Still experiencing extreme hair loss. Arrgh!

Hair began to rapidly shed around six or so months after 2014 health crisis. That December, prior to 2015, I abruptly shaved my head - completely bald.

It was almost comically showing up at my 4:45 am brightly lit dialysis center with absolutely no hair. The stunned look on everyone's faces... I should have gotten permission to YouTube the moment. Of course no one wants to be offensive or stare. Yet I welcomed any dialogue or inquisitive questions. There were a few compliments regarding how attractive I still looked with no hair. I didn't/don't care too much about physical aesthetics. I've drastically shaved my head like this before - 2000, after my first daughter's death. Grief was too overwhelming to keep my long, thick, healthy locks then. And now they are gone because of illness in body not in heart.

Being a licensed hairstylist makes this loss frustrating. During my tenure as a successful, self-employed hairstylist, I had a reputation of restoring or rejuvenating hair to a natural, luxurious beauty. As usual, the benefits of who I am as a person typically better serves others, which is the story of my life. I'm okay with this phenomenon.

My nephrologist prescribed vitamins for the hair loss. It stopped the rapidness of the shedding, even though my hair length now is under two inches, I can still feel the wiry shedding left in my hands occasionally when I shampoo. *Sometimes this makes me what to shave it all off again.

As a precautionary measure, I use coconut oil on my hair (and my body) immediately following shampooing or bathing. Dialysis patients tend to have regular issues with dry, chafed skin "probably" due to fluid restrictions and the overall nature of kidney disease.

Honestly, the health (sometimes the thickness & length) of my hair is one of the qualities of the loss of health I kinda miss most. Being a hair artist and a creative person, my hair use to give me something extra to do creatively. Like I tell my kids (whose hair I tend to transform in its natural state frequently), our hair is like "magic hair". People want to touch it because it is unique and amazing, a quality to adorn, to be proud of. So like me, their mommy, they see the gift in be different. I guess without my hair now, there are other things that make me stand out (aside from previous female baldness), even though I'm not trying. Usually, I'd rather just simply fit in. Seems easier that way.