Looking back upon suffering from Alopecia Areata I have noticed how much it has underlyingly impacted my life. From not staring at people who suffer from hair loss to not caring how my hair looks when I leave the house in the morning. Although I am so grateful that all my hair has grown back, I have distanced myself from the hair upon my head as I had to come to terms with the fact that I was going to lose it.

When I was 10 my mum and I noticed that patches of my hair were falling out, which we soon discovered to be Alopecia Areata. This form of Alopecia does not cause permanent hair loss but for me and my family it was hard to come to terms with. I remember writing a diary to keep track of my journey and feelings, and some of the things I wrote included ‘I am very scared at the thought of losing my hair’ and ‘my teacher said I could wear a wig’. I do not remember all of my journey with hair loss but I remember everyone being so supportive and very positive about the situation.

When I tell people about my experience with Alopecia I often have to explain what Alopecia is along with the causes and treatments for it. I soon realised that not many people have knowledge of what Alopecia is and therefore I wanted to try and raise awareness in my own way.

I am a keen drama student who loves watching and creating theatre, so to fundraise and raise awareness for Alopecia UK through a performance I felt was the perfect idea for me. My show BARE: With Me has been in the process of writing and developing for almost 2 years now. I finally decided to bite the bullet and put on my fundraiser show, what do I have to lose? The show takes on many angles from coping with Alopecia at 10 years old, to the connotations and stereotypes of hair in our society nowadays. It involves lots of movement and singing with juxtaposing comical moments and serious tones. If you want to learn more about the show watch our trailer here:

 I feel so lucky to be saying that BARE: With Me will be performed at Roehampton University, Jubilee Theatre on the 5th and 6th December at 8pm. Tickets are £5 each and all proceeds raised will go to Alopecia UK! So if you want to come along and support this amazing cause please buy a ticket with the links here!

Wednesday 5th December- 8pm

Thursday 6th December- 8pm

Thanks for reading, and I will update you when we have completed our performances to let you know how they went!

For now, over and out from me 

Aimee x

 

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