Most of you will smile when you read this, I hope! We all need to keep smiling, no matter what. My hair loss story began in August 2007 when I rubbed the left side of my head, through the hair (I have very long dark hair that I wear up in an “old-lady” bun. I immediately had the never before experienced sensation of feeling absolutely bald scalp on my own head! I didn’t panic, but I went to the mirror to see what was up. Well, what was out, not up, was the hair that had covered about a 5- inch square area of my scalp! Absolutely bald. I really don’t know when it fell out, for sure. I’m not much of a self-absorbed person vis-à-vis my hair, etc., and with it being so long, I just wash, dry, brush, and pin up.
Anyway, I did ask my doctor about it. She did a thyroid test- all OK- and recommended that I see a dermatologist, which I did NOT do. I read about alopecia online, and decided that there was no effective treatment. I have enough trouble being a woman and now a partially bald woman- without being a guinea pig too. Of course, the fact that my long hair and the style I wore kept others from seeing my problem helped in my decision. Perhaps lazy, perhaps stupid. I don’t know.
Over the past year, I developed an extension of the bald patch to the rear a little, not a lot, and also what seems to be an attempt by my hair to establish a bald patch right at the hairline. That will be a big problem if it continues. We’ll have to see.
Meanwhile, earlier this year, I decided to purchase a wig- just in case I woke up with NO hair at all! I got a dark auburn bob-style inexpensive wig, and it didn’t look too bad- although it didn’t look like “me,” either. Well, I hadn’t warned my husband, and when he came into the kitchen door, I was standing in plain view in the den, facing sideways to him. He opens the door, takes one look, and says, “What the hell is going on here?” He really thought some strange woman had invaded our home! After he got over the shock, he still didn’t like it, so I haven’t worn it- but I have kept it just in case. The good news is that about two weeks ago I noticed that the original patch now has some hair – about 1 inch long- repopulating portions of it. So that gives me some hope.
The best news is that I may be partially bald, but I’m healthy and not bald from the effects of treatment for some deadly disease. So I give thanks. It could be worse.
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I had a similar problem, see I also wear my hair up in “an old lady bun.” I use to do it more often and tighter, with a hair tie. After noticing I had two bald spots on both sides of my head I did some research and decided I had Tractic Alopecia. I stopped with the hairband/hair tie and started pinning it up with bobby pins, my hair started to grow back but not where the bald spots were, but closer to the temples I have a lott of new hair. I decided that the long hair wasn’t helping since I wear it up and it’s a lot of work to wear it down on a daily basis so I cut it recently, about half of it off. I wear my hair down more often and I hope my hair grows back. I haven’t seen any results yet. I did go to a dermatologist but he didn’t understand and gave me some medication and a certain shampoo but that didn’t help so I stopped. I noticed that washing my hair less and using a natural shampoo definitely helped me with the hair loss.