Hair loss?

[JustHeckinKillMe]

You have it? How do you deal with it?

 

[LastFlowers]

I have it currently, hopefully it's not permanent as it's still dreadful while I'm around, but there is no end to my appearance related shit shows.
It is a cruel joke at this point.

I think it is due to extreme stress, loss of sleep, and a medication I was on temporarily that has that as a side effect (but it started happening before I went on that).
I'm guessing it is some form of Alopecia Areata or Telogen Effluvium. My already tall hairline is back an inch, all my shorter baby hair in the front is gone, the only thing that reduced the size of my forehead, my curly "side burns" look like I crisped them off with a straightener (I never use heat) and there is severe shedding and breakage, diffuse loss throughout the entire scalp.

To note, I have had hair loss in my eyebrows (AA diagnosed) and lashes for awhile before it seemed to reach my head. Although, it may just not have been noticeable enough to me before, I initially had more hair than average, straight but high density. It was also kind of wirey and strong, people used to think it was fake hair, but not in a good way. One person said it felt like plastic lol that was back in high school.
Now my hair is so fine and broken, it mats together like cob webs, a bizarre texture, what's left of it. I have to painstakingly finger comb it every day, but it's still a rat's nest by the time I fall asleep, even if I have not moved a muscle. Most people would have probably chopped the mess off by now, but my length is one of the last comforts I have, even if it looks ridiculous on my fucked up face.
I've lost 1/3-1/2 my hair at this point. I could make a month's worth into a small wig.
My remaining hair is naturally attempting a comb over, it hurts to put it up because there is not enough hair for clips to hold onto on the scalp-which is way too visible but it blends into my light hair.
I know people have it worse but I have enough problems making me look like shit already, I don't need any more help being mistaken as old or a man. Unattractive or invisible is bad enough.

My father has complete hair loss-or to the point it makes more sense to shave it all off-it happened early for him too, so I figure the only thing stopping me from expressing those genes, is that I am a female with female hormones. Especially since-supposedly-most of the genes for hair loss are present in the X chromosome, not the Y. (No idea how accurate that is).
Well, unsurprisingly by how I look, one of those gene kits sprung up a match for "estrogen resistance syndrome", high likelihood of having it...well fucking fantastic, I wonder if that's actually the case and has something to do with the issue, and other previous ones.
But still, I would say stress and having a mental breakdown every damn day had to have contributed. The medication factor is what makes me worry about permanence, more than the stress factor, there have been cases where it doesn't grow back after people stop taking the med. I try not to worry about it because I have every intention of killing my self, but it still adds to my daily torment and fear of being seen.

So I guess the answer to your other question is: I don't deal with it, I really don't cope well with any of this and as far as solutions go, if the solution is reduced stress, even that is basically impossible in my situation. If it's something more like hormones or damage from meds, well that's a whole other can of worms I really can't deal with, I am sure any professional I go to about it will be just as dismissive about this as anything else people complain about, I feel like you have to get support for this and solutions from a community of people who deal with the exact same thing. Idk.
What I do know, is that it's not an easy thing to deal with and I know there are people who consider ctb for that very reason, both men and women.
Being a hostage in your own body, that you can no longer connect with as it changes so drastically, or maybe was in poor form to begin with...well that's just pure hell. I believe it had a pretty negative effect on my own father and-though I would try not to bring it up-it's one thing I sympathize with him on, even if he scoffs at my own struggles. People have to feel comfortable in their own skin, they have to identify with it in order to live, in order to be content. But it's just another thing where if you complain about it, people try to make you feel silly or "vain" (so far from the truth). Hair loss is no joke, anything that negatively effects your appearance is serious shit, whether people want to admit it or not.

 

[stygal]

I lost quite a lot of hair when I decided to go on a very restrictive diet for 2 years.

It was seriously such a upsetting and "embarrassing" experience because up until then my long hair had always been something I've taken pride in.

It took another 2 years of me taking a multi-vitamin daily, enough protein plus some helpful shampoo and every other day some conditioning for it to grow back fully.

I don't know what would really help when you're either have genetic hairloss or hairloss from other reasons than malnutrition though.

@LastFlowers once again wrote everything there is to say about how to accept this difficult situation.

 

[Sherri]

Some medications have that side effect, stress on its own have that effect. Same as dandruff, most people dunno but stress could be one of the reasons for it, it is in my case. Have to use always something for it besides shampoo. Used to have huge snow flakes, embarrassing I know....

 

[WornOutLife]

I started losing my hair when I was in hospital last year. It must've been the meds.
Now I don't anymore but I'm really scared of ending up as a bald man.

Anyway, being bald can be cool if you have a nice body! Just look a Johnny Sins! (brazzers porn star lol)

 

[Miss_Takes]

Please consider having your thyroid checked.

I experienced significant hair loss a few years ago due to stress. Today however I have fabulous thick hair ... good nutrition and stress management ... although theres much more grey than I am happy with lol
5 more weeks and Ill deal to the grey ..
Oh and I stopped washing my hair with anything but water ... i condition with coconut oil ... and I would estimate my previous hair loss at about 30% ... significant bare patches.

 

[Grav]

I started losing my hair around 16. It's stopped now but I'm old so it doesn't matter, it didn't matter then either really. I wasn't going to pay for some "solution" that would result in my getting hotties by the dozen, and just go natural. Now I buzz what hair I have short and it's super easy to handle. I do chuckle at people that freak when someone mentions "bald spot".

 

[OpheliasFlowers]

I am female, always had fine, thinnish hair but then it started falling out and wouldn't grow much lengthwise either, starting when I was about 20 or 21. I didn't know why at the time, and it was very traumatic and made a HUGE negative impact on my already basically non-existent self-esteem and confidence. I spent so much money on shampoos, styling products and hair treatments, vitamins (this was in the late 80s). I was trying anything I could do (and afford at the time, which wasn't much) to make it stop falling, to grow, or at least appear thicker. It was so humiliating and I got even more self-conscious and going anywhere was miserable because all I did was look at other women's healthy, thick, long hair...and it was worse if I then happened to catch a glimpse of myself in a window or mirror or something. :-/ Washing my hair was both an upsetting ordeal because so much would be in the drain, and a bigger endeavor than for a normal person because I'd be using so many different conditioners and treatments in the shower. I'd avoid doing anything that would get my hair wet, or blown around. I tried so hard to find ways to disguise how thin it was but there wasn't much I could do with my horrible hair besides put it in a scraggly ugly thin ponytail, or pin it up, or tease the hell out of it and then hairspray it but that only looked worse so mostly I'd find ways to use big bows or accessories (remember, this was the 80s so that kind of thing was in fashion. lol) but I got a lot of mean remarks and ''jokes" made about my ugly hair back then from people I didn't know (like if I was out somewhere such as a bar or social event, or at work) and even from family. And it was awful too because no matter how much effort I put into doing my makeup, dressing nicely, etc, if your hair looks like a thin, frizzy ugly rat's nest on your head, you aren't going to feel good about yourself and all the effort to look nice you put into the rest of your appearance just highlights how bad the hair looks. There are pretty much NO photos of me from age 21 on because I was so embarrassed by my hair. I can honestly say that helped contribute to my long list of reasons why I hate my life and have had suicidal ideation for decades. Now, I'm an old sickly lady so who cares anymore really about my hair but if I ever do want to at least try to look somewhat normal and feel less self-conscious, I have invested in a couple human hair lace wigs and while not like having one's own natural hair, at least it's better than this ugly mess on my head. (the cause of my hair loss back in my 20s I attribute to my screwed up hormones from a reproductive disease I didn't know at the time I was suffering from. After that, years of chronic stress, other illnesses and also poor genetics came into play as well.)

I hadn't thought about all this in detail for a long time. It's amazing how it can still make me feel shitty all these years later when it isn't even relevant to my existence anymore anyway.

 

[finalexit]

I've been gradually losing hair throughout my 20s, been one of my main causes of wanting to die. It's male pattern baldness and out of my control. Have tried the different "solutions" with no benefit and bad side effects. I have long hair and associate with my identify so it's really rough losing "myself". I hide it pretty well but it's getting more aggressive and I can feel the bald and thinning areas in contrast to other thick full hair overall, a very gross uncomfortable feeling. I think about it all the time, induces a ton of anxiety and hopelessness. Waiting for the inevitable. No idea how to accept it or deal with it in general.

 

[BitterlyAlive_]

I think I've lost some hair in the past year due to stress. It just makes me more sad. I try to just...kind of make things work and hope it's not too noticeable.

I am female, always had fine, thinnish hair but then it started falling out and wouldn't grow much lengthwise either, starting when I was about 20 or 21. I didn't know why at the time, and it was very traumatic and made a HUGE negative impact on my already basically non-existent self-esteem and confidence. I spent so much money on shampoos, styling products and hair treatments, vitamins (this was in the late 80s). I was trying anything I could do (and afford at the time, which wasn't much) to make it stop falling, to grow, or at least appear thicker. It was so humiliating and I got even more self-conscious and going anywhere was miserable because all I did was look at other women's healthy, thick, long hair...and it was worse if I then happened to catch a glimpse of myself in a window or mirror or something. :-/ Washing my hair was both an upsetting ordeal because so much would be in the drain, and a bigger endeavor than for a normal person because I'd be using so many different conditioners and treatments in the shower. I'd avoid doing anything that would get my hair wet, or blown around. I tried so hard to find ways to disguise how thin it was but there wasn't much I could do with my horrible hair besides put it in a scraggly ugly thin ponytail, or pin it up, or tease the hell out of it and then hairspray it but that only looked worse so mostly I'd find ways to use big bows or accessories (remember, this was the 80s so that kind of thing was in fashion. lol) but I got a lot of mean remarks and ''jokes" made about my ugly hair back then from people I didn't know (like if I was out somewhere such as a bar or social event, or at work) and even from family. And it was awful too because no matter how much effort I put into doing my makeup, dressing nicely, etc, if your hair looks like a thin, frizzy ugly rat's nest on your head, you aren't going to feel good about yourself and all the effort to look nice you put into the rest of your appearance just highlights how bad the hair looks. There are pretty much NO photos of me from age 21 on because I was so embarrassed by my hair. I can honestly say that helped contribute to my long list of reasons why I hate my life and have had suicidal ideation for decades. Now, I'm an old sickly lady so who cares anymore really about my hair but if I ever do want to at least try to look somewhat normal and feel less self-conscious, I have invested in a couple human hair lace wigs and while not like having one's own natural hair, at least it's better than this ugly mess on my head. (the cause of my hair loss back in my 20s I attribute to my screwed up hormones from a reproductive disease I didn't know at the time I was suffering from. After that, years of chronic stress, other illnesses and also poor genetics came into play as well.)

I hadn't thought about all this in detail for a long time. It's amazing how it can still make me feel shitty all these years later when it isn't even relevant to my existence anymore anyway.

I'm sorry people treated you like that. How cruel.

 

[netrezven]

My wife had hair problems when she started to work out harder and harder. It was serious, expensive cosmetics didn't help. Finally she agreed with me that her fitnes diet sucks, and started to drink protein as suplement to the diet. All hair problems went away in a week.

 

[kkatt]

I'm on long term methotrexat so lose a lot of haor. I cut it very short which has made loads of difference. I barely lose any now