Once upon a time, I had very long, very curly hair. It was a very opportune time to have big hair because way back then it was all the rage. Thing was, I hated it with a capital H and, in fact, I coveted my best friend Andrea's stick straight hair with such passion that it was hard to keep my, well yes, it was jealousy, hidden.

Funny how life works. These days I'd give my eyeteeth ('cause, really who needs those things anyway?) to have my old head of hair back. I don't know when it happened but all of a sudden, I have approximately 376 meager follicles on the top of my head. Gone are the days of my needing to wrap a hairband around my ponytail only twice -- now I'm up to four (FOUR) wraps and there's still some give.

When I first discovered that I was becoming folic-ally challenged, I went to the doctor to see whether it was something medically induced. (I'd seen a scary episode of Dr. Oz and that motivated me as much as vanity to get checked out.)

Turns out that my hair has decided to fall out because I'm either stressed or hormonal -- or more than likely, both. Which, of course, is good news, but still doesn't help me get my full ponytail back.

Happily, I'm not living on the prairie with Laura or that nasty Nellie and have many options. Have you stopped and looked in the shampoo aisle at the drugstore lately? In addition to Rogaine and those other FDA approved "female pattern baldness" potions, so many mainstream brands have adding "thinning hair" lines to their arsenals that it's pretty encouraging. And, while I'm not going to jump on the Nioxin bandwagon just yet, on the advice of a friend who admitted she's been dealing with the same issue, I recently started using DS Laboratories Spectral.RS Breakthrough Treatment for Thinning Hair, $40, and I have to say that my hair, while still a far cry from its former bountiful self, does feel less puny already.

Have you experienced hair loss or thinning hair? How're you dealing with it? (And, if you want more info, check out these facts about thinning hair and hair growth.)