MY JOURNEY WITH ALOPECIA
From hiding to being seen
My journey with alopecia began when I was ten years old, when I discovered a small bald patch on my head. Luckily, my hair grew back, and for many years, alopecia became something I barely thought about.
Then, at 26, shortly after moving to the UK, I started losing my hair again. This time, it didn't stop.
For the next five years, I lived with alopecia areata and tried desperately to hold on to my hair and to the person I thought I needed to look like. I searched for answers, tried different treatments and learned every possible way to hide the growing bald patches.
Eventually, my alopecia progressed to alopecia universalis, the complete loss of hair across my body, and I began wearing wigs.
When the person you see in the mirror suddenly changes, it can affect so much more than your appearance. For me, losing my hair became deeply connected to my confidence, my identity and the way I believed other people would see me.
For almost 20 years, I hid my alopecia from most people around me. On the outside, my life looked normal. Inside, I was constantly afraid of being exposed. I became very good at appearing confident while carrying something I was deeply ashamed of.
And eventually I realised that losing my hair wasn't the hardest part. The hardest part was the hiding.
Everything began to change when I stopped trying to fix myself and started learning how to accept myself. Working with a life coach, finding peer support, and beginning to speak openly about alopecia helped me slowly rebuild my confidence from the inside out.
Later, discovering beautifully made, natural real hair wigs gave me something else I hadn't realised I needed: the opportunity to recognise myself in the mirror again.
For a long time, I thought self-acceptance meant that I should be completely comfortable without hair.
Eventually, I understood that I didn't have to choose.
I could accept myself without hair and still love wearing beautiful hair.
That realisation became an important part of my own healing and ultimately the foundation of my Beauty Inside Out philosophy.
Today, everyone in my life knows that I have alopecia. Sometimes I wear a wig and sometimes I don't. I may look different depending on which version of me you meet, but I have learned that they are all me.
Alopecia has taught me that confidence isn't about becoming fearless or loving every change life brings us. It is about knowing ourselves deeply enough that we no longer allow fear, shame or the expectations of others to decide how fully we live our lives.
I spent almost 20 years hiding.
Today, I choose how I want to be seen.
With hair or without it, the choice is mine. And that freedom has changed everything.
Anne ❤