I’m slowly loosing my hair. I’m 33 years old and a woman. I’m terrified. This isn’t supposed to happen to me right? My roots are from India. Women in India are known to have beautiful hair right? Why me?
I knew this would happen sooner or later. You see, genetically all the women and men on my mom’s side suffer from severe loss or “Androgenetic Alopecia” as it’s called. All my uncles are bald. All of my aunts including my mom once had a normal thickness of hair, which eventually started thinning out as the years passed. I have 11 aunts and uncles from my mom’s side. That’s a lot of people who have this condition.
I knew this was bound to happen one day. It’s not a subject us women like thinking or talking about. I guess since it’s more common in men, it’s just accepted. Growing up I saw commercials for “Rogaine” and wondered why they never had a treatment for women. I guess our society always views women to have beautiful hair and doesn’t talk about this subject very openly. Why am I telling you guys this? Cause I want other women who suffer from the same condition to know that they don’t need to be silent or embarrassed by it.
I have very curly hair but I do get it straightened from time to time. Everyone has always thought my hair was so thick but when they touched it, they realized how extremely thin it is. Dermatologists have told me that I do have thin hair but at least I have a lot of it, which is still holding strong by the root. Now I see I have a lot of thinning a long my crown, around my part. If my hair gets a bit oily, you can definitely see patches of thinning hair all over. The dermatologist has told me something no doctor was able to tell me before. The insides of ears get extremely itchy and my eyebrows get very flakey. It’s hard to apply make up or a liquid foundation sometimes because when I spread it over my eyebrow/forehead area, my skin just flakes. Not a good look. I never knew why until he told me that the alopecia is also in these areas as well and prescribed an ointment, which is helping.
So what am I doing about this hair loss issue? Well for years I scrolled through the Internet looking for an answer. I tried a lot of natural oils and remedies but nothing seemed to work. Here’s some info I came up with on other solutions:
A Wig: I guess I could just splurge and get a really nice human hair wig. The only problem is, they get super hot and itchy. At the end of the day when you’re going to bed, you’ll have to remove it as well. Not sure how many ladies wanna deal with that when they’ve got a male friend over spending the night but I don’t.
Hair Extensions: I thought about hair extensions or gluing in hair. I figured you could shower with them in. Nope, that will just pull at the hair that’s already there and eventually push your hairline back. If you have severe hair thinning or patches of baldness, you can always get a mesh type thing sewn into your existing hair, which the hair stylist will place hair extensions onto. I met a beautiful girl from Scotland who was suffering from hair loss in her mid teens. Here step mom recommended extensions. She went ahead with them for a couple of years and then started noticing more hair falling out as a result and permanent damage to her hairlines. Now she’s in her later twenties and won’t leave her house without clip in extensions. I guess clip in extensions is an idea but I don’t want to be clipping hair in and out every night.
Birth Control – In North America I was on Aleese birth control for about 10 years. It contains 0.10 mg of levonorgestrel and 0.02 mg of ethinyl estradiol. Apparently that was the worst birth control I could be on for my hair condition. The doc changed it up to a Colombian brand called “Bellface Suave” it has 2 mg Dienogest and 20mg Ethinylestradiol. It’s suppose to be good for your hair and skin. Let’s see if in 6 months to a year if it’ll help.
Minoxidil 5%/Rogaine for Women: I’m currently using a generic form of Minoxidil 5% twice a day on my scalp. It’s not actually Rogaine for women but it’s the active ingredient in Rogaine. After 3 weeks of using it my scalp has become extremely irritated and I’ve renamed myself “Snow White” from the dandruff produced by how severely itchy my scalp is. I guess no luck for me on this one. Maybe it’ll work for other women. Apparently you’re supposed to see results after 6 months.
Ketoconazole Shampoo 2%: The doc prescribed this to me for on my dry and itchy scalp but it’s also suppose to help with hair loss. It’s only been a few weeks so I haven’t noticed hair re-growth but my scalp is back to normal now with no itchiness-thank god!
Spectral.DNC-N with Nanoxidil Lotion: Just a few days ago, I spoke to my dermatologist about the side effects of the Minoxidil and he’s changed me to this lotion. When I start using it, I’ll send out an update to let everyone know if this option is better for my scalp.
Hair Transplant: If the above solutions don’t work then I’ll be looking into this option. I’ve heard the success rate for hair transplants on women isn’t as high as it is for men. Maybe it has something to do with us having a different range of chemicals raging through us. When transplanted the hair might not attach itself. Also if you’re transplanting hair that is already thin from the back of the scalp to the front, it won’t grow back fuller (if that’s the look you want). Who knows, I’m not an expert in this field. If the time comes to visit this option, I’ll definitely do more research.
Anyways, this is definitely not a complete list of options. If you guys have anything you can add to my post, I’d appreciate it. I’ll try updating you all if I get any results in the next few months. In the mean time, I’d appreciate any positive or thought-provoking comments/feedback to you might have on this subject.
Thanks for reading my post!
Have a Good Day! :)
Roaming Shark