Call Me Cover Girl!!!

...not as in the makeup, but as in covering my huge hair flaw! My signature "do" is usually a braid out. Depending on how long I want my hair to last, I will either cornrow it back and band the ends overnight or simply braid it in about 12-14 random braids and twist them into nubian knots overnight. Both give me a wavy look, but the cornrowing option gives a more relaxed look and only lasts a couple of days before going flat. The random braid method can last up to 10 days, but the first few days the curls are really tight (not feeling the Shirley Temple look).

For the most part, the braid out does a good job of masking my usual issues like bunching and multiple textures (curses to the creamy crack!!!!!!!), but now that I have a section of unlocked hair, there is an odd space left in the back of my head that I can't mask.

So after playing around with some different options, I came up with a "new do" that covers up the gash. I call it my corporate look!

Sorry about the flash and the hole in my shirt (that's what I get for rushing!), but as you can see, I simply pulled the back of my hair up into a high ponytail and made some nubian knots with the ends and secured them with ouchless ponytail holders. I did a braid out in the front (about 6 small cornrows) and voila! New do!

This look lasts about a week. I tie a folded scarf around the back of my head and knot it in the front (Think Morris Day from Purple Rain) and wear a satin slumber cap over that to keep the braid out in the front neat. I just had to be careful where I placed the knot because I ended up with a huge round bruise on my forehead a couple of days!

Anywho.... problem solved. Gash was covered, I looked cute and once again confused my white coworkers ("Your hair looks different. Did you cut it?")!!! They are always so.... enough said.

Epiphany: I need to add some styling pics to my blog. Hmmmm.....

Back to Hair

It's been a couple of weeks since I last posted, even longer since I gave a hair update. I have been keeping track of my healing process, and I am happy to see that the hair in my donor site is starting to come in nicely. I have also been tracking my natural hair texture since I will be able to see it as it comes in.

The only thing I can say is... If I knew then what I know now... I would have NEVER put chemicals in my hair! I just remember how I thought my hair was "nappy" and how I wanted silky hair cascading down my back. Now that I see my natural texture, my hair's curl pattern really isn't that tight, quite pretty actually.

Oh well! Better late than never!

I took this pic before a re-tightening session. Since my hair has quite a relaxed curl pattern, I have to retihten avery 4 weeks. I still have sections of hair that come completely aloose after a year. The amazing news is that you can hardly tell that a few weeks before, I had a baseball like stitch crawling across my scalp! The hair is filling in quite nicely. You can also really see the texture. See my little curly q's?

I am a little apprehensive about the stages of my hair, because the donor site will have to endure the whole locking process again (which has taken in excess of a year). Obviously it was too short to lock, so I had to come up with some creative ways to mask the gash!!

Back to Hair

So now that I was on my path to enlightenment, I needed to continue to focus on my hair journey. Since some personal setbacks hit at the end of 2009, my diet and exercise regimen had gone down the tubes, but I decided to work on my inner self throughout the winter and plan to re-connect with my body when the weather warmed up (I hate the gym. I would rather exercise around nature).

In the meantime, I decided to re-visit a strict vitamin regimen to see if it made a difference. I am typically a "slow grower" (about 1/8" a month), so anything I can do to speed up the process would make me ecstatic. I did some research on the web, and decided to try Hairtopia. To date, I can not report any results, but the intial pros and cons are as follows:

Pros: Quite a few reviews claim they are effective.

Cons: It is a LOT of pills... 10 A DAY!!!! They can cause stomach upset and elevated body temperature. You MUST take them with food and drink at least 8 glasses of water a day. I have noticed that they increase the appetite. I would advise against using them if trying to lose weight simultaneously. Luckily, I am petite, but I find that I have to keep healthy snacks around or I will splurge. Finally, they make your hair grow EVERYWHERE! I have to visit the waxing salon a lot more frequently these days. I even found a hair growing out of my neck! I was mortified! Pretty soon I will look like this:

Remember Cousin It from the Addams Family???

Enlightenment

It's hard to believe that we are already into the third month of 2010. I must admit that 2010 has proven to be a year of many challenges. Of course, with the hair, I am in the midst of the waiting game. I have now returned to my pre-transplant hairline (which is normal), and I am ridiculously frustrated. A watched pot never boils, but between the gash in the back of my head from the donor site and the hairline that appears to be receding even more, I am once again struggling with self esteem.

I have chosen the symbol of the butterfly to represent me during this time of transition, because they start off as something seemingly ugly but end up as something beautiful. Unfortunately, I feel like I am in my ugly stage. I am hoping this part of my life will pass quickly...

Surgery Day

I arrived at the facility at 7:00 in the morning and did not leave until 6:00 that evening. So I had 11 hours (during which I was conscious) to contemplate if I was doing the right thing.

The procedure starts with the staff numbing the scalp area with a local anesthetic (that was the worst part) and giving you oral antibiotics and a Valium to calm your nerves. I was asleep within 30 minutes. The doctor then selected a donor site and cleared it for removal. They had to strap me down for this part. I nearly cried when I saw my lovely locks fall to the floor as she SHAVED them off!!! The doctor then took a scalpel and cut a graft from the donor site. Did I mention I was conscious during the entire procedure? I didn't know I was bleeding until I felt it running down my neck. Anywho... here are some pics of the donor site (taken after the entire procedure).

After the graft was taken, I played the waiting (and sleeping) game. I watched movies and had lunch while the technicians extracted single hairs from the donor tissue and prepared them for implantation into my hairline. The doctor then poked 2100 individual holes in my hairline with a tool and placed the extracted hairs into these holes one by one. It was by far the most grueling process I had ever endured (thank goodness for anesthesia!!).

11 hours later, I arrived at the results above. I was tired and extremely numb, but excited at the same time. Now all I had to do was wait. The next few weeks I would endure scabbing and healing. Then I would return to my pre-surgery hairline as the implanted hairs would fall out and slowly be replaced with newly growing hair. It would take patience though. Normally, the results aren't noticeable for at least 6 months. So, I was leaving 2009 as a larvae and would be maturing and growing within a cocoon for about 6 months. I decided to take the time of physical healing to explore myself and nurture the person within. 2010 would be my year for inner growth and outward manifestation. I was ready to become the new me!!!

The Decision

As December approached, I had developed a medication regimen that was helping ease the symptoms of my condition, but I was determined to come off the meds-especially the steroids. I was also determined to do something about my hairline once and for all. Yes, Lupus had affected my hairline, but I also knew that years of abuse (relaxing, weaving, corn rowing, braiding) had taken its toll on my hairline and had done permanent damage. It had been over a year since I had engaged in any of these detrimental practices, and the fact of the matter was my hair was NOT growing back and it wasn't going to. I was sick of headbands and was constantly embarassed that my hairline started at my ears. Thus, I decided to embark on a surgical intervention. I opted for a hair transplant at Bosley.



These are photos of my pre-surgery consultation. As you can see, parts of my hairline were completely bald and were not coming back without a miracle. Trust me... the biggest challenge was trying to get the caucasian doctors and staff members to "understand" my hair. Of course, they all told me that the SL's were causing my hair loss which I knew wasn't true. They also asked me to take them out prior to procedure day which I thought was hilarious. Thankfully, they had worked on a patient with traditional locs, but I had to educate them on the difference between Sisterlocks and traditionals (i.e. being smaller and lighter which did not contribute to damage), and why they weren't as damaging as braids (no heavy extensions attached to my natural hair). After MANY hours of education on both my part and the staff's part, we agreed that this was the best option and I scheduled an appointment. I am currently waiting on the "before" pictures from the procedure day, but this would be a life changing experience for me.

THE RELAPSE...

After I returned from Puerto Rico, I began to experience changes in my body. After coping with my condition (Lupus) successfully for months with nothing more than the usual day-to-day discomfort, it started to rear its ugly head once again.

First it started with the usual muscle aches becoming more constant and more limiting. Though I had successfully completed a 5K just weeks before, exercising on the elliptical or treadmill became increasingly harder. The usual fatigue that was formerly remedied with a 20-30 minute nap suddenly became nearly unbearable forcing me to sleep for hours at a time only to awake feeling like I had not slept at all.

I did what any hard-working, active woman would do... I denied anything was wrong. In fact, November had been an extremely busy travel month for me. I HAD been going non-stop since the second week of the month. Maybe it was the sun exposure in Puerto Rico or maybe it was the time zone changes and constant flying (I went to San Francisco two weeks later). Maybe it was the extra driving I had been doing for work or the temperature change... I didn't want to admit that I was feeling worse than usual.

The symptoms started to manifest themselves elsewhere. My hair started to fall out in clumps all over again. The "Lupus Hairline" became more pronounced. There were days where I could not get out of bed from the fatigue. My elbows and knees started to lock up totally and I started experiencing hip pain. Finally, the first week in December, I had a small seizure. I was in a doctor's office (for work) and woke up stretched out on an exam table. Though I didn't remember it, I was apparently speaking with an administrator in an office where mid-sentence, my speech slurred and I passed out. Against the advice of the staff in the facility that day, I chose not to go to the emergency room but rather made an appointment with my Rheumatologist who confirmed that my remission was over. Lupus had returned with a vengance.

I was angry. I was sad. I felt hopeless and out of control. Nevertheless, I was thankful. I could have been driving when I had the seizure or could have something worse. Lupus was just a little inconvenient, and could be treated so I made the decision to (much to my dismay) take the drugs and really focus on getting myself back on track...