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My girl Keisha... the one whose dermatologist looked at her thinning crown and said "it's genetic, there's not much we can do"... just FaceTimed me to show me baby hairs growing in exactly where that doctor said nothing could grow. You should have seen the look on my face… Let me tell y'all what happened because I'm still a little mad about it honestly... Okay so.. You know how when something's wrong with your body and you finally get the courage to go see a doctor about it? And you're nervous but also kind of relieved because you're like okay, I'm finally gonna get some answers. A professional is gonna tell me what's going on and how to fix it. That was Keisha last year. Her crown had been thinning for a while. And she'd been trying to handle it herself. Oils, vitamins, protective styles, all the stuff we all try. But it kept getting worse. So she finally made an appointment with a dermatologist. Not even a regular one. One that supposedly specialized in hair loss. She waited six weeks to get in. Took off work. Drove 45 minutes. Paid the copay. And y'all. The appointment lasted maybe 15 minutes. The dermatologist looked at her scalp, asked a few questions about her family history, and basically said: "It's likely genetic. This is common in women your age. I can prescribe Minoxidil but you'll need to use it indefinitely. If you stop, any progress will reverse. There's really not much else we can do." That was it. Keisha said she just sat there. She didn't even know what to say. She'd been so anxious about that appointment. Had so many questions written down in her phone. And this woman basically told her "accept it and use this drug forever or deal with it." She called me from the parking lot crying. Not dramatic crying. That quiet kind where you can barely get words out. She said "She told me it's genetic. She said there's nothing I can do." And I didn't know what to say because what DO you say to that? When a doctor, a specialist, tells you something is just the way it is? You believe them. You're supposed to believe them. They went to school for this. So Keisha went home and tried to accept it. She started looking at wigs. Nice ones. Ones she could wear long-term. She told me she was "making peace with it." But I could tell she wasn't at peace. She was just... defeated. She didn't even fill the Minoxidil prescription. She said she looked it up and saw you have to use it forever. And the side effects? Facial hair growth, scalp irritation, drying out your texture. She was like "So my options are accept going bald or use this drug that might give me a mustache and if I ever stop using it I'm back to square one anyway?" Girl. GIRL. I was so frustrated for her. Because why is this the best the medical system had to offer? This is what she waited six weeks and paid money for? "It's genetic. Here's a drug you'll need forever. Good luck." Make it make sense. So here's where it gets interesting. Maybe a month after that appointment, Keisha called me late at night. And her energy was completely different. She said "I found something. I need you to watch this video." I was like... what video. What are you talking about. She said "Just watch it. I think that dermatologist was wrong." Now. I need to pause here. Because saying a dermatologist was WRONG is a big statement. And I'm not the type to act like I know more than doctors. But I watched the video. And y'all. It wasn't saying doctors are stupid or medicine is fake or any of that. It was saying something way more specific. There was this Black woman in the video. A trichologist. Which is basically someone who specializes in scalp and hair science. Different from a dermatologist. And she explained that when most dermatologists see a Black woman with crown thinning, they run through a standard checklist. Family history? Check. Probably genetic. Here's Minoxidil. Next patient. But she said what they're NOT looking at is what's happening underneath the scalp. She said most Black women with thinning crowns aren't dealing with simple genetic hair loss. They're dealing with something called inflammation and scarring. Something that doesn't show up in a quick 15-minute exam. And here's what got me. She said genetics might load the gun. But something else is pulling the trigger. And that something else? It's actually treatable. When Keisha heard that, she said she had to pause the video and just breathe. Because for a month she'd been telling herself her crown was just... done. Genetic. Nothing to do but accept it. And this woman was saying that might not even be what's happening. The dermatologist never checked for inflammation. Never talked about what was going on underneath. Just saw a Black woman with thinning hair and went straight to "genetic" and "Minoxidil." Fifteen minutes… a six week wait… a forty-five minute drive… For a guess. I'm not saying that dermatologist was a bad person. But I am saying Keisha deserved more than that. We all deserve more than that. So Keisha started looking into what the trichologist was talking about. And she found something designed specifically for what's actually happening to our scalps. Not a generic drug. Something that addresses the inflammation stuff. I'm not gonna pretend I understood all the science. Keisha breaks it all down in this article she wrote. She explains it way better than me. But what I DO know is what I saw. Few weeks in, Keisha said her scalp felt different. She said "You know that tight, tender feeling I always had? It's gone." And I was like... I didn't even know you had that. She said "I thought everyone's scalp felt like that. I thought it was normal." Girl. About a month and a half in, she FaceTimed me to show me her part. And listen. I'm not being dramatic. There were little baby hairs coming in. Right along her crown. Right where the dermatologist said there was nothing she could do. I literally screamed. Keisha started laughing and crying at the same time. She said "She told me it was genetic. She said this couldn't happen." But it was happening. Right there on the screen. Week after week it kept getting better. Her crown started filling in. Not overnight, not some miracle. But real visible progress. The same crown that dermatologist looked at and basically said "sorry, nothing we can do." A few weeks ago Keisha and I were at brunch. And she said something that stuck with me. She said "I wonder how many women heard what I heard in that office and just... gave up. Started buying wigs. Stopped hoping. Because a doctor told them it was genetic and there was nothing else." And that made me really sad. Because I know it's a lot of us. A LOT of us. Who got that same 15-minute appointment. That same shrug. That same "probably genetic, here's Minoxidil, good luck." And just accepted it because what else are you supposed to do when a doctor tells you that? That's why Keisha wrote everything down. The video she found. What that trichologist explained. Why the dermatologist missed it. What she actually used. Her results week by week. Because she said if even one woman reads it and realizes she has options she didn't know about, it was worth writing. I linked it below. If a dermatologist told you it's genetic and there's nothing you can do... if you've been "making peace" with losing your crown because a professional said so... sis, just read what Keisha wrote. I'm not saying every doctor is wrong. But I am saying Keisha's was. And maybe yours was too.