Female Hair Loss

A woman's hair is symbolic of her femininity. Perhaps that is one of the reasons female hair loss can be so terrifying. I come from a family of women with long, thick, beautiful hair. I possessed it from the time I was born.

As I grew older, however, natural hairstyles began to fade out as a lot of African-American women started turning to having their hair relaxed to give it that straight, sleek, elegant appearance. Some instead chose to simply have their hair straightened which for me did not last as long as relaxed hair. Then came the geri curl. I've had them all.

Many years ago, I noticed that my hair was thinning and no longer growing. I contributed it to aging in addition to years of chemicals in my hair. Sometime later, I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism, and my doctor prescribed medication to treat it. So, then I also began to relate my hair loss to my low thyroid condition. Even after being on my med for quite some time, my hair still was not growing. I tried unsuccessfully for about six months to start letting the perm grow out by not getting any more relaxers. Even though I made it through the hot summer months and the fall, by winter, I told my hair stylist I had to have my perm back. Of course, my hair remained thin and would not grow.

Then a couple of months before I retired in 2013, I was so done with my hair that I got all of the perm cut off and started wearing it natural. Six years later, my hair has still not grown back to the thickness and length it used to be. What little bit of growing it did do was very sporadic. Initially, that used to be extremely depressing to me. Practically all of my life, my hair had been long, and I loved my hair! So, finally, I started to embrace my shorter hair. Recently, a dear friend shared with me something that seems to finally be making it grow and thicken all over. I'm still experimenting, and depending on the results, may share later what it is.

Female hair loss is more common than one might think, and several things can trigger it. However, you may be asking, why I'm writing a post about this subject. Today on Good Morning America, former talk show host and actress Ricki Lake opened up about her own hair loss, and as I've just shared, it is also something that has been an issue for me. As Ricki stated, it can affect people in a number of negative ways, and after all of the debilitating emotions she's been through, she's finally holding her head high and actually doesn't think she looks that bad. In my opinion, she is still just as beautiful now as she ever was.

Aging is a part of life, and like Ricki, I'm learning to do it gracefully. And even if my hair doesn't return to its original, natural state, I will continue to embellish my outward beauty to match my inner person. It may be something as simple as wrapping a pretty, colorful scarf around my head and/or adding a vibrant flower in my hair. And on those days when I really want to dress up, I can put on one of my favorite outfits and accessorize it with something pretty.

It's all about what we do with what we have. Though it may take us a while to realize and accept that, it's really that simple.