Androgenetic alopecia: My nightmare, my solution

What if I retraced my journey, my experience with androgenetic alopecia?

The more I meet women with androgenetic alopecia through Comme un diadème, the more I realize how similar our journeys can be. Even though each woman's experience is different, especially on a psychological level, as each will react differently to this ordeal.

A dream hair to start life well 😀

Until my teenage years, I had very thick hair. Hairdressers often complimented me on it. Unfortunately, I didn't appreciate it at the time! 😀 I remember having so much hair that I couldn't make more than one loop with an elastic to tie it up. I have a middle school memory where I was internally frustrated because those hair clips were always too small to hold all my hair effectively.

In short, all this to say that I started with a good hair base in life, and yet...

The end of adolescence, the beginning of adulthood... and androgenetic alopecia

Around the age of 17, my hair starts to thin. I don't realize it immediately at the time. But it's something I can see now, in hindsight, in my old photos. I think that alopecia must have started for me towards the end of puberty.

By the age of 20, my mother starts to worry. She tells me that she has noticed I am losing my hair, that my scalp is becoming sparse, and that my part is widening a bit. At the time, I don't take her seriously. I am in the middle of exams at university and all this doesn't interest me. I feel like I have more important things to deal with at that moment than temporary hair loss.

However, she insists several times. I catch her at one point looking at my scalp with a half scared/half compassionate look. I decide to consult a dermatologist. Mainly to please her, to reassure her because I wasn't worried at all.

20 years old, the diagnosis is made.

So I go see this dermatologist. He inspects my scalp and makes a few remarks: 'it's diffuse', 'it's everywhere'. I don't understand at the time that the term diffuse is not really positive in cases of hair loss. He suggests doing a blood test, then taking iron and vitamins, and coming back to see him 3 months later. During this session, he also asked me if any family members were losing their hair. I replied that my father had been bald since the age of 20.

This simple question, and my answer, made me realize that I was probably facing hair loss that might not just be temporary. I go home and consult Google. I then discover for the first time the terms androgenetic alopecia. I understand that this condition also affects women, whose scalps gradually thin as they age. I especially understand that this is probably what I have. It's an intuition, telling me that if there is such a hassle to have, it will be for me.

I diligently take the vitamins (Cystine B6) and iron, with the significant intestinal disorders it causes me daily. Three months later, I return to see the dermatologist. He looks at my scalp, tells me that there is no improvement. He then prescribes me Minoxidil 2%. I know, with everything I've read online, what this prescription means.

He won't clearly tell me that it's androgenetic alopecia, but this prescription confirms it for me. The dermatologist, ironically for me, is bald. I think to myself that if this product really worked, maybe he wouldn't only have 3 or 4 hairs on the top of his head... But I decide to try anyway. If there is a battle to be fought, I feel ready to try.

I fight for my hair.

I buy the product and I start the only local treatment available for women against androgenetic alopecia. I want to believe in it. I want to tell myself that it will allow me to keep my hair as much as possible, and to never be sparse. I want to believe that I might even have regrowth and that my alopecia will no longer be detectable. My androgenetic alopecia was hardly noticeable back then anyway.

The problem with this treatment for me is that I find it makes my hair greasy. My hair doesn't feel really clean after application (especially since the product has to be applied after shampooing, not before). I find that my alopecia is even more noticeable after application.

At 20, my alopecia was not really visible. I initially didn't feel self-conscious about it. But the fact of applying the product every day brings me back to that diagnosis daily. I find the treatment burdensome but I continue because I am too afraid that it will be worse if I stop.

In hindsight today, 10 years later, I realize that this treatment made me focus on my alopecia when I could have simply enjoyed my hair back then, because I still had a lot of it.

The complex grows with age. Between 25 and 30, all I see in the mirror is alopecia. I no longer really look at myself, I look at my scalp. Under the lights of elevators, fitting rooms, in the reflections of subway windows, in store mirrors...

I do observe some regrowth, but it's not enough for me to not be sparse. Not enough to have the hair density of a normal girl. Not enough for me to stop focusing and feeling self-conscious.

After a while, I decide to go to the Sabouraud center to confirm the diagnosis. I tell myself that after all, the doctor was quite quick to do it. I didn't have a trichogram (there's actually no need for that to diagnose alopecia). I am confirmed to have androgenetic alopecia and the dermatologist prescribes me Androcure and Minoxidil 5%, which is the formulation normally prescribed only to men because it is more concentrated and causes too many undesirable side effects in women.

I refuse to take the Androcure treatment because upon researching, I discover that it is banned by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States and that worries me. Moreover, I do not wish to take a hormonal treatment that I consider heavy to solve an aesthetic problem even if it is difficult to manage psychologically for me.

However, I agree to start the treatment with Minoxidil 5%, but I tolerate it poorly. The formulation burns and itches for several hours a day, but I continue. I have some side effects, like migraines, and hair that appears... on the tops of my feet! 🥳 But I continue because I am too afraid of what might happen if I stop. I feel dependent on this product that I hate. I don't see any positive effects from the treatment, except on my feet and my temples but that wasn't really the expected effect.

A desire for a baby and I stop everything.

At the age of 29, I consider with my partner having a baby. I then decide to stop the treatment, which is a huge relief for me because I could no longer bear this daily constraint. After the birth of my daughter, I decide not to resume the treatment because I have neither the desire nor the energy. I breastfeed my daughter for two years and therefore take a pill compatible with breastfeeding (Optimizette) but this has the side effect of worsening the alopecia.

My androgenetic alopecia reached a critical stage for me about a year after the birth of my first daughter. It was at that moment that it became really visible, to me, but also to others (even though I had very few comments, only looks).

It was also at that moment, at the age of 30, that I decided to take the plunge into hair toppers. And that I first walked through the door of a wig store.

Discover the hair toppers and wigs from the shop Comme un diadème:

For more information on hair toppers, wigs, and the different solutions available for androgenetic alopecia, feel free to check out my YouTube channel: