As an Alopecian, the hardest part of hair loss for me is that I am assumed to be sick, or more specifically, to have cancer. Not only don’t I have cancer, but beyond my immune system’s assault on my hair follicles, I am absolutely healthy. Bummer? Yes, but life goes on and I choose to move on with it.
A couple of years ago, I conducted a two-part survey exploring the emotional...
If I told you there was an online “hair loss support” site dedicated to supporting those of us (men, women, and children) with hair loss, maybe you’d think, “That’s great!”
If I told you that among the topics covered there was “What Your Hairstyle Says About You,” and that under that topic, we are told exactly which hairstyles we need to don in order to...
I want hair. I so want hair. I want it to grow thick and long and luscious and to never stop growing.
Careful what I wish for. While I so miss a normal head of hair, I’ve never mourned the loss of the hair on my legs and armpits. The loss of eyebrows and eyelashes is the icing on the alopecia cake, but there is an upside down version of this hair...
Alopecia made the list! Of “My Extreme Afflictions” that is. It’s a series on ABC’s news show, 20/20, in which they are covering some truly bizarre health inflictions. It was emotionally difficult to watch the alopecia segment, but as it was sandwiched between Extreme Hoarders and children suffering from progeria, we alopecians were provided some important perspective on our condition.
The memories and emotions came...
Who would’ve thought Barbie could rise to the pinnacle of cancer politics? And still climbing. In a country in which approximately 12,400 children are diagnosed with cancer each year (and the number keeps climbing), I can see why the topic of childhood cancer could and would touch on raw emotions. It’s taken me some reflecting though to grasp how a Bald Barbie doll can...
What in the world do you buy for a woman who is devastated by her hair loss? Or a woman taking her hair loss in stride but not really looking forward to holiday social gatherings? Or that woman for whom hair loss simply does not have the power to dim her holiday cheer, but her nighttime thermostat settings are giving you the sweats? 4Women has you (and her) covered. Here are...
Bless me father - I just committed the cardinal sin for an Alopecian. I, Susan Beausang, an 11-year veteran of Alopecia, assumed that another person with hair loss had cancer. What was I thinking? Well, I guess I wasn’t thinking and I feel horrible about my faux pas. Fortunately, I didn’t make this assumption in person but in an email, but STILL it’s something that I...
When we lose our hair, be it due to chemotherapy, Alopecia areata, or other causes, we feel as if we are entirely alone, the first and last to be truly shocked and devastated by our hair loss. Our mind may know better, but in our heart, we feel alone. I try to remind women they are not alone. There are many of us who understand exactly what...
(Following is a 4Women guest blog by Terese Weir, sister Alopecian, and author of “Because the Mirror Is Watching.”)
DIARY
I open my eyes and there is Gorgi. She is staring at me with her amber eyes, still with hair missing off her nose, no eyelashes, ears twitching. She is watching her mommy dance to the song of an Irish cowboy (not Bono, but Van Morrison), and she knows that...
Cancer sure has become social since my mom’s breast cancer diagnosis, mastectomy and treatment almost 30 years ago. Mom never uttered the words “breast” or “cancer,” at least not around her children. For mom’s generation, breast cancer was a very personal and private matter, one she discussed only with her doctors and my father. Today, women are broadcasting their breast cancer experiences to the entire...
