Everyone reacts to their alopecia in different ways, right? For some, it's extremely
distressing, and for others they find beauty in their baldness. For me, I'm somewhere in the
middle; I'm not head-over-heels in love with my bald head, but I DEFINITELY don't hate it
either. It’s certainly a journey!
HOW IT ALL STARTED …
I went through the early part of my life with no problems with my hair whatsoever. I have
fond memories of being young and getting my first hair relaxer, and I did the absolute most
walking around swishing my head to make my new straight hair flow, almost to the point of
whiplash. My early-teen years consisted of heavily gelled-down baby hairs taking over
my entire forehead and getting excited when my ponytail passed 2 inches. In the late
teen years is when my true alopecia journey started. My first patch popped up around the age of 18, and it has been a rollercoaster journey ever since, leading to today, at age 33, where I have lost all of my scalp hair and the majority of my body hair too (these few lashes are still going strong!). I had always expected complete hair loss was a possibility--there’s no predicting what can happen with alopecia, so I did my best to prepare myself early on.
HOW HAIR LOSS HAS AFFECTED MY LIFE …
My feelings towards my alopecia is a mystery in some ways. I see stories of women
getting emotional, shaving their heads, unable to hold back the tears. For me, I snipped
my straggling hairs off in a break between my latest Netflix show, and carried on as though
nothing had happened. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not happy that I have lost my hair, I still
struggle to love the reflection looking back at me in the mirror, but am I going to let it take
over my life and fill me with sadness every day? NO! Give me a bangin’ lace front wig, a
brow pomade, an angled brush and some false lashes and I’m good to go!
I’m incredibly grateful for the fact that my alopecia hasn't had too much of a negative effect on my mind. Maybe it's because it was a gradual process so the worst loss didn't come as much of a
shock, or because I'm pretty thick skinned and tend focus on the positives. Either way,
yeah, I've got alopecia. Is it the end of the world? No. Am I going to get sick? No. Can I now
spend my spare time wig shopping and buying beautiful hair? Yes, yes, yes!
There is one aspect of my hair loss that I have struggled with though; It’s not necessarily the
loss of the hair itself, but what hair means to me and my culture. Hair and black culture go
hand in hand. Look up Black Culture on Google and you will be presented with a plethora
of images of black men and women, and atop their heads will appear a display of afros,
braids and dreadlocks. The afro is one of the most visual representation of a black person,
from 1950s and 60s, images of Black Panthers and the civil rights movement, to the 1970s
disco era and the more recent embracing of our natural black hair.
I’m definitely not saying I feel as though I’m not "Black enough," but I do feel like I’m missing
out on something. No more chats with my friends about what products we use to tame our
afros, no more comparing hair lengths-- I even miss complaining about my whole-day-long
afro washing marathons! It’s these mixed feelings and topics that prompted me to start my blog, Lost Locks. I process stuff much better by writing it down, and my blogging has
definitely helped me to appreciate the journey alopecia has taken me on. All in all, I’m
grateful for my health, the positive things in life, and to be able to share my journey with the
world.
Peace & Love,
Serena x
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