an alopecia update, because (some of) you asked for it.

hi friends!

remember almost 8 months ago when i stopped wearing my wig? welp, i'm happy to announce that i'm still wig-free, although not bald spot free. i've got a few spots on the side of my head and one that's starting on the top of my head (that's probably noticeable to anyone taller than me, which is a lot of people).

i saw my TCM doctor about a month ago because i was getting nervous about my new spots. he reminded me that alopecia areata has no set path and unfortunately, there's noway to anticipate what its next, sneaky move will be. he told me to keep using that awesome 7 star hammer (LOVE that thing!) and keep taking the herbs he prescribed for me. i told him i'd been thinking about getting a cortisone injection in the spot on the top of my head, and he fully supported it.

so now, for the second time in my life with alopecia areata (15 years now) i've gotten a cortisone injection. the first experience (years ago) was not great. this experience, was much better. i went to my specialist (who's a dermatologist, i just call him a specialist because it sounds so special)... he also reminded me that alopecia areata is unpredictable, but that i'd never lose all my hair. he used the tiniest needles and basically circled the entire spot on the top of my head that's losing hair. it barely hurt (compared to the first time which hurt a lot). i'll go back in a few weeks for a follow up.

here are some things that had changed in my life, that might be responsible for the new bald spots:
i bought a house (a house that needed a lot of work, money and paint) so i might have been a tiny bit stressed. i started slacking on the treatment shampoo that a lovely woman in L.A. sent me (i have to sit with it on my head under a shower cap for 30 minutes and sometimes 30 minutes feels like a long time). i was also slacking with my vitamins (iron, biotin, magnesium bisglycinate). and was just generally busy, and didn't feel like i had a whole lot of time for myself (because any free time i did have, went into painting my house). i hate the idea of blaming alopecia areata on stress, but maybe it is a cause of it.

so i'm back to using my treatment shampoo, taking my vitamins and have stopped painting my house (thanks to a pinched nerve).

i've decided to not document this hair loss with photos, because i'm trying to ignore my bald spots as much as possible (which is a very tough thing to do). in general, i'm actually in pretty good spirits about it and am really just appreciating being able to get up and not have to put on a wig.

thanks to everyone who have sent emails sharing their stories, offering support and asking questions. i've never met anyone in real life with alopecia areata, but i sure have met a lot of amazing people with alopecia areata on the internet.

where the white hair ends.

welp, over a year ago when my bald spots started filling in with the whitest white hair i've ever seen in my life, 2% of me was disappointed, the rest of me was just happy to have hair that wanted to exist on my head (yay hair!). as the months went on and more of my hair started growing, i realized i had less white hair... was it that i had more dark hair growing in and it made the white hair less noticeable, or was it that the white hair started growing in brown? nobody knew. not that i asked many people. UNTIL ONE DAY i found this single hair, holding on for dear life to the tile in my shower.

(note: it's hard to take a photo of a single strand of hair. just ask my cousin whom i forced to help me.)

the darker portion is the root end. magic! science! hair! there's that mystery solved.

for the most part, my bald spots do start filling in with white hair, and eventually their darker pigmented friends join the hair growth party. i've got a few chunks of white hair that i actually think look kind of awesome. my hair dresser wanted to colour them, but my TCM doctor insists that my hair couldn't take it. so here i am, wig-free (yay!) with a few bald spots (no biggie) and some streaks of the whitest white hair, that make me look a few years older, but that's cool. i honestly don't mind.

thanks, hair! i'm happy to have you back.