Outandaboutgrl's Story - (20 / Hairloss)

[outandaboutgrl]

Hi

My name is Jen. I'm 20 years old and for the past three years, my hair has been diffuse thinning. My dermatologist and I determined that my birth control- Loestrin Fe- instigated androgenic alopecia. It's strange because I never notice ANY hair falling out and have only recently (within the past 6 months) been bothered by the thinning enough to seek medical aid.

In the beginning of November 2009, I switched from Loestrin to Yaz and started using Men's Rogaine twice a day. I also started taking a multivitamin, Biotin and Cataplex. It's now the end of February, and while I've seen my hair fill in a lot, it still looks the same under certain light.

I'm pretty sure this is because all my "Rogaine hair" that I'm growing is baby hair and completely translucent. And while I should be happy that I'm growing my hair back, I feel myself fixated on the fact that it still doesn't "look good."

This whole process has made me feel like I'm way too concerned with my looks, but it's really embarrassing when people come up to you and make comments at school. It gets harder and harder to laugh something like that off, especially when we all live in a society that is SO concerned with the physical image.

Anyway, if anyone has any words of encouragement, they would be greatly appreciated. I've tried to remain optimistic about this whole thing, but sometimes I slump back into the whole..."this isn't faaaaaiiiiirrr" routine. oops




-Jen

 

[leelu56]

hi jen-
i have a similar story as yours. im 25 years old and my hair started really thinning when i was about 18. no dr. has ever been able to tell me what is happening , and ive been to alot of drs. i was on birth control (several diffrent types) for about 5 years, since i was about 14 until probably 21. nobody ever told me that birth control had these side effects, but i most certainly think they do! i havnt found anything yet that really helped me. im not sure, but i dont think its getting any worse. iv been using nioxin for years, maybe its helping to keep it from getting worse, but its not getting better. im about to start using srface awaken shampoo and treatment, ill let u know how that goes im also going to try natural wellbing hair essentials. ive tried so many supplements, rogain, blah blah blah the list goes on and on. i know how it is being a young woman with hair falling out and how horrible it gets when so many people start mentioning it. its like 'yea thanks for noticing, i had NO idea i was going BALD' but its good to know we arnt alone. i also have struggled with this because its made me realize how much looks matter, but its not something to get down about. we all want beautiful long hair....and we arnt being self pittying by worrying and stressing over our hair loss. i think it makes us stronger and more empathetic. and it helps us to NOT put so much meaning into looks. its easy to become a slave to our looks and especially our hair when it starts falling out, but by what we are going thru it makes us stronger and helps us deal with lifes strggles and face the world .... ok im done, good luck with everything ill let u know about the shampoo and stuff.
-sarah

 

[rastevenson]

Hi!

Just joined the hairloss network today. I wanted to tell you that I feel your pain. I am a 31 year old female and have been losing my hair for about the last 2 or 3 years. I was sort of in denial, but there is no doubt about it now...I am balding and it sucks! Pulling my hair back exposes lots of scalp and my hair is very hard to style now. I never had much hair, so losing any hair has been devastating to me. I have 3 young children and do not want to have to wear a wig, because we have too many activities to do and I need hair! I just started using minoxidil 2 weeks ago and we are going to see if it helps.....


Good luck!