GEORGIE’S HAIR LOSS STORY

 I have had very fine hair since I was a teenager and I went through a short but intense bout of trichotillomania (this is an uncontrollable urge to pull out your hair). Even though I stopped pulling my hair out after a few months, it never fully recovered and was much thinner at the hairline and parting. For many years, I assumed that the pulling had damaged my hair follicles, but since being diagnosed with androgenetic alopecia I have realised that it was not 100% my fault. The pulling started off the thinning early and it would have likely happened at some point anyway.  

My hair has been slowly getting thinner over the past 20 years and it got significantly thinner after having both of my children. I suffered from post-partum hair loss, but then the hairs that I lost just didn’t come back. I have been wearing toppers since 2017 and I went public about my hair loss to my wider circle of friends and acquaintances, as well as setting up my Instagram account @her_hair_my_head, in 2019. I have resigned myself to the fact that my hair will never grow back and so I wear both synthetic and human hair toppers full time. I also wear wigs occasionally.

Teenage Trichotillomania

I had normal hair for most of my childhood. When I was about 14-15 years old I went through a short period of trichotillomania – pulling out your own hair. This was triggered by me finding a really thick pure-white hair, pulling it out and liking how it felt in my fingers. I then started pulling out any thick dark hairs from the crown and top of my head.

It got to a point after a few months where my hair was visibly thinning. I was constantly playing with or pulling out my hair – most of the time I wasn’t even aware I was doing it. I saw my GP who ended up hypnotising me to help stop the pulling. This helped a lot and I started to become more aware of when I was pulling. I eventually stopped pulling, but my hair never really grew back to the ‘normal’ thickness it had been before. For years, I beat myself up that I had caused my hair to be permanently thin. I had never really heard of alopecia.

Lack of regrowth

As I got into my mid-twenties, I noticed that my hair was thinning and I started to do a bit more research about trichotillomania and regrowth. I discovered that for many women, their hair will grow back once they have stopped regularly pulling it out – especially if the pulling was only for a short period. I also discovered that my Granny had hair loss and had been wearing a wig since she was in her 40s (she had androgenetic alopecia, which I didn’t realise until after I got my diagnosis – see below). I started using Batiste brown dry shampoo to make my hair look thicker and cover the thin areas.

A diagnosis at last

I now know that I have androgenetic alopecia, also known as female pattern baldness, which is a genetic form of hair loss. You can find out more about this and other types of alopecia on the Alopecia UK website.

It is likely that my hair would have always thinned eventually, but I exacerbated the process by pulling it out. I got my AA diagnosis from my GP after I had my first daughter in 2016. It was suggested that I try medication to treat it – or at least maintain the hair I had left – but unfortunately, the correct dosage for women was only available in the contraceptive pill. I am not able to take the combined contraceptive pill, as it gives me visual migraines. So that avenue was closed to me.

Post-partum hair loss

My hair did seem a little bit thicker during my first pregnancy, but this is because the hair stays longer in the growing phase of its cycle, which means that less hair falls out than usual. It is normal for women to have a shed of hair about 3-6 months after the baby is born, as it goes back to its normal cycle. This happened to me, but I shed a substantial amount of hair and then it never grew back. I reached a point where I was using brown hair spray or dry shampoo to cover most of the top of my scalp and my hair still looked thin.

The turning point

A critical turning point for me was my best friend’s wedding in the summer of 2017, where I was asked to be a bridesmaid. I was thrilled to be asked, but the thought of everyone looking at my hair and taking photos was too much. That’s when I started to do some research online and discovered the world of toppers.

I have been wearing toppers full-time since 2017, but I only ‘came out’ about my hair loss to my wider circle of friends and acquaintances in the summer of 2019 when I set up my hair loss account on Instagram. Being more open about my hair loss and wearing alternative hair has changed my life for the better. I cannot recommend it enough, but appreciate that it is a scary thing to do. It felt like a weight off my shoulders when I was simply honest with people about my hair. 

Now, my mission is to help other women with hair loss to feel more confident. I offer help, advice and emotional support, as well as selling a wide range of alternative hair.