About a month ago, I was just chilling in the kitchen and making some avocado toast for dinner when my dad walked in and goes, "Hey, did you know you have a bald spot?" Immediately I thought he was joking because there is no way I'm balding, right? Well, he wasn't joking. I ran to my parents room and had my mom inspect my head and yup - there was a big ole bald spot staring right back at her. After a few panicked Google searches (not my brightest idea, I know) I had self diagnosed myself with Alopecia even though it could have been a thousand other things. I was feeling embarrassed, confused, and just straight up upset. I knew if I stayed at the house much longer I was going to break down and sob so I hopped in the car and headed for a night drive to calm myself down. After a lot of tears, some emotional phone calls with close friends and a wasted tank of gas, I was able to come to terms with what was happening. The next day I was able to call and make an appointment with someone to hopefully get some answers.
I went in to my appointment hopeful that I was being dramatic and only expecting the worse. I was thinking, "Ah, I'm probably just stressed and that's why my hair is coming out." My doctor spoke with me and checked out my spot and said we would run some labs and get to the bottom of it. She left the room to prepare for lab work but then came back in minutes later and said she had spoken with the dermatologist in their office and that she would take a look at it. The dermatologist came in, took a quick look, and without a second guess said, "It's Alopecia Areata." BUT the good news was she immediately followed that up by saying we could begin treatment that day if I was comfortable with it.
Listen y'all, I'm a baby. My mom bribes me each year to get my flu shot because I despise needles that much. So when my doctor looked at me and said that we would begin treatment with 15 injections in my HEAD - I was absolutely distraught. Beauty is pain though. If I wanted my hair back, I knew I was going to have to endure whatever treatments were available to me. I laid back on the table and tried not to wince as I got all 15 little pokes to the back of the head. Honestly, it wasn't THAT bad. I definitely felt the prick of the needle but the steroid injections were mixed with a numbing agent and it got better as it went.
Fast forward to a month later, I had my monthly follow up appointment yesterday. I have noticed huge clumps coming out each time I wash or brush my hair so I was dreading this appointment. I just knew that I was going to walk in and have my doctor go, "Oh, you've lost even more hair." Plot twist, she checked out my head and said that the spot has gotten smaller AND that there are baby hairs/new growth sprouting! We went ahead and did another round of injections and I will follow up again in another month to check out progress! I will continue to see her once a month until my hair is completely back. My hair is still drastically thinning all over, but at least my "bald spot" is not nearly as bad as it was a month ago.
Since noticing that I was losing hair, I have been nothing but self conscious. Every time I'm in public I find myself reaching back to my hair to make sure my spot is perfectly covered. I constantly worry that someone is going to see it and point it out to me or make fun of me behind my back for being a 21 year old girl with a bald spot. I'm afraid someone is going to see it and "judge" me because they have no idea what I've been going through this month! The toughest part of all has been feeling confident enough for blog pictures! I'm sure nobody has noticed my thinning hair, but it is all I can see in my photos! I feel like there is nothing I can do with my hair, I am terrified to curl it or put it up or literally even touch it. So when I take blog pictures now, that is all I can look at. I see a photo and I'm like oh my hair looks so thin or oh my hair looks so bad because I was scared to brush it!
The point of this blog post was to get real with you all. Bloggers aren't always glamorous or happy. In the past, I have always only shared the highlights of my life but I wanted to be open about what I am battling with right now! It scares me to put it out in the open and tell everyone that I am losing my hair, but I know this is a problem that many people battle with! If anyone has any questions about treatment or anything else, feel free to reach out and chat with me! And if you're new here, make sure you sign up for my email list to get alerts when I drop a new blog post! AND follow me on the 'gram at @thehaleywayblog .
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