;)
I’ve had Alopecia since I was two years old. As long as I can remember I’ve always had to deal with it. At the age of 12, I was diagnosed with full blown Alopecia Areata. At first, no one really knew what it was, and so the first ten years of my life, I was misdiagnosed and medically mistreated.
It was at the age of four when I completely lost all of my hair for the first time. We were living in India and the doctors didn’t quite know what my condition was, which spawned a slew of experimental medical hair growth treatments. I had to go through daily treatments prescribed by my doctors of creams and lotions that literally burned the first layer of skin off my scalp. The doctors thought the peeling of the skin on my scalp would help my hair follicles push my hair out easier, which was not true. When we moved states side, there was a bit of hope…for a while. My hair started growing but it was only growing in patches. By then, I was officially diagnosed with Alopecia and I was seeing my dermatologist on a monthly basis for scalp and eyebrow injection treatments. It seemed like my hair would grow when it felt like it, with or without the treatments. After years of monthly injections, and also trying every hair growth medication on the market, including Rogaine for men, I was officially diagnosed with Alopecia Universalis. Hair just didn’t want to grow on any part of my body.
Something had to be done. I was coming into my adolescent years and hair and funky hairdos were a must. That’s when I made the decision that I no longer wanted to go for treatments and my doctor suggested that I buy some wigs. I completely shaved the little hairs that I had left on my head and bought myself a wig. Since the age of 14, I’ve been wearing wigs.
Wearing a wig gave me a new confidence. People no longer looked at me and questioned me about Alopecia. I wasn’t teased at school by the annoying boys and I felt that I kind of fit in. I must admit though that some of the wigs that we bought weren’t the most comfortable. I was a very athletic person in high school and many of the wigs were heavy and made out of synthetic hair which made me sweat so much which would make me break out in small rashes. I also did not have versatility with them. I wasn’t able to wear a ponytail or wear a nice up do, so I always kept the cuts on the hairpieces short.
It wasn’t until I moved into the city during my college years that I decided to see what my options were in hair replacement pieces. It was a market that really wasn’t much different. The only difference was that they were more expensive. The hairpieces, however, were more or less the same. They were heavy with nets that always created that annoying pouch at the back of my scalp. They did not offer the one thing that I really wanted: versatility.
I was a senior in college when I was introduced to Joseph Paris. Going to his office was right off the bat a very different experience. I didn’t feel like I was going to a store to point at a wig, try it on for size and if I liked it, I would purchase it there and then. At Joseph Paris, I received the undivided attention that I lacked at other hair replacement centers. We discussed my lifestyle and the type of pieces that would best suit me. My scalp fittings were taken to the exact measurements so the hair that I was purchasing was solely designed for me.
The human hair quality felt so luxurious and the personally fitted designs with the light netting made me feel like the hair was an extension of me. I no longer felt like I was wearing a wig. I felt like I was finally wearing hair that was meant for me and part of me.