A very short haircut as an act of control

Somebody here described the shedding phase as grieving something small and constant, and that was exactly right and I had not had words for it.

What I would say to anybody at the start of it: it is very unlikely to be permanent, and it is also completely reasonable to be upset while it happens.

What Bly described happened to me too, in a slightly different order.

Practically: a softer brush, less heat, and leaving it alone. None of it dramatic and collectively it made the daily experience less upsetting.

The thing that helped was a photograph at the start, which I hated taking and which meant I could see the regrowth six months later rather than guessing.

What I found hardest was other people not seeing it. It was enormous to me and invisible to everybody else, which made it lonely.

Mine has thinned and stayed thinner, and I have made my peace with that, and I would not want somebody to read only the full-recovery accounts.

My experience was that protein intake mattered — not as a cure, but my dietitian flagged that mine had dropped a long way and correcting it seemed to help.