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View Full Version : CO Bliss and a heartfelt Thank You



RadiantNeedle
August 13th, 2010, 01:10 AM
Today I did my second CO wash.

Normally I lose anywhere from 25 to 50 hairs when I wash with shampoo and conditioner. I've been shedding terribly for the last few years and the last 6 months have been THE worst, despite trying different products.
So for the last two weeks I've been massaging my scalp, when for a long time now I've been terrified to even touch it much due to pain, swelling, small lesions, flaking and hair loss. When I brush before I have my bath/shower, I normally lose between 20 and 50, and I lose more throughout the day. Its all over my house, I can't get it out of my laundry, and I've found my cats coughing up the damn stuff.

Today I let my hip length hair soak up some Tresseme 'coneless conditioner while I soaked, scrubbed myself all over with Dead Sea salt and cleaned my face. Then I put some more conditioner in at my roots and gave myself a cleansing massage, then very carefully and gently rinsed it all out with a hand held shower attachment.

When I carefully squeezed my hair from the neck down, which I normally do and lose about 5-15 hairs, I lost one hair.

One.

The whole bath, the whole process, I noticed ONE hair come out.

I'm nearly in tears right now. I'm sure my story matches up with a lot of people here; a great deal of tears and trials and pain and confusion. I've had tests galore, and thankfully I don't have thyroid problems (which I had a bit of in my teens), diabetes, low iron, or Poly-cystic Ovarian Syndrome, which is in my family history. That's fantastic. But it didn't get to the bottom of my hair loss. I do have PTSD, and I'm sure stress factors into my hair loss as well as what I suspect is the problem, which is Sulphates. And probably a few other things I have yet to learn!

I went from thick, resilient hair that has been every colour imaginable, as short as an inch long to as long as below tailbone, to having hair that would make me weep because I couldn't brush it without it getting snarled, ragged and clogging up my brush. My scalp was horribly inflamed and painful like it had been burned, and my doctors looked at my test results and said "Oh. It's stress."
They gave me steroids, which got rid of most of the flakes, some of the lesions and most of the swelling. But the shedding increased. I very nearly gave up and shaved it all off. I actually like the look of shaved heads, on both men and women, but I don't have the head shape or the body type to carry it off.

One of my sisters has hair down to her fingertips. We are direct descendants of Lady Godiva, so you can imagine the jokes that bounce around about us and long hair! (I know this because my father is a Genealogist!)
But the depression my issues have caused, on top of my PTSD, has been nearly unbearable. I am so elated today, because for the first time I feel like I can actually DO something about this.
I know I'm just getting started, and that there is a steep learning curve I'm discovering, but at least I'm on the damn path, right? Perhaps I really CAN grow my hair back, and not have to become Creepy Combover Lady!

So, a huge thank you to my beautiful eldest sister who is brave and amazing, who sent me the link to this site, and thank you to all you beautiful and brave people who give of your time and knowledge.
Apologies for the long post! I get quite verbose when impassioned, so I can't promise it won't happen again!

I think I might need to experiment with conditioners and maybe more sulphate free shampoos, because the Tresseme might be a tad too heavy/waxy, but it DOES feel lovely and clean! My hair is air drying down my back right now, and I'm nervous to brush it! My fiancé and I are going out to a birthday dinner tonight, and for once I am not brought to a state of shaking fear because I think I'm going to look hideous.

Thank you!

Flaxen
August 13th, 2010, 04:24 PM
What a great success story! I'm so glad you've found something that works so well. :cheese:

We are direct descendants of Lady Godiva, so you can imagine the jokes that bounce around about us and long hair! (I know this because my father is a Genealogist!)
No kidding? Well, how cool is that! :grin:

Henrietta
August 14th, 2010, 12:36 AM
It's so good to know that... I always feel great when I see that someone finally found a solution for such a big problem. Let's celebrate it somehow! :)

RadiantNeedle
August 17th, 2010, 05:26 AM
Not sure how! Ah well.
My third CO was.. I went back to cones, just to see how it went. I was way more frizzy, oddly enough, and lost more hair, but still lost less than using shampoo. The most annoying thing is that I'm getting clean enough to feel clean, but I still look a bit weighed down and I get greasy very quickly. My hair is pretty damn oily, which only serves to emphasise how much hair I've lost. It's pretty damn depressing.

So, might experiment with some rinses I've seen around the forums! We'll see how it goes. That and I'm gonna try henna!

DuckyDot
August 23rd, 2010, 12:44 PM
What Great News :) I'm really Happy For you :cheese:

Annalouise
August 23rd, 2010, 02:33 PM
That is great! :) I sympathize with you as I recently lost a ton of hair. I am doing CO now and that is working for me also.

naereid
August 23rd, 2010, 04:21 PM
Always good to hear people resolving their problems. But even your starter shedding rate amazes me since I shed about 150 hairs whenever I wash, 200 if it's CO. :p

And how awesome that you're related to Lady Godiva! She lived like a thousand years ago, incredible that it could have been traced through so many generations.