By: Grace Duhs
I ran around at recess in 2nd-grade feeling so free and myself, but all of a sudden, my bandana got pulled off. Everyone around me was laughing. I used to hide behind trees and lie down under a picnic table to hide. This occurrence happened numerous times, and I felt ugly. I felt ashamed of my head as more people saw it for the first time. I came home crying and wanting my hair back because people regarded me as “the bald girl.” These specific moments affected my childhood image of myself.
What I want others to take away from this post about bullying is that people who don’t have hair can be significantly impacted by how others stare at and talk about us. Sometimes when people look at me, all they see is a bald girl/sick girl. I want to change that and show people that we are also normal and love to have fun!
One piece of advice I would love to give to people is to show that this alopecia journey is challenging, and before doing anything, think about walking in our shoes and how we deal with having no hair every single day. The one quote that gets me through my alopecia is: “Why fit in when you’re born to stand out.” We were uniquely put on this earth for a reason, and we should express and show how we rock alopecia.
