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Daily Journal - Monday 6th April 2026 - Going Bald, On My Own Terms 💜

Paul (theaardvark) and Sha Taylor raise a celebratory glass together after the big shave. Paul sports his trademark purple beard, silver-framed glasses, and an impressive collection of rings, with a blue jacket and festival wristbands. Sha, freshly and gloriously bald, is wrapped in her purple towel and grinning broadly. Behind them, the AarDHD aardvark illustration is projected on the screen. Job done. 💜

Right. So. This has been coming for a while.

Before anything else — I'm fine. Not cancer. Not some terrifying new diagnosis. I know some of you will have seen the photos and the video and immediately gone to that place. I completely understand why. But I want to say it clearly and get it out of the way: this is not that.

This is just me, my hair, and a decision I made on my own terms. And honestly? It's one of the best decisions I've made in a while.

The Hair Situation

My hair has been thinning for some time now. Not dramatically, not all at once — just quietly, patchily, persistently doing its own thing while I was busy dealing with everything else. Some bits thin. Some bits gone. Some bits stubbornly hanging on in places that made no particular aesthetic sense.

I'd been covering it up for ages. Weeds (that's wigs, for the uninitiated — and yes, I'm going to keep calling them that because it makes me laugh). Hats. Strategic positioning in photos. The whole thing.

And I got fed up. So we got the clippers out.

Why Is This Happening? (The Honest Answer)

Honestly? It's probably a perfect storm of several things at once, and I'm not sure any one of them is solely to blame.

FND (Functional Neurological Disorder)

FND affects my nervous system in all sorts of fun and unexpected ways. The physical and cognitive load of living with it is significant — and chronic stress on the body absolutely shows up in things like hair loss. The nervous system and the hair follicles are not unconnected, it turns out.

ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia

Both of these conditions involve chronic pain, crushing fatigue, and a body that is perpetually working harder than it should just to function. That kind of sustained physical stress takes its toll. Hair is, in the body's order of priorities, fairly low down the list when it's got bigger battles to fight.

Menopause

Oh, the menopause. The gift that keeps on giving. Hair thinning is one of the most common and least talked-about symptoms, and it affects a huge number of women going through it. Hormonal changes affect hair growth cycles and can lead to exactly the kind of patchy, uneven thinning I've been experiencing. If you're in the same boat, you are absolutely not alone.

Stress

And then there's the stress. Because living with three chronic conditions, navigating the NHS, managing fatigue, and just getting through the day — that is stressful, even when you're doing your best to manage it. Stress-related hair loss (telogen effluvium, if you want the proper name for it) is very real and very common. The body responds to chronic stress by redirecting resources. Hair, again, is not the priority.

So — a combination of all of the above, most likely. My body doing what it needed to do, even if it wasn't exactly what I'd have chosen.

So Why Shave It Off Rather Than Just… Wait?

Because covering it up was exhausting me. Because patchy and uneven was making me feel rubbish about myself every single day. And because I figured — if I shave it now, while there's still a chance everything might grow back evenly, I'm giving it the best shot at doing exactly that.

There's also something to be said for taking control. So much of life with chronic illness involves things happening to you — your body doing things you didn't ask for, systems that don't work the way they should, plans that have to change. This felt like something I could decide. Something I could choose. And I chose it.

theaardvark (my husband Paul, for the newcomers) did the honours. He'd never shaved anyone else's head before. He handled it with his usual combination of competence and dry commentary. I wouldn't have had it any other way.

How Do I Actually Feel About It?

Good. Genuinely, surprisingly good.

I'll be honest — I wasn't sure how I'd feel in the moment, or afterwards. There was definitely a bit of Dutch courage involved in getting started. But once it was done? I looked in the mirror and I thought: yeah. That's fine actually. That's more than fine.

It turns out I have a reasonably nice-shaped head, which is a relief. And there's something genuinely freeing about not having to think about it any more. No more strategic hair arrangements. No more hats-as-camouflage. Just… me.

I've got some lovely wigs lined up for when I fancy a different look. I've got scalp treatments to try and encourage things along. And in the meantime, I'm embracing the full-on smooth head situation and, apparently, rocking it.

Sha Taylor — The Wheely Happy Aardvark — sitting on a grey sofa, smiling directly at the camera with her newly shaved head. She's resting her chin on her hand, showing off a gold stacked ring, and wearing a grey off-shoulder knit top over a navy cami. Her eyes are bright and her smile is wide. She looks completely at ease and, honestly, absolutely radiant. 💜

If This Is You Too…

I'm sharing all of this because I know I'm not the only one. Hair loss through chronic illness, menopause, stress, or medication is so common and so rarely talked about openly. It's one of those things that quietly chips away at how you feel about yourself, and it can feel very isolating when nobody around you seems to be dealing with the same thing.

You don't have to shave your head. That was the right decision for me; it might not be for you. But if you're struggling with it, I just want you to know: it's real, it's not in your head (well… technically it is, but you know what I mean), and you're not alone with it.

And if you do decide to get the clippers out — I highly recommend having someone with a purple beard and excellent festival wristbands on hand to help. Just saying.

Three Good Things Today:

  1. No more strategic hair arrangements. I wake up. I am bald. We move on. 💜
  2. theaardvark didn't leave me with a rat tail. (He nearly did. He's very funny. I was not laughing at the time.)
  3. My own terms. My own choice. My own head, quite literally. That matters more than I can say.

Today's mantra:

"You don't have to be in control of everything. But where you can choose — choose boldly."

Kindness costs nothing. Share the love.

KOKO 💜

Love, Sha x aka The Wheely Happy Aardvark

A side profile shot of Sha, head freshly shaved, laughing and looking off to one side. The soft light from the window catches her face beautifully. She looks relaxed, confident, and genuinely happy — someone who made a decision on her own terms and is entirely at peace with it. 💜

#WheelyHappyDays #KOKO #HairLoss #ChronicIllness #FND #MECFS #Fibromyalgia #Menopause #SpoonieLife #InvisibleIllness #WheelchairLife #OwnIt #BaldAndBold #ChronicIllnessCommunity