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.

New Hair!

A few months ago I had a bit of hair growing back we found out because I always ask if mum can take a picture of my bald patch because I can't see it plus it's round the back.

Sometimes the patch gets bigger but sometimes a bit grows back. Although my patch has got bigger, my new hair is getting longer. It's exciting that my hair is growing back a bit. The really annoying bit is that even though it is growing it's still confusing because I don't know how much it will grow. My family are happy too.

It looks like a big mexican moustache!!

It's good to have fun with your alopecia!

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!

New School

It has been the summer holidays, which we have JAM PACKED full of fun times, I'm sure Erin will have loads to share about what we've been up to but I just wanted to share this with you for now.

Erin got a place at the local village primary school 2 days after going back to school in September! It was very quick, we found out on the monday and she started on the tuesday!!

Today I am so utterly PROUD of Erin! She did a talk to her new class HERSELF (the teacher was going to do it) reading facts about alopecia from www.headzup.org.uk which is aimed at children AND her own personal experience that she wrote. She said she had lots of questions too that she answered. I wish I could have seen it. This is only her 3rd day at the school... She rocks!!

Well done Erin, love Mum xx

Thank you from Erin

This is Hannah, Erin's Mum, I wanted to write something today too. Erin is a selfless, intelligent, funny, loving, medium-sized girl (she'd kill me if I said little!) She astounds me with how well she deals with her alopecia, some may say she's fortunate that most of her patches are well hidden but she doesn't ignore them. Every now and then she'll ask me to take photos so she can see it, because in most part they are at the back where she cannot see in the mirror. Her hair is still constantly falling out, the patches are merging into areas and we understand that one day it might all just go... it might not either, that's the thing with alopecia, who knows what will happen!

As you can see she's lost a substantial amount over the last 7 months. Some bits seem to have grown again but overall the patch has grown.

Yesterday in the hairdressers she was looking through the colour chart, you know the ones with curls of hair in different colours picking out what colour she'd have if she did go bald (or almost bald) for a wig... she picked a sandy blonde for school and then red and purple for when she's a famous drummer!! This is totally unprompted. She understands we have no control and happily talks about options for different situations. I have told her that if she does lose the majority of her barnet that I will shave mine too for charity!

Erin gets so much from this blog because it shows how much other people care about her and of course it's nice to think that other children with alopecia could read this too. If you go back to when she first found out, the progression of her dealing with alopecia has been positive and quick for a girl of just 8 years old. I'm very proud of her. What neither of us expected was how much people have reached out to show their love, some even send her presents! She's not expecting anything from anyone and has never been a spoilt child so she truly loves everything from words to hats that comes her way. We are both genuinely really touched by everyone's support.

Here is a video we put together last night...
With thanks to Laura from Tea & Honey Bee's Design for the little monsters

Rocco And Luna,

Me & Rocco

Rocco and Luna (my dogs) are crazy, funny, exciting and awesome. They're both shorthaired pointers, basically the same breed. My two crazy puppies sometimes play tug together and sometimes cuddle. Also they both have really soft hair at the back of their ears.

Rocco

I love them because they have a good sense of humour, silly when they want to be silly, smart and sometimes weird. My puppies are also loving because when you need a cuddle they will go up to you on the sofa and cuddle you when you're sad.

Me & Luna