostly smooth head with a few little patches of recent regrowth. I stay cautiously optimistic. I have lost my eyebrows and my eyelashes. I have a few random hairs in various other spots.

I still miss my hair. I have accepted alopecia and learned to cope, but I don't think I'll ever not mind it. I am happy to find this place. It is helpful to know I'm not alone.

I hope keeping this blog, and participating here will help me understand the ways this disease has changed me, discover ways to get my old or real self back, and learn to navigate through this life with hair loss.