People connect with people

CCCA

“For six years I was told it was my ponytail.”

The tenderness at my crown started in my thirties. Three stylists and two doctors later, someone finally said the word CCCA. I wish I had known what to ask sooner — that is the only reason I tell this story now.

DanielleAtlanta, GA

Alopecia Areata

“One patch turned into all of it in four months.”

I stopped going to the barbershop, then stopped going out. What changed was meeting other men who had been through it. The hair may or may not come back. The isolation does not have to.

MarcusChicago, IL

Traction Alopecia

“Nobody told me my edges were a medical issue.”

Braids since I was five. By twenty-two my hairline had moved back an inch. Some of it regrew once I changed how I wore my hair. Some of it did not, and I have made peace with that.

AishaHouston, TX

Pediatric Hair Loss

“She asked me if she was still pretty.”

Two pediatricians called it ringworm before a dermatologist named it. What helped most was the school letting us explain it to her class, so the questions stopped being whispers.

Tanya, on behalf of Kayla (9)Newark, NJ

Chemotherapy Hair Loss

“I grieved the hair before I grieved anything else.”

People kept saying it was just hair. It was not just hair. Knowing what to expect week by week — and that most of it would come back different — was the only thing that steadied me.

ReneePhoenix, AZ

Scarring Alopecia

“Permanent does not mean hopeless.”

I learned that scarring cannot be undone, but progression can often be slowed. That distinction gave me something to do besides worry, and it is what I tell everyone who reaches out to me.

CamilleBaton Rouge, LA