Your hair is something you don’t realise you rely on for all your confidence until it’s gone. Your hair is something that makes you fit in with society. Your hair is something that expresses your personality, your femininity. Yet with this being said, alopecia is still one of the most under-represented diseases within the modelling world, with only 2% of models being booked with known alopecia.
So, with no representation and no-one to look up to, Hannah who was diagnosed with alopecia when she was just ten has had a tough time of it. From feeling like an “alien”, to being asked how her “treatment” was going, Hannah explains to us the three emotional stages of hair loss she has had to face.
“Yes, I have alopecia. Have I ever let it stop me from doing anything? No.”
All of the photos below were styled, photographed and directed by Fauve Wright in inspiration of Hannahs ‘Three emotional stages of female hair loss’.
STAGE ONE: Alienated from society
“When I lost my hair, I didn’t feel human… I felt like an alien. I got stared at constantly in public, my identity was taken away from me before I even got to develop one. I was ten. I felt like a creature. I hid behind wigs, before I realised enough was enough.”
STAGE TWO: GOING BARE
“When I stopped wearing my wig it was the most terrifying, scary, experience of my life, but also the most empowering. At the age of ten, I was still getting used to having no hair, so when a lady at the till asked me how my ‘treatment’ was going, it made me feel extremely bad about myself. Women are perceived as ill and weak when bald, yet society accepts it within men.”
STAGE THREE: Feminine empowerment
“The first thing I started worrying about when I lost my hair was if I would still look like a girl. Can bald still be beautiful? Is anyone going to find me pretty again? You start to look at what else you have to offer. I am an amazing dancer, friend, sister, and what’s on my head has never stopped me doing anything. My alopecia has made me more powerful and feminine than ever, as it has just now made all my other qualities shine. I now think it’s sorta badass.”
Words | Photography | Styling | Creative Direction by Fauve Wright – @fauvewrightphotography