Change!!!

Recently, at my place of work we have been talking a lot about change management. I started thinking about how I dealt with the major change in my life, losing my hair.

Do you understand and recognize where you are in the change process?  Understanding that change can take time and you may go through various stages, will help you manage the change.  I wish I would have understood the change process when I first started to lose my hair.

Denial – When I started to losing my hair, I was in the shock and denial stage.  I wasn’t losing my hair, it was just because I was always wearing a pony tail and the stress of the hair tie caused the bald spot.  Well, at least that what I told myself. 

Anger – As more and more bald spots started to appear, I quickly moved into the “why me”, “life is not fair”. I was angry and more emotional about the changes happening to me.

Letting Go – Once I realize that I had Alopecia and it wasn’t going away,  I was able to let go of the anger.  Letting go allowed me to move forward in a positive way.

Exploration – In this stage, I researched treatment options and tried various different things.  As I went through various treatments from cortisone lotions to needles with minimal success, I found myself falling back into the anger stage. 

Acceptance-  Once I started to own “Alopecia”, I could accepted it.  The acceptance stage is an amazing place, because here you are in control of your decisions.  You start to feel empowered.

In a change such a losing your hair, you don’t have much choice in the matter and it can take significant time to move through the change process.  It is important that you recognize where you are in the change and also realize that you might move backwards before you come to accept the change.  By recognizing where you are in the change process, it allows you to find support and gain the knowledge you need to move forward.  By gaining knowledge and having the ability to deal with the change, it will allow you to accept it and gain control.

If you have Alopecia and are feeling frustrated or depressed, talking to your health care provider or joining an Alopecia support group in your area may help you to move forward in the change process.

Accepting change can be very rewarding as you gain a new level of confidence. For me, I now love the ability to change my hair styles.  Short to long, brown to blonde, it just depends on the day!

 

 

 

CEO, My Life

A dear friend and business associate of mine shared a story with me that made me think a lot about life. Morale of the story – Be the CEO of your life, don’t let others control your decisions.

I know first hand that having Alopecia is mentally exhausting.  Trying to come to grips with losing your hair, researching the root cause, treatment plans, deciding how you want to move forward, etc, etc.  The thing to remember is that as the CEO of  your life, you get to make the decisions.  Don’t let other people and society influence your decisions.  You decide!!  Once you change your mind-set from reacting to understanding then it becomes your decision on how you want to move forward. Don’t get me wrong, it is really easy to get caught up in the “why me” phase and its OK to be stuck there for a while or even go back from time to time. Eventually though you need to make a decision and you need to own that decision. Be your own CEO!

If you want to wear the same wig for the next 30 years,  do it! If you want to change your wig to match your current mood, then do that (this is me!) If you want to try steroid therapy or light therapy, give it a try.  Or if you feel comfortable going bald or wearing scarfs that’s good too.  Just be authentic, own the decision.

The reason you have Alopecia is because your hair follicles are being attacked by your immune system. You did not ask for this to happened but it did and now you get to own the decision of how you deal with it!

My daughter did a presentation at school about Alopecia and she made these cool props to explain what happens.

In the unhealthy follicle you will notice that the blood vessel is detached and enzymes are attacking thus causing the hair to fall out.

In the healthy follicle, the blood vessels are attached and there are no enzymes attacking.

I owned a decision this past weekend to go bald in an inspirational photo shoot at my gym. It wasn’t an easy decision and trust me there was a lot of emotion involved.  I made a major CEO decision for me!

It takes courage to own who you are but it’s a great feeling once you make that decision.

Keep Smiling,

Shannon

CEO, My Life!

#baldbrillance #alopecia #baldisbeautiful #beyoutifulbeast

Surprise!

Well, I have to say the element of SURPRISE can catch a person off guard.

I was watching friend’s children compete at a local high school gym. It was a large event, with 200 plus people watching. To my surprise, one of their children thought it would be cool to pull off my wig! If I remember correctly, he made the following comment, “the one thing I do know is you are wearing a wig”. Before I could even react he had grabbed my wig. I was in shock; I fumbled with the wig to get it back on and looked over at his parents and said, “He pulled off my wig”. I could feel my face turning red and my heart was pumping. I did not look around or make eye contact with anyone in the gym. I had to fight back tears. Needless to say, his parents were none too happy with him. I continued to watch the event and once it was over, I left the gym without making eye contact with anyone along the way.

In the boy’s defense, I often joke around with my wig. He and my son will try on my wigs and I will put them on backwards, inside out, etc. to make them laugh. He may not have realized that this was not appropriate behavior in public. Note to self, remind my son’s friends that it is NOT COOL to pull of my wig in public!

I’ve been thinking about the event for the past few days. I certainly was surprised but I also felt humiliated. I’m very open about wearing a wig. I’ve had to chase my wig down the street on occasion and that did not bother me. So, why did I feel so exposed? It dawned on me that my wig is my crutch; it keeps me safe from being different. If it was on my own terms, exposing my bald, patchy head to the masses, I would have been fine with it but not under that circumstance. We all have certain things that we use as our crutch to protect us from the outside world. Removing this crutch needs to be done at our own pace and under the right circumstances. If I would have went to the event with my bald head exposed, I would have been confident about doing it.

If you are an Alopecia suffer and you wear a wig, bandana or scarf that is great. It is normal to have a crutch to support you! Do it with confidence and hopefully you don’t get any unwanted surprises!

Keep smiling,
Shannon

Define Yourself

Hello,

I have been checking up on the Alopecia research I wrote about in my last blog but at this time have nothing new to report. I will continue to check in on the research and keep you up to date. For the time being, we will have to embrace Alopecia and find ways to cope with the disease! 🙂

I have been asked a number of times, why do you wear wigs, why don’t you just go bald? For me, the reason I wear wigs is not to disguise my Alopecia. I’m very open with the fact that I have Alopecia. I think its just easier and makes me feel more confident working in a business environment. I treat wigs as an accessory to my day. I change it up from long to short, to curly to straight, to different colors depending on my mood. Sometimes, I even change my wig during the day. Over the years, I have grown to LOVE my bald head; I just find it a lot more work to keep my scalp cleanly shaved. At the gym, I wear a bandana to cover my patchy spots. Also, I live in SASKATCHEWAN, CANADA and the wig protects my head from the elements! This is not to say, I won’t ever go bald in public. I am more comfortable with my baldness now than in the past.

It is a personal choice if you decide to wear a wig, a scarf or just go bald. You have to make the decision that is best for you and that you feel confident. Do not let others make that decision for you. I know there is a lot a pressure from society to look a certain way and being bald may seem like it does not fit into the norms. Confidence does fit into society’s pressures and if you can own your decision to wear a wig, a scarf or go bald you will fit. There is nothing more beautiful than a person who is confident in their own skin. Own your decision, define yourself!! Your definition of yourself may change as you become more confident with Alopecia. There is nothing wrong with being private and disguising your Alopecia if this is what makes you feel confident.

I wear wigs with confidence. I have had a number of those awkward; you are in my bubble situations, where people are way to close examining my new hair cut or color. Fooled them!! It was so funny one day, I was just leaving the salon with my daughter and one of the stylists came running up to me. He was gushing over my great haircut, asking me to turn around so he could see the back. I totally surprised him, when I lifted my wig off my head and said he could try it on. He was also bald! 🙂

Shout out to a great support group in the US called Bald Girls Do Lunch. They are launching an amazing project call “Real Women with Alopecia”. If you are an Alopecia suffers and are going to be in the Los Angeles area on March 20 and 21st, check out this great project, http://bitly.com/BGPhotoshootLA.

Keep smiling,

Shannon