Guest blogger, Kelly, is one of our Community Ambassadors.
My name is Kelly and I am in my 40’s. I live in the Midwest with my husband and 4 children. My children’s ages range from 7-12. Yes, all back to back and young. Anyway, down to business… You want to know about my hair “issues” and what I do to cope and deal with it. For background, I have never had thick or lush hair. No one has ever looked at my natural hair and “wished they had that”. I did have “normal” thin fine hair for the first 35 years of my life. I really noticed a change after my third child. The post-partum hair loss seemed to just go on and on.
After baby #4 was a year old, I was ready to battle my hair loss. It had gotten to the place where even my eyelashes were short and thin and my eyebrows diminishing. I had all sorts of tests. My TSH was always normal (Darn, can’t blame that). I don’t care what age you are, hair loss is devastating.
My first plan of attack was to see a hair loss expert. The technician looked at my hair and said I was thinning all over. She couldn’t make it grow back but she could stop it from becoming worse. The technician gave me several plans I could sign up for; all of them were multiple weekly visits and costs hundreds of dollars in upkeep. Um. No. I don’t have money or time for that.
I started my online research and found what others have tried. My first step to acceptance was to cut my hair. It was dark and long but I looked ridiculous because it was so thin. I put a lot of highlights in my hair, making it blond. Many people go blond to hide wide part and thinned eye brows. This looked great and I was happy with it for at least a year.
As time went on I bought some Toppik hair filler. You sprinkle it on your part and through your hair. Toppik adds thickness and it colors your scalp to match your hair. While it helps in some cases, it looks strange under certain lighting. I work in an office with florescent lights and I noticed a few people eyeing my part so felt I needed an alternative.
My next step was hair toppers. My first topper was Essentially You by Jon Renau. It matched my own hair and felt much more comfortable and less itchy than in a wig. The only complaint I have is it’s more perma-tease than I’m used to seeing on my own head. After it arrived I cut it shorter by 2 inches. It has really wide coverage over the scalp. It’s fairly comfortable but by the end of the day I am ready to take it off. The clips take getting used to and it’s heavy.
My second topper was EasiPart by Jon Renau 12 inch. I selected this because it has a full mono part and many of the reviews said it was super lightweight. My own hair is not long enough for 12 inches. I took my topper to the salon and had it cut just below the length of my own hair. This topper is much lighter than my Essentially you but the crown coverage is less.
Having four kids can be a bit expensive. I would really like to try a human hair topper next They are said to be the most lightweight and you can color them to match your hair perfectly. I also like that the perma-tease is nonexistent. This picture is me with my first topper.
