So I finally did it.  I had a wig consultation and a hair cut on Tuesday.  The woman that cut my hair owns the business.  It turns out that her sister has had alopecia areata since she was 12 years old.  She lost all her hair at 23 when it turned to alopecia universalis: that was 13 years ago.  She has helped her sister through it and cut her hair and her wigs.  I felt so comfortable having her cut what hair I have left.  When I went in there and took off my hat to show her my hair, I wanted to cry.  I have so little hair on top and I have half the hair I used to have.  She was great though.  She never made me feel uncomfortable.  I'm telling you, it really makes a difference to have someone cut your hair who knows what you are going through.  She cut my hair into a cute little bob (that is all I can really do at this point).  She also said that it looked like something other than AA on the top and front of my hair since it was so thin.  She thought it looked like medication or diet that caused the hair loss since my follicles were still intact (the bald patches I have are definitely from AA).  I know it is just her opinion but the only medication I've been on has been steroid injections, steroid shampoos and steroids gels.  After the first steroid injection, I started to get many more bald patches and thinning all over.  So, I'm am not going to putting anything with steroids in it on my head again.

Just to let you know a little about myself: I have always had pretty thick hair, but I never really did much with it.  I would usually just wash it and let it air dry or pull it into a pony tail.  This causes a bit of a problem trying on wigs because all of the wigs I tried on looked so perfect.  When I looked at myself, it just looked like I was wearing a wig.  They had so much volume I thought everyone who knows me would know I was wearing a wig.  However, people that don't know me might just think I had great hair.  I ended up ordering a wig similar to the hair cut she gave me.  It is a bob angled so it is longer in front.  She said if I was not happy, I could order a different one.  The wig is a synthetic monotop wig.  I don't have the money for human hair.  She did have a gorgeous Italian human hair wig that she ordered for her sister.  It was $3,000!!!!  I asked if I could try it on just to see how it felt to have something so expensive on my head.  It really was beautiful....but it still looked like a wig on me. 

On a funny note, I have a large bald patch on top of my head and I felt something wierd in the center of it.  I asked my husband to look at it and see what it was and he said that I had one single long hair growing out of the middle of the bald spot.  It was long like the rest of my hair.  Well, I thought that was rediculous to have just one hair in the center and asked him to just pluck it out for me.  And he said "no, he is the lone soldier who is standing his ground and won't be defeated by your immune system".  Well, how could I pluck it after that?  Corney....I know, but it was funney to me. 

So, I was wondering if any other women out there had the same problem I did: that the wig just doesn't look like something you would do with your hair.  How do you cope with it?  Do you just get used to it over time?  Does everyone know you have a wig?  How do you change to different wigs without people noticing that you had long hair one day and short the other or do you keep them the same?  Has anyone ever tried a wig top?  I know it is a lot of questions, but this is new territory for me.  If I feel confident enough, I might post the pick of the new wig (on me).