As our wedding approached, I, like every other bride before me, started to brainstorm how I wanted to have my hair. Both myself and Craig agreed that up is how we envisioned it so I pintested ideas and stalked my hairdressers page for a few months for inspiration.
One afternoon in late April I was on the sofa running my fingers through my hair to see if it was fully dry when something stopped me in my tracks. Something that made my heart drop and my eyes fill up. A baby bum smooth bald patch. I snuck upstairs and positioned myself in between two mirrors, kind of how they do it at the hairdressers but with a lot less glamourous reveal. Sure enough, there it was, my first glimpse of alopecia.
I don’t think you can ever be mentally prepared for a moment like that, but for me it came at the worst possible time, twelve weeks before my wedding day. Somehow I knew straight away it was alopecia. (I did the thing you aren’t meant to do and googled it). I booked a doctors appointment and given my circumstances, was referred for an emergency dermatologist appointment. Little did I know this would be five/six weeks later, because the usual appointments can take as much as twelve months.
In the meantime I joined a group on Facebook. And whilst I didn’t post or interact much, the people on there were so inspirational. I had no idea what level my alopecia would get to. Before my patch was the size of a two pence piece, now resembled the base of a coke can. The thought of losing all my hair terrified me. How would I walk down the aisle? I wanted Craig to think I looked the most beautiful on my wedding day, at that moment the thought of him seeing me like this fetched the most pain.
My appointment came around and the consultant was hopeful. She said she could see the hair follicles starting to do their thing again, and I left with a few medications to help things along, and her ensuring me I was going to be a lovely bride regardless.
Soon the wedding day was here, I purposely positioned myself at an angle where our lovely photographer wouldn't have to capture any of my baldness. My hairdresser did the most amazing job at concealing my patch. And my hair looked fuller and thicker than ever.
Fast forward to two year later. My hair has now grown back but there isn't a day where I don't run my fingers through it anticipating alopecia's return, for I know all too well how lucky I was. But mainly I am grateful, so so grateful.
One afternoon in late April I was on the sofa running my fingers through my hair to see if it was fully dry when something stopped me in my tracks. Something that made my heart drop and my eyes fill up. A baby bum smooth bald patch. I snuck upstairs and positioned myself in between two mirrors, kind of how they do it at the hairdressers but with a lot less glamourous reveal. Sure enough, there it was, my first glimpse of alopecia.
I don’t think you can ever be mentally prepared for a moment like that, but for me it came at the worst possible time, twelve weeks before my wedding day. Somehow I knew straight away it was alopecia. (I did the thing you aren’t meant to do and googled it). I booked a doctors appointment and given my circumstances, was referred for an emergency dermatologist appointment. Little did I know this would be five/six weeks later, because the usual appointments can take as much as twelve months.
In the meantime I joined a group on Facebook. And whilst I didn’t post or interact much, the people on there were so inspirational. I had no idea what level my alopecia would get to. Before my patch was the size of a two pence piece, now resembled the base of a coke can. The thought of losing all my hair terrified me. How would I walk down the aisle? I wanted Craig to think I looked the most beautiful on my wedding day, at that moment the thought of him seeing me like this fetched the most pain.
My appointment came around and the consultant was hopeful. She said she could see the hair follicles starting to do their thing again, and I left with a few medications to help things along, and her ensuring me I was going to be a lovely bride regardless.
Soon the wedding day was here, I purposely positioned myself at an angle where our lovely photographer wouldn't have to capture any of my baldness. My hairdresser did the most amazing job at concealing my patch. And my hair looked fuller and thicker than ever.
Fast forward to two year later. My hair has now grown back but there isn't a day where I don't run my fingers through it anticipating alopecia's return, for I know all too well how lucky I was. But mainly I am grateful, so so grateful.
