I will admit right now, that this is one of the scariest pages for me to post or even think about. But in an effort to make this a truly honest and helpful site, I’m going to put myself out there.
So here is the first. This was taken about 6 months before I began pulling. Man, I was still so young (only 11)!
1989
Here’s how I looked through most of high school and college. The mega short hair was not flattering, and I always felt horrible about it (& myself), so I didn’t make a whole lot of fashion effort either. I’m on the left if you couldn’t figure that out. We lived in a farm town.
1995 ish
I held out on wearing wigs until I finished college & needed to interview for jobs. I wore this style for a few years:
Summer 2004?
After that, I found a cheaper, curly style that I stuck to until recently. The curls didn’t hold well after being brushed, so eventually each wig relaxed to be more wavy like this:
March 05?
Wigs made out of real human hair are EXPENSIVE! I’ve only ever had one and it is only about a year old. I got it for 50% off because it was a display model. It came straight & I went nuts with the curling iron (the first time I’d gotten to use one in at least 10 years). This wig was my back up plan for our wedding.
December 06
About the time I got that wig, I started having better luck with growing my hair out for the wedding. This is about the amount of hair I really had under that wig.
You have no idea how geeked I was to be able to make even this tiny little ponytail last year. Now I have a much longer one, but I can’t wear it out in public because of other thin spots.
Early 2007
The only downside to growing out my hair was that I had to go through the crazy afro phase. It was standing on end every morning when I got up.
My first hair trial for the wedding. I kept this updo in for 2 or 3 days because it was the first time out in public without my wig in about 7 years. People literally didn’t recognize me when I walked into my bridal shower that day. You can see some thinning above my temple. That area just won’t seem to grow anymore. The right hand one is my second hair trial after I realized what a cool natural spiral curl I had. That is ALL my own hair. I’ve never had curly hair before, just wavy, so I don’t know where this came from.
My hair was in pretty good shape for the wedding (July) and decent for the honeymoon (early Sept.). By October though it was getting a little thin again and I was worried about how to pin it up to hide the thin spots for my “trash the dress” photo shoot.
July & October 2007, respectively
And after all that time growing my hair out, I now have good length, but lots of bald spots. It is soooo irritating to have experienced the fun of different hair do’s every day to now be stuck with this. The headbands are the only way I can go without a wig.
Early 2008
May 2009, low light photos. I still wear the wide headbands to go anywhere.
This disorder sucks.
I like how even though they’re about 20 years apart, your expression doesn’t change at all between pictures one and four.
L, I didn’t notice that until you pointed it out, but I think you are right. I think that is my “okay if you really must take this photo” face. I will have you know, there is only 17 years between those two photos and not 20! Ok, no big difference, but there’s no need to make me feel older than I am! Roadhouse Pub & Butterfly World are two places I wouldn’t mind returning to sometime soon.
Hi!!!! i love your blog. I am starting my own blog, too. I made a video blog and i plan on making more, have you checked out the youtube video blogs? some are really really great. I will keep reading your blog and keep up the great work! You are a beautiful person and your struggle inspires me to quit too. oh, my video thing is shadowbeastmustdie on youtube.
much love,
Nicole
hey
do you have any suggestions for kids with trich. I know someone who has it and shes going through such a rough time. I showed her the title of your blog and she responded “I know its tricky” and began to cry. I cant seem to get through to her. Can you help her? PLEASE
By the way, congrats on your success
you are so brave to post these photos, i congratulate you. i actually came across your site today in a google search for my own [that i also cleverly titled 'its trichy'.. hope neither you nor dmc copyrighted that lol]…. anyway i just started it because ive been battling with trich as well and have been wearing hair pieces that were adhered to my head for the past 2 years. though they looked great and i didnt have the urge to pull with them on [because the hair wasn't growing out of my own head]…. i wasn’t helping anything. i was just avoiding the problem… covering it up. and my hair was starting to grow back underneath the hairpiece, but everytime i went to have it reattached it all had to be shaved down. so yah i was sick of not getting anywhere with it so last month i had the piece taken off and my head buzzed down. so now i have a relatively full head of hair… it may only be a half inch long but its mine… the trick now is just to let it grow and not pull…. easier said than done… so yah thus far ive been too timid to post any pics… i applaud your courage and commitment and your pony tail. so jealous!
Sadly there isn’t much ponytail these days, but I do keep trying. It’s all I can do.
I don’t think I could handle glued on hair pieces. Even wigs drove me nuts with itching. It’s the same reason I haven’t gotten extensions (that and cost). I used to pull from some of my wigs, so I’m afraid to do anything too costly. It’s highly likely I’ll pull expensive stuff too.