Life With Alopecia (Woman's Perspective)

Life With Alopecia (Woman's Perspective). First things first, this is a wig and I am a totally bald woman. My condition is called Alopecia Universalis, which means I have no hair, eyebrows, or eyelashes.  I like to say that I am an Alopecian. Why? I happen to like the way Alopecian sounds.  I just celebrated my 4th Alopecian birthday and I have learned a lot along the way. So I thought I would share some of them with all of you.  Today, let's talk connection!

I recently moved from San Francisco to San Diego so I am still getting myself settled. My husband met another mother who has a son similar in age to my son. I wasn't told much about her prior to our meeting - mostly that she has multiple successful businesses and that she might be able to coach me a bit on mine so I set up the meeting.

I have to say I was a bit shy at first - it's hard to open up to someone that you think has an advantage over you. I wasn't really sure what to say or what not to say. In any case, I learned a lot about her upbringing, her amazing family, education, and sheer will to continue to push her life forward.  In short, she is one absolutely amazing woman! I slowly started sharing some of my history, my upbringing and how I ended up starting Encelia and where I see it going. I started talking about my frustrations about wearing hair, the industry & how odd it is. I paused for a moment & thought she is really interested in what I am saying - almost like it is personal. She had bangs. Do you know where I am going? Okay, bangs are normally an amazing hint that someone is wearing hair but for some reason, I didn't think of it. I stopped talking for a moment and thought maybe she is wearing hair! Then it happened! She took over the conversation! She has NEVER shared with anyone outside her family that wears hair. It turns out when she was in law school she started experiencing female pattern baldness. She started with an integrated system where you pull the hair out and she now wears toppers which is bonded on every 4-6 weeks. As she continued to share her journey, I could see tears in her eyes. She was so happy to share her story and to connect with someone else who is living life without their real hair! In short, our meeting helped us both with connected and part of a community - the hair-loss community! So if you are reading this, please know that you are not alone! So many women experience hair loss - all of our journeys are different and unique but you deserve to share it! You deserve to feel a sense of community! So say it with me, I am an Alopecian and proud of it! I encourage you to find ways to connect with others, even if it's on IG and under a different name. The connection will help you feel at ease with it all. It will help you let go of what was and embrace what is! 

Much love, 

Allison