I Am a Bald Woman
I am excited about joining this group. I am 54 years old and have spend the last 52 of them destroying my hair follicles. From birth to about 9, my hair was braided tightly to ensure that the hair around my hairline looked neat. At 10, I wanted to do my own hair, so my mother allowed me to get a chemical relaxer. After another 20 years of doing the equivalent of pouring acid on my scalp, I decided that I wanted to go natural, so I went back to braiding tightly. Even then, my hairline was badly thinning. Braided hairstyles costing $200 convinced me to "loc" my hair. I absolutely love my locs and grew them for 5 years. After the death of my husband, feeling old and depressed, I cut them, only realizing that underneath all that hair, I had no hairline. After suffering with itchy wigs and weaves, I finally broke down and went to a dermatologist, who politely informed me that my hairline would never grow back...neither would the nice clean round spot at the the top of my head...I have alopecia. I finally surrendered and went to a barber. I insructed him to make me bald and he did.....I was not prepared for how beautiful my head looked nor how free I felt! (Why did I not do this sooner?) I got aquainted with my face and here I am...happy, joyous and free! My only problem is in the workplace. I would like those that go to work bald share with me what type of work they do and what its like.
