On Saturday 6th October, I shaved my hair off (grade 1 & 2) to raise money for Alopecia UK.

A dear friend of mine lost all her gorgeous hair a couple of years ago and I really admire her and anyone else affected for kicking ass and fully embracing the unadorned head!

We often see our hair as an extension of our identity and the relationship between hair and self-esteem is evident across all of society. Can we challenge the notion of hair as a symbol of beauty in popular culture? It would be interesting to see how people I meet react to seeing me with a shaved head or what type of men I will attract now that I have a more ‘masculine’ look.

I've been told that I am brave for have doing this (yes I was sh*tting myself as I was worried about my flat head or that I don’t have the bone structure to carry this off!), however it wasn’t bad at all! If anything it was liberating! But I know that my hair will grow back so I only have to 'deal' with it for a few months.

Unlike other illnesses that can cause hair loss as a side effect and the hair will grow back once the treatment has ended, alopecia can affect a patient for years and on occasion decades without regrowth. Very little is known about what brings on alopecia aside from 'stress' or autoimmune, and without fully understanding the cause, you cannot treat it properly.

Alopecia UK is a very small charity (only 3 members of staff) that is totally reliant on fundraisers like this one to generate much needed revenue to provide support to those affected, raise awareness and more funding for vital research in the causes, treatments and one day, a cure. So your donations, no matter how big or small, will really make a big impact to their annual income.

Thank you for supporting me with my fundraising efforts, I’ve been told the £5K target is pretty ambitious but I’d like to think London should give good money to charity to see my wonderful flat head! Thi Dinh