A Hair Strand of Thought

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Avatar for Pichi28
2 years ago

It is autumn in most parts of the world. Well, autumn in the Northern hemisphere and most likely spring in the Southern hemisphere - rough guess. So while I stare at the dried leaves along the pavement and half-wishing I am experiencing the cold autumn like we did approximately two years back, I got to thinking how life and almost everything follows a certain pattern or cycle. In seasons, we have the winter, spring, summer, and the well-loved wardrobe change of nature -fall. Of course, the months cycle around to make a year and so on.

And when some usual cycles get disrupted, we know that the earth is unwell.

Van Gogh-ing some stress away

That goes the same with our hair apparently. I never thought of that though - hair cycles. I mean, I know they grow but I never thought they have this sort of season or pattern or cycle.

And when that gets disrupted, something is not well with us.

And that knowledge got laid before me because of a certain situation - my situation years back.

The Bits and Pieces

I used to be a really uptight person. I was hard on myself and very ideal coming out of college. Things has to be to the tee and to my standard. But now of course, we know life does not always go our way. If it does then we would not be thinking about the homeless or we won't be thinking about poverty, etcetera. Dreams don't come to being the moment we said we want it to happen or transpire. Getting a job does not guarantee your dreams will come true the very next day. Of course, that is an exaggeration but it kind of paints a picture of how much I want what I want to come to fruition. It sounds bratty but of course it was a gradual realization and it did take a toll on me -physically. These things accumulated and I think one time, it happened.

fall fall fall..

The Phases

The hair growth goes through this : anagen, catagen and telogen - growing, resting, falling out. It was so cool when my dermatologist was explaining it. So the hair grows majority of it, then at some point they stay that way and they they fall of but the growing cycle should already be starting by then. This cycle goes seamlessly but due to some biological or psychological disturbances, the cycle seems to get disrupted and there comes a long gap between the growing and the falling out. Some experience it totalis - all hair (facial hair sometimes included) and some areata - just a spot. Alopecia.

The Cause

Biological disturbances say it's auto immune but since my lab works were perfect, they charged it to "stress". Which is most likely true. The first derma told me about one of her patients being a business man. They were doing good progress, but one time he got really pissed at being stuck in traffic and the stress caused him to start his hair fall again that same night.

Some people, I later on learned, just really have a cycle of having tremendous hair fall that they have it once every three years and it no longer surprises them.

The Discovery

My mom complained about the amount of hair fall our shower drain is catching. I was not surprised but to her it is alarming. At that time, I shrugged it off. But at that same night she was wondering about the amount of hair fall, I was combing my hair in front of the mirror and playing with how I will split it. Split it halfway, a little to the left, a little more to the right instead, a little bit more... and then boom! A perfectly circular spot the size of a five-peso coin. I stared at the mirror for a long time. And with shaky voice I called out to my mom. And the rest is history. We went to the doc, got steroid shots on the spot (yes on the scalp). Went consulted another doc who got a better med and program in mind but med is not here in the Philippines. Mom's nurse friends were able to find me from their area and they sent to us- angels they are!

The Ordeal and the blessing

It was a shock. It was an ugly thing. How do I tell my friends because if it goes worse, it will show. That time, I can still hide it when I put my hair up in a ponytail. Thank God, though, my friends and office colleagues were supportive. When I had to use a wide hair band to hide they fix it from time to time. The revelation of course was always shocking. My friends had that, "Show me.. no wait.. don't show me.." situations. Those who dared see had that, "Oh why did you show me?" reaction after. It was crazy hilarious.

When most of the important people were already told, they asked of course, how they can be of help. I told them the same thing my derma told me - as much as possible refrain from extreme emotions. Extreme shock, extreme anger, extreme frustration, extreme impatience, etcetera is a no, no. Physically, I have to be mindful about how tight my scalp is getting. I need to massage it, relax my thoughts because if my scalp is tight, that means I am handling something stressful and I could trigger the gap even. Also, no hair pulling - habit, conscious or not, drying hair and make sure I'm not using a fine-toothed comb.

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Eventually, handling it got lighter even to the point of being hilarious. When my hair started growing finally after some shots, I and my brother went for a massage. There is a part in the session where the scalp massage includes pulling of the hair. When the masseuse was about to do the hair pulling I pleaded, " Please be careful when pulling my hair, you might pull off my whole wig." The confused and scared look on the masseuse was hilarious my brother was not able to hold back laughing so hard.

I'd say it was one part of my life's adventure that called my attention to become conscious on my state of mind. That halted my train of thoughts from dwelling too much on the "what should be". If my plans get frustrated, I am conscious in calming myself down. It was in those times that I prayed to God to help me divert my attention if I am starting to go down that enticing pull of blaming myself, repeating scenarios in my head I should not.

It was in that time, upon learning it, during the recovering stage, and even up to now that I learned to laugh at myself instead. I still get frustrated, yes. I still express and air out my woes but I no longer dwell in them. I learned to weigh things if they are worth wasting energy on and over or should I take a step back and see if there are other ways to go about it.

Closing thoughts

It is a known fact that our bodies react to how we handle things that get thrown our way. How harsh we are with ourselves shows, too.

Things didn't go your way? .. Don't lose your hair over it.

Pray for a diversion. It is easy to just see and mull over the pain or sadness, but really, it is not all that that is in front of you. There are lots of things to laugh about sometimes including ourselves. Laugh and be thankful.

Sometimes, I tell my friends...

Thank God He is a God of humor. Would you believe it? He found it hilarious and apt to add you in my life. Thank you .. I needed you.


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2 years ago

Comments

Oh I finally found your alopecia story. Wow I haven't got to that point yet. I guess I don't have any spots for now. Lord I hope I don't have any soon. ๐Ÿ˜…

I guess this means I should not get triggered by others. In my case, probably the hair fall was also caused by my noisy neighbors and their chickens. ๐Ÿค” I am thinking it all started from there. Oh well.

What meds did you get from overseas?

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2 years ago

They call it Kenalog something for hairloss ..

Tingin ko din the food we eat, the environment cause din ..

Tingin ko talaga as time goes by dumu dumi nang dumudumi paligid natin and eto katawan natin since deteriorating naman talaga hindi na nakakalaban ng patas .. hmph

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2 years ago

Hayyy sad life tlga mabuhay page ganito eh. Charr. Haha.

Check ko nga yang Kenalog.

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2 years ago

I'm glad your scalp and hair are recovering now but I love the humor in this post especially during massage time haha

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2 years ago

Lol. The humor!

Things didn't go your way? .. Don't lose your hair over it.

Totally agree!

Seriously though, thanks for sharing this story. It's a nice thing to not to dwell on frustrations and to always pray. Indeed, He is a God of humor. LOL

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2 years ago

Thank you for helping newcomers! Like me, for example. Health to you!

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2 years ago

you're welcome :) to you as well!

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2 years ago

Some things are warnings that we have to take things slower. The sister of one of my friends from college has severe Alopecia. I hope you are fine now. And take it easy.

On the funny side, I imagine the scene with the masseuse's face when you told her not to pull your hair because your wig could fall off, LOL

$ 0.03
2 years ago

Wah "severe" :( I am very much fine now Coqui thanks for asking. But still of course watchfully monitoring the wig, I mean the hair haha.

Haha .. that part also with the masseuse .. haha my brother cannot forget ahha.

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2 years ago

Mahh badii experiencing hair fall for almost a year. I don't even know the reason, she's not stressed nor lack on sleeping. She doesn't even want to go for a check up. I just told her to change her shampoo and use some conditioner to strengthen her hair.

$ 0.01
2 years ago

Yep could be some changes in the growth stage. I was recommended a milder shampoo - baby shampoo even so the scalp can heal or relax or something.

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2 years ago

Weeks ago my hair fall was worse too. I panicked and even thought of buying different kind of shampoos. Thank God. It is better now. I have a lot of baby hair.

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2 years ago

Yis mura! Baby hairs for the win! As long as we have that.. we good! ๐Ÿ˜‚.. as for shampoo my doc recommended baby shampoo . No joke and it is not as smooth as adult shampoo but it will give your scalp some rest.

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2 years ago

But I was also using baby shampoo before and yet still had hair fall. ๐Ÿ˜…

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2 years ago

I think one of the reason is stress co'z when I am super stress instantly my hair will fall.

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2 years ago

Agree. I also remember one time .. i was doing the usual laundry in the bathroom sink ... As i was washing my clothes, i get surprised with hair just falling suddenly. Im not scratching my head, just doing laundry. One hair falls and then another and then another. It was weird.

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2 years ago

Oh my. Perhaps I am stressed too that's why a lot of hair fell off whenever I comb my hair. I thought it's just natural but later on, I was quite disturb kasi pa rami ng parami yung nalalagas. My g! Thanks for this info sis

$ 0.02
2 years ago

Uu sis. Uy but as long as we see baby hairs growing, we will be fine. Do try to change comb.. yung wide-toothed. I know it won't fix hair as apt as we want pero ayun it would lessen the pull.

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2 years ago

Really sorry you had to go through this. And glad you are completely healed

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2 years ago

I am by God's grace. I think it was a real way of telling me to do be nice to myself

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2 years ago

Stress is one of the biggest problems we face, it can be seen in any reaction that happens to our body, such as dermatitis, hair loss, rashes, in short. It is better to try to keep calm and avoid stress.

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2 years ago

True frank! Stress and then there is getting old and then there are new things in our food and stuff...

So it is huge to really work on staying calm! Agree!

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2 years ago

Are you totally healed now?.to be honest I'm experiencing hair fall for years now.. But not to that same point. But I missed my thick hair.
I also did massage ang hair pulling before. But due to this work, I forgot about it already. I went to derma before too and recommended me some oil.. But it was too expensive for just small bottles of oils..

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2 years ago

I can say completely healed yes. Praising God for that one. My derma primed me before to not be surprised if ever it comes back. Thankfully hindi pa umulit. And hopefully it won't. Naku ang laki ninipis ng hair ko sis. Manipis na sha dati.. manipis pa sha ulit. Scalp massage and less on the hair pulling sis.

I still get massive hair fall but the cycle of the hair growth is normalized so I see baby hairs๐Ÿ˜Š... Every tutchang is a gift kahit ang hirap nila i-tame.

I consulted with Svenson fjn dati and yes grabe sa mahal. So anghel din yun doc na nakita namin for second consult.

Also switched to baby shampoo for a time by the way.

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2 years ago

Ako ganyan, Pich as in ๐Ÿ˜”

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2 years ago

Hugs ate! :( We the peeps who are hard on ourselves.

It is one reason as well na takot ako pagalaw hair ko. This purple streak is the first..

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2 years ago

True po na pag nasstress tayo nagcacause talaga ng hair fall and any other side effect sa eating body. Kaya better na idivert ang attention naten sa ibang bagay kapag stress tayo.

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2 years ago

Hi Lovely! Uu saka eat healthy! :)

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2 years ago

remember bestie? meron din sya before stress spot and yes tama ka.. our bodies react to how we handle things.. and most of the time.. alarming ang mga works nya

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2 years ago

Alarming ang progression aside from getting old na nga may mga ganun pang deterioration hehe. Oh wow. How did bestie deal with it?

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2 years ago

Mostly hair start falling in this season I mean in winter, just because we use hot water for bathing. I noticed this every year and most important stress are the main cause for hair falling.

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2 years ago

Ah yes Niazi that is one cause of hair fall as well. Scarring your scalp through hot water use will make you shed off hair.

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2 years ago

Yes, but we canโ€™t even stay away fro hot water in winter season hehe.

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2 years ago

Haha that is true as well.

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2 years ago

Things didn't go your way? .. Don't lose your hair over it. Hehe natawa ako. 10 yrs na ako naghe hair fall. I try to aim for less stress as much as i can pero lack of sleep yata or sleeping late pinaka cause. Ewan. Nagpa derma din ako pero di ko binili gamot. Investing on hair supplements for the past 3 mos. Medyo ok naman kaso my hair fall pa din. So in short, ewan pa din. MaTulog daw kasi ako ng maaga waaa

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2 years ago

Heheh .. yan ang warning din sakin nung mga friends ko pag nakikita nilang im stressing over something .. "mhmmm ang hair fall sige ka" hehe.

I don't think we can get rid of the hair fall part. I think ang importante meron pa tayo nung regrowth part. Magkasama kasi tlga sila sa cycle. Nga lang si stress nag aantala nun timing ng regrowth.

Diet wise, the doc had me load up on protein. It was the start din ng weight gain ko actually. She warned me against sudden changes in diet. Meat is a must. Hehe.

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2 years ago