Green Mermaid Cottage

For the first twelve years of my life I had beautiful, long hair. Strangers in the street often randomly   complimented me on my healthy-looking hair and I was told that I had 'the most beautiful hair in the school' by the mother of one of my classmates. But from the age of 13 everything changed. I went within a few months from Rapunzel to G.I. Jane. My hair was thinning quickly and alarmingly and strands of white hair appeared in my light chestnut hair. My eyebrows also grew thinner and thinner. My hair sings the blues I had to cut my hair short to try to disguise some of the loss, even though every trip to the hairdresser was traumatic as they invariably commented on my thinning locks. The family GP did not offer much help and simply suggested I look into using 'a good hair colour product'. A dermatologist  had a look at my scalp but also seemed puzzled. Stress and genetics were mentioned as possible causes and I was dismissed with the general advice...

( Trigger warning: this post discusses mental health issues, including suicidal ideation.)  Throughout my life I have had episodes of severe depression, anxiety and panic attacks. I   strongly suspect that I am neurodivergent as I struggle on a daily basic with noise, busy and crowded environments and using public transport. I regularly feel like I am the odd one out in social and work situations and struggle with relationships.  I am lucky to have a very supportive GP who helped me when I was at my lowest and who gave me access to counselling sessions and the appropriate medication. But I have also accepted that to stay well I needed to make several long term changes in my daily life and constantly work at maintaining my mental health.  Below are some of the activities that have helped me.  MY MENTAL HEALTH ROUTINE  Guided Meditation and  Mindfulness This is something that I started doing during the Covid lockdowns. I discovered YouTube guided medi...