It is possible, according to reports to the board, for hair, lashes and brows to fail to ever grow back. However, if I remember correction, in 1997 only one person reported permanent loss of brows and only one person reported a permanently bald patch of lashes. In the literature I have read, permanent lash loss is almost unheard of, permanent brow loss is almost as rare, and permanent hair loss is not generally a concern but has been known to happen, particularly where there is scarring. Most if not all people reporting on the board say that even after decades of pulling out hair, significant regrowth occurs. However, thinness has been reported. Some of this may be due to extra time needed for severely traumatized follicles to heal.
The (expensive) shampoo Nioxin, available at salons, has been reported to increase circulation in the small blood vessels of the scalp and promote regrowth, or at least make one's head feel better. The cost of the product has been widely discussed with very many people saying the results were worth the investment (unlike many other much more expensive products which have been discussed). One product, NX3, also made my Nioxin was recently deemed on the board to be safe to use on lashes.
The following information was taken directly from one letter to the board. It states very well the general time frames reported as being necessary before seeing regrowth on the scalp. It also gives a possible (probable? proven?) reason for the hair to grow back with different textures, and suggests a remedy if the change in texture is a problem.
You start out with a traumatized bald spot, which is smooth and shiny and hairless, the follicles are damaged and need to re heal themselves to grow back, this takes about 3 months, sometimes 6, but usually 3, then fine downy hair appears and grows, and then at 4 months you have half an inch of hair.. at five, an inch, at six, an inch and a half.. normal growing rate is usually resumed, though the ends of the hair are going to be baby fine and tapered off looking, and your hair may be wavy or kinky
If this bothers you, trimming the ends of the hair, getting a spot perm to straighten kinky or unwelcomly wavy hair will correct your desire to want to pull it again.
The reason pulled hair GROWS BACK KINKY OR CURLY is because the follicles have been damaged, the shape of the follicle has been changed.. straight hair grows from round follicles , wavy hair from oval follicles, and curly hair from flat follicles.
For lashes and brows, less time may be needed to see signs of regrowth, perhaps as little as a month. Lashes and brows seem able to change texture also, generally becoming thicker than expected.
It seems that the more we tug and irritate an area, the more likely our roots are to be unhealthy and turn black. Also, after longterm pulling the new growth seems to have almost entirely black roots. It is a vicious cycle since the black roots seem to be more painful and "need" more pulling than the white ones. However, if you can manage to go several months without pulling (or without much pulling) the chances seem good that they will grow in with healthy roots.
Another problem is approached when all the lashes and brows grow in at the same time and so loosen up and seem ready to fall out at the same time. The best hope there seems to try very hard not to look for loose ones and allow time to take its course. Eventually, hopefully, the growth will stagger itself naturally.
The Nioxin product NX3 has been cited as safe to use on eyelids and has been credited with making the lash roots seem to be stronger and the urge to pull less tempting, though perhaps the lessening of temptation came from the feeling that the trichster was treating her lashes extra well and so they "deserved" to stay in her eyelids.
If you look at it one way, a better question is, "Who does look as good as they did when they were young?"
Yet there is an even more positive and realistic way to look at it: There is beauty at each age. We who started pulling when we were young hardly ever let anyone take pictures of us anymore. In the pictures which we couldn't seem to prevent from being taken, our internal torment about our looks usually is usually visible to us.
We need to get out of that rut. Whatever you look like right now, maximize it. Teenagers have collagen. Twenty-somethings still have some of it though not as much and they have a more knowledgeable, adult look in their eye. Thirty-somethings are beginning to really show character with laughlines and worry lines. Forty-somethings have more of that. And when the silver starts hitting, in my opinion, pictures really start getting beautiful. Older actors have long been considered sexy but have you noticed that older actresses are wearing trim, flattering clothes and not hiding their wrinkles as much anymore? I'm thinking of Susan Sarandon right now in "Twilight", the movie she recently did with Paul Newman--no scarves around her neck in the previews I've seen and she looks great! (in my opinion :-) (Not trying to knock scarves -- but wouldn't it be nice if when we used them or other fashionable things we did it because it was fun or interesting or even, say, fashionable (novel idea that it is) and not because we were afraid to have people see the "real" us?)
The thing is to get used to what you look like now. You are the only one who is mourning what you used to look like (I realize this might be an overgeneralization, esp. if you have critical family, but go with the general idea here :-). You are the only one who knows that your regrowth isn't as thick as your original hair was. No one else is worrying about that. If you smile into the camera at the social functions, if you play along and pose, all people will see when they look at your picture is someone who is fun to be around. Quit apologizing to yourself and other people. I made a site full of pictures, documenting the progession of my trich. And I got used to how I look now. I learned to enjoy how I look now. I learned to see that it wasn't so bad and began to think about how if I just made a few changes I wouldn't have anything to be ashamed of at any function from hanging around home to the departmental picnic, to the Christmas banquet and my future job interviews.
Get used to what you look like. It isn't as bad as you think. If you look at yourself a little optimistically, you'll find beauty there to enhance and build upon. And smiles really do make a difference. Instead of looking at your hair and lashes and brows in the mirror, pretend you are a teen again practicing what smile you are going to use on the person from your class that you have a crush on. What? you missed out on that pleasure because you were too ashamed of your looks? Well, do it now. It's not too late. Find your "look." You have one.