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believe me, I wanted to. I wondered how a female could possibly have male pattern baldness. Was I some kind of freak? The formal diagnosis was androgenetic alopecia. Say what? He told me that there was really no cure for female baldness, though some women were having very limited success with Rogaine cream. However, it would have to be applied morning and night forever, and if you discontinued it, all the regrowth you achieved would be lost in record time. He repeated that there was really nothing else he could offer me. You could see, that as a doctor, this made him uncomfortable. After all, his job was to give me something to make me better, and his little black bag held no magic for this ailment. But he reminded me to keep watching the news, because someday there would be something to help, as the scientists were working on it day and night. (I asked him if I could expect to wake up bald tomorrow.) But he tried to reassure me that I was a long way from that. I turned down the prescription for Rogaine, as I didn't want cream in my hair morning and night for the rest of my life, and I had also heard there might be some harmful side effects.

I then called my mother and my husband. Imagine trying to explain that I had male pattern baldness! Basically, it just means that a woman with this diagnosis loses her hair in the same general pattern a man does. Sometimes it is referred to as female pattern baldness, and the only good news is, that often a woman's hair will thin all over, but she will retain her hairline. It is caused by genetics, aging and hormonal changes. (Feeling I was caught in a waking nightmare, I tried to decide which one of the Three Stooges I might end up looking like. I finally settled on Larry.)
This time even shopping didn't ease my fears.

I searched the Web endlessly looking for anything about female hair loss, and I found a wonderful wig support group. I read all the posts, and looked at all the pictures. Much to my surprise, I read that female hair loss is very prevalent, both in younger and older women. I learned about the various kinds of alopecia, and then read how excited all the ladies were to find beautiful wigs. Suddenly I didn't feel alone anymore. So I wasn't a freak! My heart went out to all the younger women who were having this problem and also dating. They were so afraid that they would never find anyone who would love them for who they were, and accept that they wore wigs. I realized that I was so blessed to have a husband who

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