Katie Hale Alopecia Story.

My name is Katie Hale and I have Alopecia Universalis. My hair loss came on rapidly at the age of 23 and it hasn’t ever come back.

Like most, I found a small circular patch of – well, nothing – on the back of my head on the right side. Having no idea what it was, I just assumed I had burnt my head at some point with my straightener and it fell out. My friend and I even had a good laugh about it and couldn’t stop touching it.

Fast forward a couple of months and I noticed it felt bigger. Then it just started to spread. Within about 2-3 weeks, I had the beginnings of five patches. Within the next seven days, I lost half the hair on my head which was incredibly stressful and traumatic.

I had no other point but to shave most of it off. I tried to salvage a longer patch on the top of my head but that lasted less than three days.

Over the next three months or so I lost the rest of the hair on my body. Fascinatingly, the hair on my right side always went first – my right eyebrow split in the middle, then my left, my right eyelashes fell out, then my left and most of my scalp patches were on the right.

I tried a number of treatments but they all just made me incredibly sick and never really succeeded in triggering hair growth. I couldn’t justify wreaking havoc on my physical health for the sake of some hair, so I made the (incredibly tough) decision to stop.

I was terrified of wigs so I have always rocked the bald look, which comes with its challenges. People often treat you differently and while that can be disheartening and upsetting, I feel like I have an opportunity to make life a bit better for others who look like me. If they stare at me because I’m the first bald girl they’ve seen, then maybe they won’t do it again to someone who isn’t as strong or who might be more self-conscious. Or if someone has hair loss, maybe seeing me go bald might just help give them that little boost of confidence to try it themselves if they want to.

I want people to feel confident to be themselves in and out of wigs so if my experience makes it that little bit better for someone else, then I’m happy and it’s worth it.

That is exactly why I’m so excited to raise awareness through this sponsorship – no one should ever feel like they are held back by their alopecia, but so many are. I want to show people that no matter how scary it is at the start, you can still achieve whatever you want to and do the things that make you happy.