New to FFA group (sort of!)

Hello all.  Although I have been a faithful follower of this group for about 6 months now, this is the first time I’ve actually joined in.  I have probably had Ffa for about 3-4 years now and I’m pretty much a textbook case, as much as one exists.  I’ve lost a good inch to inch and a half of frontal hair from ear to ear, completely lost my eyebrows and have lost all my leg and arm hair(bonus!)
I have only seen one dermatologist and have had very limited treatment.  Just a couple of rounds of Kenalog cortisone injections into my hairline and brows about a year ago. I don’t figure they did a whole lot other that give my already prominent forehead a lumpy, ogre-like appearance the took almost 2 months to go down!
After scouring the internet and following wonderful support groups such as this one, CARF etc. my personal opinion is that at the present there is no medication or procedure that definitively helps stop or reverse Ffa.
That being said, my decision is to go a more natural route of the recommended vitamins and supplements, in hope that it may help a little.
What I would really welcome is a good conversation on everybody’s best tips and tricks on their best Ffa disguise techniques.
I find that I now dread any sort of active encounter that will involve wind, rain, water etc. Instead of looking forward to something fun, I can only think of how I might possibly hide my hairline.
I try to stay positive, but these insidious, depressing thoughts seem to creep in more and more often.
I look forward to hearing some good suggestions.

P.S. Thank you so much CurlyK for attending the CARF conference and taking the time to share all of that valuable information with us.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Desei on June 26, 2018 at 5:05am

Hi BooBear!  I haven't popped into this group for many many months but saw your post and thought I would share how I camouflage my receding hairline, which sounds similar to your own.

Because of the 'white band', I often apply a foundation make-up or BB cream to that 'band' to at least make it look same/similar colour to rest of face...it seems to lessen the visual impact a bit.  I even sometimes 'pencil in' some 'strands' of hair (with my ever-trusty eyebrow pencil) so from a distance, there appears to be less bare skin.  When going outdoors in daylight, I will ensure the arms of the sunglasses sit OVER the top of some hair to hold it in place, and then when inside shops, whilst not always necessary I sometimes feel the need for a bit of 'normality', and instead of the sunglasses, I will put on my reading glasses (at the expense of not being able to see clearly into the distance!), with the same technique of OVER some hair to keep it in place. 

And I also have a couple of 'cloche' hats and beanies (as it is winter down here in Oz), really wide headbands (some I've made myself from interesting fabrics), and a couple of 'sun visor' hats for when walking the dog, mainly just to hold down the hair and hide the fact that there's an inch or two less hair than there should be. I've taken a few quick photos ... and it is the end of a big day so I look a bit like I've been dragged through a bush backwards, but at least it gives you the concept!

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Permalink Reply by Desei on June 26, 2018 at 5:10am

...and a few more  - the second attachment sort of shows how I have pencilled in some 'hair' in front of my ear, and the third attachment shows how it REALLY looks under all the camouflaging... and the eyebrows are pencilled too - Saving up to get my eyebrows tattooed/microbladed.  I hope these photos give you some ideas.


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Permalink Reply by BooBear on June 26, 2018 at 11:26pm

Hi Desei,

 I really appreciate your reply and it’s very kind of you to attach some photos of yourself too.  

I too have started doing the same thing with my sunglasses and regular glasses by putting the arms through my hair so it holds some down underneath. I also find the whole thing much easier to deal with in winter when I can wear hats more or have my hood up on my coat, but it’s summer now in Canada and when it’s hot I don’t really savour having a hat on that often.

i did decide to have my brows microbladed and that made a huge difference on how I felt about my appearance. I’ll be realistic about it. It seems to take more than one attempt to achieve the best results.  The first time I had them done, I found the colour a little too  light but I was told by the technician that she prefers to err on the lighter side and depending on how my skin took the pigment she could adjust the shape/colour when I went for a touch up in 6 weeks. The second time she did a darker colour and they looked perfect. However after some time they started to gradually fade, and I started to have to fill them in a bit with pencil and I also use a tinted fibre brow gel that gives a bit more substance.  After 6 mos. I have just had another touch up.  She was a bit surprised how much they had faded, told me that often with cases of alopecia that the body tends to reject the dye more than most people’s skin, and this time she used a newer synthetic-based pigment that seems to have better staying power.  My brows look great again and fingers crossed, hopefully will last longer this time.

Sorry if it was a bit long-winded but as you said you saving up for it, I thought you might appreciate an honest account of my experience,at least.  Is it expensive—yes.  Is it worth it—in my opinion absolutely!  Does it last 1-3 years,as advertised—probably not really in the case of FFA. It does look very natural and I know some people who have had eyebrows tattooed and that does not look very natural, so there you have it.

As far as any other things I do, I had to have bangs cut and layering around the face, then once I have it styled I basically “glue” it in place with some decent strong hold hairspray.  

I also tried one of the tips from CurlyK’s CARF notes and tried filling in a bit around my hairline with a root touch up powder.  It seems to actually work fairly well and has pretty good staying power.  I found some Clairol Root Touch Up.  Wanted to try the recommend Joan Rivers Great Hair Day, but it’s not easy to find in Canada and shipping from the US makes it rather expensive.

Well I’ve gone on enough for now!

Hope this helps. 

Permalink Reply by Minter on June 28, 2018 at 9:07am

Hi @BooBear, welcome to the group and sorry for the reason you have to be here :-( I also have my brows microbladed- she had a time with my skin also because of the FFA, I still have some brows left and I use a bit of powder and brow gel to cut down on the shininess of the brows and make them look more natural (I think anyway)  I also use powder on the sides, every single day-  it lessens the shock factor of when the wind blows, but it helps a little to have my hair cut in a way that it looks like I have "sideburns"! I agree with you that there doesn't seem to be a "cure" using conventional medicine and it is better to be as healthy as we can.  

@Desei, wow! Thanks for sharing the wonderful photos! You look beautiful and I love your curly hair :-)  You have some great tips and ideas on how to hide the hair loss- I also have become a pro at positioning my sun/eye glasses just so to keep my hair in place ;-/

It is hard to believe it is winter and cold somewhere else in the world when it is so hot and muggy where I am! Send some cool air this way please ;-D

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