561.814.3379

By Appointment Only

My own lifelong hair challenges & journey

I was born with hereditarily thin and fine hair, combined with hair loss from stress and anemia as a child, I was ‘doomed’ with terrible hair. As a young adult, I went through the same ineffective cycle that some of you are going through: chemical process…damage…cut…never able to achieve the thick, healthy, feminine hair that I really wanted. My hair grows quickly and can get quite long, there’s just not enough of it to get the look that I wanted; the longer it got, the more straggly and broken off it got.  My solution used to be to wear Hair Extensions to lengthen and thicken it up.

joanne lindenA lot has changed in the last 5 years with my hair. A LOT of day to day stress has been alleviated in my life. I’m a firm believer that stress has a lot to do with hair health, and your health in general. I had also been taking a pharmaceutical for high blood pressure and got off of it, as it was taken off the market for terrible side effects. 

The photo of me is from January 2019 with mostly natural hair, meaning no chemical highlights, and no hair extensions.  I haven’t colored it in several years now because the Florida sun lightens it enough for me to be happy. On the day of the photo sitting, I was really wishing I had some extra hair in, but I didn’t have time. Seeing that photo proved to me that my own natural hair was finally acceptable again, but not optimal.

My COVID hair loss story

August 2021: My husband and I got ‘COVID’. We were blessed to not be hospitalized, but we were very ill from whatever it is. There is no question in my mind about ‘does COVID cause hair loss’! Six to eight weeks later we both experienced post COVID hair loss, and lost about half of our hair. It was coming out so fast and so bad that there was little I could wear except a full wig, which I chose not to do, due to the Florida heat that time of year. See those photos and captions below.

 

 

January 2022: My hair shedding finally slowed down to ‘normal’ at the beginning of January ’22. I didn’t expect to have my previous hair back for about 18 months. So, the period of fall out was about 2-3 months.

 

 

August 2022: A year later, it’s finally growing back in from COVID and hair loss. I have a bit of silvery white coming in, which makes me very happy! I’m also going to be 60 in a few years, and don’t want to look inappropriate. I’ve taken a much more natural approach to how I look lately. I also wear my hair up the majority of the time, because I like how I look and it’s cooler in this intense heat. I still like to have some extra hair in, or a topper, it helps up-dos look better also. 

 

 

Right now, I’m incredibly relieved that my hair is just even growing back after COVID and hair loss. I have clients whose hair has NOT grown back at all after COVID and hair loss. I feel comfortable now that my hair is back on the mend, and I can apply something for volume, or wear a topper for some height. Wearing additional hair allows me to have ‘normal looking’ hair even if I chose to do very little to it, and the more effort and styling that I put into it, the better it looks.



  • if you’re wondering is hair loss a side effect of COVID? just take a look at my photos. I lost handfuls of hair everyday, until I was left with about only 50% of what I started with. My scalp was also excreting a lot of ‘oils’; seemed almost sticky at times. I’d no sooner shampoo it, and a few hours later it was ‘greasy’.
  • I’ve worn hair extensions and volumizers in the past very often. (see My Hair Story) I wasn’t even able to utilize them because of the profuse shedding. You should NEVER apply hair extensions or volumizers during active profuse hair loss. It was very evident to me, can COVID cause hair loss?
  • My hair shedding finally slowed down to ‘normal’ at the beginning of January ’22. I don’t expect to have my previous hair back for about 18 months. So, the period of fall out was about 2-3 months.
  • I have a full wig that is new that I’ve never worn, and a topper hair piece. I wanted to wear the hair piece, but couldn’t get the hair color I needed to custom color it to my shade, due to all of the product shortages. I’ve finally gotten some, so I’ll be coloring the topper soon, and posting updates. 
  • As for my full wig, It’s super thick, so I was a little self conscious about wearing it over the holiday season around family and friends. Those who know me well, know I don’t normally have that much hair, and I didn’t want to be the subject of conversation. Remember: I’m a client too; some aspects of wearing extra hair are hard for me also. So does COVID cause hair loss? Yes for sure!
  • August 2022: one year post COVID. I have about 3” of new hair growth coming in. I feel it will take the rest of 2022 and most of 2023 for it to be back as it was before COVID.