Life isn't worth living if you're bald.

[johnsmith]

I have seen this many times where somebody comes here and tries to spread the word that "hair loss isn't a big deal". I appreciate your efforts, but at the end of the day it comes down to how we perceive ourselves. To be honest, I didn't treat my hair loss for years and I never felt like I was being treated any differently than I was before I started losing my hair. Maybe I was ignorant of the whole situation, but I was never preoccupied with how others looked at me. The main problem I had with hair loss is how it made me feel about myself and how I looked. Even now that is my major issue with everything. I wouldn't go as far as to say that I don't care what others think, but more importantly I care what I think about how I look. I like the way I look with hair much more than without it.

Okly, I get what you are trying to do. You are trying to be positive and make the most out of a effed up situation and I respect that. It all comes down to how we feel about ourselves. If we feel we look like crap without hair, there is very little you or anybody else can do to make us feel any different.

Great post. Extremely well stated, my friend. It all comes down to how we see ourselves. When I am wearing a ski-cap, or baseball cap, or hat, I really like what I see, just as I did when I had a full head of hair in my youth and no caps, hats, etc. In contrast, I do not like what I see when I remove the cap, or hat. Yes, I still have handsome facial features, but it pales in comparison to when my baldness is masked.

So, yes, I agree 100%. It is how we see ourselves that matter the most. I have NEVER thought that baldness was attractive on anyone, although I acknowledge, as 0kly stated, that others have a markedly different opinion.

I've been blessed with a lot, including the ability to work from home, having plenty of money, and having good health, aside from the hair loss disease. The hair loss just puts a VERY major damper on life for me because I hate the way it makes me look and I hate the way it saps and crushes my self-confidence and self-esteem. If and when the medical community comes out with a real, legitimate fix AT THE GENETIC LEVEL, I will be all in, I don't care how much it costs, but I am 47 now, and if I get to be much past 55 or so, I doubt I will care at all anymore, so it's not looking too good for the home team, especially this late in the game.

As for the others who like to say, "well, at least you do have this condition, or at least you don't have that condition," yeah, I guess it could always be worse, but I have to wonder why they are here at all, posting, instead of counting their blessings that they don't have "this or that" condition that's worse. It seems very hypocritical to me.