From the pictures, I assumed you were in your 20s, so that just shows you how pictures can be misinterpreted/misleading or just down right flattering!

Very much like you, I had a close friend & her family that supported me and knew of what I was doing with my hair.
At the time I lived in quite a small town and assumed that gossip etc would leak out via them.
I assumed that every one they knew, knew about me, but weren't saying anything to me about it.

I was REALLY shocked & overwhelmed when 15 years later I discovered that they had stood by me and never uttered a word outside of their family.

The girl went on to get a boyfriend and has been with him the last 6 years.
I see them regularly and after all this time I assumed that she had spoken about my hair with her boyfriend.
Not maliciously or anything, but they were in a relationship and it would only be natural for her to share.
Consequently I started to speak more openly in front of him.
Just recently I said something (a reference to my hair not being my own) and I could tell from his expression he didn't have a clue what I was talking about.
She had never uttered a word to her boyfriend even though they're incredibly close.

I asked her about it and she said she wished she could claim it was purely out of loyalty to me that she kept my personal details to herself.
But she said in all honesty, it was mainly due to the fact that it never occurred to her to say anything.
She said she'd sort of forgotten about my hair and never really thought about it.
She said it wasn't like she'd had to make an effort to keep a big secret. She just thought of me as me and my hair as my hair, if she thought about it at all!
There was no issue and no secret for her to keep.

Subsequently 2 other friends have said very similar things to me.
These 2 friends had held my hand during all my trials & traumas of transplants and visiting salons and looking at alternatives and supported me through it all 18 years ago (maybe longer now!).
2 years ago the 3 of us rented a small place for a month long holiday with only 1 bathroom.
During the trip I told them I needed them to take themselves off out for an afternoon because I needed to monopolise the bathroom.
They looked at me like I was mad and became concerned that I had become sick of their company or was cross with them about something.
I explained I needed to re do my hair. Their faces were blank.
They still didn't know what I was talking about.
I had to spell it out for them and I could see that it was only then that it dawned on them what I was talking about.
I'd been ticking along for so many years wearing my hair and getting on with it, that they had completely forgotten about what I had to do to maintain my hair.
They just never thought it about it any more, despite them being the ones that had mopped up all my tears and listening to all my woes, all those years ago.

Just because I think about my hair every day, it doesn't mean that every one around me does also.
They have their own stuff to think about!
This is true for every one, be they close friends, acquaintances or complete strangers.

Having forums like this is great as it allows us to vent, share & gain knowledge etc.
But I'm aware that it can also allow us to fuel our own personal obsessiveness, dwelling on details that simply are of no relevance to any one else outside of this arena.

I have to frequently remind myself that I had hair issues, even when it was all my own natural hair.
It never did or looked exactly how I wanted it to, back then.
Just because I've had it tailor-made now to my requirements, I kind of expect it to do and be exactly what I want.
This just isn't reasonable.
Every one has bad hair days and I rather have a few of those than a lifetime of 'no hair' days!