As an Alopecian, the hardest part of hair loss for me is that I am assumed to be sick, or more specifically, to have cancer. Not only don’t I have cancer, but beyond my immune system’s assault on my hair follicles, I am absolutely healthy. Bummer? Yes, but life goes on and I choose to move on with it.
A couple of years ago, I conducted a two-part survey exploring the emotional...
If I told you there was an online “hair loss support” site dedicated to supporting those of us (men, women, and children) with hair loss, maybe you’d think, “That’s great!”
If I told you that among the topics covered there was “What Your Hairstyle Says About You,” and that under that topic, we are told exactly which hairstyles we need to don in order to...
I want hair. I so want hair. I want it to grow thick and long and luscious and to never stop growing.
Careful what I wish for. While I so miss a normal head of hair, I’ve never mourned the loss of the hair on my legs and armpits. The loss of eyebrows and eyelashes is the icing on the alopecia cake, but there is an upside down version of this hair...
Alopecia made the list! Of “My Extreme Afflictions” that is. It’s a series on ABC’s news show, 20/20, in which they are covering some truly bizarre health inflictions. It was emotionally difficult to watch the alopecia segment, but as it was sandwiched between Extreme Hoarders and children suffering from progeria, we alopecians were provided some important perspective on our condition.
The memories and emotions came...
What does a woman do when she wakes up and discovers half of her eyebrow missing? No, it was not one of those college pranks in which mischievous things happen while sleeping. This is alopecia rearing it’s ugly head again. My 11-year battle with this disease has provided tears, joy, disappointment, embarrassment, resignation, strength, growth, wisdom and now, half an eyebrow.
I’m resigned to the fact that the productive follicles I’ve enjoyed...
There’s looking for love in all the wrong places, and then there’s looking for (and keeping) love with all the wrong head wear. Can a bald woman find, or better yet, be the recipient of romantic love? Therese wants to know, and I suspect there are a whole lot of other women with the same painful question.
Therese developed alopecia after tying the knot with her husband. Therese initially wore wigs, but...
Given how much seems to have fit into the year 2011, I’m hoping that 2012 is comparatively insignificant, OR if significant, significant for reasons other than cheating/beating/living with cancer. If Alopecia is my biggest emotional challenge for the year 2012, then I’ll consider it a fabulous year. I’m planning ahead for just such a year with my 2012 resolutions. To all my family, friends, and...
Hair loss is something that happens to us. Be it a side effect of chemotherapy, a thyroid disorder, a hormone imbalance, or our immune system’s decision to attack our hair follicles, hair loss happens outside of our control. What about hair pulling?
I’m talking about trichotillomania (trich for short), an impulse disorder in which affected people develop an uncontrollable habit of pulling out the hair from their scalp, eyelashes, eyebrows, pubic area,...
What in the world do you buy for a woman who is devastated by her hair loss? Or a woman taking her hair loss in stride but not really looking forward to holiday social gatherings? Or that woman for whom hair loss simply does not have the power to dim her holiday cheer, but her nighttime thermostat settings are giving you the sweats? 4Women has you (and her) covered. Here are...
Bless me father - I just committed the cardinal sin for an Alopecian. I, Susan Beausang, an 11-year veteran of Alopecia, assumed that another person with hair loss had cancer. What was I thinking? Well, I guess I wasn’t thinking and I feel horrible about my faux pas. Fortunately, I didn’t make this assumption in person but in an email, but STILL it’s something that I...
