Alopecia Day
Saturday the 6th of August is International Alopecia Day. Alopecia's a condition that affects thousands of young Aussies making them lose some or all of the hair on their bodies. Rookie reporter Stef is here to explain what that's like.
STEF: Hi BTN, my names Stef! And I want to tell you about growing up with a condition that you might not know that much about.
It all started when I was six years old - that was when I first realised my hair was falling out. It was really scary and confusing, I kept waiting for someone to break out the magic wand and just make me better, but it didn't happen like that. Instead the doctor told me I had alopecia.
STEF: Alopecia is a hair loss condition which has no cure.
Basically everyone has a little army of soldiers in their body called the immune system. It's supposed to protect us from nasty things like coughs and colds.
STEF: My soldiers unfortunately, they're not the sharpest crayons in the pack!
They see my hair and they attack it, which is why it falls out.
STEF: There are three different kinds of alopecia. Alopecia areata, which is where you get patches of hair loss on the scalp; Alopecia Totalis, which is when you lose all your hair on your head and that's what I have now, and Alopecia Universalis, which is when you lose all the hair on your body, including your eyebrows and eyelashes.
The good news for you guys is that it's not contagious - you can't catch it from anyone. And the good news for me is that I haven't had a bad hair day in ages!
And what wardrobe would be complete without novelty beanies! You can see the family resemblance!
Now I know how to laugh about it, but as a kid it was really tough having a condition that makes you look so different, especially when I finally went bald in Year 6.
STEF: It had a massive impact on me and I was so sad for a really long time about it and very insecure. I thought that being different would put a target on my back for things like bullying and teasing so I kept it a secret for a really long time.
This is the first wig I ever got when I was about 12 years old. Id already done a presentation to my year level about having alopecia so everybody knew and when I came to school for the first time wearing it all of my friends came running up to me saying Stef, Stef it looks so good and I can actually still wear this. Im thinking I might dye it a fun colour like blue or purple. What do you guys reckon? You might have to help me convince my mum.
These ones are really awesome because you can do things like surfing, swimming sport and they don't come off, here look I'll show you. So if you ever wanted to do a bit of headbanging, it's not gonna come off!
Good wigs can cost thousands of dollars, but thanks to people who donated their hair to charity I was able to get one.
What it did was help me fit in when all I wanted to do was belong, and it made me feel safe because when I went outside without my wig on, people would stare at me and sometimes say nasty things.
As I got older I started to realise I didn't have to look like everyone else. That's when I finally stopped wearing my wig every day.
STEF: I thought that having my condition made me ugly. Now I think that you know I'm not the kind of beautiful that you see on magazines, but I'm my kind of beautiful and somehow that's even better! I think there's more beauty in who you are and what you do than there is in what you look like.
And by sharing my story, I hope other kids with alopecia will start to see themselves as being beautiful too.
- Amelia Moseley | Reporter
- Alopecia: Raising children network | weblink
- Donate your hair: Variety Everyday Hero | weblink
- Australia | Map
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