hidden under my long hair and I thought maybe it was just a
fluke.”
As time went on and Wevik began finding more bald spots on
her head, she decided to visit the doctor. That’s when she first
learned about alopecia,
“That first visit to the doctor, they told me that this
sometimes happens but my hair would probably grow back and
I would probably never have problems again,” Wevik says.
When her hair did grow back, Wevik gave little thought to the
entire incident and went about her life. But a couple years later,
her bald spots returned. This time they were larger and her hair,
overall, was thinner. The cycle of bald spots and thinning hair
seemed to return about every two years.
She had no idea what triggered the baldness and even
physicians disagree about what triggers alopecia. The disorder
is somewhat like herpes, an autoimmune condition where the
body just erupts after exposure to a trigger.
“After hearing about alopecia, I had learned that things
like crash diets, severe illness or other types of trauma could
trigger hair loss,” Wevik says. “I know of a woman who lost a
family member and then lost her hair. Another had a difficult
childbirth and then lost her hair. So there can be any number of
things that can trigger this autoimmune disorder.”
When Wevik was pregnant, she seemed to grow hair really
well, but the cycle of bald spots and overall thinning continued.
“Each time the bald spots appeared, hair grew back on the
spots but they didn’t fill in all the way,” she says. “And even
though I seemed to have hair while I was pregnant, I didn’t want
to keep having kids just so I could have hair.”
Eventually, Wevik had no hair on her arms or legs. After
her last child was born, postpartum blues exacerbated the
depression she had battled for many years, reaching the point
where she needed intense medical attention.
“I ended up in the hospital to be treated for the depression
and while I was in the hospital all my hair fell out and it never
grew back again,” she says. “There were patches of fuzz that
grew after that, but nothing that was ever more than an inch
long. Even that didn’t last long before it fell out. I started
looking like a newly hatched bird.”
What followed for Wevik were a number of years when bits
of hair returned, only to fall out over time. In her struggle to
deal with her loss, her emotions ran the gamut of fear, anger,
frustration and despair.
“I remember telling my husband that, as hard as it was to
be bald, I didn’t want to get my hair back if it’s just going to fall
out again,” Wevik says. “He said maybe you’re looking at this in
the wrong way. Maybe you should consider any amount of time
with hair as a gift. If it falls out again you know you’ll handle it
because you’re handling it right now. Think of it as a time you
don’t have to wear a wig or a hat and rejoice in it.”
Wevik took her husband’s words to heart, recognizing that
she shouldn’t be ungrateful because she had hair.
“I used to have dreams about my hair growing back and in
my dream I’d think, wait a minute, I didn’t have hair yesterday, I
bet this is a dream,” she says. “Then I’d wake up and I used to
be sad when I woke up. Then I thought, I have dreams about my
mother, since she passed away. They’re always pleasant. I know
I can choose to be sad that I had the dream or wake up and be
glad that I got to be with my mom. I look at my dreams about
hair the same way. It was a time I had hair and I was happy and
when I wake up I don’t have hair, but that’s okay.”
Wevik’s book discusses causes of hair loss, living with the
condition, alopecia facts, real and imagined treatments and
cures for hair loss, her own experiences, options for “hairchallenged” individuals and more. Over time, Wevik has learned
how to openly talk about her disorder, which is therapeutic for
her and others who suffer hair loss.
“Many people encouraged me and believed I could develop
this book about what I experienced,” Wevik says. “Though I’ve
sometimes been somewhat of a reluctant student, alopecia
has forced me to learn new things and realize I have the
capacity to learn new things. It’s also brought me opportunities
to write and speak and trust in myself, invest in myself by
continuing to learn and grow.”
You will find Wevik’s book at www.itsonlyhairbook.com,
Amazon and Barnes and Noble. She can be reached through
her Facebook page.
vBy Loretta Sorensen
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HERVOICEvSEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016v15