Alopecia, who???
Just before the MLK jr. weekend on January 16, 2020 one the members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley revealed a stunning bald head and doll face in a seven minute video on The Root. In the video, the congresswoman shared that she did not just "feel like a change" that she received a diagnosis and showing her baldness was what she felt was her best response at the time. She decided to share her truth of how she lost all of her hair. She decided to share her process with everyone to be transparent and honest about a part of her identity and political brand. This is a big deal, right? To some yes, others even bigger, and even others think so what. Well this is about the reason for the seemingly sudden change, the diagnosis. Congresswoman Pressley shared that she was diagnosed with having alopecia and it caused her to lose her hair over a short period of time.
Alopecia is a skin condition which means there is a loss of hair either in patches over the head or whole body. The hair follicles are destroyed in this process and without follicles there cannot be any hair growth. There are different forms of treatment which can sometimes stimulate the remaining follicles and this is why some people experience hair regrowth while others do not. There are different types of Alopecia including alopecia areata and traction alopecia. Whether one develops alopecia can be purely hereditary, it can be in response to your beauty regimen/practices, it can be brought on by excessive stress, or a combination. The difference between alopecia areata and traction alopecia is that alopecia areata is a reaction of the body and can seemingly come from anywhere whereas traction alopecia is a response, it happens from hairstyles which put excessive stress on the hair follicles causing hair to be pulled out from the follicle and creating baldness. In the video congresswoman Pressley mentioned that her appearance is political, which is true for all women especially black women.
Back to Squad member Congresswoman Pressley, her Alopecia, and the fact that her appearance is certainly political. Her appearance is not political because she is a politician, it was political well before then. Her appearance is what people use for their initial judgments. Depending on her hair, makeup, and clothes, she can be viewed as a "welfare queen", "babymama", "not a professional", "can't be a doctor", "angry woman", "not a first class passenger", or "member of the Squad". Just to name a few of the titles given to black women by other people who do not know them personally. These titles are all political because it is someone else trying to determine where the black woman and her appearance belong. Her acceptance is not being left to her own ambitions and abilities, but instead someone else's judgement regardless of their own "qualifications" or lack there of. Specifically focusing on hair, black women face backlash no matter the hairstyle. The U.S. supreme court is even hearing cases regarding discrimination against black people and the hairstyles available to us. The Crown Act is a thing because of this very reason. So yes the appearance of women, specifically black women is very political.
In this instance, Mrs. Pressley is an inspiration to millions of people with her boldness and honesty. See, I see alopecia through my personal lens of self infliction due to lack of education but some people have nothing to do with their condition. Some children are having their days ruined by ohers who have a lack of understanding. I'm elated to see Mrs. Pressley share her diagnosis because it gave a voice, inspiration, and a beautiful face for sufferers to admire. Her baldness did not reduce her boldness, she did not lose her hair and her self, she's seemingly bolder than ever. Over the weekend she continued to drop gems about her situation and her political responsibilities as if there was nothing different about her. That was beautiful in its own right. I heard her say that black women don't get to "...stand in our joy" and that was so right. At the time she seemed to be in her joy and strength.
I first found out about the technical term of alopecia about five years ago via Instagram. I came across a hairdresser from Atlanta named Razor Chic who specializes in fierce haircuts and styles for those who have severe hair loss. I started researching and reviewing whatever I could because at that time, I started noticing a spot of hair where it seemed to just, not grow back. My edges were literally snatched and not ever coming back. I came to accept that fact and decided against what got me there in the first place so no more braids or extensions for me. I would just stick to my natural two stand twists and flat twists and style around my trouble area. To me, my alopecia was self inflicted due to lack of education and understanding of my natural crown. The truth was I was grown and did not know how to style my own hair let alone what was best for it. All I did know was braids so that was my go to style. My mother kept my hair relaxed and braided during my upbringing (now it stings me just to read that). She did to my hair the same as she did to her own and I just thought her hair was thin from a bad perm or something and never thought the same thing would happen to me. When I watched Chris Rock's "Good Hair" and thought, you know he may be on to something here and in 2009 I stopped relaxing my hair.
Over the next five years, I had no perm but a lot of braids and Senegalese twists. I still was learning my way through the natural hair journey. I discovered that I have fine 4C hair, meaning it's nappy, kinda flat, and easy to break. Based on my understanding of what's on my head some things work and others are a hard pass for me. This is just my predicament and not anyone else's. I am not saying that if you have 4C hair and wear braids all of the time that you will have alopecia. Instead, I am saying that is what happened to me. At this time I am a bit more aware of what's going on with me and my hair. Relaxing my hair and wearing braids were not a benefit to me on my journey to having healthy hair. So thank you congresswoman Pressley. I am a black woman with hair that is not chemically treated, usually styled in some sort of twists without extensions, and I have traction alopecia. For now, I still choose to keep my hair on my head but at anytime I can choose to wear my hair in locs, a pixie cut, or a fade and my credentials are still the same. Thank you Representative Pressley for your boldness and honesty and good luck on your continued success and re-election.
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