Hi, my name is Sophia. I am 12 years old and I have Alopecia. I have had Alopecia Areata since I was 8. So for 4 years now. Alopecia has affected my life a lot, with everything I do I always see people everywhere with beautiful hair and it reminds how much I want that, to show off my beautiful hair but unfortunately I don’t have that. I never realized how lucky I was to have hair before it all fell out. But now I have realized that I have a gift something that only about 1% of the world’s populations has. I’m part of that 1% and I am now proud!

Having Alopecia has made think of all the great things I have in my life that does not include hair. Starting high school has been very scary especially since I have no hair. Knowing that I was probably one of the only ones with no hair made it even scarier. Luckily I had my wig that what I think let me get new friends. Well, I thought that my hair would get me friends but now that I look back at it all the friends I’ve made and that I like were not because of their hair it was because of their personality. Because I wear my wig no one knows that I have Alopecia. along the way, I have found some friends that I will treasure forever like Issy. She is one of the only people I have told about having Alopecia and telling her that made me feel 100% better around her and about having Alopecia.

I have been dancing since I was 2 years old and been doing cartwheels and handstands ever since I could walk. Dancing is one of my all-time favourite things to do ever. I love dancing because I feel like I can just be myself and forget about all the negativity in my life and be real. I can show my emotions while I am dancing and connect to the audience and make them feel something. Not until about the end of last year I started dancing without a hat. I felt insecure about having no hair until I realized that it made my emotions look better. I believe that dancing has helped me gain confidence with having Alopecia that is why I am very grateful for this opportunity of getting a sponsorship from the AAAF to help me and my family afford to pay for an extra class of dancing. I am looking forward to sharing Alopecia to everyone through this solo that I am doing. One of my dreams in life is to become a famous Model/Actor. Having Alopecia made it hard for me to believe in myself to become a model/actor. I believed this for quite some time until one of my Dad’s friend said to him that I have the perfect bone structure for modelling. And that I am pretty and that having no hair made me look even prettier. If I ever do make it up there, have 10M followers on Instagram I want to thank Alopecia because it has changed my life for the better.

Knowing the struggles of having no hair really made me think of other kids and adults if they have ever been bullied. I want to help them so bad even if they live all the way in America or Europe. I still want to help. That’s why I’m hoping I can get my message out there to all the others like me and ones who are still trying to find beauty in themselves because I know what it feels like.

Thank you for reading my story I hoped it has changed the way you view beauty and talent. I hope you have realized that Alopecia isn’t easy but it sure can shape a person.

Sincerely,
Sophia

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Sophia is one of the AAAF Sponsorship Program Recipients. The 15th of September, 2019, is the final date to apply for the program. To read out more about the program, visit our website at https://aaaf.org.au/sponsorship-program/