IIIIII'm Baaaack

I cant believe how long it's been since I've done a post. Sooooooooooo much has happened! We've moved house (to Somerset), I've started secondary school, made lots of new friends and my hair grew back... then fell out again. Twice. 😤

We sold our house but I still had school so we had to live with my Nan. At school, every year at the end, the year sixes have a reward ceremony and guess what? I got the Academic Achievement award!YAY! 😝

We moved on Saturday 4th August, it was a long, long, everlasting journey. On the first night we didn't have any of our stuff, which was a little annoying but we managed to go through it. We moved into a beautiful thatched cottage 30 minutes from the beach! 😎

Before we moved I had an induction day at my new secondary school that I really enjoyed and mum and I thought that it was the one. So we chose it and I went to the summer school, which was obviously in the summer holidays. That was really fun, we wrote fantasy stories, went bowling, did art and much more. I've joined Primary Pals, am an Anti Bully Ambassador, on the Festival Committee, helping the community... basically everything! I also was part of the school production, Into The Wood, I was only in the chorus/dance because I'm a year 7. I'm loving it. 😊

The most amazing thing happened! I have a baby sister (Mila) and she's just turned 2. She's so cute and doesn't stop talking! I could just kiss her all over! 😘

I'm going to try to be more active on the blog and post lots more because of how much has happened. Thanks you guys for helping me get through my first years of 'Me And My Alopecia'.💘

Alopecia AWARENESS Month!!

Erin's story of her head shave made it into our local news!! fantastic piece of Alopecia Awareness just ahead of September Alopecia Awareness Month!

You can read the full article HERE

Then after this, we were called by ITV Anglia News and asked if they could come and film Erin and chat to her about her alopecia, her head shave and also this blog!! Erin and I were both super nervous but really pleased with the final piece that aired on TV:

You can read their report and watch the video HERE

Erin's fundraising has shot up now to £910!!! If you can help us break the £1000 barrier for Alopecia UK that would be amazing!

CLICK TO DONATE

Head Shave for Alopecia UK

Because so much of my hair has fallen out now I wanted to shave it. Dad said he would shave his too so I didn't have to do it on my own. Mum suggested we get some donations for Alopecia UK too as they've really been good for us.

I was really nervous and Mum said as it's the summer holidays I could get my ears pierced to cheer me up. It was scarier getting my ears pierced than getting my head shaved!! They used a weird gun thing to put the earrings in.

After a day chilling with Mum and Jake I shaved my Dad's head! First we shaved it into a mohican for a laugh, we all thought he actually looked pretty cool! He felt soft like puppies ears!!

When it was my turn I was nervous and excited. We shaved mine into a mini mohican too and I decided it was really cool so decided to keep it with that little bit on top! It was a surprise to see exactly how much has fallen out now it's shaved... one side looks like a leopard!

FULL GALLERY OF SHAVE BELOW:

So far (when we wrote this) I've raised £530.50, our target was only £100!!!! I feel so proud at how much I raised, click this link to donate....

https://www.justgiving.com/Epic-Erin-n-Big-Daddy-J/

When I first looked in the mirror I can't believe how much I liked it, I even feel better about my alopecia.

NHS Wig fitting!

Today I went back to the orthotics for my NHS wig. There's a children's waiting room with colouring and a TV with cbbc on! Everyone there is really nice, especially Sarah, she's the hairdresser.

Sarah had ordered in 3 wigs, one was too dark, one was too auburn and one was juuuust right! (sounds like goldilocks!!). Sarah put the best wig on me without looking in the mirror until it was all on so it was a surprise.

When she showed me in the mirror I thought "wow" it looked like human hair, literally! But it's synthetic! I really liked the length too, it's shorter than my other wig and has a fringe.

My new wig!

She helped me to put it on by myself which has helped my confidence as I want to be able to do it myself. It will be much easier for swimming at school and things now I can do it myself.

I was a bit upset this week after even more hair has fallen out so getting a new wig today AND learning how to put it on all by myself has really cheered me up!

My patches - Mum took these for me tonight

Hair loss & Wigs

After my bath one night Mum noticed more hair than usual stuck to my shoulders and arms. She had a look at my hair and found more bald patches. They were at the sides and at the top, I was upset because it's spreading and going to more places (not just the back!). One of my eyebrows is getting really thin too.

these were taken at the beginning of March they are bigger now

Mum talked to me about it and about that maybe if more falls out we might have to get a wig. She said I didn't have to wear one, I might like to just cut it all off. She showed me photos of girls with shaved heads and we looked at wigs on the internet.

I actually got excited looking at the wigs! We also visited a friend called Amy with alopecia, she wears wigs all the time except at home. I got to look at her wigs and try them on. Amy gave me a wig she doesn't wear to have a play with at home and get used to having a wig around. I was really surprised that she was wearing wigs because you couldn't even tell!!

The wig Amy gave me

Since this I've also had to stop eating CHOCOLATE! it has been making me sick, the doctor says I have a periodic syndrome called cyclical vomiting. I was gutted as it's so close to Easter. Mum bought me a purple wig to cheer me up. I LOVE IT!!! It's my rock-chick-chicky-rock wig for at home. Purple is my favourite colour and I've said right since I had alopecia I wanted a purple wig!!

If all my hair does fall out, I will get a proper human hair wig but wear my purple one for parties and whenever (except at school!).

So even though I am scared about maybe being bald, I am excited about how much fun and how many hairstyles I'll be able to have with wigs.

Alopecia Friends & Cadbury World

Before the half term I told mum that I was feeling lonely about my alopecia. I haven't met many other people that have got alopecia since the awards. It makes me more confident seeing other people with alopecia because seeing how they feel about their alopecia I know I'm not the only one.

Eleanor & Erin

Mum arranged for me to meet up with Eleanor who I made good friends with at the awards but they live quite far away so we all met in Birmingham and stayed over the night too. We all went to dinner at Nando's. I was really cheerful when I saw Eleanor, she gave me a massive hug! After dinner Eleanor took me to the bathroom to take her wig off and show me that she has some new hair, I was really happy for her. Then I put on her wig and she put on my hat and we went back to the table laughing our heads off to show everyone.

Crazy Kids

Swap!

The next day we went to Cadbury World, we got loads of free chocolate all the way around. We learnt the history of chocolate. We saw people making chocolate and delivering it then we played in the play ground.

Cadbury's Drumming Gorilla

It was really good to see Eleanor and I really can't wait for Alopecia Camp next summer with BeBold

Alopecia Awareness Month

September is alopecia awareness month and Alopecia UK are asking you to "Give AUK a Hand" by donating to their charity! Text HAND83 £5 to 70070 or donate online https://www.justgiving.com/auk/  

THANK YOU!