Emily's Story | @happy_hair_health
I’ve suffered with my hair thinning for just under 10 years, my hair used to be my shining glory so to watch it slowly fall away over such a long period of time was simply heartbreaking.
I’m a fairly outgoing/bubbly person in many ways but I’ve unfortunately always struggled with my self image. I always hide behind my love of fashion and forever changing my look to suit my mood, my hair was a huge part of that. I used to forever change its colour and style to suit what image I was going for at the time.
During the 10 years period of my hair thinning, I’d visited the Dr’s several times year to be told time and time again it was stress. No judgement to the Dr’s, but they weren’t specialists in the field of hair, 9/10 they didn’t even look at my hair and just put it down to stress. As you can imagine, being told this time and time again was causing me more stress than good!! Each year I’d spend THOUSANDS on different products, shampoo, treatments, hats, styling tricks, I’d watch hours and hours of YouTube videos on how to style my hair in certain ways to get the look I was after and to stop my scalp from showing. One gust of wind, I’d be back to square one with my scalp showing and feeling so insecure about my hair.
After the years tumbled by, I became the girl that rocked a good hat or beret!! I couldn’t bare the thought of the top of my hair being seen and not feeling confident in the way I looked. Even looking back at my wedding day, my hair was such a huge issue for me. I couldn’t have any of the styles I wanted, I ended up having it down, dyed a very dark natural colour and shoving a bucket load of hair fibres through it - looking back now it makes me really sad to think how I used to feel about my hair!
My hair then got to the point where I couldn’t leave the house without having my beret on and I started looking at the cosmetic route. Luckily I stumbled across a lovely surgeon who refused to treat me as he advised nothing would basically work and he thought I had Alopecia. He gave me the contact details of a hair specialist based in Northampton (I’m Midlands based), thank the heavens, after I’d called my Dr’s in tears they referred me to that particular specialist.
Hearing my diagnosis of Androgenetic Alopecia (also sometimes knows as Female Pattern Baldness) felt like a huge weight had been lifted, knowing I would never get my hair back almost felt like an odd release. Rather than me chasing the solution constantly, I knew I had to start looking forward and embracing the cards I’d be dealt.
I started off with trying a hair topper, it gave me a taste of the alternative hair world but to be honest, I know deep down I wanted to be true to my true personality and have some good fun with this!! I wanted to have the hair of my dreams every day and change my look with my wardrobe. Ordering my first wig from Peluka Salon switched on every single light in my head - I’d never been so excited to try every single look I could get my hands on. At this point I did still have my bio hair as I wasn’t quite ready to get rid of it and I wasn’t too sure how I’d feel without any hair on the daily.
A friend of mine at the time had unfortunately lost her husband to Cancer, leaving her and her two children behind. With this devastating situation unfolding I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try and raise some funds for them and to shave off my bio hair for them.
After doing this and having my new buzz look, I’ve never felt more like the perfect version of myself. I can’t tell you how much weight was lifted saying goodbye to my bio hair. I thought it would take more of an adjustment but because I’m a little quirky anyway, I do quite enjoy being the only bald chick in the room! I love talking about my hair journal to hopefully help people feel more confident in theirs. I just wish I’d have done everything sooner!
The joy I get from trying all the different styles of wigs and matching everything with the outfits I have on truly fills me with magic! We should all learn to be kinder to ourselves and I’m truly thankful for the Alopecia community - they will always hold a special place in my heart.