A (Not So) Hairy Situation

In all honesty, I have really enjoyed not having to put on my face and wear a hat every day.  As much as our current situation is rather undesirable, it's been a nice reprieve from the day to day tasks I put up with in efforts to look "normal."  I feel like it's a lot easier to be nicer to yourself when you don't have to constantly fight other people's opinions of you. The little side glances you get in public or the pitying looks just ain't it sometimes.  In terms of regrowth, personally, quarantine has been a nice chunk of time for some of my hair to come back. It had been hinting that it may start growing back for a while, but now I can proudly say I have effectively formed a mullet of sorts, with my new shorter hair on the top of my head and the older, longer hair in the back. Now, I got all the Southern boys jealous.  It has also given me time to devote time to myself and actually start practicing effective self care. One of my friends and I were talk...

I used to strike deals with myself. In eighth grade, I had a significant amount of hair loss, and middle school is hard enough as it is, so that was a rough time in my alopecia journey, but it was ok, because I made a deal with myself that if I just made it through this year, then all my hair would grow back by the time I got to high school. Nine grade rolled around, and needless to say, I did not miraculously have a full head of hair, so I told myself it was ok, just hold out for sophomore year. And then maybe just try to make it to junior year. And then it was just make it until prom. Now, as a senior, an eyebrow-less, eyelash-less, and still partially hair-less senior, I know none of my deals with myself panned out. Did I stop making them? No. Because for me, making those deals allowed me to not fall into the despair of believing that I will never have my hair back - and to be totally honest I may never grow all of it back. Sometimes it happens like that. But I needed so...

Despite my A in AP Biology, I am no doctor. These are some websites with people who actually are doctors who can supply some more scientifically accurate information. National Alopecia Areata Foundation https://www.naaf.org/alopecia-areata The NAAF has generally compiled a lot of relevant information on alopecia, especially new research and they provide a good overview of what it is like to have this disease. They have a good compilation of resources, from research to donations to products, all within a website that is pretty easy to navigate.  NCBI https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5986111/ If you happen to be really into reading clinical studies, NCBI recently published a study on the effect of alopecia on the quality of life. Even skimming the article could be helpful, as a lot of it is good knowledge to know when you are trying to get your insurance company to cover certain alopecia treatments, as some companies get finicky with that kind of stuff. ...

I'm glad you asked! My name is Cassie Eckelman, and I have alopecia, an autoimmune disease that causes my hair to fall out - resulting in partial baldness. I wanted to create this blog to be a way to spread information, coping skills, and even add some humor into living with alopecia every day. Originally, I came up with the idea when I was younger, as I have been dealing with alopecia in varying forms since I was about ten years old. I was looking for an approachable way to figure out what was happening to me, but all I was finding were medical websites and sites geared towards adults - not the most comforting thing as a young adult. Putting my idea into action took a little longer however, but I finally got started my senior year of high school as apart of my Girl Scout Gold Award project. The emphasis of a Gold Award project, the highest level of honor as a Girl Scout, is to create a sustainable project that gives back to a community in need. For me, there was no better ...