I am my hair
Wow! What a very busy and stressful couple of months I've had. I've been neglecting my blog so I think it's time I rectified that. Stress is a weird old thing, isn't it? I mean, it's something that we all do at some point isn't it? We all worry. Whether it's money, health, or other problems it happens to the best of us. We may blame others for it but ultimately we are responsible. When I get stressed a couple of things happen to me. The most frightening being panic attacks. To be completely panicked from toe to head, shaking uncontrollably, pains in my chest has to be one of the scariest things I've experienced. And believe me, I've experienced many!
The thing that effects me the most though is Alopecia. Everyone who knows me recognises me by my hair. I even got recognised in the states one year because of it. After my treatment it fell out. In lumps. I was devastated. I spoke to my friend who is a hairdresser. We could have gone one of two ways. Either try to hide the problem or camouflage it. I chose to do both at once! Hiding something in plain sight is the best way to hide something. So we decided to dye it red and the rest is history. I've had a lot of feedback as you can imagine. Not all of it positive. But you know, anything that I do is for me. Not for anyone else. Me. If people like it, it's a bonus and I'm grateful, but I'm my own worst critic so if I like it it must be good!
There's no known cause or trigger of alopecia and every person is different. Some people lose all of their hair (including body hair) Alopecia universalis ; some lose it totally in patches, Alopecia totalis and some people like myself have Alopecia areata where a thinning of patches of hair occurs. It's difficult for people to understand the effects it can have on a persons day to day life. It can sap your confidence. Mine seems to have a couple of different triggers but my main one is stress. So I try to not get stressed which in turn stresses me out. I don't sleep, which makes me more stressed. I have my own business, which yea, you guessed leads to more stress........ But you know what? I refuse to hide away from it. I refuse to sit around and think 'poor me'. Yes I have days when I'm in pain and I feel sorry for myself, I'm human after all. But I'm still here. I plan on being here for a long while yet, so I'm making the most of it. Yes I get funny looks sometimes because my hair has to be cut a certain way to compensate for the patches. Yes I get "judged" all the time. Do I care? Nope. The people I care about care about me and that's all that matters.
So while some women are queueing up to buy their twinsets and pearls, I'll be queueing up to buy my red hair dye and piercings/tattoos and signing up for the "growing old disgracefully" program. Maybe I'll see you there!
SharonAnn
The thing that effects me the most though is Alopecia. Everyone who knows me recognises me by my hair. I even got recognised in the states one year because of it. After my treatment it fell out. In lumps. I was devastated. I spoke to my friend who is a hairdresser. We could have gone one of two ways. Either try to hide the problem or camouflage it. I chose to do both at once! Hiding something in plain sight is the best way to hide something. So we decided to dye it red and the rest is history. I've had a lot of feedback as you can imagine. Not all of it positive. But you know, anything that I do is for me. Not for anyone else. Me. If people like it, it's a bonus and I'm grateful, but I'm my own worst critic so if I like it it must be good!
There's no known cause or trigger of alopecia and every person is different. Some people lose all of their hair (including body hair) Alopecia universalis ; some lose it totally in patches, Alopecia totalis and some people like myself have Alopecia areata where a thinning of patches of hair occurs. It's difficult for people to understand the effects it can have on a persons day to day life. It can sap your confidence. Mine seems to have a couple of different triggers but my main one is stress. So I try to not get stressed which in turn stresses me out. I don't sleep, which makes me more stressed. I have my own business, which yea, you guessed leads to more stress........ But you know what? I refuse to hide away from it. I refuse to sit around and think 'poor me'. Yes I have days when I'm in pain and I feel sorry for myself, I'm human after all. But I'm still here. I plan on being here for a long while yet, so I'm making the most of it. Yes I get funny looks sometimes because my hair has to be cut a certain way to compensate for the patches. Yes I get "judged" all the time. Do I care? Nope. The people I care about care about me and that's all that matters.
So while some women are queueing up to buy their twinsets and pearls, I'll be queueing up to buy my red hair dye and piercings/tattoos and signing up for the "growing old disgracefully" program. Maybe I'll see you there!
SharonAnn
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