When a young man’s hair suddenly begins to fall out, it’s a tough place. An even tougher place is if the hairs don’t grow back – neither on the head nor on the intimate areas.
Henry Nenosella29, hair loss started on his head when he was around 15-16 years old.
“The barber said that you have quite a lot of hair on the back of your head, but don’t worry, it usually grows back. So there’s no need to stress,” says Nenonen.
“That prediction didn’t quite work out.”
While speaking Nenonen looks into the eyes. It’s easy to focus on his eyes already because they are the most visible focal points.
There are no eyebrows. If you look closely, you’ll notice that there aren’t even eyelashes. And there won’t be any later either. Nenonen had to accept that years ago.
“I have the most severe version of this disease,” he says calmly.
“The most common pattern of this problem is that sometimes there are a few bald patches on the head, where the hair grows back.”
Spots will come back from time to time if they are meant to come. Nenonen will be hairless for the rest of his life.
When eyelashes are missing, more debris than usual gets into the eyes. The lack of eyebrows, on the other hand, makes sweat easily drip from the forehead into the eyes.
With Nenos the disease already diagnosed in adolescence is called alopecia universalis.
It is an autoimmune disease in which the body’s defense mechanisms attack its own cells. In this case, it is the cells that produce hair and other hairs.
One of the milder versions, alopecia areata, commonly known as bald eagle. It occurs in two percent of the population, i.e. in about 100,000 people in Finland. Also, baldness is not normal baldness, but the hair of the sufferer comes out in well-defined patches. Usually, the hair comes back at least occasionally.
The version affected by Nenonen removes all hair from the body, often permanently. For example, with a famous football referee Pierluigi Collina has the same disease as Nenose.
The most severe alopecia occurs clearly less than baldness.
“I don’t even know how many of us there are,” says Nenonen.
Fact
A disease that takes away hair
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Alopecia means loss of hair from an area of the body.
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The most severe form is that of Henry Nenonen alopecia universalis. It removes hair from the skin up to genital hair, eyebrows and eyelashes.
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The most common form is alopecia areata, known colloquially as pälvikalju. It is the mildest form of the disease, but it also takes the hair in well-defined clumps. Also, baldness is not normal baldness: it affects about 100,000 Finns.
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Universalis and areata sometimes there is alopecia totalis. In this case, the hairs leave the head completely but remain elsewhere on the body.
Nenonen wants to tell the matter openly and with his own face, so that he can help others. He knows from experience how difficult hair loss can be for a young person.
Nenonen began to realize the extent and finality of his troubles in the army when the recruits’ hair was shaved. He had had longer and thicker hair, so the spot was not so easily noticed.
“I hit a smoker in the hand with a machine. Then I realized that there are a hell of a lot more of these than before.”
The army was not a very easy environment to look different. According to Nenonen, both corporals and others acknowledged his hair.
“You always had to explain that the name of the job is like this.”
However, the disease was not limited to hair.
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“It’s hard when you have to look different from others from a young age.”
Army during Nenonen’s situation progressed quickly almost to the present point.
For a long time, he had hoped that in the end it would only be a matter of baldness, i.e. patches. The hair usually returns to them at some point, even if the drugs come again.
“According to my memories, there was not a single hair on the head at the end of the int. Beard growth had slowed down and stopped during the army period. And it didn’t take terribly long, when the eyebrows, egg hairs and everything were gone.”
In November 2014, Nenonen turned 21. That’s when the game started to look clear, according to him.
“When all the hairs were gone, I realized that the prognosis is probably pretty bad,” Nenonen recalls.
“It’s hard when you have to look different from others from a young age.”
Henry Nenonen’s alopecia progressed rapidly during his time in the army.
Appearance the change was not only limited to the loss of bushy hair. When eyebrows and eyelashes also disappear, a person’s appearance changes clearly.
Nenonen soon noticed that others thought he looked different. It depressed the mood for a long time.
“At first I struggled with it for a few years. You could perhaps say that it was even depression,” says Nenonen.
“It’s quite difficult at first when you don’t look the way you want to look. However, I had good and thick hair.”
Especially when Nenonen was younger, she heard from women that she doesn’t look very good without hair.
“Yes, it hurts. You can’t get anywhere from that.”
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Nenonen’s eyelid has even had to be cut open when removing debris.
Hairlessness has been difficult for Nenos in many ways, also in practice.
“I feel that it has affected general interpersonal relationships and at work as well.”
Nenonen has worked in the security industry all his adult life, including as a doorman.
“How many times, for example, have I been told at the door that I’m a Nazi and a racist just because of my appearance.”
Nenonen thinks that the trouble has also affected women’s issues and getting a job.
In addition, in the absence of eyelashes, more debris than usual gets into the eyes. Nenonen’s eyelid has even had to be cut open when removing debris. There have also been more eye infections than usual.
Henry Nenonen appears on his social media channels openly with his own appearance.
One and a half a year ago, Nenonen decided to face the pressures on her appearance in a new way. He started running a video service on YouTube about travel topics, the Henkan maailma channel, and later a live channel of the same name on the streaming service Twitch.
In his videos and broadcasts, Nenonen appears openly with his hairless face and bald head.
According to Nenonen, the followers of the channels are mainly nice and matter-of-fact. On some forums, however, his appearance has sometimes been commented on very sadly, such as “this rubber head has no eyebrows at all”.
In addition, Neno has been called an albino and his testosterone levels have been questioned.
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“If I had the chance to look the way I used to look, I would change immediately.”
Faceless Nenonen can handle online mockery, even if it doesn’t feel good.
Today, Nenonen says he ignores negative comments at work and in his free time. Still, it’s on his mind. For example, he has followed the progress of experimental drugs being developed in the United States and would be willing to try them himself.
“If I had the chance to look the way I used to look, I would change immediately – even at the risk of having to shave my hair and beard again.”
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