Welp, let's give you the run down. Alopecia has been classified as an autoimmune disorder, otherwise known as "we don't actually know what this is or how to classify it, so we'll put it in this category for now."
There are 3 different types of alopecia you ought to be familiar with:
Alopecia Areata: where there are patches of hair missing, typically on one's scalp.
Alopecia Totalis: where all of the hair on your head is gone, but you still have eyelashes, eyebrows, arm hair, leg hair, etc.
Alopecia Universalis: where all of your hair is gone, all of it. You feel like a naked mole rat, or one of those hairless cats.
Alopecia has no known cause, some doctors like to tell you that it's because you stress a lot, but just because hair-loss is associated with stress doesn't mean that that's the sole cause. All that is known is that your immune system classifies your hair as a threat to your body, so it works to destroy and rid your system of these hair follicles in an effort to protect you. Geez. Nice job body. There is also no reasoning for how one progresses from one level of alopecia to the next, and a lot of people will not actually progress. I got unlucky and went from areata to universalis, but nobody will ever be able to tell you what will happen in the future.
Are there any treatments? Nope, and the ones that they have tried are pretty awful. They're not guaranteed to work, but people can still try them to see how their body responds. The potential treatments include steroid shots in the scalp trying to promote the growth of hair (I did this for several years growing up, and although they do give you numbing shots all over your head before injecting the steroid, you still get shots all over your head which is in fact not that pleasant.) This did help my hair to grow back for a little bit, but it usually came out again in a different spot a couple of months later. Other treatments include harmful chemicals and creams placed on the scalp, and they're always a gamble, so it really is up to the person with alopecia to decide whether or not they want to endure different methods. Medications can also be available to help with autoimmune diseases in general, but there really is no cure for any type of alopecia. Autoimmune diseases do not typically have cures, and this is why alopecia is classified in this mystery of a category.
So, we cope. As there are current studies and research projects searching for a cure for alopecia, there are still no solutions. The alopecia population either goes stark bald and enjoys the freedom they have to express themselves, or they are a bit more reserved like Britney here, using wigs, false eyelashes and temporary tattooed eyebrows to live life as normally as possible, because their lives are in fact, normal.
