4 Years of extension wearing= ALOPECIA!!!

wow shock- so sorry to hear this, i have been wearing extensions for 3 yrs now and have lots of clients who have worn them for even longer and once removed, they havent had such a prob.

my heart goes out to you.

as with everything, some things effect others, while in other instances, nothing happens to anyone. again, i feel so bad for you.

Im so sorry SPP. It must be awful. I dont want to sound unsympathetic, I know it must be a horrible thing to go through, but I do wonder if the doctors made a quick and easy judgement that hair extensions caused the alopecia. Easy answer? Or was there an actual test that determined what caused the alopecia.

The reason I ask this is becuase I dont trust alot of drs....from experiences Ive had. Alot of times in my opinion they look for the easiest answer for things that happen. (Example...I have Lupus, and it seems like any little health problem I have they try to say is caused by my Lupus condition, and sometimes its such an unrelated condition that its just far fetched and rediculous. I have to fight like crazy to get a doctor to look beyond the Lupus to treat me for anything else.)

I dont know anything about alopecia. But can chemical/biological changes within your body cause it? Can certain medicines or reactions to meds cause it? Stress or other factors? Is it hereditary? I am clueless about alopecia and Im sorry if these are stupid/uneducated questions, but I guess Ive become so accustomed to looking beyond the easy answer and asking alot of questions.

I have heard that some types of alopecia can be temporary, as Creation said. So Im keeping my fingers crossed for you and hope that it all turns out well, please keep us posted.

argh.

I had a bald spot approx the size of 2 thumb prints in the low back near my neck after approx 2 years of braid-n-sew wefts.  Then I switched to heat seals.  Had them in for 10 weeks & got a couple of tiny bald spots (the size of a heat seal) where they pulled on my pillow at night (slept w/ it in a low scrunchie bun)and when taking out the heat seals, my hair was so thin all over the scalp.  I've had the heat seals out for almost 4 months and it is all growing back.  I have lots of 2 or so inch hairs sprouting out. 

Now I wear clip ins but cut to a long bob so only need one single row.

I just thought I'd share--all of my hair is coming back, & hopefully yours will, too.

Hello everyone, I am not raining on anyone's parade or trying to sound negative. I am sorry to hear of your experience with extensions, I am to a hairstylist and here is my story. I had a hairshow to attend last month and I did a quickweave on my hair. For those who are not familiar with it I will briefly explain. The hair and scalp is oiled and pulled back into a ponytail or inverted braid. The hair is sprayed with hairspray to make a firm mold. The hair is then glued on top. The oil protects the hair from the alcohol. (I learned this method from another stylist) I promote healthy hair in my salon mind you. I made the mistake of using the magic hair bonding glue instead of the 007 glue. I didn't think of any difference except the magic bond was a thicker bonding glue and the 007 was a bit runnier. I kept my quickweave in four weeks. Now I wear my tracks until they hang off, and sometimes the track will come up and there is very little glue residue left on the hair. Well, when it was time to remove the tracks I noticed that the glue left patches and clumps of the stuff on top of my hair. I was totally horrified. I know it took maybe an hour to remove all that damn glue, during the removal I even got a little impatient and removed some of the tracks a little bit forceful. My hair didn't shed a lot, it was the clumps of glue that I was trying to remove.I did loose some hair due to the removal of the residue.

So, the bottom line is I always wear my natural hair, and I have thick african american hair and I know what to do and not to do. I am not insinuating that anyone did anything wrong. All I am saying is I made a mistake with the type of glue. I always where extensions on and off and never had a problem with my hair shedding. With this situation my hair is thinner, but I learned from my mistakes, I tell my clients not to bring that magic bond in the salon because it is murder on the hair.

Good luck on finding a wig.  I am considering wearing a fall, or the silicone line rings. I'll keep ya'll posted

Shiry

Man, I can't tell my story enough about extentions and bonding glue.

I too had a bad experience with extentions and bonding glue. The crown of head was completely bald, red and irritated from the glue along with friction from the shampoo lady rubbing my hair to hard . After crying , I took action and started using Doo Grow products (root stimulator, shampoo, condditioners), swallowed 1000 mg of Biotin, 28 mg of Iron Tablets, 1000 mg of B12 vitamins, started eating more green leafy veggies and tried to stay stress free. My hair is coming back nicely at the top.  It is still a quite a bit thin, but it's getting there (now switch to Nioxin product for thinning hair). If I wear it straight back, you can't tell. It's when I part my hair on the side that you can tell that I've lost some hair.  The rest of my hair from following this regemin is down to my bra strap. 

During the course of growing my hair back, I am wearing a 100 % human hair wig that I had styled to the way I am use to wearing my hair (parted on the side) and no one knew the difference.  Sometimes I will wear my own hair with a nice scraf tied across the top or nice hat to conceal the bald spots.

I know you are stressing out and I don't blame you.  But the first thing you will need to do is make peace with the problem and start working on growing your hair back. I will be praying for you.