Everybody has a hair story, a personal journey where their hair takes center stage. Hair is a common representation of style, self-assurance, and expression. But what happens if your hair starts falling in strange directions rather than growing to new heights? This is a tale about accepting change and seeing the beauty in what may appear to be a setback, not just about a hairdo gone wrong.
We’ll explore a new phase in the evolution of hair in this article, one where a startling new story takes the place of the expected lift and bounce. We’ll look at how changes in hair texture and volume can affect how we perceive self-expression as well as how we look. These changes, whether brought about by new products, lifestyle choices, or simply the passage of time, can provide interesting new perspectives and fashion trends to try.
Come learn how accepting hair that falls rather than grows can result in a completely new appearance and mindset. Occasionally, the stories we least expect to tell end up being the most satisfying. Prepare to reinterpret your hair journey and perhaps even develop a romantic relationship with it.
| Title | A New Story About My Hair: Falls Instead of Rises |
| Story | I used to love how my hair had a natural bounce and volume. But lately, it"s been falling flat and losing its shape. It feels like every time I style it, instead of rising up, it just falls down. I"ve tried different products and techniques, but nothing seems to bring back that lift. It"s been a challenge, but I"m learning to embrace this new look and experiment with different styles that work with my hair"s new behavior. |
I’ll talk about my own hair journey in this post, which has changed from being one of continuous development and elevation to one of acceptance and metamorphosis. I’ll discuss how my hair’s current fall—both literally and figuratively—has resulted in unexpected beauty and self-discovery rather than how it used to rise and thrive. This change presents a novel viewpoint on letting go and discovering confidence and style in novel, occasionally surprising ways.
An unpleasant diagnosis
But let’s go back to that period of time. Not long before, I received the very unpleasant diagnosis of androgenetic alopecia, which struck a blow to my hair-maniac soul.
What is AGA?
Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) is the most common cause of hair loss, it is genetically determined.
Hair loss occurs under the influence of the active form of the sex
hormone dihydrotestosterone (DHT). The interaction of DHT and special
receptors on the surface of hair follicles leads to a shortening of the
growth phase, the hair follicle goes into the phase earlier rest, hair thinning also occurs. Over the years, some of the follicles die off. Visually it looks like this (in women, in men it is different): widening of the central parting, the scalp begins to show through, the hair becomes thinner and cannot grow to the length it could before. In subsequent stages, thinning also begins in the crown area. The back of the head and temples in women are not androgen-dependent zones, hair loss does not affect them.
After trichoscopy and tests, they concluded that there were no more questions. I already have a lot of dead and even scarred follicles, and the crown is also showing signs of thinning. I’ve gone through every phase of acceptance over the years. When I was 18 or 19 years old, I started to notice the first signs of AGA. My tail also started to thin out during puberty, which I attributed to diets, high oxide hair dye, and straightening with an iron. I also sat on these symptoms for a long time and ate incredibly poorly until 2021, when I started to seriously consider this issue. I went to the doctor when my condition was already terrible because I was ignorant.
My experience with AGA:
I tried minoxidil as prescribed by my doctor, but either the specific drug didn"t suit me (it was Generolon 5%), or because the disease duration had presumably already exceeded 10 years, or I was in that unfortunate 1% for whom it doesn"t work.
There should be an increase in hair loss at first, and then it should stop and new growth should begin. This never happened for me. My doctor accused me of probably violating the instructions, and didn"t even bother to look into it. It was very disappointing to receive such an attitude, and for money, too. In addition, my scalp was terribly dry and severe dandruff began, which came off in patches.
I don"t know if it was because Generolon is an alcohol-based spray, and I have sensitive scalp. I had no desire to apply oil to my scalp even for medicinal purposes, since my skin is clearly oily and at that time I had problems with clogged pores, something like comedones and acne. In general, I just stopped using it.
Later, after recovering from this problem, there was another attempt, which ended in exactly the same way. (I must say that at first, as is expected during the denial phase, I simply pretended that nothing had happened, and also never talked about it before). Also then I was found to have a deficiency of vitamin D and iron. For the fact that I compensated for them and began to eat enough protein, my hair said a special thank you to me.
I gave it my all in terms of attention. Sadly, but in the worst way. I started to take less care of my hair and experimented with colors and haircuts again after accepting that I would never be able to restore the thickness and quality that nature had given me. This is not something I would recommend to anyone because, in most cases, you can make things worse rather than better. I now realize that there was room for improvement—quality, which is heavily influenced by care, is a factor in addition to genetics’ determination of thickness and length. But then I was motivated by hopelessness.
What happened after
By the end of the year, I became disillusioned with henna coloring, because the quality of my hair deteriorated greatly, and I couldn’t take care of it. In addition, the color became much darker, and I didn’t want that then. I decided to switch to regular dyes, went to a salon. And there was an embarrassment. I asked for a natural, warm color, and a little lighter than the current one, that is, to make it as it was in terms of lightness (a picture of honey blonde on Jennifer Lopez was shown, the color there is light brown), just a little, since I knew that lightening henna gives green, and I got this:
Indeed, they burned them all the way down to the roots. Later on, when the tint faded, it too turned green, taking on the hue of a swamp. It was awful. I colored it at home myself, and it grew back gradually. This is how it appeared:
Still, the quality was appalling. Back then, I didn’t even cut them. Going to the salon causes me stress every time because, first of all, the hair structure remains closer to a curly state regardless of how the curl is twisted. They are delicate, fluffy, and rather porous—after all—but they also tangle easily.
Salons, in my opinion, treat them with absolutely no care; they comb them with tiny combs, even when they are wet, and they pay no attention to anything I have to say regarding their structure and condition. They act as though they are never tired of strength. Second, they almost never give me as much as I request. I still haven’t located my hairdresser or salon.
I was going to get married soon. I chopped off the colored parts of my hair to create a cascade haircut because I didn’t want to go to the registry office with a tow on my head even though I was getting married during quarantine. It ended up being extremely brief.
I grew out of my color and kept up my curly maintenance despite the gray hair. This was my second setback. To begin with, my curl nearly vanished. Just the temples, bangs, and the very bottom of the back of the head were curled in the first photo, which is among the best results at that length. The results were drastically different. It’s rare that I can actually duplicate it. It was already more akin to the typical appearance on 3.
It also happened that on bad days, I had to just restyle my hair. Frequently, they came out perfectly straight, matted into fluffy strands.
Second, there was a noticeable drop in quality. Low-cost cosmetics without silicones are completely incapable of handling cleaning duties. There aren’t many options available to professionals on a tight budget or the mass market in particular. Budget living products were all glued and greasy, and I could not find any. Moreover, any additional layer of maintenance straightened the virtually nonexistent curl.
Sincerely, I tried every product that Sasha Sheveleva ("So and walk") suggested in her chat, both the ones that I could buy and the ones I found in stores, and the Fructis Coconut Balance conditioner was the only one that worked for me. It untangles without adding weight, and it doesn’t straighten. The others presented issues.
My hair was breaking very badly along the length, sticking out, and drying out while I was doing all of this. Its condition was getting worse and worse. I then gave Hydra a try for the first time, but it’s not enough to establish a daily routine for care. There was everything visible below the neck, and the ends were ripped off. Recall that this was all taking place against the backdrop of AGA.
I cut my hair because I could not bear to look at myself in the mirror. To make the cut less slicked back and boring, I also got a perm, which was a sign that my hair was doomed. But later on, I’ll get this. I gave up on this hairstyle for entirely different reasons: my hair was losing its shape and I looked disheveled again; it grows quickly, you can’t get a perm very often, and I was even turned down at the salon. The extent of my disappointment was boundless! I tried to somehow keep the new look even though I initially liked it.
My hair became a dry nest after the much-awaited second perm; the curl broke off without styling, and brittleness set in. This is how it appeared: Photos 1 and 2 show the curling process immediately after, 3, 4, 5, and 6 show the curl growing out and curling again, and 7 and beyond show the curl growing out. When I took the last pictures in the summer, the hair was already horribly curly and didn’t look good. I decided to either let it dry naturally or use a hair dryer with a brush and cold air.
As we’ve seen today, hair transformations can represent more than just a style change—they can also represent a change in our perception of ourselves and how we move through different stages of life. This tale of hair falling instead of rising explores acceptance of new chapters in life and the unexpected paths our paths may take in addition to physical appearance.
When we embrace something new, such as a more carefree or informal look, and abandon the comfortable heights of a classic hairstyle, it frequently signifies a deeper, personal evolution. It’s not just about getting a new haircut; it’s also about adjusting to the challenges and changes life throws at us, sometimes letting go of our preconceived notions in favor of a different viewpoint.
In the end, our hairstyles and haircuts tell our stories by reflecting our evolving priorities and personal development. Thus, the next time you’re thinking about making a change, keep in mind that it’s about your story and the way you choose to tell it, not just how you look. Accept the fall and allow it to propel you on your journey to new heights.
