Living with Alopecia

    I have to say that living with Alopecia is an inconvenience. Always having to find a hat or scarf that matches whatever I’m wearing is just one.  I am just not brave enough to go bareheaded in public. I applaud those who are, but it’s just not me.

    Something that I have experienced that most people wouldn’t even think of! My head gets really cold in bed in the winter! Who would have thought of that? I worked with a man who was bald, and I asked him if his head got cold. He said no, it didn’t.  I had to ask. Maybe it was just me? Either way, I wear a soft fleece hat to bed in the winter. I have a few different hats that I wear in the house, and change when I go out.

    I went through the whole wig thing. They were fun at first, but after a while it gets old. They were so soft and wonderful on my scalp when they were new, but after a while, after they get washed a few times, they are scratchy and uncomfortable. Not to mention that they just don’t look the same after I washed them. I still have all my wigs, I just don’t wear  them anymore. 

    There are some positive things about Alopecia too, I must say. It has certainly saved me lots of money over the years that I’ve had it! Think about it, no shampoo, no hair stuff like barrettes or combs, no conditioner, and the biggest one: not having to pay a hairdresser for haircuts!  I have to say that my hairdresser has been awesome. When I was nearly completely bald, I went to him to cut the rest of my hair really short. This was after Britney Spears went psycho on her own hair. I thought it was a great idea! Anyway, George offered to cut my hair for free until it grew back.

    I have been there a couple of times since, but not a lot. I mostly have sparse long white hairs, and some short white fuzz growing. I usually shave my head in the shower about once a month.  I did have a small patch of dark hair growing on the crown of my head.  I couldn’t see it, but Hubs found it one day, and he thought  I had hit my head, that it was a bruise. The patch grew a bit bigger over time, but he tells me it’s gone now.  I also have about five dark hairs growing at the front, right in the middle of  my hairline in the front. 

   The original specialist I went to see, a dermatologist, took a biopsy. He phoned me with the results. He said that this was the type of Alopecia in which the hair grows back. Eventually. That was four years ago. I am still waiting.