Jessica-Marie Laurent [00:00:09]:
The best thing that I can recommend for any female in any situation is do your research. So, of course, if you're, you know, becoming pregnant or if you notice something is happening throughout or during your pregnancy, do a little bit of research. Make somebody aware, whether it be a hair loss expert or a doctor. Don't sit in silence and think that, you know, you're alone or that nobody else has ever experienced it, because you're not alone.

Kevin Rolston [00:00:53]:
Welcome to HairPod, the podcast where you get to hear real people talk, talk about their hair journeys. I'm your host, Kevin Ralston, and each week you get to hear stories about people from different walks of life whose lives have been touched by hair loss in some form or fashion. Many of our guests have experienced hair loss themselves, and they found a way to get their confidence and their hair back. This week, we want to do something special to celebrate Mother's Day on hairpod. We share untold stories and shine a light on things that people may not always be aware of. When we think about hair loss, we typically think of men losing their hair as they age. But if youve listened to the show before, you probably know that women experience hair loss, too. According to the American Academy of Dermatology, as many as 50% of women experience some hair loss at some point in their lives.

Kevin Rolston [00:01:45]:
And it can happen for a variety of reasons, such as stress, hormonal changes, or female pattern baldness. But thats not the only way moms can be affected by hair loss. Conditions that cause hair loss can happen to kids, too. Weve been lucky enough on the show to interview two guests whose hair journey started when they were young and they both shared how instrumental their parents were in getting them the help they needed. Were going to talk about those stories today to celebrate the moms out there who are supporting their kids who may be feeling the isolation of trying to handle it all alone. Youre also going to hear some advice from one of our guests on what parents can do to support their kids going through hair loss. This first clip comes from Heather Brook. Heather is a behavioral therapist, model, and beauty pageant winner.

Kevin Rolston [00:02:34]:
Her story began at the age of nine, when she began pulling out her eyelashes, eyebrows, and the hair on her head due to a condition called trichotillomania. Even though she tried to hide the condition from her mother and grandmother, they noticed what was going on and they helped her on the path to getting the care that would start her hair regrowth journey.

Heather Brooke [00:02:59]:
So my journey, it started out, it wasn't super noticeable, super quick. I could actually remember the first time that I pulled, and my trichotillomania began with my eyelashes, not from my head. And I was in, in the hallway at our house, and I had an eyelash that kept poking me in the eye. And I went to a mirror in our hall and was just trying to straighten out the lash. And as I was pulling on it to try to straighten it out, it came out. And when it came out, there was, like, this release. I'm a therapist as well, and so the one thing that I can compare it to is for people who do self harming and cut, there's that release that people do get when that happens. And that was kind of what that felt like for me when I pulled that lash on accident.

Heather Brooke [00:03:51]:
Like, that wasn't even intentional, but that sudden, like, release that came, it was like, for a brief moment, all of the stress and anxiety that I had been holding inside was gone. But it almost creates, like, endorphins, like a high, and. But, like any high, you have to continue the behavior to continue to get it. And so, for me, that started with my lashes, and it took probably months before anybody ever noticed that. When that became noticeable, I moved to my eyebrows, thinking, oh, if I pull from somewhere else, then maybe I'll stop pulling from there. That didn't work. So my parents thought that I was shaving my eyebrows. And it probably wasn't until three or four years after I actually started pulling that I developed enough bald patches on my head, because at that point, I had started pulling from my head that I had developed enough bald patches that it was noticeable.

Heather Brooke [00:04:45]:
My grandmother, I believe, was actually the first person who noticed. I always had really long eyelashes, and I had, like, Brooke shields eyebrows as a kid. And so when my grandmother was, like, looking at me one day and she was like, what happened to your eyelashes?

Kevin Rolston [00:05:01]:
And.

Heather Brooke [00:05:01]:
And I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't know why I was doing it and why I couldn't stop. So I was just like, oh, I was trying to curl them with one of those eyelash things. So I, like, lied about what I was doing. And then when my parents, when I moved to my eyebrows and my parents thought that I was shaving my eyebrows, I just allowed that to continue because I didn't know what I was doing. I felt so weird that I was doing this, and I couldn't stop, and I didn't know why. And so it was when I was 13 or 14, I was up really late one night watching. It was like, an infomercial or something that was on television, and it was about wigs.

Heather Brooke [00:05:36]:
And as I was sitting there watching this infomercial, there was a woman on there who started talking about pulling her hair. And then she started talking about, like, these fake eyelashes and different things. But as she was talking, she said, trichotillomania. And a couple of days after that, my mom noticed a bald patch on my head in the pool. We had been swimming, and I wore at that point, I was wearing, I had always had, and I think that's one of the reasons that, other reasons that it took so long to notice. But I'd always had super thick hair. And so I just got to the point where I was always wearing my hair in a ponytail. But this one specific day, she was coming out of the pool behind me and my ponytail had moved enough that she could see the bald spot.

Heather Brooke [00:06:20]:
And so when she said something to me about it, I was like, okay, I think I saw this commercial. I think this is what I have. And I told her and she said, okay. And so she scheduled an appointment with me to see the doctor that she worked for. And so I went in, he diagnosed me, and then he made a referral to a psychiatrist and put me on some medications. And that was kind of where we the treatment for it started.

Kevin Rolston [00:06:47]:
One thing that makes Heather so inspiring is that she has gone on to help kids going through trichotillomania as a behavioral therapist. She even wrote a childrens book called where is my hair? That talks about the condition. For more information about her book, check out our show notes. Heather isnt our only guest whose mom helped make her hair journey possible. Abby Jensens story began when she was a baby. She was born with amniotic band syndrome which caused scarring on her scalp. Even though she has a very rare form of this condition, the experiences she went through is shared by many children who experience hair loss. Abby just wanted to be a regular kid and fit in, and it was up to her parents to make that happen.

Kevin Rolston [00:07:30]:
Now that Abby is an adult, she understands how hard this experience must have been for her mom, and she offers up some advice on how parents can navigate these challenges.

Abby Jensen [00:07:44]:
When your mom is pregnant with you, you're in this amniotic sac. And when my mom was pregnant with me, it ripped and her body, like, tried to fix it and a bunch of blood vessels, like, came together and they created this band, which is where the name comes from. And when I was born, this band was like, wrapped all the way around my head. And when the doctors were like, this is like causing an infection, like she's really sick. They ended up just ripping it off, and when they did that, all my hair went with it. I'm actually not wearing any hair right now, so my scar kind of goes all the way around. So I have some, some hair in the back here, but I have nothing up top at all. So right away.

Abby Jensen [00:08:22]:
And afterwards, I was in the hospital for a couple weeks. Cause I was also a pre me, so my parents had to learn very quickly how to get care together. So my head offered I needed a bunch of care, but my head needed to be changed every couple hours with, like, new dressings and, like, stuff to cover it up and keep the infection away. Kids are meant, so I would get a bunch of looks and stares and pointing the finger. And so hats were a big thing. When I was younger, it was definitely tough. I think my mom took it harder than my dad, but my dad, they both. I mean, it's their kid and something that's not normal about them.

Abby Jensen [00:08:58]:
And so I don't remember before I started with hair club, but I remember kind of after I got a wig on, and kids in elementary school kind of, like, started to figure it out because I would go different, like, lengths or colors or whatnot. And no fourth grader dyes their hair, so it was very a big topic when I came into school with, like, brown hair versus blonde hair, kind of a big conversation. My parents, I mean, they handled everything tremendously. I couldn't ask for a better support system. I mean, they helped me with everything my mom was researching. So essentially, I was four years old when I started a hair club. So my mom was very on the ball of, like, I don't want her to go to school without hair. So we started with, I forget the organization, but there was one that wouldn't help me because I didn't have cancer.

Abby Jensen [00:09:42]:
And then my mom found hair club for men, because back then, it was just cloud for men. There was really nothing else. And I would have to ask my mom who the directors or the people in charge were, but she found them, and they kind of were like, okay, let's meet with her. Let's see what we can do. So they met with me and my parents, and I've been a client now for 20 years.

Kevin Rolston [00:10:02]:
If you were speaking to parents out there, because we deal with a charity that has a lot of kids that have cancer treatments and things like that, where theyre losing their hair and its tough. And we always focus on the kids and making sure that theyre emotionally right. But I see the same kind of struggles going on with their parents. They just, they want to help, and they feel so lost and so desperate. So what would you say to a parent that has a child that at the age of four is dealing with hair issues like what you were?

Abby Jensen [00:10:32]:
I think I would just say, just be there for them. I mean, let them complain, let them be sad about it. Let them kind of embrace it. I mean, it's okay. And I needed to hear that when I was younger that it's okay to be different. It's okay to have something wrong or something not 100% and just be there and that it's okay. And my mom outweighed the whole line sheets still tells me to this day is, if I could trade places with you, I would. And now that I'm older, I wouldn't want her to trade places with me.

Abby Jensen [00:11:03]:
So I just, your kid is, I mean, they're strong as all hell and they can get through this. And I'm here to talk to little kids like that. I mean, I, when I was younger, I definitely wanted someone, so I can just kind of spread my knowledge is like, I can talk to your kid, I can talk to you, I can help kind of give them a perspective, but just kind of it's okay. And essentially, that's what I think my parents needed to hear, too, was that it's okay that she's going through this and she is going to handle it and she's going to grow and be strong. And that's what I needed to hear when I was four. And I think that's what my parents needed to hear, too.

Kevin Rolston [00:11:40]:
Abby Dean grew up with examples of people to look up to who had been through an experience like hers. She came on Hairpod to tell her story and to show kids and their parents that it's possible to grow up different from other kids and still go on to lead a happy, healthy life. She hopes that kids and parents alike can take some comfort in knowing that things get better as you get older and are able to find the solutions that works for you. At Herapog, we love sharing these stories of mothers who would do anything to help their kids through these difficult, life altering situations. But motherhood just isn't about looking after your kids. Moms can also deal with hair loss, like our next guest, Jessica Marie Laurent. As a new mother, she experienced a common phenomenon called postpartum hair loss. Roughly 40% to 50% of women face postpartum hair loss, but unfortunately, many dont realize that theres a lot they can do to help encourage their hair to grow back.

Kevin Rolston [00:12:39]:
Jessicas experience as a professional in the hair replacement industry helped her recognize why she was losing her hair after her son was born. And she shared some insights about how moms can give their bodies the care and nutrition they need for hair health.

Jessica-Marie Laurent [00:13:00]:
For most women, I would say postpartum hair loss happens in the six to eight month range. But for females that breastfeed, this can happen later because you still have that good hormone, if you will, because of the breast milk being produced. So you have a little bit of a longer stretch before you experience that postpartum hair loss. So for me, it was probably about a year after I stopped breastfeeding my son, after a year. And then after a year, I started to notice massive clumps of hair coming out while I was shampooing and conditioning. It was very shocking and very hard to go through because, you know, as a female, I mean, the goal is to wash your hair as often as you need to, which is a couple times a week. So a couple times a week. I'm going through this thinking, should I just stop washing my hair altogether? Like, what should I do to mitigate this? When doing research and going to prenatal and postnatal classes, they do advise you that, you know, it can happen.

Jessica-Marie Laurent [00:13:54]:
But I think the part that's like the scariest, if you will, is you. You just don't know when it's going to happen. And when it starts to happen, it starts and it kind of doesn't stop until, I guess, either the hormone is completely out of the body or until the hair has done the cycle that it needs to do.

Kevin Rolston [00:14:15]:
We want to thank our guests Heather, Abby, and Jessica for sharing their personal stories on this special Mother's Day episode. To hear more from them, check out our show notes where we've linked to their individual episodes. We also want to thank the mothers out there who are caring for their kids all while going through their own challenges. We hope wherever you are, you are celebrating yourself and all you do. Thanks for listening to another episode of Hairpod. Check us out at Harepod on Instagram or search Harepod on Facebook to continue the conversation. If you know a mom or mom to be who could benefit from hearing this episode, we would love it if youd share it with her. If youre enjoying the show, consider leaving us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite podcast app.

Kevin Rolston [00:15:01]:
We also have a website. Check it out by going to podcast dot hairclub.com. Were here to build up people and to share real stories so people experiencing hair loss, feel a little bit less alone. And when you share, review and subscribe, it helps us do just that. So thank you. Until next time.