This bald and beautiful mommy is currently traveling with her loving husband and daughter, exploring the world, and living life to the fullest. She has shown me that it is possible to enjoy life, even with your family right by your side. Check out her story on how she became a baldie and enjoy these beautiful photos to go along with it.

I've had Alopecia Areata for about ten years. Always trying to hide and cover the spots. It was a constant concern. In May 2016 my hair suddenly stopped growing and everything fell off in a couple of weeks. At that time I was full of hormones after being pregnant and breastfeeding and under a lot of stress taking care of the baby, working and fixing our home up for sale. I think that's why my Alopecia Areata developed to Alopecia Universalis.

The biggest challenge with alopecia was accepting myself. A stranger was looking back at me in the mirror and I had to battle the feelings of being so ugly and a freak. It is also so much shame involved with this disease. The fear that someone will see you without hair, so naked and revealed. Like skin is something disgusting.

I had the pleasure of working with this beautiful young lady by the name of Madison Chin also know as LittleMissBaldie. She's a 6 year old Alopecian Beauty who rocks her baldness and she rocks it very well. She has an amazing mother who supports her and everything she does and I commend her for being strong for her daughter every step of the way. I share this story to empower young girls and teens out there to own your baldness and never allow it to get the best of who you are. Hair doesn't determine your beauty or your self worth, You do. ​

​In December 2013, 25 days away from her 4th birthday my daughter Madison was diagnosed with Alopecia and I felt hopeless. I had no idea what Alopecia was and worse no idea how to help her. From age 2 our baby girl Madison had beautiful dread locks. We would  style them, put pretty ribbons in them and occasionally dress them up with a cool hat. She loved her hair. But when I started seeing patches and then we started finding Locs in her bed and in the play area we knew something was wrong. 

Time went by and eventually all of her Locs were claimed by Alopecia and soon her eye brows and eye lashes followed. We saved her Locs in a special box in hopes of using them to maybe make a wig for her. In the meantime we adorned  her head with hats. Lots and lots of hats. Hats that were cute. Hats that were not so cute. Some that were small and others that were too big. All too often these hats got in the way of Madison just being a "uniquely" normal 4 year old, who wanted to run and jump and have fun. 

So my husband and I decided to search for wigs. Unfortunately, there were many obstacles in the search,  as we were looking for something age appropriate and culturally fitting. We reached out to some of our Social media friends for suggestions and our request basically went viral. At least to us it did. People started offering to donate their hair, to cut their dread locks. They offered their time and their advice and solutions. It was amazing. ​

AT THE AGE 7, MY HAIR BEGAN TO FALL OFF.
​I was diagnosed with AT (Alopecia Totalis). It was a traumatizing experience for me as a child simply because I was so used to seeing myself a certain way and in a blink of an eye, it had all changed. I began to wear wigs just so I could be like the rest, but somehow the kids at school knew that something wasn't right. My school days were the hardest I had to deal with because of school bullies who would threaten to remove my wigs, and sometimes they actually would. I'd cry and complain to my parents and siblings about how hard it had been for me at school. My mother was such a strong pillar in my life. In my weakest moments she was always there to keep me smiling, if I needed something she'd do anything in her means to get it for me. My mother always encouraged me to pray for my hair to grow, and told me it was going to be okay. Sadly she passed away when I was in high school, it was something very hard for me to deal with, but I'm all so grateful for the wonderful times I had with her.

​MY MOST MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE AS A BALDIE
​Was when I finally got the courage to accept that I was bald, let go of the wigs and began to embrace my beautiful bald head. Taking this step gave me so many wonderful opportunities that I never thought I'd have. I got an amazing opportunity to walk the runway for one of our locally recognized designers and it was such an amazing experience. And being a photographer, I feel like being bald has given me a more artistic appearance and I love it!
I may not really know if my baldness is temporal or permanent, but whatever the case I'm still going to rock it! Anyone out there who may be struggling with accepting the fact that they are bald, well there is only one you and no matter what the circumstance, you have to love yourself for the beautiful person you are! Acceptance is probably one of the most difficult tasks to do, buts its definitely worth it. I've learned to embrace my baldness and I'm loving every minute of it Go on, Rock Your Bald, turn heads, because "Bald is Bold".