Receiving an Alopecia Areata Diagnosis

Ebony: I was diagnosed with alopecia at age 4. I was too young to remember my symptoms. My mom discovered the patches were forming around different parts of my head. As she was combing it 1 day, she noticed that clumps of hair were coming out on their own. My mom called my doctor and explained what was going on. She took me to the hospital, and I had several tests run. When the results returned, I had tested positive for alopecia universalis.

There are some difficulties a young person may face who’s diagnosed with alopecia. No. 1 is confidence. A lot of people have difficulty fitting into society or even yet accepting what’s happening to them. Hair loss is very devastating, especially to a child or a young person in general.

I’m not in the workforce at this time. I used to work in retail for over 10 years. Being in the workforce with alopecia was very challenging because going to work with a wig on, there were various steps I needed to take to make myself look presentable. I remember going to work for the first time bald in 2018. I was nervous about how my coworkers would respond because there were several assumptions—that I had cancer and things of that nature, or that I just decided to randomly cut my hair off. Once people learned my story and understood everything that was happening in my life, they were a little more receptive to it. Once I began being public about it at work, that’s when my coworker said, “You’re beautiful just the way you are. You don’t have to cover your head to be comfortable around us. Do whatever makes you happy.”

Transcript lightly edited for clarity.