Desperate-Will it ever grow back again?

[Dreams_in_Pink]

First off, i'm so sorry you've had such tough times to go through

It's a fact that all health and stress related problems reflect on hair health. Actually, hair is the first part of the body to show any illness/ malnutrition; together with nails. When body has so much to fight against, it cuts back on less vital functions like producing hair cells. I do believe you can get back to your former thickness, but for that to happen, you should get your health problems sorted out somehow. If you can, go to a different doctor and have everything checked out. Hair shouldn't be your primary concern right now in my opinion, please take care of yourself, try to rest and eat a very healthy diet to get back on track. When you start feeling better, hair will start to get thicker, although it takes a long time.

For now, i think you should avoid stress related to hair. Tell your hubby that his comments are making you feel worse. Your profile picture looks perfectly fine to me, but if your appearance is making you feel upset you should do whatever it takes to make you feel better. Maybe try heat styling? Or some highlights? How about extensions? You can fake it till you make it (i know i did LOL)

[Hotrox]

Hi, sorry you are struggling with your health and hair loss. You've been through a lot, so cut your self some slack, be kind to yourself and allow some time to grieve for your hair loss. Your life has been turned upside by the sounds of it, you are changed as a person but your hair and self image will recover but it'll just be of the new you, a survivor of many many things.

My only piece of advice is that before going for an even big chop is to consider how it will grow out. If you do plan to grow it long again then try to avoid anything uneven or heavily layered. The regrowth will be even move miserable!

And welcome to the LHC, an awesome place to hang while you're waiting

[spidermom]

Is your profile picture your current picture? Don't cut! That's not bad, and you can still do a few things with it like clipping the sides back. First of all, try only combing when you wash it while your hair has conditioner in it, then let it dry without touching it again other than maybe fingering a bit of curl creme or non-alcohol gel through it. It won't look so fluffy that way and will bring out your curl.

I understand getting frustrated and depressed with health issues. I have ulcerative colitis and asthma, and sometimes I feel so sick and old and useless. However, both are inactive right now - oh how I enjoy that! I also had to cut significant length this year due to injury making me unable to deal with a lot of hair. That has improved also.

Take care of yourself. Hopefully you can enjoy a long period of relatively good health and hair regrowth.

[Mya]

Hey! I've dealt with hair loss and don't worry, it will grow back!

Yes, it takes years. A couple of years at least to cover your head, that's totally normal, because hairs don't start growing back at the same time and they don't grow at the same rate. You need a few more years to be able to tell your hair completely grew back. You may want to add even more time to that to let your body completely recover.

It's normal that it's straighter because:
- if it's short, then it will lie on your head more than curl up. 2c/3a is like that, mutant hair.
- Less hair => less volume (=less lift).
- Since there is less hair, it means each single hair has to absorb more scalp oil.

It's also normal that the strands by your face are straight.

Your hair is beautiful, please don't cut it. IMO the only reason to cut hair is damage. You will have to deal with fuzzy sprouts for a while whether you cut it or not. Also fuzzy sprouts = hair is growing back = happiness.

The solution is to enjoy it. I used to hate my hair and now I love how messy my hair looks compared to others (much like Fran Drescher in "The nanny" ). You already grew thick hair to classic, you will do it again for sure! Just let your hair do its thing. Rule no. 1 of 2c/3a is: your hair knows better, don't try to make it look the way you want.

As it grows back, you will love your hair more and more.

And when they say you look like your mother, tell them they look like their granpa!

[katielea]

I've also lost a lot of hair due to health problems. For me it happened slowly over years until recently when I started having to style my hair in very specific ways to hide the thinned out or bald spots. Actually I was really past all of that because I couldn't even hide the thinning through styling. After coming to LHC and reading this thread http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...ad.php?t=20983 I have started to see alot of new growth. This is the first time in fifteen years that I have seen regrowth. It seems that different things work for different people, but scalp massages are just fantastic on a number of levels and you can use oils that you probably have on hand like olive oil.

You could also look into a new routine that might work better for your new hair. For curly hair the curly girl (CG) method, liquid oil cream (LOC), and conditioner only (CO) seem to be popular. (Please correct me if I'm wrong y'all! I am definitely still not an expert!) If you're having trouble with seeing your scalp through your hair, there are hair powders you can buy that are suppose to do a great job disguising that.

One other thing that has helped me is cleaning up my diet. Sometimes long, drawn out health problems can cause or be caused by chronic inflammation, and I think the best way to combat inflammation is through the diet. Have you tried mixing it up with your diet to see if that makes a difference? If not I would suggest trying to cut back on white flour and sugar for a few weeks and see if that makes a difference
Also, if your profile picture is what your mother looks like, then you shouldn't feel so bad about looking like her. Your hair is quite pretty! I don't think you need to go shorter, but obviously you know better than I do.

[winship2]

Welcome, and wow, yes! Color and curls are wonderful! Everyone else has given good advice, so I'll just say that your hair is lovely and that I hope with time and these good recommendations it will grow more