Its crazy, how fast things can change. I’m a kindergartner enjoying being a kid, when all of sudden, BAM! It hits me like wall to the face, sudden, excruciating, and unexpected.

I remember noticing my sister looking different. Her face looked sad. Her head looked bald. I was scared. I remember hearing about this thing called “Cancer”, and I asked my parents if she had cancer... They shook their head no, and told me she had Trichotillomania.

What is Trichotillomania? I recall asking myself this question.It was so foreign. I couldn’t even pronounce the word. Scary was all I could think of. Until they finally opened my eyes to the OCD disorder.

All of this changed our lives. My sister went from having a full head of hair, to almost none. She would spend every minute picking her hair. Hair pulling was a constant battle, for her, and us as a family. Constantly, we would tell her to “Stop picking your hair”, or “Sit on your hands”. This did nothing. She picked, picked, and picked.

At first, I was nervous about having a half bald sister. I was worried about what people would think, what they would say. But one day my sister came up to me said, “ Allison, don’t worry about what other people think about me, I may be bald, but I am still me”. And she was right. She didn’t let the disease affect who she was, so why should I?

So after numerous trips to too many psychologists, we realized there was no “cure”. She will always be struggling to not pull her hair. So even after she took anti-anxiety an anti psychotic medications for 12 years, it never stopped the urges. It was difficult to come to the reality of this disease. But I will always accept my sister for who she is, bald or not.