Goodbye Alopecia awareness month

September was alopecia awareness month, a month to celebrate our alopecia and making it known to the world. Alopecia is difficult to accept and because of that, alopecia awareness month helps me (and hopefully others) to be proud of themselves.

I am proud of my Alopecia, it is now something that just belongs to me. It has shaped me into the person I am today. For two years I have not been able to go through my hair with my hands, to put in a ponytail as high as I want to or to feel the wind through my hair. However I can now experience what it is like to truly accept myself for who I am. I've become more comfortable with myself and I am now more confident than I ever was before.

I obviously still have difficult days. Days where I look in the mirror and think, what would my life be like now, if I would still have my hair. I look back at old pictures and I just cry. It is difficult, because I need to think of so many other things now:

- If I like someone, do I tell them I am bald or not?

- If I apply for a job, should I tell them that I have alopecia or not?

- How will others react when they find out I'm bald?

But honestly, I over think things to much, I always do. I am happy with my bald self, I show others that and because of it, they are not awkward about it at all. If someone really likes you, they won't care if you have hair or not (check my love life related post!) and I should not worry about applying for jobs even though I'm bald.

I must say, even though I would prefer to have my hair, I'm still kind of glad I got alopecia. My perspective towards baldness has changed and I now know that there are multiple reasons behind baldness. Before I got this I had never heard of alopecia before! As I already mentioned, it changed the way I think about myself and it let's me appreciate all the other things that I do have. It makes me think more about the inside rather than the outside.

Alopecia has given me a purpose. Helping others with hair loss is now a true passion of mine and I hope I am able to make it my job someday. I hope that people will find it normal when they see a bald women/man on the streets. But most of all, I hope that everyone with hair loss finds a way to accept themselves, because you are all beautiful. Hair loss does not change that. You should all be incredibly proud of yourself.

I'd love to hear suggestions about blog posts you're interested in, please comment if you have any idea's.