Why I Shave My Head

🧡When I was 18, I sat on the steps of my boyfriend's house as a neighborhood little girl asked to play with my, then long (down to my tush) red hair. I said "yes!"

✨️As she began to play with my hair she asked innocently- "where is all your hair?" I was like "this is all my hair, it's just naturally fine."

🧡Fast forward to around 23 when I finally chopped it the shortest I ever went. A pixie, long in the front,  short in the back. A fellow server at the country club I waitressed at at the time saw me and told me I looked like a Cancer patient. I literally ran down to the staff area to cry.

✨️Not long after that I asked a dermatologist about my hair and was told it was likely genetic. I chose to mess with some chemical based products but they burned my scalp so I stopped rather quickly,  I spent years trying different herbal and vitamin supplements,  nothing helped.

🧡I surmised that I have androgenetic alopecia aka female pattern hairloss, where over time my follicles just progressively get smaller. I never  knew my biological father past age 4, then he died when I was in my 20's, but in my 30's I was reunited with his sister, my Aunt Margie, a few years before she died. She told me he had thin hair and that the women in his family wore wigs!

✨️By the time I turned 40 in 2020 I was tired of my reality being denied by those around me. I started researching alternatives. No f-ing way was I getting any plug surgery nor going on chemicals for the rest of my life.

🧡Online I found an alopecia community of women who embraced their hairloss through wigs. That's when I decided to play with toppers at first,  then wigs. In June of 2021, the night before I graduated from my Yoga Therapy Cert 3 year program,  I shaved my head.

✨️Now I have a variety of wigs, rock the buzz, bandanas,  hats, whatever strikes my fancy in the moment. I let it grow in in the winter and shave it again in the spring. Today was that day.

🧡Sharing because recently I realized that I hadn't talked about it for awhile and I have some new connections.  I dig when people ask me about it, I am very open about who I am and my decision around this sensitive topic. I normalize a shaved head and wigs with children in my life, friends and strangers. It helps me and others to talk about it.

✨️If you or anyone you know wants to have a conversation around hairloss reach out. I'd love to talk.

#hairloss #androgeneticalopecia  #alopecia #rockthebuzz #dowhatevermakesyouhappy