Body Heal Thyself – Lina and PRP

by Lina on March 2, 2015

Lina PRP - Dr. Joseph Greco Longtime WHLP member, Lina, shares her experience having PRP with Dr. Joseph Greco in Sarasota, Florida.

I thought I was at a place of “acceptance”, or as I like to rephrase it, “realization” as I’m not sure if I will ever completely accept my hair loss. I’m a full-time wig wearer. I threw out all my snake oil and promise pills, my 25+ years dealing with hair loss and the ups and down down downs it brings has exhaustipated me.

I’m at a point where I am done with pills and chemicals, Lord knows what kind of lethal cocktail I was ingesting with everything I was putting into my body. Well after reading about PRP on-site I decided this is the one thing I have not tried and decided to look into it further. The premise of using what is in our own body to help heal is very appealing to me, not to mention the NO side effects. I decided I needed to try this treatment. I do realize that with anything else, probably the sooner one seeks treatment the better. That being said a lot of loss and damage has been realized to my hair and scalp as my condition has been going on for years. As much as I am looking for a miracle, I need to have realistic expectations about what PRP can do for me.

For any of you who are curious I decided I would take you along my PRP journey, visit by visit (I will explain why I already decided I would have more than one treatment). I will post pictures along the way – I feel it is my “duty” to put aside my embarrassment and help my sister’s here who have suffered like I have.

Please note: I will be as brief as possible, I am not a doctor, I will probably screw up on terms but I just want to give you a gist of the whole experience.

Treatment #1 – February 17, 2015.  Performed by Dr. Joseph Greco in Sarasota Florida.

All this gorgeous hair is my wig... I de-wigged once in my consult with Dr. Greco.

All this hair is my wig… I de-wigged once in my consult with Dr. Greco.

I met Dr. Greco and his staff. They were so pleasant, reassuring and very professional – I was instantly at ease, although nervous. I went into a medical room where blood was drawn from me, so 5 minutes. Then my blood was taken to the lab where they put it in a centrifuge (I believe that means spin the crap out of it?) This takes like 30-45 minutes. Meanwhile, Dr. Greco took me into his office and we discussed my hair loss history and he walked me through the amazing world of PRP.

He showed me research, before and after photos, explained the separation of blood and its components and explained matrixes – not only in treating hair loss but for joint injuries and even burn injuries. To say I was fascinated is a complete understatement – I never knew science was so amazing, nor how healing what is in our body can be, I could of listened to him for hours.

What I took away from this was it could not hurt in the least to have the goodness and proteins of my blood injected into my scalp. Dr. Greco asked me what my objectives were, you girls have seen my shaved head photos, I don’t think it is very realistic to expect I’m going to grow me some Rapunzel hair (darn). I said, I would like to keep what I have and hopefully have the texture improve and perhaps have some fill-in so that I could maintain a very short hair cut under my wig and not have to shave. He told me he thought my goals were very realistic. [click to continue…]

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PRP – Is It My Miracle?

by BW on October 28, 2014

**This post is from a fellow WHLP Member, “BW.” **

As many of you may know from the last blog I posted, I had been experiencing a Hell Shed. This was far beyond my usual seasonal nerve-wracking and it sucks but it’s manageable thing. This was my body went through a major physiological change (quitting smoking was my trigger this time) and here comes the Hair Dump. I went from having my pretty awesomely normal (short) hair in early June to quitting smoking on June 16 to start a crazy messed up put me back in my little black hidey hole ka-boom see ya hair thing by about a week later and I just couldn’t get it to stop. Like holy cow. Hair explosion for months and no end in sight. Sigh….. And yeah, I wear a wig most of the time anyway, but I don’t go to the gym in my wig. I really wasn’t planning on wearing a wig for my half marathon in November and honestly, it had gotten so bad that not only was I getting seriously depressed about it. I was also using Toppik at my front hairline just to be able to blend with my wig AND I had lost enough hair that my wigs weren’t even fitting well anymore. Oh my.

Yes, ladies, I had the Ultimate What You Don’t Want to Happen When You Are Wearing a Wig Experience. My wigs had gotten loose since I had lost SO much hair and I guess I hadn’t thought too much about it because once you get used to wearing hair, you just are way more relaxed about (maybe too relaxed in my case) and when I was shaking my thang all over the dance floor on a beautiful Saturday night in August, my hair fell off. Like on the dance floor. Like under someone’s feet. Yeah. WAKE UP CALL! I had lost so much hair that my wigs weren’t even fitting anymore. Remember that hidey hole I was talking about? Step right in.

I really started feeling stuck. I had begin hitting the Toppik bottle again (hard) while wearing my wigs and also while just going to the gym and stuff, and man, that stuff is truly amazing but I even needed it in the front for blending in my now strapped as tight as possible wigs. That just seems no bueno – now I need Toppik to even wear my wigs? Big sigh….. And as all hair wearers know, you gotta always have a back up plan. Or a forward thought. And I couldn’t find one. Where am I gonna go from here? What if I couldn’t make my current situation work anymore? [click to continue…]

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My “Re-Birthday” at Follea – Lina’s Journey

by Lina on August 7, 2014

Hi girls. I was planning on making my first trip to Follea in the fall but I had an incredible opportunity to go last week – so, hello, I went! Our lovely admin is piecing together a video on my visit so that I can share that with you (stay tuned). I’m going to post a few more blogs on my visit to LA and how it has helped me with my acceptance and growth but I want to share my Follea visit because it is about, well, hair (mostly anyway, haha).

Without going through my l-e-n-g-t-h-y journey to finally get to the hair wearing phase (cuz, you’d be missing at least a week of work!) I’m going to go straight into why I travelled almost 4,000 km to go to Follea.

I am two years into wearing hair and I would say one year in completely being used to my new normal, normal being wearing wigs full-time. I have been through a number of pieces that, looking back, were great to start but as I grew in my journey, I felt my hair-wearing needs changed. I would have to say to finally get to the stage of accepting that my hair was leaving me and that I needed to re-gain my life, was a very long, painful, sad, arduous journey. Phase 2 of the journey was getting used to wearing hair, any hair – it was just as difficult in its own right but thankfully not near as long. I know that lots of women here on the WHLP have echoed the same sentiments but I cannot stress it enough, cut yourselves a break ladies, hair loss sucks and she’s a tough one to plow through.

Fast forward, so I am at the hair wearing stage and what has happened in two years? Well, I went from toppers, to shaving my head, wigs, letting the hair grow in (cuz, somehow it was going to re-grow in thicker and much better, pfff) to shaving, to regrowing to finally shaving and keeping it shaved as I feel, in my case, I’m not fooling anyone and I look “healthier” in a shaved head. So, accepting my shaved head I began to think why not try a gripper and get rid of the wigrip? I never would have heard of Follea if it wasn’t for WHLP and let’s face it, Y rocks some killer locks, so I began to investigate. The more I stalked the Follea web-site and watched pretty much all their gripper videos – I decided, well if this is my fate (to wear hair), let’s see if I can get THE hair and THE comfort to take me through life. [click to continue…]

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Finding Acceptance, Finding Friendship and Finding Myself

by Y on July 31, 2014

No, I’m not dead 🙂 I know it’s been awhile since I’ve posted, but sometimes life just gets in the way ya know?

Onwards…

When I started losing my hair in 1999, at 21 years of age,  I was certain (positive)  life was over. How could I ever LIVE without having all the hair I was born with? How? I could not process that thought. I dreadfully watched myself decline and disappear through the years. I was existing, but not living.

Acceptance never came to me until I started wearing hair in 2012. Finding something that gave me back my control, with something that made me feel so helpless, really turned the tables around on my hair loss. While it was a slow and difficult journey, it was one I look back on and realize I surprisingly wouldn’t change. That seems like a ridiculous statement (and no I haven’t been drinking today… yet) especially when I used to pray day and night for my hair loss to stop and all my hair to grow back, and may promises of this and that to the high heavens above, but to no avail… my hair loss simply continued to progress. I realize now that my hair loss has helped to shape me into who I am today, my experiences and suffering has helped others, of which I am so grateful for,  and I have found friendships I never thought were possible.

Hair loss provided me with a certain strength I didn’t know I had, and when my perception of what was happening changed,  I found that the doors didn’t close, they opened. I am 36 years old, and it is at this point, over the past year that I really feel I have begun to find myself in many aspects, even beyond hair. Though it’s all connected. Somehow everything is always connected. There where a few critical pieces to get to where I am now. First and foremost, my amazing fiancé, who has never wavered in his love and support of me. Second, the support of the women on this site and watching others continue to live in spite of their hair loss.  Third, finding Follea. What can I say, mad props (I’m dating myself now)  to them… seriously. I think they are amazing.  To see what wearing hair could be, was a game changer… big time. Fourth, the strong bond of friendships I have made with some women through WHLP that have taken us on amazing trips from New York, to Las Vegas to Canada in a wig wearing fiesta of awesomeness, and lastly, beginning to see a psychiatrist last Sept, taking medications for my errrr… anxiety/ OCD issues etc., and facing me. Not the hair issues, but me. We can get so consumed by our hair loss we totally forget we are so f’d up in so many other ways! Silly hair loss, and you thought it was all about you. 🙂 [click to continue…]

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Grace & Beauty Defined – A Truly Amazing Video

by Y on April 20, 2014

Hi Everyone!  Happy Easter! I’m about to get myself ready for the day, but before I hop (like a bunny hop — hop) off to the shower and wig up, I wanted to share something amazing with you.

I believe we hold within us the power to conquer insurmountable obstacles and struggles, like hair loss. I’ve always believed we are stronger than we usually give ourselves credit for. I believe in the ability to allow acceptance to free us from that which pins us down and prohibits us from living our lives. Acceptance of ourselves.

Enjoy this amazing and touching video, and Happy Easter to all.

Much Love & Hugs,
Y

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Lucinda Ellery Hair Replacement – Beverly Hills

by Y on February 25, 2014

Have you ever witnessed the moment of change, the moment where you watched a person’s pain be washed away with the hope of the future? I have. Incredibly moving and felt to my core, as I related on every level possible, I understood every tear and felt the impact of what each drop held as it fell — silent suffering, a loss of self held within for years. Fear. Sadness. All of it. I know all of it. I saw hope follow tears, and a smile and excitement of a self renewed. I was incredibly honored to be a part of my friend’s journey to finding her hair loss solution, and watching her moment of renewal is something that will stay with me always.

Everyone knows I love my Follea hair babies. I’m good in my wig wearing world, I pass my wigs in the bathroom and give them a high five and a double snap for their super sassy swishtastic magic powers, but while wigs allowed me to take back my life and rock my world, wigs simply aren’t for everyone. No one thing is ever for everyone, in the hair world or otherwise. We all have to explore our options (the pros and cons) and find what works best for us in our life, and if you try something that doesn’t work, it just means that, THAT didn’t work — not necessarily that nothing will ever work.

Last Wednesday I went with my friend to Lucinda Ellery in Beverly Hills, she was having an Intralace hair replacement system done and I got to watch as she got her new hair. It was an all day process, I think approximately 8 hours. The final result looked quite amazing and my friend was actually in tears after it was completed. Happy tears, tears of relief, tears that were washing away her pain. I waited to hear from my friend today to get her thoughts almost a week in before jumping on telling everyone about this option, because I wanted to hear her honest opinion on what she thought of the piece. She’s adjusting to it incredibly well, and told me that she really feels this is life changing for her and that this will be her solution. [click to continue…]

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Intro To Alopecia Video By WHLP Member, “Hellcat”

by Y on February 6, 2014

In this video, WHLP member, Hellcat, vlogs about her hair loss story. I loveeeee this video, I love the openness and honesty and it’s so amazing to actually be able to hear and see another woman discuss her dealings with hair loss. Beautiful. xoxo

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Total Randomness on Acceptance

by Y on January 29, 2014

I had a few moments of randomness this morning while I got my coffee and I wanted to discuss this randomness in dealing with hair loss, wig wearing and ultimately… acceptance.

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PRP Therapy, Getting Off The Birth Control, and Anxiety Updates

by Y on January 26, 2014

I’ve been meaning to update everyone on a few things, and here it finally is. I made a video which I will place at the end of this post. I’m a bit scatter brained in my video because I just had a crazy morning which threw me for a loop, so any rambling and/or incoherentness will need to be attributed to that 🙂 The video is long, so I’ll update in a post too:

Getting Ready For PRP

I know many women are wondering if I still believe in PRP therapy or feel it is working for me, the answer is, yes. I continue to go to Florida to see Dr. Joseph Greco every 4-6 months because it’s something I think is a positive thing for my hair, I feel it’s safe and while there is some discomfort in the actual treatment, the benefits for me are worth it. It currently is the only thing I do for my hair and much to my relief I’ve finally rid myself from all the pills I was taking for my hair, which I never really felt great taking nor really knew if they were actually working to do anything helpful anyways. I’ve heard from some women that felt PRP did nothing for them, and others that felt it was awesome, it’s all so very individual. I’m going to continue doing it for quite sometime because other than having to take time for travel and for the bit of discomfort during the treatment, there are no downsides for me.

 

This was the final pill I took, ha.

Getting Off The Birth Control Pill Update

Last July I got off the little devil pill that I felt ruled and destroyed much of my life. I made quite a long post on this, which you can read here, and I feared what the aftermath of getting off this pill would do to my hair and body in general. I didn’t experience any major shed, but I’m attributing much of that to keeping up with the PRP. I don’t know if that’s actually the reason I didn’t have a major shed, but I feel it was a strong contributing factor.

The adverse effects I experienced in getting off the pill were pretty mild I think compared to what I thought would happen. I thought I’d implode or something, I felt the sky was going to fall and the bottom would drop out from under me, but alas it didn’t. Instead I had some insomnia, facial breakouts and bad cramps during my period. I could be missing a couple things, but nothing that is sticking out glaringly in my mind which tells you it wasn’t all that big a deal, it was a bigger emotional/mental deal than anything. My periods started up normally too, and regularly, which I was surprised about, I thought they would be erratic or not come for months or stick around for months at a time, but it was normal pretty much from the time I got off the pill, which was a very pleasant surprise. So everything is going well with the cessation of the pill.

Zoloft

Breakfast of champions? LOL and a supportive text from a dear friend of mine 🙂

Anxiety Update

I made an anxiety sharezie in Sept, letting everyone in on my oh-so more complicated than hair life pertaining to my dealings with social, generalized, phone anxiety and OCD oopsies. Anxiety has ruled my world for quite sometime. Second fiddle only to my hair loss, but once I figured out out to put my hair loss in check in my life, it became enemy # 1. I know several people had commented and emailed me on the topic of that post, and were surprised that I dealt with this because that doesn’t come across in my videos, and it wouldn’t. I don’t really have anxiety talking to myself LOL, that’s pretty much what making a video is to me, talking to myself and I do that all time anyways 😉 It’s a solitary event. ha. [click to continue…]

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Getting My Hair Ready In The Morning – Quick Wig Dry Video

by Y on January 21, 2014

Everyone has their own way of tending to their wigs, how they wash and dry etc. I’ve done wig washing videos before and for the most part I typically wash my girls the night before they are going to be worn and they will just get the upside down air dry treatment, and by “treatment” I mean pinned to two styrofoam heads upside down LOL. The exception is made with my Follea Aero-2 wig (Mila) which I will always dry right side up because she has more natural volume on the top and drying her upside down just leaves me wanting to sing “9 to 5” the following morning with my ooh la la Dolly hair. Not that there is anything wrong with that if that is your style, but it just doesn’t work for me and quite frankly, it scares my fiancé 🙂

Mila is my one wig I do tend to my quick dry the most with. I wash her, blow out the cap, pop her on my head for some extra dry time and then I’m out the door in a flash. Super quick, super easy, nothing fancy here.

Happy Tuesday!

XOXO

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