Episode 101 - The 20 Things I Have Learned From Healing My Alopecia and Healing Thousands of Others (Part 2)

In the 100th and 101st episode of Alopecia Angel Awaken to Hair Growth Podcast, Johanna discusses her journey with alopecia and how she has been able to heal herself and others. She emphasizes the importance of not settling, being open-minded and running your own race.

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Transcriptions

Part 2 of the 100th episode of Alopecia Angel where Johanna discusses her journey with alopecia and how she has been able to heal herself and others.

Hi, everybody and welcome back to the Alopecia Angel podcast. I'm your host, Johanna Dahlman and I'm so excited and so grateful to be here today. We just passed the 100th episode of the Alopecia Angel podcast and on top of it, I just announced on my last podcast that I will be speaking at the biohacking conference in May in 2024. So very, very grateful for that, but then on top of that, I'm grateful to be back in my office, back with internet. And you know, these little things are big things, but it's the little things that if we have gratitude for, then you know, it all adds up.

And so I'm very, very grateful to be back with you back into my comfortable office routine, and yeah, I wanted to go ahead and continue on from last week's podcast with regarding my list of 20 things that I've learned myself during my process of healing alopecia, but then also what I've learned during the process of also helping others do the same. And this is big because sometimes we don't get these “Aha” moments until later. So the first part, part one was last week, episode 100, I go over the 10 things that
I've learned and now we're going to be talking about the next 10, so let's get at it. So Number 11: Letting go is needed and letting go is a big bucket, a big bucket. And what do I mean by letting go, letting go of expectations of now, it has to happen. And I said this in a social post the other day, but as women, we have all these expectations that either we put upon ourselves or that society puts upon ourselves, whether it's, I need to be married by the time I'm 30, I need to have kids by the time I'm 32, I need to
do this by the time of, you know, X, Y, Z.

And so we put and set these limitations on us, and then on top of it, we have expectations: oh, my engagement ring needs to be in a Tiffany box, Oh you know, my wedding has to be like this, or this has to be like this. This is actually a big mistake. It's a big mistake because many times we get upset, we don't think that things are happening for us when they are, but not at the level or at the expectations that come with it. So for example, let's take the whole situation of getting married by the time you're 30 years old and then, you know, getting proposed to and the ring has to be from a certain brand or from a certain company, or it has to be a certain cut, or this or that. So not allowing for surprise, not allowing for room for things to happen and evolve naturally limits yourself, it puts you at a ceiling and in life with society and for all these pressures that either we put upon ourselves or family does or friends or anything else. It also limits us.

And in the healing process, when it comes to alopecia, it also limits us. And what you'll see is that when you let go and you're not like holding tight to things, then this is where the magic happens, it really is. Maybe some of you can understand like, for example, when you break up with somebody right? When you break up with somebody, you're still holding on to the what if we didn't break up. You're still holding on to the what could have happened, what could we have been together versus being like: Done, I'm done with you, let me move on more freedom, more peace, more this, more that more time for me.

And so I'm not saying to not grieve. I'm not saying to not recognize the emotions, that's not what I'm saying. But I'm saying that quicker and easier that you can let go of things, let go of the expectations, let go of how it's supposed to happen, let go of, you know, where the hair comes first, let go of the changes, let go of the what ifs, let go of, you know, all these things that keep you uptight and stuck, the easier things will come. And that's in life, that's not just with hair growth. That's also in your relationships, that's also with your private relationships, that's also in corporate, that's in everything else. You know, when we're attached to a certain outcome all the time, and it has to be a certain way, right? One thing is the outcome of, let's say, hair growth, and the other thing is, like, it has to be this certain way. Well, again, we all have blind spots, so this will all look a little differently so letting go is needed. Letting go of What we want of what things that we think are best for us, because many times what you think is best for you is actually holding you back.

So letting go and keeping that in the back of your mind just a little bit, because if you start to think, what are you holding on? Let's look at this at the inverse. What are you holding on to that maybe is actually harming you, that maybe is a cause for angst or is a pain point in your life? What are you holding on? Whether that's what society says or thinks what your family says or thinks or maybe what others say or think or maybe, you know, the prestige or the this or the that like there's all these labels and all these things that we attach ourselves to an attachment is part of this. It's the inverse, right?

If I'm telling you that letting go is needed. It's because we're attached. We're attached of how things should be. And to make this very easy to understand, it'll be like that of a wedding. Let's say we're planning for your wedding and, you know, it has to have white doves and it has to be a white carriage and it has to have blue shoes and it has to be blue shoes from Chanel and it has to be, you know, a feather in my hair and it has to be this and it has to be that and it has to be also perfect.

As you know, any event events in general, including weddings, there's always room for error. You know, if you speak to any event planner, you'll know that they always have a margin of error because things happen and things happen that are out of your control. Even if you plan, plan, plan, plan, plan for it. There's things that you can't control like mother nature, you can't plan for delays, you can't plan for change of weather. And when you're trying to take the flight and then all of a sudden you're in a snowstorm, you can't necessarily always plan for these things. It just happens.

And so in this situation, letting go of the what if and making the best of the situation. And I will tell you that during my healing process, letting go of what I thought was healthy for me was part of that. I think this is where we all need to get to, so that we're not shackled by these thoughts, ideas, and preconditioned ways. So the more easy that things slide off, the better it is for you. Truly, it really is. This topic can be implemented into every aspect of life, but in the healing process, letting go of those expectations, letting go of how things should happen, letting go of the fear, letting go of everything else. The beautiful thing is in our last coaching call, I, there was a, there's a lot of ahas that were coming up for my clients. One in particular was very, very on edge because she has low blood sugar and she has, she tends to have like sugar spikes and up and down and it's like a roller coaster and she's very, very sensitive to these things. I told her to not worry, I could guarantee her that she wouldn't have these and she joined the program and they went away within the first week they went away within the first 48 hours of implementing these changes that I had seen in the evaluation that were needed.

Once she changed it, boom, those sugar spikes, those roller coasters, those mood swings, all gone. And for her, she even said it in the coaching call. She's like: At this point, even if I don't get my hair back, like just with not having the roller coaster of sugar spikes, like I'm happy, I'm so grateful and I'm, this is so worth it and it's only been the first week. And so I told her like, you are going to see hair growth, it's just continuing to follow your path, the path that I've laid out for her. And so it's a beautiful thing because it's reassuring when you already start to see, you know, changes when you already start to see progress, because we thrive on progress as humans.

Speaking of progress, for the first time ever, and I really wanted to congratulate him. His name is Yannick and he's in Germany and he saw hair growth and it's only been the first week. I almost can't believe it, but because he's telling me and he told all of us in the group coaching call, I have to believe him, right? Plus I see those eyelashes, I see everything that's coming out. He's universalis at this point, and everything's coming back out. It's a beautiful thing to already have that support, to already see changes, to already see that those minor, minor changes that are happening in the first week are enough to promote and to support that the body and when your body knows and when it's ready, it's ready to go.

So anyways, congratulations to you both. Because seeing progress is a beautiful thing, but then also giving yourself the space. The lady who joined the program, I told her on our, on our call, the only one holding you back from progress is you, that's it. Like, I've got the proven method, you just have to believe and take action. I'm happy she did, she's thrilled that she did because she's already seen the, the fruits of her labor.

So Number 12: Probiotics are not always good for you. I know I'm going to get a lot of slack for this, but probiotics, it's kind of like wearing an umbrella or, you know, gear for the winter. You don't need winter gear all year long, you don't need to wear rain boots every day in spring, summer, fall, or even in winter. You can, but it may not be good for you. Maybe you'll overheat, maybe it's inappropriate because it's distracting, or maybe it's getting in the way, or maybe you'll start sweating through the boots or whatever it is. So what I'm trying to say is that probiotics are not necessarily beneficial for everyone, at certain points in their time. And when you're healing, it's something that I necessarily do not recommend.

So a lot of people say, Oh, probiotics. Oh, it's the first thing I'm grabbing. No, I actually wouldn't. To me that's like, I don't know, bombarding your body with a bunch of things that you don't necessarily need on the healing process. So that's probably like a one, one really big takeaway that you could implement right now. If you're trying to do this on your own and you're, and you're thinking, Oh, I'm going to just do it on my own and grab, you know, piecemeal this with information that I find online or with information that I'm listening to on the podcast, plus, you know, all these other things... Well, let me give you a big tip: Take out the probiotic because that's not helping you at this moment in time. Just like most people wouldn't drink alcohol first thing in the morning for breakfast, right? There's a time and a place for it. And with probiotics, it's the same thing. And, you know, with supplements, with medications, there's a time and a place for it. It's not always, it's not ongoing, there's a rhythm and there's a cycle just like there is for the moon and for the stars and for the waves, and the ocean and everything else. There's a
time and a place for it.

Okay, Number 13: Functional medicine doctors don't know it all. Oof, I said a lot right there too, didn't I? So, not to ruffle any feathers, I respect everyone's profession, and I myself also have a functional medicine doctor. However, it's just like teachers, and having a functional medicine doctor or a regular doctor or anyone else, anyone else that you want to work with, even let's say if it's an acupuncturist or a Chinese herbalist or whoever, understand that their knowledge is to be taken with a grain of salt. And I only say this a) From experience, but b) From helping so many others. Sometimes we want answers so bad that we continue, continue, continue to work with a provider, any provider, and still get no results. And I've seen this many, many times with my clients, where they've been working with a functional medicine doctor for months, years and still no hair growth. And so they come to me, they're like: What is it that you're doing that my doctor doesn't know? Well, plenty, because not all doctors are from the same schooling, from the same background, not all doctors have the same information, or even yet, expertise.

So if you have a practitioner, doctor, somebody that you're working with, start asking those hard questions. How many people with alopecia have you healed? Start asking that. How many people have you seen from zero, let's say alopecia universalis or alopecia totalis to full hair growth, or let's say your type of hair loss. How many people have you helped successfully without medications to full hair growth? Start asking those questions and then you'll start to get those answers. And then if you're okay with those answers, great, and if not, well then there's another proven method, there is a proven method where we can do this in less time. And because this is the only thing that I specialize.

I only specialize in alopecia. I only specialize in hair loss. Why? Because I went through it. Why? Because I lived it. And I know there's a better way. And at this point, you already know the proof. From hearing the interviews, from seeing the testimonials, and seeing the pictures, and it's just ongoing. So, the healing is possible, it's just, at this point, how long do you want to take? Do you want to take less than eight weeks? Or do you want to just wait and see with your practitioner, with your functional medicine doctor, and see how long that takes? I'm not disrespecting the field, but at the same time, I want to always go to an expert when it comes to something I'm looking for answers for. So let me go ahead in the last podcast I mentioned the miscarriage situation that I had and who did I go to? I went to a regular person who had over 10 miscarriages herself, and she helps people with miscarriages. And I will tell you that she helped me so much more giving me action items like bulletproof action items of like exactly what to do what not to do to avoid a future miscarriage more so than any female or male doctor gynecologist. Has ever gave me info on or that I was able to find.

You have to live it, to feel the pain and in the pain, there's power in pain, there's power and pain because it motivates people to do something different, right? You can put this in so many different topics, whether it's human rights or whether it's. You know, immigration or whether it's, you know, war or anything else when people are trying to make change, it's because more than likely they've lived it and they're not generalized. And it's because there's a pain there, there's a pain point that promotes them to wanting to help others, just like this lady with miscarriages. And this is why I chose her, I chose her like without even a doubt. Like I didn't have to listen to all of her podcasts, I didn't need to like research her so much. Like I was a quick believer. I was like: Oh, you have that experience, boom. Well, you know, everyone has experience, everyone has knowledge and we need to, you know, really uncover these resources to be able to do better ourselves when we're not getting the answers we want in a speedy manner. Because at this point, even to find a, an appointment for a doctor takes weeks and
months, you know, even for my dentist, you know, I tried making a dentist appointment the other day and it's like 3 months from now. So the scheduling situation is off the charts. And it's really discerning because let's say if you need immediate care and you won't be able to get it. And this is what happens because people with alopecia, people with hair loss are not seen as life threatening. They're not seen as critical when it is. It is critical.

I understand that, but the majority of people don't see it as life threatening because you know, there's other people who, who really, who, who actually do have life threatening conditions because they're on dialysis or because they need a heart transplant or whatever it is, but you're just as important. And this is why I do what I do because it is a population that's underserved and that isn't given the tools and it creates this big confusion, this big question mark surrounding everything. And it shouldn't be this way. It
shouldn't be.

In any case, functional medicine doctors don't know it all. And just like every profession that's out there, there's always going to be a low tier, mid tier and a high tier. And there's always going to be people who know more, people who do less, people who provide less, people who provide more. And at the same time, also understanding that everyone is human and human mistakes happen and no one's perfect. I'm not perfect, no one is perfect. And everyone makes mistakes, but at the same time, you need to start to
consider. It's like, how many mistakes are you going to accept until you actually see results?

So it's like having an electrician come say they've done the work. You assume they've done the work you pay, and then all of a sudden something's wrong. And so, you know, how long is this going to happen there? You're going to continue to work with that same electrician before you're like: Forget it, you don't know what you're talking about. I need to go find myself another electrician. It's the same thing. I just don't want people to think that whatever their doctor says, whether it's functional medicine or not as gospel, whatever they say is like the last thing. And it's the only word that matters because a lot of times they speak out of context, they speak out of knowledge, they speak out of expertise and they're human. I have lots of compassion for them because we're not all on the same page, we're not all on the same train of thought, but at the same time, if that's not the help that you want, then you need to go
somewhere else.

I've had multiple clients tell me that they've asked their dermatologist, whether diet and lifestyle would help their hair growth or change any trajectory of their hair loss and all of them say no, and this is blatantly false. This is 100% true. Diet and lifestyle does change and it changes everything. Why? Because it's biology and the biology within your body is necessary to be in balance so that you can produce hair. The biology is a big thing and so this Alopecia Angel method is science backed, but it's biology. It's not a pharmaceutical science. It's all about biology and chemistry, and that, in and of itself,
warrants individual comprehension, individual evaluation, and individual understanding.

This is why it can't be a one size fits all.So I hope you understand that I'm not bashing doctors, I'm not bashing functional medicine, just the opposite. I just don't want you to think that what they say is the one and only thing. And there's good doctors just like there's bad doctors. You know, just like there's good teachers and bad teachers, or good tutors and bad tutors, good cars and bad cars, right? It's just the way it is. There's good and bad in everything. And so I hope that this comes across correctly, where it's not about not trusting them, but it's about taking their feedback and creating your own plan.
Empowering yourself and understanding what to ask and how to ask and what you need so that they become a support team for you versus you saying: Doctor, what should I do? And then you giving away your power and then saying: Here, take all these medications here, take all these steroids here, do all this and none of it working. Does this make sense? I don't want you to give away your power. They're there to take your order, not just the opposite, and this is where that education piece comes in. Because
once you're educated, once you're knowledgeable, then you know exactly what to ask for. Then you know exactly what you want when you want it. Right? We need to be more educated to understand what it is that we're looking for. But how is that going to come about? Well, that comes about through doing the program, that comes about through taking the evaluation, through leveling up in the education piece that comes about through understanding what your triggers are, what your blind spots
are, so you can see the next steps so it's going to look different for everybody. So I hope that helps a little bit. And I will say, even with my own functional medicine doctor, it took me like 5 different doctors to interview before I landed on this one. And even though I was a little like hesitant, like not a hundred percent convinced, once I went into the office, I was like: Okay, this is good, this is a great start. I use them like my Swiss army knife, and that's the way it should be, a team of people behind you, supporting you, not you asking for advice on what innately you know, you need and on like how you need for what you need and what you want. Does that make sense? I hope that that was clear because many times we already know what we need. We already know what we want, we're just kind of like prolonging it or procrastinating it.

We're prolonging the results because we don't want to take action or because you know what you need to do and you're not doing it. Let's go to Number 14: If you feel triggered, it means there's something there that needs to be uncovered and more than likely healed. So many times we can feel triggered with
what people say, with what people do, with the actions. And a lot of times this can look like many things, this could be like a nudge to get on it, a nudge to move forward, a nudge to take action, a nudge to get back on the horse and also an opportunity to clean it up because many times when we're triggered there's more to it there's more to it whether it's the comments and action or something there that's bothering us and lingers in our head and then just, you know, continuously festers on replay over and over. So when something triggers us, stop and pause and look to see what is it that's bothering me? What is it that needs to be uncovered here? What is it that I can learn from this? Because many times there's something there... always actually, always when we're triggered something is there that's uncovered that's underneath that we need to bring to light and we need to squash it. We need to clean it up and make sure it's healed. So feeling triggered could be you like reacting quickly. It could be you feeling something, it could be you going back into your shell, it could be not feeling supported.
It could be so many different things, but you know, all of you understand. When you're triggered, you're triggered, but something's there. So look at it, uncover it, and if you need help, like this is why we're here, because triggers leave crumbs, leave a trail. And it's more than likely it's something that needs to be taken care of, something where it requires your attention and your action, so don't deny these triggers.

Number 15: Healing yourself is going to take longer if you do it yourself and without a guide. And I say this because it took me over four years to figure this out. And many times we're not self aware enough to understand our own blind spots, to understand our own triggers. And I've seen it time and time again where people come for me trying to figure this out on their own, whether it's, you know, taking a bunch of supplements or whether it's trying different diets or whether it's trying medical medium or whether it's trying PRP laser caps, they've tried many things.

Then they come to me like with their hands up frustrated, upset and they don't know exactly where they've gone wrong, they don't know exactly what they're doing wrong. And these are type A people that want to get it done and want to be done with this, and even if you're a type B person, they still want to get it done. But again, being self aware takes a lot of energy, a lot of energy and a lot of consciousness. And many times they're so bombarded with so much noise all around us where we don't even have time to go to the bathroom in peace. I get this. And so at the same time, it's really hard to want to overcome obstacles to want to overcome blind spots if you don't know what you're
doing wrong or what's going wrong or what's holding you back. So this is why that evaluation is key, and I say it, if you're going to try to do this on your own, like, good luck to you. Cause it's probably even harder now than it was before. And I will say that if I had to have my alopecia journey now, it would have, it probably would take me double the amount and double the time. Because back then, I didn't have half
the responsibilities that I have now, and my time was primarily all for me, I didn't have, you know, a husband, I didn't have a child at the time. And so I was able to do what I wanted when I wanted. And that gave me a lot of room for growth. That gave me a lot of opportunity to just endlessly try so many things and get it right. How many you feel this way where you've been told: Oh, you should do this you should do that and you brush it off because if I were to tell you my journey of healing started with 2 things that 2 friends, coworkers really, but one is a really good friend, they both are really, but one is a really good friend and both coworkers. We met at work and they told me: Oh, you should do this, you should do that, and I just brushed it off and brush it off and brushed off until I did it. And that's kind of like what set me on my path. Once I did these things and it's like the path lit up, you know, kind of like when you see like on the tarmac and you see the flights and the airlines and they have all the lights on and they're like ready to take off or to land. All the lights were just started to light up once I started. Sometimes you have to take action without maybe even believing that this would be beneficial without even believing that this would be helpful, and yet it was 100%. And sometimes this is where I say you have to trust the process, you really do, because if you don't trust, then how can you ever live? And in the same way I know some people who don't travel, don't travel to certain countries because they don't trust that they will be safe, because they don't trust the water or they don't trust, you know, the
government or they don't trust this or trust that. But I got to say, it's like, this is from someone who's been to over 65 countries and I love them all, I love all the countries I've been to and I continue want to, you know, do more and see more, but at the same time, it's like I do believe in human goodness and the
nature of, of human kindness and I see it so many, so many times often. And I traveled a lot when I was single, like a lot, a lot when I was single, either for personal or for business. And, you know, I remember just people helping me anywhere and everywhere when I was distressed. Let me give you a few examples. So you don't think I'm a damsel in distress because I don't live like this. I remember clearly I was in Hanoi, Vietnam and I was next to a river and I was trying to take pictures and I don't recall whether whether it was with my phone or whether it was with a camera. I don't recall, but something fell in the water and it fell like out of reach, and I don't know Vietnamese. I don't know, you know, the language, and yet there was a Vietnamese couple, or maybe I think they're a couple. It was like a man and a woman, older man and a woman and the man took off his shoes and got in the water for me. He
got in the water, picked up whatever it was, I think it was like the cap to like the lens cap to the camera. He had like a plastic bag, like a grocery bag and he used it. To, to protect his sleeve and he put his hand like way in to get it and I got my like lens cap back. And he did this out of nowhere. Like I didn't ask, I didn't do anything. This is what I'm talking about. Like human kindness exists but you have to believe. You have to believe it exists, right? Because if not, then you're gonna think everyone's out to get you. And living like that is an awful way to live. I prefer the latter, I prefer living and believing that human kindness is a given. And I see this actually every day of my life where people are just genuinely nice to me. Whether it's shopping at a store or whether it's while I'm traveling. Like I remember I was in Japan and I was with my little one, with my son and I'm bringing it like it's, it's bringing some emotion to me right now, as I'm thinking about it and my son had dropped like a blankie some sort of, yeah, I think it was like a blankie or like a bib or something and I just kept walking with the stroller, not realizing that I had dropped something. And this lady out of nowhere, this Japanese lady ran like, maybe like a block and a half to give me the bib or the blankie or whatever it was. She ran a block and a half, like maybe you don't see this where you live, but I've experienced this, but it's also, it goes back to my belief. Like if I believe in human kindness, then human kindness shows up. If I believed I could heal, healing showed up. I'm getting really emotional right now.

And so I think many times when I go back to this, I think it also goes back to the belief. You have to believe that you can heal, but I'm telling you, like doing it yourself is going to be challenging and probably fruitless in many ways, because this is probably the number 1 complaint. I get I've done this, I've done that, I've done this, I've done that, and they start listing all my clients start listing the things that they've done, but none of it has given them results. And so you have to believe and trust the process in order to see the results in order to have that show up. So just like I believe in human kindness, and I saw it with the man and the lens cap on the river, or I saw it with the lady who ran like a block and a half, and I can keep telling you more and more stories. And you probably wouldn't even believe them, but I can tell you more and more stories of like where I've seen human kindness. And you may think: Oh, lens cap, no big deal. You may think, Oh, baby's blanket, no big deal. Well, how about, and let me just tell you one more, just because I'm in a grateful human kindness type of feeling right now. One more. Well, I was 21- 22 years old when I went to Rio de Janeiro for the first time to study abroad. I was there for a year and, one day it was raining and I was in flip flops and a mini skirt and a tank top and I'm coming back from school with a backpack with my purse and I had to go to the bank, so I had my cell phone, and I had my wallet, and my passport, and all these things, my ATM, keys to the house, everything. And then of course, with money that I had just gotten out of the bank account I went to the supermarket, so I went to go buy fruit and mangoes and a bunch of other stuff. And so I have my hands full, backpack, everything full. I get on a bus line that I'm assuming will drop me off in front of my place, and it doesn't. It drops me off completely, like around the corner from a normal place. Like, I know where I'm at, I'm not lost. But I'm further away than I'd like. And so I get off, they're like, okay, the bus line stops here, I get off.

And as I'm walking back home, it's raining, mind you. So all my hands are occupied, I look like a tree because I have like bags hanging from my hands, the backpack on me books and my umbrella. And I'm just walking along in the water. And mind you in Brazil and Rio, especially when it's raining, it's warm rain. It's like Miami rain. It's warm and humid. One of my favorite places, by the way, is Brazil. In any case, I'm walking home and I'm like looking for my purse and I don't find it and. I go crazy, I'm like: Oh, where's my purse? I left it on the bus, this is a public transportation bus, this is a bus where the person who's taking your money to get on board the bus makes less than 70 US dollars a month at the time. I don't know how much they make now. And I had taken out quite a bit, a couple hundred, if not more dollars, but it has my whole life in there. It has my passport, my credit card, my keys. It has everything.
And I start running in flip flops, and I start running, running, running, and 4 or 5 blocks, 6 blocks later, I'm finally there, I'm praying that my roommate is there, I'm buzzing the doorbell, the doorman lets me in, my roommate thank God she's there, and I start calling my cell phone, and the lady picks up, the lady who takes my money for me to get on the bus, picks up, she's like: Meet me here 3 hours later. I'll save you the rest of the details, but three hours later, I got my purse, full, with passport, with, you know, keys,
cell phone, with everything in it. And this is in a third world country where, you know, the lady on the bus, like I said makes less than $75, she could easily take the purse, which the purse itself was more than $75, take the cell phone, take the keys, take my passport, take everything. And I would have had just a horrible, challenging next couple weeks, days, etc. as a student living abroad, and yet she returned to everything. She didn't take one dime, I gave her a hefty tip. But at the same time, it's just like, that's the human kindness that I've experienced.

And so I believe in human kindness, and I know you do too deep down, but I wanted to give you that little story because I'm in the week of gratitude, it is Thanksgiving week here. So I wanted to share that because I've had a lot of beautiful experiences with human kindness, but going back to the point, the point is healing yourself will take longer because you don't have a guide. And going back to my whole thing with travel is that how many of you want to go to some country? Maybe it's, I don't know, Kosovo,
maybe it's Russia, maybe it's South Africa, maybe it is Brazil, or maybe it's Argentina, or maybe it's somewhere where you're like, and you've heard it's dangerous, I don't know what to do.
You hear like the worst about certain countries, when yet there's so much to be gained and garnered from traveling there. And so it's the same thing. Like this is why tours exist, this is why tour guys are there and available because you wouldn't climb out Everest just to pick up your passport and say: Hey, I'm going to climb Mount Everest and not take a Sherpa. Why wouldn't you take a Sherpa? Why wouldn't you know, want to go to Mount Everest with a guide, with somebody who's done it over a thousand
times?

And so this is why I'm telling you, like, trying to do this on your own is only going to lead you to more frustration and one of two things, either put you in a position where you just want to give up, or put you in a position where you don't believe that it's possible to heal anymore. So in a roundabout way, those are the 2 points of trying to heal yourself. You also have to trust the process of healing, and again, it's going to look differently for everybody. It's like losing weight. If you were to go on a challenge with all your coworkers, it would look differently. More than likely the men would lose weight quicker than the women. That's normally how that works. It's just, it's going to look different. We're not all the same. So give yourself that grace and compassion that I've talked about before many times.

Okay, this one, I'm going to go by it really quickly because I probably talked a lot about this already. Ego and fear go hand in hand and they both hold you back and the ego part of it is: Oh, I know better. The ego tries to keep you safe and the fear out of it is fearing a change fearing that. You're not going to get your hair fearing that you're not going to get the results fearing and you know, and it's like that distrust, it kind of goes hand in hand with that last point of trying to do this yourself. But I got to tell you, the ego and the fear is a big hindrance because ego wants to keep us safe always, and we think we know better, but if you knew better, you would have the results, wouldn't you? And so that's what I'm saying. If
you don't have the results you're looking for, you need to try another way because ego is definitely not helping you. So think about that ego and fear and, you know, try to evaluate where is ego holding
you back? Where is the fear holding you back? Do you have a fear of let's say flying a fear of heights? Well, then how about you get on the ladder? How about you take a hot air balloon ride and conquer those fears? Or how about you do something to conquer the fear? Because once you move closer, you'll see that it's safe. You'll see that like, it's okay, nothing's going to happen to you, you know? I forget who it was, but someone told me: Oh, you shouldn't fly right now, it's so dangerous, it's so this it's so that I'm like: Well, it's safer than driving a car. You know, if you start looking at statistics, it's safer to
fly than it is to drive a car, even though we think we have more control because we are driving the car, but that's irrational to think that. It's more safe to be in the airplane than it is to be driving on the road and yet we drive every day, or we're in some sort of transportation bus, or we're in on a train, or, you
know, subway, or metro, or whatever, or even on a bicycle, right? That's another thing, too. There's going to be a risk in everything, but at the same time, you can always mitigate those risks. And you can see how conquering those fears gives you a) More confidence, but b) Lets you know that you can achieve this. And I see this in my toddler when we go to the playground and he is, you know, he conquers, you know, new obstacle courses and new things, and he wants to try new things and I love that. I love
seeing that in him because children have that innately in them.

But for some reason, as adults, we diminish that we diminish our own light out of fear of what others think about what others say of: Oh, it's too late, I can't play tennis at 70, I'm too X, Y, Z, whether too old, too fat to this, to this, you know, we can put a bunch of adjectives to it, but at the end of the day, it's just us holding us back from playing tennis or from healing our hair or from, you know, doing yoga or doing handstands or what have you, you can do at any point in your life. And it's just the ego and the fear, so
evaluate where is the ego and fear holding you back? What have you longed to do?

What have you always wanted to do and haven't done yet? And would you still want to do it? Because I know I still want to do many things in life. It's all about timing though for me. Timing and, and also, yeah, timing and priorities. But at the same time, that desire to do certain things is still there. And I know it's coming. Cause it's all about when, not if, when, and we say that a lot within the Alopecia Angel community. It's about when your hair comes, not if, cause it will come to about when your next point.

Number 18: Listen to your body, listen, listen, listen to your body. And this may seem very vague, but at the same time, our body is talking to us in so many different ways, all the time, day and night, it's talking to us and many times we ignore it. It's like the, the crying baby, we're like: Shh, shh, shh. We're just like putting it to the side, we don't want to entertain it and we need to entertain it. We need to listen to our bodies, we need to listen to those gut reactions, we need to listen to how we feel in certain situations
around other people. Listen to all that cause it's, it's telling you energy speaks, it's telling you something and you should listen.

*Number 19:* Intuition is everything. This goes hand in hand with number 18 in terms of listening to your body, but that intuition is telling you if this is a yes or if this is a no. If this is a “Hell yes” or if this is a “Hell no” or if this is like a “Maybe” or “Let me hold off” intuition speaks, intuition gives you clarity. And so I think the first part of this is to listen to your body to get really good at listening to your body and how it reacts. So, for example, how your body may react to stress is going to look different to how maybe friends, family, relatives, etc. react to stress. We all react to things differently. So in terms of listening to your body will listen to your body like If you have, let's say a fear of speaking in person, like speech, maybe speaking performance type of thing, then this is where you would want to listen to your body.
Your body's like giving you butterflies, giving you this nervousness and it's like: Oof, I need to go to the bathroom. So you go to the bathroom, you come out, maybe you give yourself a pep talk and you're like: You can do this. And you face your fear and you go do it, and then your public speaking and you do your speaking performance and then it becomes more and more natural. It's just like riding a bike. The first time you ever ride a bicycle, it's very difficult, but the second time, the third time, the fourth time it gets easier and easier and easier. And then you're like: Oh, look at me, no hands on the
handlebars, right? It's the same thing. And so, listening to your body can be difficult in the beginning, but even if it's difficult, like keep going, keep trying it. In the same thing with intuition, keep trying it and keep like searching for it because the intuition will lead you to more clarity in your life. It will lead you to more answers and it would lead you to the next steps. It really does, granted. The guide also does too, like if I was going to be your tour guide in Paris, I'd be like: Look, there's the Eiffel tower and look, here's this, and look, there's the Arc de Triomphe, and look, da da da da da.

I can give you a great tour guide, I could be a great tour guide for Paris, I love Paris, but, at the same time, your intuition would be like: Oh, no, I want to go see, you know, I don't know, the Champs Élysées before seeing the Arc de Triomphe or before seeing anything else that's in France or in Paris in particular. So if your intuition calls you because there's an exhibition on Monet or there's a, you know, something going on, maybe a food festival of some sort, and you're inclined to do the food festival over
seeing a museum, well, that's okay, that's your intuition. That's also a desire, and sometimes they go hand in hand. But you got to be open to that, and you also have to be still and like quiet for that to
happen. So listening to your body is the prerequisite in order to get to the intuition. So I hope that helps because the intuition is everything, it really is because the intuition will lead you to that next step, but you just have to like sit still and be quiet and it'll come to you.

And finally, *Number 20:* Upgrading your life is addicting, but it's also a marathon. Upgrading my life has... where do I begin? Has been so, so, so amazing because you might know this already, but through the healing process of my alopecia, my fertility was upgraded. I was able to have my first baby at 40 on the first try with no IVF with no medical interventions and the birth was fantastic. And the pregnancy itself was fantastic, like no pain, no suffering, no nothing. And it was fantastic, everything was fantastic.
Everything was natural. No epidural, no nothing. And I had 10 pound baby. But in all of that to say is that upgrading your life is a process and it is a marathon, it's not a sprint. Things take time. Healing the hair, you know, proven process, bam. But then after that, maybe you want to have kids, then it's just kind of like getting your body prepped for conception, and maybe after that, maybe it's, you know, anti aging and maybe after that, maybe it's menopause, maybe you want to do a marathon or an Ironman or a triathlon or something else, or maybe you just want to do a handstand. And you want to be able to, you know, conquer that, or maybe, you want to do something else. But understand that the physicality of it is one thing, but the upgrading your life goes into all buckets of life, goes into every area of life. And it's huge and it's ongoing and it's so, so, so addicting.

And as I'm addicted, I know my clients, once they end, they are inspired to live a different life, they are rejuvenated. It's contagious for them and all they want is for their friends and family to live that same path, but we're all on our own healing journey. It's not all going to be at the same time, but what I will say is that keep your zest for life, keep wanting and doing of your upgrading of your own life, and that will just seep in naturally, it'll be a ripple effect.

But it's a marathon, so give yourself grace because there's a lot of information inside the Hair N' Heal program. It's very, very comprehensive and dense. And so trying to think that you can conquer it in one week or in one podcast, or in just one month is absurd, absolutely absurd. There's so much to go through, there really is. Again, it's a journey, and I really believe that our place in life here is for us to be our best selves, but then to do good to others as well along the way. And you will start to see that the new people and opportunities and the new aspects of your life just open up. These are like new doors that are opening up. And sometimes we think, because we have a limiting belief, that we only have option A and option B, but lo and behold, we have C, D, E, F, G, and it keeps going all the way down to Z. And so having that openness and then just kind of like just really being open because the Hair N' Heal program does open you up to this next level of health, this next level of upgrading your life and your hair growth. It's just impressive of what it can do for you and what it does do for my clients. And then they're addicted, they're addicted to wanting to be themselves, they're addicted to wanting to change things and understanding that the limitations by which we find ourselves in, they're all construed by us, they're all construed by our own doing and we can undo it, just like we, we can continue to do it. Does that make sense? We can continue to live in a certain way or we can upgrade our lives and be better, and be better for it and have a healthier family, a healthier relationship, a healthier everything for it as well.

So those are the 20 things that I've learned throughout my healing journey, but then also through helping thousands of others heal themselves as well. So I hope that this has helped you and served you. I'm just in a very big heart open space of gratitude. This week there's been so many wonderful things that have been accomplished and there's more to come. I don't know if you saw my last social post, but we are in the midst of moving forward into starting the Alopecia Angel foundation. We're still in the very baby steps of it, but I wanted to go ahead and announce it because it is a project that I will be taking on here shortly and we've already started. The concept is to help those who can't afford alopecia treatments, who can't afford to heal naturally. And when I say treatments, I mean the Alopecia Angel method. I mean, healing naturally and holistically, because that's the only way. It really is, it's the only way to heal.

So I'm creating this foundation and I can't wait to get this off the ground and to get it moving into the right spot, cause I know more and more people need more and more help, more and more healing and it takes, it takes, you know, a village, right? Just like it takes a village to raise a child. It takes a village, a tribe, a community a full workforce to get projects off the ground, to get a movement started to get the help and resources for others so that they can also find the healing, the peace, the freedom of having their own hair and their own fantastic health. So I'll end with that. Thank you so much. I look forward to talking to you next time. Take care.