I understand that hair loss can be a traumatic experience, profoundly affecting your identity and confidence.

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My name is Linda and I have had alopecia for many years. Aged 21, I had just finished university and was excited about embarking on my adult life – new careers, new relationships and many other adventures, when I noticed the first bald patch on the back of my head.  The patches rapidly grew and multiplied, as did my worry and despair. Doctors could provide no answers as to why this was happening. My alopecia would go through cycles of falling out and growing back in, and hairstyles through my 20s involved an assortment of carefully placed hair bands, clips and camouflage cream to cover the bald patches.  I tried various medical treatments, sometimes painful and uncomfortable but these either didn’t work at all or only worked for a short period of time.   

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Things took a turn for the worse when I was aged 30 and I lost most of the hair on my head and my eyebrows and eyelashes too. I didn’t recognise myself in the mirror. I felt bereft, but I also became tired of fighting the condition and going through the grief of the hair growth/loss cycles. The embarrassment I felt about my hair loss had stopped me living life as I wanted and I now just wanted to get on with living life without worrying about alopecia.