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Until my teenage years, I had very thick hair. Hairdressers often complimented me on it. Unfortunately, I didn't appreciate it at the time! \ud83d\ude00 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In short, all this to say that I started with a good hair base in life, and yet...<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The end of adolescence, the beginning of adulthood... and androgenetic alopecia<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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... <\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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! \ud83e\udd73 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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). <\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Beginning](\"https:\/\/commeundiademe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/alopecie-androgenique-19-ans.png\")
20 years old, the diagnosis is made.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
I fight for my hair.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Minoxidil](\"https:\/\/commeundiademe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/minoxidil.png\")
A desire for a baby and I stop everything.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n