As someone who endured hair loss as a child, I can’t count how many days I awoke, looked in the mirror and prayed to have hair. I didn’t know why God picked me to be the one whose hair shed in droves when I brushed it, or why I had to endure being bullied by kids in my neighborhood who warned one another to stay away from me so they “didn’t get the bald disease.” I admired from afar the thick locks of the girls around me, living vicariously through the ribbons, hair combs and barrettes that held their beautiful manes in place.

All I knew was that I was a little girl who loved hair. And I was losing mine.

So, whenever I hear about a treatment that claims to increase hair growth, a part of me celebrates internally, hoping that somewhere a little girl will not have to endure the suffering I did.

But I also must admit that I’ve seen more than my fair share of unhappy clients who’ve tried available treatments and are frustrated with the results. Hair loss is a difficult animal to tame—as women, we have countless reasons on which to blame our thin strands. Finding the right solution that’s unique to our specific hair challenge is like searching for a needle in a haystack. I’ve always said that our hair is as unique as our DNA, and what works for one of us may not work for someone else. It’s frustrating to navigate a sea of creams, ointments, tests, and injections only to find ourselves back in the same place we started—without the crowning glory we desperately crave.

I’ve been a hair loss survivor for decades, and if there’s one thing that’s a proven secret weapon in my battle against the hair that betrays me, it’s this: Patience. The only thing constant about my hair loss is change—typical of alopecia areata, my hair falls out and comes back, and I never know what kind of bad hair day is in store for me. I often tell my clients that surviving hair loss means accepting that it’s fickle, and having some sort of plan in place will help us better manage it. For me, that means having a bevy of hair prostheses on tap, all with varying designs and specifications, so I can be ready for whatever my hair throws at me.

But I also believe in keeping the doors of communication open with the doctors and dermatologists who recommend these treatments—they are the professionals staying on top of the science and testing the data. It’s true that many of my clients, who’ve been told by their doctors that “there’s nothing more we can do, and you should consider getting a wig,” have shared with me their frustration at their physician’s inability to give them a definitive hair regrowth solution. But I know that finding the perfect solution takes time, and just because you don’t have an answer today doesn’t mean you won’t find it tomorrow. As a hair replacement professional, I consider myself the bridge between diagnosis and reality—it’s my job to help my clients get as close to their pre-diagnosis selves as possible, and to make realizing their dreams conceivable and achievable.