Today’s post is going to be a little more real than my normal home decor or date night posts. I’ve shared some of this in my Instagram stories, but I felt like it was time to transition our blog from random decor posts to what real life looks like at our home. And real life in our home has been dealing with alopecia for the last year. But, don’t worry, home decor posts will still show up!

In June 2017, our oldest daughter, Pressley, returned home from a beach vacation with family. I hadn’t seen her in three or four days and something seemed odd, but I just couldn’t put my finger on it…sorta like when your husband trims his beard or gets a haircut. After a day, I realized that she had lost a significant amount of hair around her hairline and her eyebrows were sparse.

Pressley admitted she’d been losing hair in the shower for the last month or so. The shower upstairs being clogged made more sense now. We have a family friend with alopecia so I immediately suspected that was the cause. Our brother-in-law, a dermatologist, was able to confirm those suspicions within a couple of hours after seeing photographs. We are thankful we were able to get that quick diagnosis.

I’ll never forget how helpless I felt those first couple of days. I cried. A lot. I brushed her tremendously thin amount of hair and thought of how many times I’d taken for granted brushing her hair. I worried about how she would be treated at church and out in public. I thanked the Lord that we homeschooled. And I was reminded there is always hope. Even if her hair didn’t grow back, we would find a way to adjust and use the situation for good. We prayed and we asked friends and family to pray.

Alopecia is a tricky disease, actually it’s classified as an autoimmune disorder. There is a lot of unknown as to why or how it gets triggered. You don’t know if you’ll lose all of your hair or some of your hair. Pressley had large balding spots throughout her scalp. She lost her eyebrows, some of her eyelashes, and all of her leg and arm hair.

For the last several years, I’ve been a big believer in food can hurt and heal. When a friend at church mentioned someone she knew had alopecia and had success by seeing a local nutritionist, I immediately made an appointment. After seeing Dr. Campbell, I felt hope that maybe Pressley’s hair could grow back. Dr. Campbell had dealt with many cases of alopecia, understood the disorder, and had successfully treated it. But he warned that it’s  long process, a process where the hair returns, you lose the hair, the hair returns…you get the idea. Until, finally, the hair returns for good.

Pressley was hooked up to a biofeedback machine and they sent some of her hair off for a hair analysis. The reports showed that her body was sick. Years of letting her eat sugary snacks and desserts had taken their toll on her body. She had high levels of copper and aluminum in her body. Her thyroid was off. Her body was stressed and was attacking itself by killing her hair follicles. All of this at the age of then ten years old. We were told she should avoid gluten, dairy, and sugar. She was also put on quite a few supplements to draw out the copper and aluminum and to just get her body chemistry back in order.

At first, we all did a really great job of keeping to the diet. We let her have one treat a week. We noticed some of her hair was growing back after two or three months! She had eyebrows again! At that point, we went on a vacation. We had a month of celebrating birthdays. The “treats” were adding up and we became really lazy and lax on enforcing a no gluten, dairy, or sugar diet. I take entire blame. It’s hard to deny your child of birthday cake and ice cream. And it’s hard to stay on track once you’ve tasted those treats.

When we returned from our beach vacation last week, Pressley confided to me that she’d begun to lose hair again. My heart is heavy. I can see the new bald spots popping up. At the same time, we knew this would probably happen. Dr. Campbell had warned us that this is part of the process. It’s still hard. But we have hope. It’s been a wake up call for us about the foods we’ve been eating. And it’s been a wake up call for Pressley too.

When her hair began to return, she thought the supplements were mostly the reason why. Now she sees that the food she puts in her body really does make a difference. Of course, I can’t be certain that she wouldn’t be losing the hair if she hadn’t strayed from her diet, but I have a feeling it certainly didn’t help.

Alopecia is much like a roller coaster ride and we are entering one of those low points again of wondering how much hair Pressley will lose this time. But we are hopeful that since she has quickly changed her diet and is sticking strictly to it, it won’t take long for her hair to regrow.

We appreciate the prayers, friends.

From Our Porch To Yours,

Sharlie