About 6.8 million people in the United States will deal with alopecia areata within their lifetime, according to the National Alopecia Areata Foundation, and Ashley Tisdale is one of those people. On January 11, the Disney Channel alum posted a short video in which she explained that she was diagnosed with the autoimmune disease and shared some of the things she has done to treat her hair loss.
Tisdale opened the video by recalling how she noticed a bald spot near her hairline in her early 20s and asked her hair colorist what was going on. That was the day she discovered what alopecia was and subsequently went to her dermatologist, who diagnosed her with the autoimmune disease. She learned how much stress can trigger the condition, and at the time she was dealing with a lot of it. “So the hair grew back, and it always does, thankfully. But there’s been a couple of times in my life where I’ve had very stressful events,” she said. “And I’ve noticed that it will come back and wanted to share a couple of things that have helped me because it can be stressful just even having it.”
Two key things she does are stress management and platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections. Though completely eliminating stress isn’t possible (and if anyone has the secret, please let us know), Tisdale likes to invest in yoga, therapy, meditation, and simply reevaluating her priorities. “A lot of time my cortisol is up because I’m sometimes putting stress on myself for no reason, so it’s really important to know what is actually a big deal versus what’s not a big deal,” she explained.