However bad it’s been for men to cope with the onset of hair loss, it must be far, far worse for women going through the same thing. So this article in Mail Online gave us pause for thought.
Bald at 15
Yasmin Taylor from West Sussex was diagnosed with alopecia at the age of 15, and – like virtually every girl her age – opted for a hairpiece, and a punishing course of injections (60 a month) at a private dermatologist to stop the condition from worsening.
Now aged 24, she finally decided to ditch the wig last year, and flooded her Instagram account with images of her ‘new’ look. And the response from other women has been overwhelmingly positive.
“I wouldn’t let anyone see me without [a wig], not my family or my boyfriend at the time,” she recalled. “He was really great about it and always helped me cover it up. I just felt so ashamed and embarrassed of what was happening to me.”
From hairpiece to inner peace
After a year in Australia and its baking heat, she finally got sick of covering up. “I felt jealous watching my friends jump into the sea while I watched from the shore,” she admitted. “I was too afraid my wig would get wet and displace in the water.”
So she finally got rid and stepped out without her hairpiece for the first time in eight years, and was so encouraged by the response from her friends that she decided to keep it off forever.
Now she’s taken social media to demonstrate to others that having no hair is no barrier to living a full life, and inspiring women from around the world to not be ashamed of their condition, reaping a whirlwind of thanks from others – particularly teenage girls. And we say hats (and hairpieces) off to her.
