Alopecia does not define who I am

In my early years of wearing a wig I found telling new friends I had Alopecia a bit tricky.  I wanted to be able to tell new friends in a confident, casually drop into conversation kinda way....  but this rarely happened. 

Talking to the friends I have known for years before wearing wigs was so much easier. Occasionally my Alopecia came up in conversation but it was never the main focus as there is so much more to me and our friendship than just my Alopecia.

When telling new friends, I would either find it too upsetting or I just wanted to feel normal and have girly conversations about hair... not ruin the moment buy bring up my hair (or lack of) even if the perfect opportunity presented itself.   I also felt after telling some people it made them feel uncomfortable and they did not know how to react.

In other instances it would be all people wanted to know about... people would want to know more about my Alopecia and not about me as a person.
 

To bring Alopecia up too soon in a new friendship felt like it defined who I was as a person.

The way I handle discussing my Alopecia now is by talking to those I trust. After having Alopecia for the past 15 years, appearing on national TV and papers, I am a lot more comfortable talking about my Alopecia yet it is still not the first thing I want people to know when they meet me. 

Please visit my website www.alopeciabeautytips.com where you can see how my story has been in the Daily Mail, GMTV with Lorraine Kelly, Marie Claire and how i have worked with the little princess trust charity and Trevor Sorbies Charity 'My New Hair'

I have my down days too...

I always try my best to be a positive role model for anyone coping with Alopecia.  Helping others with my Alopecia Beauty Tips website has been the driving force behind my own acceptance.  The response I get from so many people on a daily bases really motivates me to continue creating positive awareness, but it also helps me when I experience any negative feelings about my own Alopecia. 

For the majority of the time I am very accepting of my Alopecia, but sometimes I can go a bit quiet on my blog, Facebook or tweets… this is mainly due to being a busy working mummy, but recently this has also been to do with experiencing a few negative feelings.  I feel that I need to stay positive for everyone else, but to be positive when I am feeling down myself is hard.  I have recently come to the conclusion that many of you would love to hear that I too have my down days.  

I am a very positive and sunny person.  So when I am a bit down my Husband, Family and Friends naturally worry.  I don't like to worry people so sometimes I keep my feelings to myself. But this is no good as keeping feelings bottled up inside over a period of time makes everything worse.

The most important things in my life are my Family, Friends and my Hair!  I don't like to admit that but it is true.  It just feels so vain but it is important to me.  When my wig is looking its best I am at my most confident, but when my wig is not right I feel everything else suffers.   


I took a trip down memory lane and was looking back on the most positive points of my life so far and the wig I was wearing at the time... I realised that my wigs were not always the best and had their issues, but I was happy and didn't care.  


So I have come to realise it is not always my hair that is getting me down, but my Alopecia is first on my list to blame.  I think from now on when I get down about my wig or my Alopecia I am going to try and take a step back and ask myself is my Alopecia really to blame here?

I am sure anyone with a body image insecurity can relate to this.  I am not able to change how I feel but I know it is only natural to have these feelings.   The supportive e-mails that I get from all my followers has been so amazing over the past 5 years and I am sure I would have a lot more down days without you all by my side.



Please visit my website www.alopeciabeautytips.com where you can see how my story has been in the Daily Mail, GMTV with Lorraine Kelly, Marie Claire and how i have worked with the little princess trust charity and Trevor Sorbies Charity 'My New Hair'