“Every time I got out of the shower, more clumps kept falling out of my hair. I thought I was going bald.”

ENGLEWOOD, NEW JERSEY: We decided to quarantine in Florida with the beautiful weather instead of being locked inside. I started getting symptoms five days later, on March 20th. The shooting pain up my back was indescribable. I almost felt like, “Put me out of my misery and let me die.” It was unbelievably bad pain that I couldn't take for two to three days. After that, the pain subsided.

I developed a cough, so I drank a lot of hot tea and lemon to subside the coughing. About ten days later, on 31st March, the coughing was so bad that I had to go to the hospital. They were giving COVID tests in the parking lot. I went into the emergency room, and they did an x-ray. I had pneumonia, so they admitted me into the hospital. There was hardly anybody there. 

A day later, I was told that I was negative, which surprised me. They moved me to a different floor. But I was still coughing really bad, so one of the doctors got me retested. A day later, the results were again negative. Three or four days later, after the pneumonia and coughing got better, I was discharged from the hospital with some antibiotics. 

I was told that I was negative, which surprised me.

I tested positive for antibodies when we came back from Florida as well as my husband and my youngest child who did not have any symptoms. My husband didn’t feel well for about a day at the same time as me. He had exhaustion, tiredness, and a slight fever of 99.6. Thank God he didn't get it as heavy as I did because he has more underlying issues. 

I tested positive for antibodies

In June, I was showering. After shampooing, clumps of hair started coming out. I started screaming in such a way that my husband had to come in and ask if something was wrong. I told him that I was losing my hair. I did not understand why. It was not just a little bit of hair; a major part of hair started to come off.  It was not like something that comes out of a brush. I thought it was due to the medicine that I was on, maybe I took the wrong vitamins, or I took something or something that I ate. I was in shock. 

clumps of hair started coming out.

The second time I showered, more clumps came out, and I was screaming further, and I remember sitting on the floor in the bathroom, the water was coming down on me, and I saw all my hair in my hands, and I just couldn't believe it. Every time I got out of the shower, more clumps kept falling out of my hair. I thought I was going bald.

Every time I got out of the shower, more clumps kept falling out of my hair. I thought I was going bald.

Everybody has one feature that they love. For me, it was my hair because I have always been told that I have beautiful hair. They used to tell me that how they wished that their hair was as thick as mine. I did a lot of hairstyles every time we went out. I loved to blow my hair out because I have lots of curly and wavy hair. Other times I loved to leave it all in curls or make my hair even more curly with a curling iron when I went out, and it was a full, beautiful head of hair, which I no longer have, and I miss that. I can’t do anything with it now. If it were somebody else's head, I probably have lost three to four heads of hair or a full head of hair. It took about two months for it to stop.

If it were somebody else's head, I probably have lost three to four heads of hair or a full head of hair.

The only thing I can do every day is wear my hair in a ponytail because it's just strands of hair coming down, and the baldness shows. The only way for me to feel good about going out is by pulling my hair back. 

It was early June; nobody knew about this side effect of COVID at that time. A hair specialist in Manhattan looked at my scalp and told me it was COVID-related because of the shock to the body. 

nobody knew about this side effect of COVID at that time.

Hair is a major part of a woman's femininity. I lost that due to COVID. I lost the femininity that I feel about myself. I do see stubbles coming back a little bit, but it's going to probably take me a good two years for my hair to fully grow back. According to the doctors, I would get back about 90 percent of what I lost. We'll see. Only time will tell. It's better than losing a life. When there's life, there's hope, and I'm glad to be alive. 

It's better than losing a life.

Fran is a stay at home mom in Englewood, New Jersey. 

Treatment: Nutrafol, PRP shots, Biotin