Ashley Tisdale gets candid about her alopecia: 'It's nothing to be ashamed of'

Ashley Tisdale has a few strategies for managing hair loss.

The High School Musical alum, who welcomed her daughter Jupiter in 2021 with her husband Christopher French, took to her blog Frenshe on Wednesday to discuss how she's dealing with alopecia. She said that she noticed her hair falling out a few months earlier, which mirrored the hair loss she suffered years ago while dealing with intense stress.

"Alopecia and hair loss are fairly common, but a lot of people feel embarrassed to talk about these issues," Tisdale wrote. "Any type of hair loss can affect your self-esteem, especially if you feel like you're the only one going through it. That's why I want to talk about it openly — because it's nothing to be ashamed of. Sometimes it's connected to hormones, other times to heredity, and for me, it's connected to stress overload."

The 37-year-old then shared how she manages her alopecia, writing "don't let worry take over" as the first point on her list, as when she battled alopecia years ago, her "worries began to spiral." She was "scared that it would get much worse," and the anxiety only exasperated her stress.

"When I focused on the present and accepted what was happening, I was then ready to make a plan to address my hair loss," she explained.

She also listed "manage stress" as one way to cope, and wrote that meditation and self-care rituals helped lower her stress levels.

Another way she dealt with stress included changing up her diet.

"Eating with a focus on gut health also helps me thrive," she said. "Whatever your self-care plan may be, embrace it."

Tisdale also wrote about seeking treatment for hair loss, something that she has previously shared on social media. She added that she has seen great results from platelet-rich plasma (PRP) treatment, which involves injecting platelets from one’s blood back into the scalp.

"It's expensive and it is certainly not the most pleasant experience — it involves microneedling the scalp, after all — but it made my hair grow back amazingly fast, and research shows that it works," she said.

The former Disney Channel actress also reminded her readers that it's OK to also embrace hair loss, whether that be sporting a wig or embracing a hairless look.

Tisdale has long spoken about ways to manage physical and mental health. In a December 2021 interview for Yahoo Life’s The Unwind, the star explained how she uses self-care rituals to "ground" herself.

"Some of it is opening the windows and doors or lighting candles — just letting the energy in the room change," she shared at the time. "I think as a mom, it’s important to still take those moments. After the baby goes to sleep, I’ll take a bath and put on my favorite show. You definitely have to take care of yourself in order to take care of others."

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