What's Fun About Hair Loss?

Nothing, right?

I don't know...I'm kind of enjoying it!

Think about it: no leg or underarm shaving, no bikini waxing, no worries about hairs coming out of my nose that I'm not aware of until after I've hosted a dinner party! (I still worry about spinach between my teeth, though.)

No dandruff, no split ends, no hair on my toes (shaving your toes is very dangerous)!

And wow, is it easy to take care of my hair.

Synthetics are wash, wear and plop. Sometimes I even brush them.

Human hair is in the hands of someone else. What a time-saver! I don't even have to be there.

Sure, if my hair grew back, I wouldn't say no. But to be honest, eyelashes are the only cilia I really miss.

So it's all okay with me.

And I make up for my hairlessness with two Persian cats and a very fluffy dog. Do you think I made an unconscious choice?

If Your Hair Falls Out, Keep Dancing! My new book is out August 1.

I'm really excited about the reception I'm getting to the advance copies of my new book!

Girlfriends, let's talk about hair loss! We all know how important appearance is in our society. You can’t open a women’s magazine without seeing photos of long, lush hair and hundreds of products to care for it. When all you have is a few measly strands, or none at all, don't you just hate it?

It's not hard to imagine how girls and women of all ages feel when they have a condition that takes away this symbol of femininity. And if that’s not bad enough, women with alopecia universalis, the type of aa I have, also causes eyelashes and eyebrows to fall out. Arg!

Hundreds of thousands struggle with the heartbreak this condition can cause. Maybe you're one of them! My book offers comfort, support. And bonus! It's fun to read, and it has cool pictures!

A little about me: Since I was diagnosed with alopecia areata (the umbrella term for patchy to total hair loss) in 1968, I have stumbled through all the stages of grief (feeling guilty because, after all, there are worse things than alopecia), figuring out how to look normal (and maybe even trying for pretty), bouncing from one treatment to another, buying and ruining or rejecting dozens of wigs, losing every single hair on my body, figuring out how to tell people, especially men I was dating…all in all, going from heartbreak to acceptance to joy and confidence. Believe it, you can get there, too!

It took awhile, but at this point I realized I could help other women. Thus, this book: The book I wish I had, when I was first diagnosed with alopecia areata.

If Your Hair Falls Out, Keep Dancing! is filled with tips on parenting kids with alopecia, how to tell your family and friends, dating, available treatments, doctors, makeup, wigs, and most important, attitude. It’s colorfully illustrated with my paintings, and besides being informative, I have to admit it's pretty funny in places, too.

The message is that you can enjoy and even celebrate your life with alopecia areata, go after your dreams, and know you’re not alone. Not only for you dolls with alopecia, it's also for families and friends who would like a greater understanding of the condition, as well as women with all types of hair loss and those who are facing other types of life challenges.

You can get If Your Hair Falls Out, Keep Dancing! at http://www.amazon.com/, on my author web site:

http://www.leslieannbutler.npauthors.com/, on the National Alopecia Areata marketplace (http://www.naaf.org/), and on all online booksellers. You can also order it from your local book store.

I would love to know how you like the book, so please email me with your comments!