'Alopecia is different for Black women - the Oscars slap was wrong but I get it'
01.04.2022 - 16:41
/ ok.co.uk
"Like the rest of the world, I was stunned when I heard about Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars. But when I watched the footage, the first thing that stood out to me was the look of discomfort on Jada Pinkett Smith’s face as a cruel joke was made at her expense. I know that look, because I’ve made it many times myself.That is the reaction I give to every person who has said something nasty to me which is just a joke to them.
I’ve suffered with Alopecia areata for 20 years now. When I was nine, I started to develop little coin-sized patches of baldness on my head.The hair would grow back, and fall out somewhere else, and I would try desperately to hide the patches. As I got older, it got progressively worse.
I’d lost about 95 per cent of my hair by the time I was 17. It was quite a stressful time trying to manage my Alopecia and go to college, and when I ended up in hospital with a blood infection, it all just fell out. I was left with a tiny tuft on my head.
I held onto that tuft for dear life as it was so precious to me! I felt if I let that go, that would be it. I’d also started to lose my eyebrows and my eyelashes were very thin. It wasn’t the easiest to look in the mirror.
Unsurprisingly, the other kids at school were brutal. I was bullied and it was really tough, especially during the teenage years when you just want to fit in. I hated school and used to play truant when I could.
Twenty years ago there wasn’t really any social media, and I had no way of finding anyone who looked like me or who understood what I was going through. I felt charities or patient support groups were not targeted towards me or that they would understand how precious my relationship was with my hair as a young Black girl. When
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