Alopecia

So I have Alopecia, and for those who don't know what this is, it causes hair to fall out in clumps causing "bald patches" it's a immune disease it attacks the hair follicles causing it to fall out for unknown reasons. It started when I was 17 and I'm an now almost 19. It is very devastating because I am a girl and what girl does not love her hair? So in the beginning the hair never grew back and I only had one patch which got bigger overtime it is now about palm size and I started seeing patches on other places. Which got harder and harder to hide. But recently the hair started to grow back and really quickly as well which I am so pleased about. But stikk I am to afraid to go to the hairdresser or color my hair. And I really need a cut and color it's been 2 years since I've done anything to my hair and it's now difficult to maintain. Anyone els suffer from this? Any tips?