Hair Loss Minoxidil Side Effects

At the age of 10, I was shipped off to Boarding school. The students, myself included, compared this catholic school to jail. By the way, how come no one ever uses Gaol spelling for jail? We had to shave off our hair every school term. That’s 4 times a year! I was in for 5 years. That’s going bald 20 times in 5 years. Meditate on that! (Don’t!).

Sidebar, the school was on a mountain top. It was freezing in winter! When I went to high school, also Catholic School, but more freedom and not boarding school. I was able to negotiate with my parents that I be able to process my hair. My siblings have good, strong hair. Mom, not so much! I’m mom’s doppelgänger, so, spoiler alert! My hair was the longest it had been, processed, when I was in College. I’ve always done my own hair, regardless the hairstyle. I’ll just learn it and do it myself. I had just done my hair and was so proud, I took a second mirror and looked at the top/ back of my head. Bald spot. What? To say I was shaken…! There were a lot of people with bald spots in close proximity to where mine was around during the time of Sheen. Hair straightener used by black people back in the day in South Africa. We were under the impression, the spot was from sleeping on your back. Mine wasn’t on the back, and I wasn’t sleeping on a headstand. Long story longer; At some point, I went natural by wearing my hair in dreadlocks. 

I’d start losing my hair in that same spot but I didn't connect as this was something that was on and off. Long story short, my hair fell off recently. I didn’t feel like cutting it. I think I have PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) from the five year sentence of boarding school. I  went online  and found a remedy: minoxidil. Guys are swearing by it for their beards, balding heads, the works. Oh em gee! I’ll be cured for life! I bought the Walmart version of Rogaine. I believe they’re all same thing. Sidebar, I once mentioned this issue to my older male doctor who responded: it’s normal  I’m losing my hair too! Rude! He then went on Google. No jokes! And told me about Rogaine. Years later, I tried it based  off of Google, not his condescending ass! 

This hair treatment is in liquid form, you pour a certain number of drops and let it sink in or rub it in and then wash it out after a certain number of hours. Read directions thoroughly if you decide to try it. And I hope your experience is more favorable than mine. Dandruff galore! The itchiest scalp you can ever imagine. I don’t handle itchiness well. I’ll take pain over itch any day. Even though, I hear they’re the same nerves. Having dreadlocks, there was no easy way to get the dandruff from the Minox out of my hair, even after I’d washed it. The experience was just so poor. I would scratch so much, I was lose hair in the spots I’d scratched. That was counterproductive. 

I remember during this period, I was being funny and I took a pic of me rolling my eyes in response to a message from my sister. She asked why my eyes were puffy. I had noticed that there was a little bit of swelling under my eyes but I didn’t take it too seriously. I don’t know if this had anything to do with the Equate Minoxidil I was using for my hair loss.

Eventually, I’d to quit using the product mainly due to the itch. I took it back to Walmart for a refund. 

To be continued  

I’d like to invite you to share some of your hair loss stories and how you remedied them, if at all. You can comment here or message me on social media @BabalwaBrook 

I wonder if this is alopecia? 

Youtube.com/BabalwaBrook please subscribe on there. Thanks in advance