I have Androgenic Alopecia. My hair has thinned in the same way as male pattern baldness – in my case from the top of my head outwards to the sides. For me, this is one of the many symptoms of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS).
PCOS is an endocrine disorder and is one of the most common female hormone conditions. For information regarding the disorder, I found Verity PCOS UK invaluable.
My hair was always baby fine but there was always loads of it. The hair loss began when I was 18 and I am now 47. Over the years I have used every lotion and potion I could afford to disguise my ever-thinning hair. I have tried perms (picture a pooddle that got caught in a wind tunnel), I tried streaks (yup the seagull poop on head look), I bought a wig out of a department store (I looked like cousin ITT) the list of bad hair decisions goes on for years. However, one thing that was constant – I was never going to have the long flowing locks I coveted. So I kind of settled on having very short hair with lots and lots of scalp shining through.
‘The hair loss began when I was 18 and I am now 47.‘
Sometimes I could ignore my hair loss and other times it seemed I couldn’t forget it. It was on one of my self-conscious days that I decided to give wigs a try again. I bought another wig, this time a bob style – it looked okay, however, I felt like I had a neon sign pointing to my head saying “WIG”. I put the wig back in its box and got on with my life.
Fast forward to my mid-forties and after a few major life changes, I began to look into wearing wigs again. This time I researched wig cap construction, hair density, etc and I discovered that there was a whole world of good wigs out there. It was then that I came across a review on You Tube of a wig that a Simply Wigs customer had posted. So I dived into the website and got lost for a few hours studying the wigs on offer. I love that the information provided is concise and helpful, the photographs of both the style of the wig and it’s cap construction are fabulous and one of my favourite parts are in some instances the pictures of customers wearing the wig. This gives the viewer an idea of what the wig would look like on different face shapes.
‘I discovered that there was a whole world of good wigs out there.’
So now I have quite a few wigs – none of the same colour, style or length. Yes, I am still a bit self-conscious wearing a wig however it’s not that I think someone will leap up, point to me, and shout WIG! It’s more that I am not used to having so much hair on my head lol!
Oh my goodness Andrea your post is as if i wrote it, i’m even just a year older than you. I too have the same condition and hair loss problem. I to took to wearing wigs around 6 years ago and it was the best thing i ever did. Such a miserable condition with not much help or treatment, thats what i’ve found anyway. Thank you for sharing your story. X