As if a teenager doesn’t have enough to deal with.
At age 14 I was diagnosed with Alopecia, which is a hair loss disease.
I always had thin hair, I guess you could say it’s genetic, but I started getting bald spots and slowly losing my hair. So, I resorted to extensions. Not the greatest idea, but I was young, wanted to feel pretty and have long/thick hair. I tried steroid cream and no extensions, but nothing seemed to work.
I decided to do a consultation with The Hair Club, which is a hair replacement company that helps restore hair for people dealing with baldness and thinning. They told me that I had dead hair follicles and that my hair would never grow back. I was DEVASTATED!!
I officially started with The Hair Club in 2016, which I thought was the greatest thing, after cheesecake of course. It was $2,500 to join and after that, I made payments of $350 per month to get 3 wigs a year and that price also included a certain amount of style appointments. At that time, I would have paid and done anything to have hair and feel beautiful.
They shaved my head in August 2016 and they placed my first wig on my head. I was finally so happy that I had hair that I could feel confident and beautiful wearing!
Well, that is when it all began…
Within no time, my first wig started falling apart. It was shedding really bad, thinning at the hairline and was getting frizzy and unmanageable. Each time I went in for appointments, they would shave my head again, because the wig would have a more natural appearance and stick to my head longer. It always looked so natural and I got so many compliments, which made me feel beautiful and like I finally fit in.
I started noticing my hair growing back each time I went in for appointments, so I told them I no longer wanted to shave my head and I wanted to see how my hair would do. Well, MY HAIR KEPT GROWING BACK!! I finally decided to stop using The Hair Club. I felt like it was a scam. I was told my hair would never grow back due to dead hair follicles, but sure enough, my hair was growing back. Slowly but surely.
With the support of loved ones, I was letting my hair grow back. I was buying wigs off Amazon and other websites until I was comfortable wearing my natural hair. I slowly started gaining confidence with my natural hair and myself, along with others, were amazed at how well it was growing.
When I found out about my hair loss, I lost a lot of self confidence and having the support of loved ones helped me gain my self confidence back. I was down in the dumps and got depressed. I got anxiety going out in public when I would wear wigs, because I was scared someone would come up to me and ask if I was wearing a wig.
It is now 2019 and my hair is still growing, but has slowed down. I take Vitamin D, Biotin and Vitamin C to help continue the hair growth, which I believe has helped tremendously.
Hair to a woman is EVERYTHING and without it…its really hard to feel confident and embrace yourself. I am so glad I finally have my self confidence back and found the strength to pull through the hard times I went through with my hair loss journey. I am sure my hair loss journey is far from over and will always remain a part of my life, but I am fine with whatever path my journey takes me down.
If I lose my hair all over again, I will be OK. If I need to wear wigs again, I will be OK. If my hair grows good and doesn’t fall out, I will be OK.
We cannot let things we are going through eat us up and spit us out. Dust yourself off, find strength within yourself, confide in your loved ones and you will be OK!
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