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salomeh
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Joined: Sat Jan 29, 2005 10:17 am
Hair Loss Type: Don't Know
Have you had a hair transplant?: No

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Post by salomeh » Sat Jan 29, 2005 10:33 am

Hi Everybody,
I have a family history of hair loss and have experienced my own personal hair loss throughout my life at different times. I am now 29 and have had consistent thinning for the past year. My family is convinced that I do not have the same pattern of thinning as my mother and grandmother do, because they were thinning since childhood. I have always been noted for my thick, healthy, curly hair and never have experienced thinning to this extent on the top of my head. I recently discontinued use of the birth control pill after my divorce 8 months ago. Prior to that I was on the pill for about 1 year and half.
Lately, I am becoming more aware and self-conscious about what is happening to me. I work in the medical field and the other day I was taking a patient's vitals and when I was finished he said to me, "you have thinning hair on the top of your head". I was frozen w/ shock; ignorantly, he continued to ask me if I was aware of this problem and if my family had mentioned it to me before. Then this man went on to advice me about how damaging highlighting is for your hair and how I should let my natural color grow in. It was as if I was the patient and he was the professional. I remained in a state of total shock and denial to his questions, I told him that I am not aware of my thinning, but that I will look into it. At the time, I felt like that was the best thing to do, because I did not want to validate what he was saying by agreeing with him, but now I am not so sure that I did myself justice in my response. Aside from a few freinds (not close ones) mentioning my thinning to me, and giving their solicited advice, this was the most horrendous experience I have had to date with this issue. Can anybody please give me some advice on how to deal w/ peoples (friends and strangers) unwanted comments.

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HairLossFight.com
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Posts: 1218
Joined: Sun Aug 24, 2003 3:24 am
Hair Loss Type: Androgenetic Alopecia (Male Pattern Baldness)
Norwood Level: Norwood III Vertex
Have you had a hair transplant?: Yes

Post by HairLossFight.com » Sat Jan 29, 2005 12:09 pm

Hi Salomeh and welcome.

It's really tough to deal with people's comments. In this case the person wasn't making a joke or trying to put you down, but still the fact that he even brought the subject up makes one feel self-conscious because in a way, when we start to lose our hair we are in a state of denial about it and obviously don't want other's to notice (at least this is how I was, I don't necessarily want to say that YOU were in a state of denial...).

About the only thing I can suggest is to do something to prevent people from making a comment about it in the first place. Birth control pills can definitely cause some hair loss, and so can stress. If you've undergone a divorce I am sure that that was a very stressful time for you and you may have suffered some telogen effluvium or shock hair loss from the stress. Not to mention that by going on and off the pill your hormones were being effected. If you had any hair loss from stress, then it's possible that this hair will eventually grow back after about a year or so once the underlying cause of the stress is eliminated. Hormonal induced hair loss can be more difficult to deal with. Do you use Minoxidil by any chance? I think that if you deal with the hair loss to try to regrow some of the lost hair to that may help. Also, you may want to consider using the concealer, Dermmatch. This is excellent for covering thinning areas.

Have you visited a dermatologist specializing in hair related conditions for a complete diagnosis? I think if you know exactly what is causing the loss, and you do what you can to deal with it and conceal it, you don't have to worry about people making uninvited comments.

Regards,
Sam

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Tricia
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Joined: Thu Jun 03, 2004 5:19 am
Hair Loss Type: Don't Know
Have you had a hair transplant?: No

Post by Tricia » Sun Jan 30, 2005 7:22 am

Salomeh,

That man was completely rude to talk about your hair. He is wrong, wrong, wrong when he says that the thinning is made worse by highlighting or coloring your hair. Dying your hair will not cause it to fall out unless a very harsh chemical is used. Any at-home coloring kit will not damage your hair or scalp (unless you have an allergy). The same is true for going to a hair salon. I color my hair and it looks so much fuller when I do.

I suggest that you go to a doctor and ask them to check your thyroid function and do a serum ferritin test. I tend to have low iron and it's hard to regrow hair when serum ferritin is low (even low normal).

If female pattern baldness is the only reason for your thinning, then you might want to try minoxidil (rogaine). I started in June 2004. You can read my story posted on this site. Some people respond very well to minoxidil...others don't. I think I'm in the average category. It decreases my shed rate (controls it) and stimulates at least some regrowth. Nothing spectacular, but enough of a benefit to continue using it.
5% minoxidil
Multivitamin with iron

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HairLossFight.com
Site Admin
Posts: 1218
Joined: Sun Aug 24, 2003 3:24 am
Hair Loss Type: Androgenetic Alopecia (Male Pattern Baldness)
Norwood Level: Norwood III Vertex
Have you had a hair transplant?: Yes

Post by HairLossFight.com » Sun Jan 30, 2005 9:38 am

For the record, I was not implying that the man was right to talk about your hair loss. I was suggesting that most people that bring up another person's hair loss to them probably don't realize how much that can bother them. Tricia is 100% correct.


Regards,
Sam

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