For people living with Alopecia Areata, it is common to feel like you are the only one going through this. This is not true. Alopecia is experienced by thousands of people in Australia and millions worldwide. We have collected some stories from our community to help you on your journey.

2023

• Rebecca – She shares her journey at Masters World Championships for marathon mountain bike racing.
• Bindi – She has revealed that she is now comfortable talking openly about her alopecia.
• Matthew – “My mates don’t care about my alopecia, they don’t know me any other way. We get to share the message about alopecia with our new team shirts.”
• Phoebe – She talks about her guitar lessons.
• Nalani – “I’ve always wanted to do gymnastics, I love practising at home but I’ve never had lessons, but thanks to the AAAF sponsorship programme I am about to start at my local academy”.
• Connor – He dropped not one but TWO epic YouTube videos showcasing the latest updates on his sponsored AAAF-backed game.
• Sally – She was given the honour of carrying the Aussie flag at the opening ceremony of the New York Marathon!
• Neva – “my immune system is SO strong that I rarely get sick and it kicks the hairs out of my body“.
• Abbie – She talks about her dance journey.
• Jesse – He shares his progress with alopecia and Taekwondo.
• Lilly – she talks about her moving and recent competitions.
• Michael – “Alopecia doesn’t stop me from doing anything that my mates do”.
• Katie – she talks about her progress in CrossFit and the latest competitions. 
• Bianca – she talks about her progress in Pilates and her new treatment. 
• Abbie – “I love seeing all my friends support me for this day with the crazy hairstyles they come up with.”
• Claudia – We’re updated on her cheerleading events and how she’s been doing with her new wig. 
• Michelle – in her last update, she talks about her horse riding lessons and how fitness and the sponsorship has helped her through her journey. 
• Piper – “I want to use my sponsorship as an opportunity to educate people about alopecia areata, and also to help me embrace alopecia.”
• Faye – In her last update, Faye talks about her latest regattas and how she has been raising awareness for AA. 
• Michael – “I am happy to show other kids like me who lose their hair that you can still do your favourite thing without hair.”
• Isabella – “They no longer thought I was sick and knew what Alopecia was.” 

2022

• Claudia – she shares how the AAAF sponsorship has allowed her to continue with her love of gymnastics.
• Michelle – “Being able to ride a horse with confidence has always been a dream of mine.” She shares a sponsorship update about how her lessons are going!
• Emma – she shares an update about how the dance classes she’s been taking, with the support of the AAAF sponsorship, have led to a huge improvement in her skills.
• Tristan – he shares an update of how his boxing classes are going that he’s able to participate in through the AAAF sponsorship
• Bianca – “I’m healing and getting better every day”. 
• Piper – she shares about her experience being diagnosed with Alopecia
• Charlie – “I choose not to cover up my alopecia and embrace who I am.”
• Jesse – “I don’t let not having hair get to me”
• Lily – “We are not different or weird, we are UNIQUE!”
• Ava – “I didn’t feel alone anymore and I was able to be myself”
• Airlee – “I am proud of who I am, and my confidence has grown so much through dancing.”
• Victoria – she shares an update about how the AAAF sponsorship has made it possible for her to advance with her vocal lessons.
• Sheridan – how she overcame anxiety and low self-confidence and now uses her Alopecia as fuel for her life’s purpose
• Jamie – “I now spend every opportunity I’m presented with helping less aware people understand alopecia better.”
• Kate – “I feel like I have an opportunity to make life a bit better for others who look like me.”
• Victoria – “I can’t wait to see what challenges the year brings me.”
• Faye – “When people see I am comfortable I think it makes them comfortable.”
• Michelle – how alopecia areata helped her develop a greater sense of humour, to remember that beauty is skin deep, and to have greater sympathy for others’ internal struggles.
• Brigette – how physical exercise is helping her feel better in her body.
• Arlie – “I am proud of the person I have become, and I no longer care about not having hair as this is the new me!”
• Bren – what it was like revealing her hair loss to coworkers and learning to cultivate self-love and acceptance.
• Victoria – “When I sing, I can just enjoy the moment.”
• Christine – lessons from living with alopecia areata and how she embraced her strength and vulnerability through exercise classes, despite being nervous!
• Emma – “I shaved what was left of my hair and donated it to help others with alopecia.”

2021

• Alopecia Areata: A Kaleidescope of stories – a collection of drawings, art or prose from people with alopecia areata.
• Cath – living with Alopecia Areata and lessons learnt. 
• Sheridan – moving through Alopecia Areata with movement and meditation. 
• Alex – “I’m not sick, I just have alopecia.” 
• Corinne – “I have never shied away from the fact that I have alopecia but once my kids got to a certain age, I had to begin to factor in their comfort levels as well as my own.”
• Emma – “The funding we have received from the foundation has been amazing and has helped Emma continue her passion for Gymnastics.”
• Tristan – “I’ll learn to live and be happy no matter the outcome.”

2020

• • Max – “At the end of the day, I’m just a teen with alopecia no different from any other kid – minus the hair of course!”
  • Kerri – “To me, this is who I am and I am happy to be alive.”
  • Sophia – “Thank you for reading my story – I hoped it has changed the way you view beauty and talent. “
  • Abbey – “Being able to speak at the Victorian open day was one of the highlights of my year and helped me grow as a person in so many ways. “

2019

• • Sarah – “We would like to thank the Australia Alopecia Areata Foundation for the support they have given.”
  • Alyysa – “This is my first time sharing my alopecia story.”
  • Abby – “This was a huge thing for me to be around others who had the same condition as what I had and knew what I was going through. “
  • Abbie – “I really enjoyed meeting different people who are in the WA Alopecia Support Group.”

2018

• • Violet – “My Rollercoaster Ride”
  • Nellie – “She told me she admired my strength.”
  • Anna – “Super Mum, with or without hair”
  • Sinead – “I am not alone!”
  • Paris – My Struggle with Alopecia
  • Michelle G – “Having alopecia has certainly been a rollercoaster of emotions for me.”
  • Donna – “I was glad to be given the opportunity to explain.”
  • Elijah – “Do the things in life that you want to do.”
  •  Vesna – “I have learnt to embrace alopecia.”
  • Kylie – “Wellness for me simply comes down to happiness.”
  • Stacey – “Learning to love alopecia”
  • Katie – “I’m working at being more open and accepting of it.”
  • Teagan – “Dear Alopecia Diary”
  • Kara – “I’m the same person!”
  • Jessica – “It can only get better from here.”
  • Faye – “I must be brave, but not about alopecia.”
  • Sue – “My gran can take her hair off!”
  • Pearl – “I wouldn’t change my circumstances for the world.”
  • Sally – “I am blessed with my life.”
  • Oscar – “This changed my life.”
  • Olivia – “Fortunately, I am one of the lucky ones.”
  • Michelle – “I realized that even with Alopecia, I could make a difference in the lives of others.”
  • Victoria – “Family and friends have been the main reason for helping me through my situation.” 
  • Serina – “The Dancer In Me”
  • Sophie – “My relationship with happiness is the most important in my life and something I focus on and strive to achieve in every decision I make.” 
  • Linsey – “Sometimes we have to brave and bold with our alopecia and it really helps to have people who can offer love.”
  • Charlie – “I have met so many wonderful and out of this world kind people who have helped me with my alopecia.”  
  • Pat – “I’ll be the bald one in a nursing home, but maybe by then, I won’t give a hoot. I can only hope.” 
  • Anthea– “I have learnt there is no need to feel sorry for yourself about what you don’t have.”
  • Abbey – “I believe it’s really important that you have things around you that you love, and luckily for me, I had plenty!”
  • Allana– My Friend called Alopecia
  • Hailey– “It has made me into the person I am today and I can finally say I’m pretty proud of myself with how far I’ve come from this life changing event.”
  • Kelsey– 365 Days of Bravery
  • Linda – “I look for the joy in each day and I’m grateful for all the good things in my life.”
  • Linsey – “Not being ashamed has helped me to talk about alopecia with friends and family.”
  • Pauline – “Years and years passed, and I have come to terms and learnt to live with my friend Alopecia.”
  • Shea – “All that matters is that I am there for my daughters and support them and help them to be strong, confident, loved women.” 
  • Rachel – “I have Alopecia. It doesn’t have me.”

2017

• • Charlotte  – “Charlotte….at the end of the year I won an award for the courage I showed!”
  • Laura Mc– “I love me for me! My hair does not define me , if anything it has really opened up my eyes to the world around me!“
  • Kate – “I don’t mind that people know I don’t have hair, it’s part of who I am.”
  • Alycia– “I like to accessorise my wig with   headbands as I frequently wore them when I had real hair. It helps retain my sense of identity.”
  • Jane A-” I live my life like any other healthy , normal woman”.
  • Denise-“It’s great that when I relax about it, other people do too and they just accept it as normal.”
  • Ane-“Alopecia made me a stronger, more self-secure, happier person”.
  • Mark-“Finally I decided not to suffer alone and arranged to go to a meetup with Alopeica Support Group.”
  • Yvette-” Believe it or not losing my eyebrows and eyelashes was the most devastating.”
  • Lisa– “After a lifetime of taking my blonde locks for granted, it was such a shock to completely lose my hair”.
  • Bianca-“I am perfect just as I am”.
  • Lana – ” I can still do everything I want to do in life and I am still beautiful. “
  • Abby-“I know that there is nothing wrong with me, I am beautiful just the way I am hair or no hair!”
  • Aimee-“this is my chance to embrace Alopecia and make it something I control rather than something that controls me.”
  • Simone– “I have gradually learnt to love myself, including all the good, bad and ugly things.”
  • Laura C– “22, engaged and loving life.”
  • Glynis – “I would never have had such a diverse wardrobe if I’d had my hair!”
  • Michelle O -” I really had to look at my own situation and realize that the biggest challenge I had with my own “ disability” , Alopecia, was psychological , and that there was so much I could do if only I could rise above the challenge it posed.”
  • Elizabeth-” My story is probably like many others, except perhaps that I was 66 when I lost my hair.”
  • Melissa– “As hard as it was hearing this diagnosis, we as a family began to embrace it for what it was. No more tests, appointments, lotions and potions.”
  • Pat– “Only my immediate family and a few friends and faceless people at the beach have seen my bald head.”
  • Kelsey– “On my 19th Birthday I was able to go out feeling beautiful and blonde again in my amazing new wig.”

2016

• • Nalani – “Children in particular will blurt out statements, but Nalani will just reply with ‘I know but I don’t need any hair’.”
  • Kaethe – “I’ve been hoping for over 6 years now for my hair to grow back and I don’t know how much longer I have to wait for my dream to come true.”
  • Siarrah – ‘My true beauty comes from the inside and the people that truly matter to me understand that.’
  • Faye– ‘When people talk to me, I like it when they look at my eyes and my face not at my head. ‘
  • Sarah  – Surviving the emotional rollercoaster of living with no hair. How I overcame my 25 year battle with Alopecia to help other women learn to love themselves again.
  • Susan – “Life is like a box of chocolates, ya never know what you’re going to get.”
  • John D– “No matter what you’re going through, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel and it may seem hard to get to it but you can do it just keep working towards it and you’ll find the positive side of things”

2014

• • Cameron— “If I had paid less attention to my physical attributes, I would have realised that I actually have a lot more to give to the world then my hair.”
  • Andee  — “At 4 years of age, Ellie would ask me “why did it have to happen to me  Mummy”…..all I can say to her is we love her no matter what.”
  • Martina — “Yeah I miss the visits to the hairdressers, the pampering that went along with it all, but I spend the money elsewhere – wigs are fun – today my hair was long and wavy tomorrow it may be a short bob style.”
  • Molly – “Coming to accept Alopecia, is not only a personal trek, but one of   informing others about differences that exists amongst us.”
  • Maretta – “I get compliments daily on how beautiful my hair is and all I can say is in my mind ‘if only you knew what is under all that hair and how I feel about it’.”
  • Alex and Alison —  “Alison tells her story on son Alex …….We have a resilient, positive, strong willed young man.  He may not have hair but he is healthy, wealthy and wise otherwise in his life – That’s the greatest gift of all!”
  • Jess — “I’m not sure that I’m fully ok with it yet, but everything that has happened has given me the backing to survive whatever happens next.”
  • Grace— “I am brave  because I was forced into it. Let them stare, let them stare in admiration.”
  • Ellie— “I would really like to meet other little kids who are like me and have Alopecia as well. Then we can play together and we can be the same and no one will tease us. That would be my Happy Ever After Story.”
  • Trevor — “If tomorrow there was a cure I wouldn’t want it. Having Alopecia has made me who I am and damn it, I don’t want to have to shave everyday.”
  • Linsey— “I wouldn’t wish alopecia on anyone. But having alopecia has helped to shape who I am; I wouldn’t trade being me for anything. I am blessed.”
  • Ryan — “You think that you are use to it, come to terms with it all….but I don’t think you ever really do, you just push it aside and try to move forward.”
  • Brigette — “I’d live my life without a lie”
  • Vesna — “I have so often heard the saying “Everything happens for a reason”…so for what reason did I get Alopecia Areata???”
  • Alyssa — “It’s not worth the stress, I know image seems like everything these days—especially with teenage girls.. Maybe even boys. But it is ok.”
  • Nikki — “I hope it grows back and doesn’t happen again.”
  • Linda — “It is true “we are more than our hair” but for a woman in our society Alopecia is life changing.”
  • Michelle — “Sharing this “secret” with friends, means they often feel safe to confide in me.”
  • Victoria — “Nobody with Alopecia is alone and its nothing to be ashamed of.”
  • Jozette — “In many ways, having to deal with alopecia has made Tess, and the whole family, more resilient, and appreciate what really matters in life.”
  • Charlotte — “In accepting who I am, I’ve moved from feeling like the bald girl, to Charlotte who just happens to not have any hair.”
  • Debbie — “Never give up!”
  • Kathi — “Alopecia story as a poem.”
  • Brooke — “It really made me realise that its just another aspect of life, nothing to really stress about.”
  • Lily — “I like to wear a wig to school rather than anyone seeing me with no or little hair.”
  • Pauline — “I just hope one day there will be some magical cure for this disease.”
  • Mel — “Why fit in when you are born to stand out?”
  • Laura — “As women we often stress so much about our appearance when in reality it is only us that is noticing a change.”
  • Judy — “I really missed my eyebrows and eyelashes much more than I missed my hair.”
  • Stephanie — “I explained about alopecia. They all watched as I had my head shaved…. I wasn’t nervous … I could feel the support and love from everyone…”
  • Stella — “I’m VERY happy now in my school and I have a great family and friends and I’m happy to live a very bald and happy life!!!!!”
  • Jane — “I decided to make friends with Alopecia. …I believe that talking about Alopecia Areata more and revealing our patchy and bald heads is the way forward.”
  • Violeta — “Alopecia sculpted me into a very strong and confident woman that doesn’t believe that life has to be restrained by your hair.”
  • Jack — “What I like about my alopecia is that my friends get a good laugh when they say things like, ‘you’ve got a butterfly on your head’.”
  • Alex — “I enjoy my life now as I made the choice to “don’t worry be happy !!!”

2013

• • Julia — “Having Alopecia doesn’t have to be just bearable or just manageable. It will be part of you, but you can move on and it will not define you!”
  • Heidi-A– “Alopecia isn’t something we should feel embarrassed or ashamed about..”
  • Heidi-K– “I probably missed out on a lot because of my insecurities but I did have a great group of girlfriends who didn’t care that I didn’t have hair.”
  • Catherine — ” Whether I have hair or not I am always thankful for what I have, rather on concentrating on what I don’t have.”
  • Daneyl — “The strands of me”
  • Stef – 16 telling her story through a poem.

2012

• • Michell Law — “Hair loss is something to be embraced. I’m ready for openness; I’m ready for people to be challenged; and I’m ready for bald women to feel empowered. I don’t want to spend my life merely surviving as a bald woman. I’d much prefer to live.”

TEDxSouthBankWomen speaker Michelle Law performed ‘A Bald Woman’s Guide to Survival’ on Saturday December 1 at the independently organised event.  http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/4404420.html

Video link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrJom48KQA4

• Natalie — “I am 25 and I have Alopecia Universalis. I have been wearing human hair wigs for the past 2 years and although there are tough days, I am more confident inraising awareness of this condition and telling people my story.”
• James Miller — “Imagine you are 10 years old, and one morning you wake up to find you have a bald patch at the back of your head the size of a golf ball,this is what happened to me.”
• Cam O’Rourke — “I first got AA in early 2010. It was a massive shock because it started off as just one tiny patch, and in about four weeks, it had all gone, apart from a couple of tiny patches. My mates all helped me out by shaving their heads to show support, which was awesome.”
• Kylie tells her story on how she might not have a single strand of hair, but felt every inch the beautiful bride.
• Sarah P — “I’ve had ups and downs, I’ve been self conscious and I’ve been brave. I don’t know where I will be this time next year, or what my head will look like. But it’s an adventure, and its all part of my story.”
• Eliza and Ben — “In 2009, at the age of 3, Ben first experienced Alopecia.Ben’s elder sister Eliza realised how fortunate she was. She decided to grow her hair long enough so she could donate it to make a wig for another girl to enjoy.”
• Danielle K —  “Who you are is about the inside not about what you look like on the outside, love yourself no matter what for everything you are, inside and out.”

2011

• • Danielle B, 28, accepts that being bald can be beautiful.
  • Kylie – “I have my ‘moments’ about Alopecia, but being constantly reminded of how beautiful I look is very supportive.”
  • Joanne and Kylie– Living with no head coverage.