Carol
Dear Jasmin, Thanks for the info. Aleopecia runs in my family. No one discusses it much, they act as if it is the "family shame", but I believe my mother lost her hair at age "6". My sister and brother both lost their hair in high school. I experienced two small patches of hair loss approximately 6 years ago. I used a nutritional supplement from the health food store called Shen Ming. My hair grew back in those places. More recently in the past 6 months, I have been lossing my hair at a fairly rapid pace. The Shen Ming didn't work this time. It is more emotionally draining than I had imagined. I am an African-American female who stopped chemically processing my hair 8 years ago. I have been wearing my hair in its natural form (in locks) since then. My hair is long, down to the center of my back. I have lost approximatley 1/3 - 1/2 of my hair and have been wearing head wraps, etc. I am now faced with cutting off what's left of my hair and wearing a wig. I have my concerns about wearing a wig, though, because I feel that they stifle the scalp and will excelerate the hair loss that is already taking place. I am under the care of a dermalogoist. He will be taking a biopsy to rule out any systemic problems like Lupus, etc, but since this runs in my family (the other members of my family seem to have Aleopecia Universalis (loss of total body hair) I am pretty certain that this is a hereditary situation and not a thyroid or other medical problem. I just need someone to talk to, because Like I said, my family will not discuss it. Thanks.