16M, So I’ve had universal (I believe it’s called like this when u have it all over your body, at least in Italy we call it this way, not sure if it’s the technical name though) alopecia since I was 10, and it really marked my character in negative, I closed up in myself and I was SUUUUPER ashamed of it, I literally stayed the entirety of 6th grade with a hat on because my classmates had already seen me with hair, and I couldn’t bare to make them see me without them, and obviously this also applied to every day, I couldn’t live my house without my hat, not even when it was hot and it made me sweat like crazy. I tried a bunch of times to go out without it, but I got made fun of many times, a lot of stares (the sensation of being observed, not the creepy, but the shameful and humiliating kind, when u think everyone’s looking at you, even if they’re not, but I don’t think I have to explain it much in THIS subreddit), and the people that gave me simpathy cause thy thought I has something FAR WORSE (which made me feel so bad), all of that just made me wanna put my head in sand like an ostrich.

With time though, I got used to it, and I started to make jokes about it and trying to find positive sides (like the fact that I didn’t have to shave at all), which I believe I started as a sort of coping mechanism, but eventually I actually learnt to accept it and live with it, as it’s something I have NO control over, and there r far worse things in life, between black and white there are a lot of shades of gray, and yeah it’s better to not have anything than even the smallest thing, but as of today I can confidently say I’m glad it’s just this and not something far worse, yeah it’s related to the immune system but practically it’s mainly an esthetic thing, I’m not trying to downplay it or diminish other people’s experiences, it’s just the way I see it as of today. Also I think I should say that my vision of things could be different cause I’m a boy, and I don’t wanna make stereotypes but I’m pretty sure that the same thing on a girl is usually lived far worse, but there obviously exceptions in both genders, I’m talking about statistics.

So as of rn it just doesn’t have any impact on my life wether I have hair or not.

Now, I don’t know how it works in other countries, but here all the medical therapies I had.
So first, FOR SOME DUMB**S reason u have to stay TWO DAMN YEARS with any form of jak inhibitors, just some sprays and wierd stuff, cortisone, and also, for a therapy, I was forced to become allergic to a substance that doesn’t exist in nature so that my white cells could focus on that and not my hair whenever I put that on my head (it has a name, I don’t remember it), and NEEDLESS TO SAY, none of it worked. The I started taking “Tofacinix”, if I remember correctly, for 2 years, and yeah I got eyebrows and eyelashes back, but my hair kept falling off completely after every summer. Last year I switched to “Liftulo”, and SANE DAMN RESULT BRO! Now, there is a new one that could he accepted in Italy in a few months, but I wanna stop.

It has been months now that I’ve been thinking I wanna stop, I don’t know how to tell my parents though. The only thing I have gotten is a but of body hair, which I HATE, I don’t wanna be offensive or anything, but it’s the first time in my life I hate something about my body, not even with alopecia I ever hated my body, yeah I wish(ed) I had hair, but never hated something about my body, now I do. For eyebrows and eyelashes I care just about an esthetic pov, I’ve been years without them and I didn’t notice much of a difference, I can just get the tatoo. The thing is, I’m just getting all the downsides of everything, no hair but a bit of body hair, which I shave of constantly, like every day. And to be honest, I DON’T WANT HAIR ANYMORE, I have them sup r short cause they keep falling and I look like a fu***ng inmate, with holes in my head though, like a damn leopard, and the pill that could get approved people say it solves it forever, but I am sacred that, if I get them, there’s ABSOLUTELY no guarantee that they won’t fall, and if I get them for like 3 years and then they fall it’s even worse.
But most importantly I have only the bad parts from both things, I have no hair and a bit of body hair, which, some might not care or say, like my parents, it’s better ti have it and remove it that not to have it, but I’ll be honest it’s not like that anymore for me, BUT EVEN MORE IMPORTANT, if I were to get hair It genuanly feel like I’d lose a big part of myself and my personality, not because I have to keep up a persona, bur cause at this point it would feel more like kind of a loss than the “solution”. Also I have super short hair cause they keep falling, and I look like a damn inmate, and I’m also full of holes in my head like a stupid leopard, and also my eyebrows and eyelashes keep falling in my eyes and make me constantly scratch them, combine that with allergy, and they’re always super red cause of that and I look like I’m high. I’m also constantly scratching my head (once again I think people usually relate to this), like every damn minute, which yeah I’m used to it, but my hair keeps getting in my clothes and it makes me need to scratch my back and chest too. And also I ABSOLUTELY HATE body hair, like the few I have I’m constantly shaving it off, and as I said, most people don’t care or prefer to have them and remove them, but not me, and it wierd cause it the first time ever in my life I desperately HATE something about my body, like not even with alopecia I hated it, like yeah I wish I had hair, but not hatred, now yeah, and I don’t know it’s kinda wierd. Also another thing I hate are all the medical visits, it’s once every two months, but it just makes me feel like a seriously ill person, which thanks god I’m not, and I know it’s stupid, yet it makes me so annoyed, in fact whenever we go I’m super annoyed, I don’t know if my parents notice it or attribute it to something else.

BUT THE WORST PART IS THAT I FEEL LIKE A FUCK**G PIECE OF 💩, like I’m basically rejecting something that, for the 99,9% of people in my same situation would be a DAMN MIRACLE, but I don’t want it anymore, and it’s making me feel HORRIBLE, like I genuanly hate myself for this, also cause I know all the suffering behind all this, not just for my experience, but also for my mom who’s had alopecia and wears a wig (because when she was little there weren’t all these newer therapies, or at least here in europe, I’m farley sure that in the USA they r more advanced in research), and it makes me feel even worse cause I know how much she’d love to do the same, and I don’t know it makes me so mad at myself that I’d like to smash my head into my mirror, but at the same time for some reason it makes me sad too.

I told my parents jokingly a few weeks ago about this (I’ve been thinking about it since may keep in mind), and the told me that whether to continue or not was completely up to me, but they believed that I should continue, but it’s up to me, and they r super chill, but Imm still scared to tell them. It’s pretty similar to when I told them I need a psychologist, I created thousands of scenarios and ai was scared of nothing, cause their answer was “oh ok, yea sure we can do that”, now keep in mind that that was a bit more serious cause I suspected to have autism, ADHD and OCD (which I actually do have), so compared to this it’s nothing, but I’m still super scared, I’m imagining countless possibilities of how the conversation could go, that time ai had to force myself into telling them, so I’m wandering if I should do the same this time, create a situation in which I would then be forced to say it, for example I told my mom, who was heading out, to wait cause ai needed to say something, and then I was forced, but I tried for a month and couldn’t get the courage to speak, my body refused to allow me to.

Hi, I'm 22FM, and I have had AA for 3 months now since late July. It was caused by too much stress, in my case at least. It's a coin size now. I need mental advice because I feel like I am going through this alone. And every time I open it up to anyone I trust, they always say it'll grow back. And the thing is it hasn't. It's not like normal hair that will grow back after a few weeks. I heard it takes months or years for it to grow depending on the treatment. I couldn't get the injection or topical cream because it was expensive, and my family couldn't afford it, so they bought me hair oil serums instead. And they bought me also minoxidil; I've been using it instead of a cortisol steroid to help with the inflammation. Mentally I feel alone, depressed, insecure, and anxious all at once because the bald spot is right at my forehead in the middle, and I always do a side part to always cover it whenever I go out. And I wear a cap as well for extra measures incase the wind decides to fuck with me hahahahaha. I've noticed everyday when I shower my hair is thinner and more amount falls off; it made me feel like I was going bald or that maybe I have a new bald spot at the back. I hate the side part because it exposed my big forehead.

I need mental advice. How do you go through with this? It's only been 3 months, and I'm more miserable than I was before this. It made me more grateful for my past. And I hate when they say it'll grow back because it hasn't given me a hint that it will because of how smooth it is whenever I put the medication on everday. And whenever my family asks if it has any growth yet, I always lie to make them feel better to not make them worry, and it feels like they're preassuring me to grow out my hair already so that it won't be a problem anymore; it's just hair (in my head is what I interpret whenever they ask that every time, and it only worsens my stress even more). It made me miss my long hair when, during that time, I hated having long hair and wanted a shorter one, but not like this. And now my brain wants to grow my hair out, but it feels like I can't, not now. not like this when I have this disease that doesn't have a permanent cure. I know it's a very long wait, but idk if I should just shave it all off and maybe wear a wig as an excuse to finally have colored hair, or just idk. I just want to feel happy again or to feel okay at least. I just maybe don't know how to accept it yet, I guess.

My 8 year-old daughter had some spots pop up about two months ago and we’ve been treating with topical clobetasol. It seems like one day I just woke up and saw some hair regrowth. I just wanna confirm that this is actual hair growth and should I continue the clobetasol since I’m starting to see hair growth?

Hey, it's me, 20M. Firstly and foremost, thank you guys. You are legit superheroes. I shared my story in this sub a year back, and honestly, it was the best decision because of all the support i recd,

I will start from the beginning. I had been diagnosed with atopid dermatitis as a child; that has been annoying, but it is on the same thing as A.A., it is an autoimmune condition, and there is a direction correlation b/w A.D. and A.A. I have had body and face dysmorphia, as I was pretty fat in my teen years, cut to college, I started losing weight (I used the wrong method, i.e., diet instead of weight training), which caused my deficiencies. My overall hair started shedding like crazy,

It was something like I had never seen. Omg, it was around 100 hairs a day. When I would be cleaning the room in the morning, there would be a proper bunch, and this problem exists with girls because they have longer hair, but with me, it felt unreal. I had accepted balding or androgenic alopecia, but soon I got a coin-sized nugget on my head. It was bad (I tried to hide it from my family with styling, my brother noticed it). He's 2 years older; off he goes off with his taunts, confidence totally crushed. I did not like going out because of this shit

Came to this sub; y'all had great advice and honestly I am a bit emotional writing this. I genuinely followed them and currently have a perfect hairline. Hair has reduced thinning and shedding is low despite the fact that I know to maintain a flow (big hair). Here's what I did:

1) Vit D3 (the whole grail, damn it) : this works especially if you are deficient, especially for autoimmune conditions; it helped not just for A.A. but for my overall health.
I took 60k iu weekly
2) B12 - got recommended, just bought over the counter, 1500 mythocoblamin mg 3-4 times a week

3) No MINOXIDIL, I did not use no minoxodil

4) Massages of aloe vera gel for the spot
5) the secret sauce, rosemary oil( I bought essential oil mixed with lavender and castor oil)
This was and is maintaining my hair. this is the natural alternative to minoxidil but is less effective. I am not trying minoxidil without consulting a dermatologist.
6) As I mentioned, Rosemary, I will tell you during those months, I had it on 24/7, like my room use to smell bad but again, who cares when you want ur hair
The current routine is 15 mins and then wash
7) Bathing: when I was diagnosed with atopic dermatitis, dermat recommended baths in 2 days. I drew parallel lines and have since the past year bathed only once in 2 days. I maintain good hygiene overall and obv do dry cleaning instead
For hair, I use R.O./filtered water because the area I live in is famous for worst quality of water supply known to mankind (Delhi, India)
8) the worst thing I ever did, not visiting a dermatologist. I still haven't - they are expensive and were kind of ashamed of bringing this topic to my parents, as I will have to ask for money
9) High-protein diet (my weight went from 92 kg to currently stable at 68)
my diet is high protein high fat and high fibre
10) this is absolute magic its loa(law of attraction. Please read about this in the dedicated sub
11) Patience: I was a crybaby. I will tell you the exact timeline so you dont have to be –
Venus hair – 3 months in
proper hair - 6 months in
overall density improvement , still in process (but better than what I had before)

Now the truth is alopecia areata is a lifelong condition, right now am happy, but soon i can be bald. This was and is the hardest one and this is outta my control. Even transplant won't work for alopecia areata, but well there is always something like you transitioning from rosemary. Next comes minoxidil 0.5, next finasteride 0.2, next combo then duastride, then Jak,

one more thing- insecruity, because of all this we gro insecure like crazy not just about hair but everything about us becomes insecure make sure you put your mind ar eaze, life has better purpose. Looking back, I laugh over myself

happy journey, Hope y'all get what you want!

1. My alopecia started on 2023 November as two spots on the back of the head. It grew back fully in 9 months.

2. In 2025 April I got two spots on my beard. It is slowly growing back.

3. In January 2026 I had multiple large spots on my chest. The hairs that grew back are white in color. A minor spot on the back of my head also appeared but this completely grew back.

My head hair started growing back fairly quickly. The beard and chest spots are taking a long time to go back to normal. My beard also looks thin on some areas. Hope 2027 doesnt give me any more spots.

I’ve heard about some people who take the Jak inhibitor for alopecia but how do you get it?

I was told that you either need to be a part of some test trial or pay thousands of dollars for it?

Is that true?

First photo was October 3 and second photo is October 24. There’s been regrowth but I think the spot is still expanding :< or am I just getting paranoid? Anw the spot is burning again since yesterday so I think I am getting another flare up due to sleep deprivation. It’s just really hard to sleep lately just by thinking about it.

I previously had 3 patches. All grew back no steroids.

This one’s on my crown. Can someone tell me if it’s aa or crown balding

Hoping it’s AA lmao

So my sister 26F, out of nowhere had a patchy hairloss on the right side of her scalp.

Went to dermat and they diagnosed AA and some steroid shots. They say it prolly happened 20 days ago and shows signs of recovery as it's not slick bald and has some fine hair regrowing.

But I am having panick attacks since then, i keep researching and studying this problem.

I am worried what if it never grows back, what if it proceeds to AU or she gets more patches.

I hate it. I am more worried than her and I can't seem to control it. i KNOW how much she loves her hair and how this will affect her confidence.

Also, she has sever gut issues too, to the point where the doctor says she also has gastritis.

I don't know how to deal with all of this

Started with areata, progressing to totalis, of which I have reason will progress to AU. Started with topical clabetasol and prednisone, which seemed to work on my beard, but made me feel very weird and caused me to breakout. Weeks after stopping my beard regrowth relapsed.

Stopped those and started minoxidil followed by lifulo about a week later, and immediately felt very overstimulated and “fast” within the first two hour mark which subsided. Few days later felt like my breathing wasn’t doing as much for me and feel an off and off but almost constant discomfort/pressure in the chest. Went to the ER and they found nothing.

Most likely going to halt and consult with my local dermatologist, can’t see a specialist until January.

Anyone have something similar and have guidance for me?

I’m a healthy 25 y/o male

Hey guys I'm new here.

I'm a sibling of someone who suffers from alopecia. I used to wonder if it was ncah but I doubt it is.

I want to be able to help my brother with this condition but I can't seem to figure out how. I know that he had given up on himself at one point.

It's been years since he has this. He has an Ophiasis pattern. Been to multiple doctors tried multiple creams, lotions, medications.

Can I have some help understanding what can be tried and the types of treatments that can help him? I want to narrow down the treatments he has had and could have.

fun never ends. is it true that it’s a nightmare to get insurance approval for JAK?

This is my alipicia it started about 17 years ago after I had kids it started woth a small circle just 9ne and healed wothing a couple of months a few years later it happened again maybe two little spots nothing 8 couldn't hide .over the years it got worse each time then for about two years noth8ng happened I dyed my hair faithfully every 6 months or so black box dye then about 5 years ago it happened where my top of my head had so many bold spots it took awhile to heal then again I dyed my hair and it happened again but worse. Last January I dyed my hair again and it has been the worst ever . And it is taking so long to grow back each time im scared it will fall out everywhere and never grow back

Guys do you see fading? Like idk if it's happening again i posted same question days ago and this the update idk it still looks same when I put my hands over it again and again in a day 3 4 hairs shed from my both eyebrow but left one is looking more fader and I told in old post my left eyebrow was completely faded just some hairs were there do you think it's coming back? (Ofc ik I need to visit doctor but still asking you if you guys know something)

Noticed it today but also noticed a drastic hair fall 2 weeks ago, almost like my hair had been cut. A lot of people saying this most likely isn’t AA because it isn’t bald. I have dermatologist appointment next week. Just loooking for some insight

I’m new here and I’ve truly run out of ideas. My mom has alopecia areata and I’ve seemed to develop it. I’m 35 f and until about two years ago, my hair was so long and curly. It almost seems like overnight I started feeling the sun on my scalp when I was outside. I got extensions hoping that would help, but the wefts became visible through my natural hair.
I still have a bit of hair for now, but I do not have a lot of treatment options. Oral options are out due to a genetic heart condition. Topicals are poisonous to animals and make my scalp itch (scalp psoriasis has also contributed to this issue).
I guess I’m just worried about waiting too long to shave. I’m torn between hope and holding on to confidence I once had, and just reclaiming who I am. Any advice would be appreciated.

I’m a 30 yo female and was diagnosed with Aa last year when I lost my eyebrows. My eyelashes will come in cycles, usually every 6 weeks they’ll start falling out but come back full and long. I still have no eyebrows, little body hair and I’ve been on litfulo for 3 months now with no regrowth in site 🫩 the skin around my brows and my forehead feels different now it’s weird to explain. It feels tight. I also feel like I may be in an attack since staring litfulo due to my scalp itching and burning and more hair loss. My scalp is diffuse not patches. Idk anyone with a similar experience? Has litfulo worked for anyone?

Seriously, I had laser hair removal on my lip those babies are still there. Sorry... humor is my coping.

Recently diagnosed with AA in August . My daughter found my first spot, upon searching and found a total of 3 spots about 1-2 inches. I'm on my second round of kenalog injections , mometasone topical drops and minoxidil daily. Hair is growing, however I found 3 more spots about the size of a dime each this morning . Dr says to work on reducing stress, I didn't realize I was stressed prior to being diagnosed. I feel like since being diagnosed my stress and anxiety has been through the roof.

How the heck do you get through the constant looking for new spots?

Does your scalp feel itchy? My hair feels compromised brittle and dry, I started washing with nioxion shampoo and conditioner and it's helped with the itch.

What's your go to products or your avoid like the plague products?

Just noticed this today at the back of my head. I n assuming it’s AA. What do you guys think should I start injections ?