T.E. at 20

by Sparrow
(Canada)

I'm twenty years old and female. I've always had a very thick, almost unmanageable mane of hair. This past year has been very rough; I have been dealing with depression, probably moving, and was betrayed by somebody I considered a close friend.

I ended the friendship in October and stewed in my rage for a good month or so, while other aspects of my life began to fall out of control, and when I saw my mother in November she mentioned the top of my head looked rather... bare. I was freaking out, thinking I was going bald, and became obsessed with finding out what exactly what was going on.

I didn't see a doctor, but my hairdresser told me to keep an eye on it. I'm a vegetarian, I've been gradually becoming slimmer and I'm devoting more time to exercise and eating well. I take supplements for my iron intake, eat lots and lots of veggies and drink plenty of low fat milk, fruit juices and at least 10 glasses of water a day.

I began to research what was wrong with me, and ruled out FPB. When my hair falls out (maybe 30 in the shower, another 20 or so when I'm styling my hair, 5-10 the rest of the day) there is a miniscule dried up white bulb of keratin, but sometimes there is nothing. I used to be able to pull out hair that had a thick, shiny, very large bulb of keratin at the end, but it isn't happening any more.

It's now March and my hair is becoming a lot thicker again. I'm not out of the woods yet, but I don't seem to be losing much more hair than I did back when I was 17 (my hair was down to my elbows and so thick it took at least 25 minutes to blow-dry) the top of my scalp is still a bit patchy, but my hairdresser says he can see hair growing back. Mentally speaking, I'm doing a lot better, and hopefully things will be looking even brighter in mere weeks. I'm able to give my hair a good yank (even at the very top) and very little (1 or 2 strands) or no hair comes out at all. My hair was just below my earlobes in January, and it is now past my chin. I dye my hair black (I'm a natural blonde) and there's already half an inch a roots despite getting a touch-up 3 weeks ago.

Hopefully I'll have my mane back in full by summer!

Editor’s Comments,

Good Luck and hope you get your hair back soon!! Don’t think you need B supplements considering you are a vegetarian. By the way, you might consider using Henna instead of conventional hair dyes as they might hurt your hair more and retard its recovery!