On 23rd December 2023 I found my first bald spot. I was 13. It started as a small semi circle at the bottom of my hairline on the back of my head.

By April 2024 I had lost more hair on the back of my head. It had slowly spread out and up. It was a triangle shape that was as wide as my neck. It looked like I had had a bad haircut or that I was going bald from my neck up. In May 2024 I also started losing hair on my crown in the shape of a circle. 

I hadn’t told anyone about my hair loss. My family and my doctor were the only ones who knew. I was in year 8 so it wasn’t something I wanted all my friends to know about because I was embarrassed and thought my friends would think there was something wrong with me. My mum decided it was time to contact my school. They were really great about it. I saw the school counsellor and the school gave me permission to wear my hood or hat at all times. They told all my teachers and eventually all the teachers in the school knew about it so I didn’t have to explain it at every assembly or in any classroom.

By the middle of June 2024 it had spread around both sides to my ears. I kept my hair a bit longer to hide it but if I had a shaved head it would have looked like my hairline finished in line with the tops of my ears. At the beginning of July 2024 I started noticing random bald patches appearing on the top and sides of my head. The hair on the top of my head was a bit longer so they weren’t too obvious yet but I wore a hooded jumper or hat everywhere I went except at trampolining. Trampolining is my sport. It’s the one place I feel comfortable enough to go without a hat or hood. It really wouldn’t be possible to jump with a hat or hood on anyway. This was when my coach first noticed my hair loss and asked my mum about it. He was really supportive which has helped a lot.

At the end of July 2024, after my 14^th birthday, I decided I wanted to shave my head. I had so many random spots that I was starting to think my hair looked weird long. I wasn’t happy about my decision to shave it off because it made all my spots extremely obvious. The other kids at trampolining started asking questions about my hair. I tried not to make a big deal about it but I always knew they thought I probably had cancer or something. My friends at school had also started noticing that I had no hair under my hat. A few times my hat got pulled off my head or my hood came off and they were all a bit shocked. No one laughed but they would ask what was wrong with my head. 

Over the next 4 months the hair around the back and sides continued to fall out. I no longer had random bald spots, instead I had random tufts of hair. The hair on the top of my head was almost all there except a few small patches.

In December 2024 everything changed. My hair started growing back in some sections. It was all getting very uneven because the random tufts were long and the new hair was short. Before I went back to school in February 2025 my mum neatened everything up. I was still bald along the back part of my head so when I wear my hat it looked like nothing had changed. 

Eventually my friends started to notice that I was getting more hair. A few new friends that I had made at trampolining asked if I had cut my hair to look like that intentionally which made me laugh because I’m not sure anyone would want their hair to look like mine.

Unfortunately, my hair has started coming out again in random spots since the beginning of March 2025. Currently it’s a bit longer so no one really knows except my family. I’m not too worried about it anymore but I still wear my hat everywhere except trampolining.