Comment by Jacquie C on November 4, 2009 at 9:37am

I have had AU for 30 years and I agree. It does seem to come and go. Not enough to make to much of a difference I find. It used to give me false hope but now I just enjoy the few eyelashes I get every now and then.

Comment by Ray on November 4, 2009 at 11:17am

I don't have any false hope with the re growth just a simple feeling that life is so much better an easier without any hair at all!!!!!!!!

It's the coming and going that is a pain not the actual hair loss.

It's gtreat though that you can enjoy the few eyelashes every now and then.

Comment by Rose Marie' on November 4, 2009 at 2:49pm

HI Ray

I very much understand your frustration (Libby) feels exactly the same. She would never depend on her hair one way or another because it just does what it wants to, never what she wants (bugger it!). So, she made the decision a few years ago to depend on her Hairpiece. With that she feels she has a modicum of control. Like you she's really ok with her alopecia but does get peeved with the hair coming and going.

Ray, all the ladies here will be hard pressed to understand your disappointment with having eyelashes grow back. I think for many they are a terrible loss. So, be happy for them, but tell the rest to buzzzzzz offf.

Take care and catch you again soon'

Rosy

Comment by Carol on November 4, 2009 at 2:50pm

I know how you feel Ray! I didn't have a lick of hair for 15 years even though I've had alopecia for 30 but my recent growth is irritating. I have to shave all the time to maintain my look and there's no point in letting the patches grow which I can't even do cause it drives me nuts (the itching just off of a few days growth). I'd take a pill to keep it all away too! Maybe instead of trying to find a cure they should just find something to give some stability to those that deal with unpredictability and the roller coaster of emotions some people undergo (false hopes).

Comment by Mary on November 4, 2009 at 3:06pm

You said it, Ray! I'm experiencing almost the same pattern: almost a year of being AU, and now I have partial eyebrows, lashes and miscellaneous facial hair. It's so weird to have to pluck eyebrow hair I don't want on one side, while having only a tiny patch on the other brow! I'm trying not to get too attached to my regrowth, and I keep reminding myself it's probably going to go away sometime soon. I agree it's better to just be smooth all over!

I'm reminded of an old "Burma Shave" sign I saw along the highway as a child (if you're not in the U.S., or are younger than about 55, you won't know what these are. It was an advertising gimmick for a men's shaving cream that consisted of humorous rhyming poems on small, sequential highway billboard signs.)

For some reason, this one stuck in my mind:

"Says farmer John who's bald on top,
I wish I could rotate the crop."

Comment by Ray on November 5, 2009 at 4:54am

Many thanks for all of the comments. It does seem to be that the most frustrating thing about Alopecia is that lack of stability with the whole thing. The “magic” pill for stability would be great.

I understand that eyebrows and eyelashes are so very important and I would be quite happy if they came back permanently but the growth I have had in this area is like the growth elsewhere, it comes and goes and that is what is frustrating. It’s not a big deal for me really as the growth has been minimal but I would not like it very much if it was more growth without it being permanent.

As for the men’s shaving cream advertisements, I am 54 but I live in the UK and so I’ve not seen the shaving adds. I do think that that farmer John has a good point only I would leave my fields fallow.

Comment by Mary on November 5, 2009 at 10:35am

The Burma Shave signs were a big part of the highway landscape in the US up until about 1963. On long car trips with the family, it provided something fun - especially for the bored kids in the back seat!

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