28, Diffuse Unpatterned Androgenetic Alopecia- Losing Hair Since 14, Pics

Hi I’m new here and just looking for a community of women who have similar experience and struggles with hair loss. It’s been a difficult road to acceptance for me, but I’m glad to be able to share my story and hear other’s stories.

As a kid I had super thick hair (that of course I always took for granted) up until I was 14. At 14 my hair started falling out by the handful. Every time I would brush my hair, it was worrying how much hair I was losing. I believe this hair loss was triggered by puberty and stress at the time. My hair loss eventually slowed down, but never stopped. From that point on, I have been steadily losing hair and my hair follicles have been miniaturizing. Over the years, I’ve been to multiple doctors and had blood tests (no biopsies) and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I was told it was genetic and in light of both my mother and my brother having the same type of hair loss, I believe that is the correct diagnosis.
I went through a phase of sadness and desperation with my hair loss. I tried rogain, tricomin, spiranolacton, and special shampoos. All of which did little more for me than slow the shedding. After years of this, I decided that the financial cost of all of this wasn’t worth the limited results, so I stopped.
I began to play with the idea of wearing wigs or toppers instead (that is what my mom does). My mom took me to see her stylist who specializes in hair replacement systems and got me set up with my first topper. I was very self-conscious about it at first (and still am), but it completely changed my relationship with my hair. I no longer care what the hair that grows out of my head looks like. I don’t worry about other people seeing my scalp or how my head would look in certain lighting or if it was raining. I feel much more positive about my appearance and I don’t care that I’m still losing hair. I just let it fall, shrug my shoulders, and move on.
It feels so freeing to finally feel the worry lifted off of my shoulders and to feel kind toward my hair instead of hostile. Lately, I’ve even been contemplating the idea of shaving bald. It is a scary thought, but also exciting to think that I could be free from any expectation of how I “should” look and instead just be me.

*pictures of with with and without my topper. I bought my topper as a full wig and my stylist converted it into a 3/4 topper with clips, so it covers most of my head *

 

Hi Shula, my stylist is in southern Maryland