goodbye, 2016. and a lot of my hair.

whenever someone asks me if alopecia is caused by stress, i usually roll my eyes (super dramatically) and say that's what doctors tell me, but i don't believe it's true. i'm not sure why i'm so adverse to the idea of it being caused by stress. i guess because admitting that implies that i'm not good at dealing with stress, which apparently is the case. in 2016 i ended a long relationship, changed jobs and my sweet ma was diagnosed with cancer (don't worry, she's kicking butt. hi, ma!). it was a bit of a doozy year for me (calm down, it was full of great stuff too). i never felt overly stressed, but those that believe alopecia is caused by stress, would look at my hair and say otherwise.

i was lucky enough (or stress-free enough) to have a pretty full head of hair for the last couple of years. i am lucky enough to still have my health, family, good friends, a roof over my head, all appropriate appendages... but approximately one ton of my hair has fallen out over the last six months. i worked hard to keep my bald spots covered with headbands and sassy combovers, but i gave in and started wearing a wig to work this past week. for whatever reason (likely the same thing that keeps me from admitting alopecia is caused by stress) i really struggled with deciding to wear a wig again. i guess another "stressful" item i should add to my 2016 list is losing one ton of my hair.

if i believed in new years resolutions, i'd make"not giving a fuck about hair loss / alopecia" mine. but since i don't believe in resolutions (and still don't quite believe alopecia is caused by stress) i'll just have to make not caring about hair loss a goal of mine.

if you're here because you know me / love me (and my bald spots), happy new year and i love you too!

if you're here because you've got alopecia / hair loss, here's to the hair we do / don't have and knowing that it's not a measure of how awesome we are and how much we have to be thankful for.

now get out there and make 2017 a good one!

xo

for fun, here's a photo of my scalp and remaining hairs. i call this hair loss pattern the skullet OR the great lakes if you squint. enjoy!