After 15 years of struggle, Victoria gave in.
The fight could have been won, the treatments that the young woman has followed since she was 17 sometimes work, not without risk for some: “For ten years I took Androcur©, a controversial drug since in 2019 it earned me a letter from the Ministry of Health recommending that I have a brain MRI. I went there the ball in the stomach.” The drug, an estrogen-progestin, has come under the authorities’ radar because it increases the risk of meningioma by seven times, a brain tumor non-cancerous but potentially disabling. Although its primary target is prostate cancer, it has been commonly prescribed to moderate excess testosterone to patients suffering from acne, hair loss, or even to transgender people. It continues to be prescribed, but after prior information to patients: “I preferred not to continue knowing the risk, especially since the excess testosterone in me was minimal, not enough to explain my hair loss,” explains Victoria, who continued her pill rich in estrogen but more adapted.
“I wasn’t losing hair in one specific area, but rather everywhere over time.”
The male hormone is the main reason for baldness male, but female alopecia is less typical: “I wasn’t losing hair in one specific area, but rather all over the place over time.” Why do hair follicles die? This is often a mystery that medicine cannot (yet) fully answer: “I also rubbed the scalp with lotionMinoxidil©, knowing that friction generally irrigates, therefore keeping the follicles alive for longer. I will never know if these treatments delayed the damage, but in any case, I could not be satisfied with them.”
Victoria has always been keen to hide her hair loss: “Doing my hair in the morning had only one goal: to hide the thinning areas. I tried extensions, wiping away comments like “why are you putting in extensions?” I didn’t dare talk about it, I envied the girls who said when I arrived at school, then at the communications agency where I work: “My hair is all over the place this morning!” Untamable hair was my dream, the key element of the feminine panoply in the gender stereotype.” The young woman was cunning with densifying powderswhich hide the visible scalp, but they especially have the art of thickening an existing hair. When she met her boyfriend, a year ago, the light tone of her confidence about her complex did not fool him: “He immediately understood that behind it there was suffering and weariness.” Right away, he suggested the wigs to her : “But I’m not sure it’s very comfortable to wear, and a nice wig is outrageously expensive. Maybe one day, but I was leaning towards shaving, having been mulling the idea over for a while.” When Victoria expresses her intention, he is immediately on board: “The beauty of a woman is not in her hair.” A rare sentence for a man. A few days before celebrating Victoria’s 32nd birthday, they carried out the operation together, with a clipper at home: “I wanted to take control of my hair destiny! So I made the radical choice of shaving instead of the useless struggle.”
Victoria is still following a treatment, initially intended for kidney problems, Spironolactane©, which has been shown to have an effect on female alopecia. She also continues her daily scalp rubbing, with less pressure: “It may be better than nothing, but my real relief came from the big decision to end my hair. I have spent a fortune on various cures and injections, including those made from my own plasma, a technique that works for some people, but not for me.’ Victoria’s new haircut was praised by those around her, passing for feminine audacity to those who did not share her secret: “I am told that it is sexy, so much the better. What amuses me is the looks in the street while my boyfriend has shoulder length hair !” Or how to transform a mental load into an iconic signal.