 Why are you a Baldie? Because I'm always pushing the limits with how I portray myself to the world. I think of the world as my fashion show. I've done every cut color style in the book completely shaved I never did the full shave. I'm like whelps I must venture there now! I've always been self conscious about my hair the type of hair I had and since it's been gone I know I can't imagine growing back my own hair. This is how I was always meant to be a bald bad ass chick!
What challenges have you faced as a bald woman? I haven't faced any challenges yet I'm with a amazing woman who also is completely shaved who loves me for me. I've gotten the stares but mostly I've been complimented most of the time in public which definitely takes me by surprise because people will go out of their way to let me know that I pull it off. How did you overcome the insecurities of being bald? Well you definitely have to get used to having your entire face on display but I pretty much deal with it by saying to myself, slay some makeup and that's all ya gotta do What words of encouragement would you share with someone who isn't confident with their baldness? Embrace you not the version you want others to think of you. In the end your opinion is the only one that matters. The self love club is always waiting for you with open arms! Slay the game girl! My Bald is... Fierce. My bald is the way it's supposed to be.
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 Today's Baldie of the day is this Beauty Chloe Bean. Though she is no longer a BALDIE, because of Alopecia Areata, at any given moment her hair can grow back and fall out again. Read her story on how hair loss affected her growing up and how she's dealing with Alopecia now.  Making this decision was the hardest thing so far in my life. Many people may or may not know what I am going through so here is a little story. When I was about 8 years old I started losing my hair in clumps and my parents didn't know what was happening. Why was I losing my hair? They took me doctor to doctor trying to figure out what it was. Before you knew it I was diagnosed with Alopecia Areata. Of course there is no cure for it so you can only imagine what I was going through at such a young age. I was lost and confused, I thought I would never be able to be like all the other girls who had long, beautiful hair. Kids in school were too young to understand what was going on and I was embarrassed to wear hats every day to school. When I was 10 I lost the majority of my hair and that's when I started going through treatment. This involved getting steroid shots in my head which wasn't fun at all (especially if you're scared of needles). Through having hope and praying, my hair grew all back during Middle School. This was a dream come true to me. It's all I ever wanted. My hair was so thick I honestly thought I outgrew my autoimmune disease....little did I know God had a different plan for me. At the end of sophomore year I noticed I had one little bald spot and that turned into two, three, four and kept increasing.... Eventually, my hair got so bad again during the summer that I started junior year with a wig (currently I have three wigs and I couldn't be more blessed). Living in a society where people base everything off appearances I was so embarrassed and felt like the world turned against me. I was about to take all online classes so I could isolate myself from everyone, but I decided to be strong and have faith. Till this day I still question "why me?" Why does God put you through such hard times? Maybe he is helping me become an empowered women. Whatever the reason is I now have accepted the fact I have alopecia and instead of it controlling my life I am now controlling it. I don't care if people point or stare, just know not to judge somebody until you have walked in their shoes. Maybe one day my hair will grow back again and until that day happens....  This is Chloe now.
 What an honor to have this amazing woman as my partner for The Baldie Movement. She is the reason the meet ups begin and has motivated me in so many ways that she doesn't even know. Thank you Adrianne for being right by my side and there to assist me every step of the way. Today you are the Baldie of the Day!!  I made the decision to cut all of my hair off in 2007. I wore dread locks and I started to see had I had bald spots and I knew I need to make a decision to cut my hair. i tried wigs but I couldn't get use to how they felt on my head. I prayed about and receive so much love and support from my wonderful husband so I cut my hair and went bald and I have been happy, joyous and free everyday. with the level. I believe when you love and accept yourself for what ever condition you deal with ,that everyone else around you can only love and accept you also. I believe that my decision to be bald has no bearing on how much better I feel about myself. I love and accept myself and know that the beauty that shines within me also shines on the outside of me.  When you begin to love and accept yourself everyone and everything around you will demonstrate how you feel about yourself.
LOVING YOURSELF TAKES TIME AND PRACTICE You can begin by doing mirror work ten minutes a day and see how this will make a difference in accepting your baldness. The beauty of who you are a child of God that reflects him without or without hair. Finish this sentence: (My) Bald is BOLD & BEAUTIFUL  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 was more afraid to be bald around people who aren't close to me but know who I am, like neighbours or acquaitances at work. So I started being bald on vacations and holidays. Knowing that the people I met there would never see me again. Then I went bald to the gym - which felt great. It was so much freedom with nothing on the head when it was hot and sweaty. This autumn we left Sweden and are now on a six month journey around the world. Me, my husband and our baby girl. In the beginning I constantly used a baseball cap, especially on every picture. I had a wig in the bag but posted it back home after one month since I didn't use it. It was just to hot to have the head covered with a furball! We have taken thousands of pictures to document our trip and show some of them on our blog and instagram. Those photos became a way for me to get used to my new apperance. As time was passning by I got more and more confident in the baldie look and the baseball cap has now been in the backpack for several months.  I am most proud that I have accepted who I am and don't have anything to hide anymore. Strangely it was loosing all of my hair that finally made me free after all those years with hairless spots. After travelling around the world and visited so many countries only a handful of people have reacted on my baldness. A few have asked what's happended but more have given me compliments for my cool haircut. Two women shared touching cancer stories to me, what a gift to be entrusted! I have also met other people with alopecia in the most unexpected places. Baldness unite! Our journey has made me realise that it's just hair, and people really don't care. Everyone is in the end of the day seriously just busy thinking about their own problems!  My bald is freedom! And saves lots of extra space in the bag as a backpacker. No shampoo, hair dryer or styling products. ;)
 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.  But the amazement soon turned into to further disappointment as we hit more road block with some of the suggestions and referrals to well know organizations who accepts, processes and uses donated human hair to creat wigs for those suffering from hair loss. There we were with such brave and selfless people ready and waiting to make the big chop for our little girl and we had to basically turn them away. You see, none of these popular organizations for donated hair were versed in dealing with dread locks, nor were they able to fulfill our request for a natural wig that was culturally fitting. We really wanted something that was similar to Madison's hair before and resembled the hair of others she sees and identifies with on a daily basis. One stylist took on the challenge and created a signature wig- which she calls Crowns. From this one experience the stylist Hadiiya Barbel said, the process of creating the crown for Madison was divinely fulfilling for her. "It's the energy and love put into the details and creative process of customization that makes the difference between a wig and a crown, and this one is really special." On september3rd, 2014, the start of Alopecia awareness month Madison was Crowned. Since then Madison has been crowned twice with two other customs from stylist who put great time and talent into the pieces that they made special for her. We have been blessed to meet so many people great people on this journey including The beautiful baldie Nell Coleman, a true inspiration and visionary. Nerissa Irving, whose kind heart moved her to post about our quest for a wig for Madison. And Sammy Jones of Guam, who in browsing on Instgram Madison's page, read her story and decided to shave her head in support of Madison's struggle with Alopecia. It's amazing. This total stranger is now our great friend and we lend support to each other as we have embraced and joined not only the Bald Movement, but also Team Bobbie. A support team for Sammy Jones' mom who is ill with cancer. And Stephanie Croker of Sdotbeautyproducts and Chrissy J who made her first wig totally from locs that were donated. And soooo many more, that I now hash tag every photo of Madison with the the saying "it takes a village". As a family we strive NOT to cover up Madison's Alopecia, but to be proactive advocates for her and this disorder. One of my greatest concerns is that we might not be able to shade her from the cruelty of this somewhat difficult world. Baldness is far from the normal acceptable qualifications of beauty as far as this society is concerned. So we encourage Madison to constantly recognize that her inner beauty is what makes her outwardly beautiful and that with or without her Crown/hat or scarf she is the epitome of beautiful. We instill in her the importance of peace and humility, cultural identification and the strength to accept the individual uniqueness in all of us. I am proud to say that my daughter Madison has claimed the victory over her Alopecia and has come to embrace, grow and love her baldness. It has positively affected us all and made us a stronger family unit. She radiates with such joy, confidence and strength it's infectious and us around her can't help but to be stronger, happier and more confident too. Alopecia is not who she is, it's just a small part of a bigger, successful, witty little girl, who just happens to have no hair and totally rocks at being bald. Check out The Baldie Movement on Social Media!
Facebook: TheBaldieMovement Instagram: TheBaldieMovement Twitter: BaldieMovement  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".   I was diagnosed with Alopecia Areata at age 5. For 13 years, I lost small, unnoticeable patches of hair off and on. When I was 18 I began losing larger amounts of hair, and by the age of 20 I developed Alopecia Universalis and have been completely bald since then (May 2013). There are so many incredible experiences I have had since entering the world as a bald woman- which gradually happened between August 2014-March 2015. The moment that sticks out to me most would be when I first decided to go bald in public the week before I started my senior year of college. My friends had seen me bald, but never acquaintances nor the general public. I walked into a room full of people, some I knew, some I didn't and I was immediately embraced by all. In fact- everyones face lit up when they saw me walk in. It was this magical moment of fear washing away and new kind of confidence and enhanced self-esteem replacing that fear of being bald, and the fear that I had while wearing a wig, so afraid of being "found out". There was so much love and acceptance in the room I felt I had been set free, I felt invigorated, and anxiously excited to take on the world with a new sense of what beauty meant to me.  Alopecia is an autoimmune disease with no cure. So technically permanent. However, my hair could grow back at any moment. For those of us who did not choose to be bald- the lack of autonomy is difficult to cope with. What I have learned in the 4 years that I have experienced life as a bald woman is that there are some choices we can make everyday to take back control of our lives, and make baldness something that you own as wholly yours. A choice that I made was to enhance my natural features with makeup, and in turn I re-developed my sense of pride and confidence in myself. To me, makeup gave me the choice to feel beautiful when I needed a lift, and I have begun outlining my experience with makeup on my website, baldisthenewblack.com/@baldisthenewblack on Instagram. Furthermore, through re-defining my beauty in the world I re-defined the very meaning of what beauty was to me. Society as a whole favors a narrow definition of beauty- and it is easy to fall into this trip. I have learned that the definition of beauty is fluid, and the most beautiful thing in the world is self-love. Looking a specific way will not bring happiness, but instead owning who you are outside and inside is where true happiness and inner peace comes from. Check out The Baldie Movement on Social Media!
Facebook: TheBaldieMovement Instagram: TheBaldieMovement Twitter: BaldieMovement I found this gorgeous bald beauty rocking her bald with so much courage and excitement that I couldn't resist and had to ask her to share her story with me. I invite you to Be Inspired by Shalice and share her story to inspire other young girls out there who battle with Alopecia just as she does and to keep your head held high and be your beautiful bald head self.  I have alopecia. I've had it since I was a year old. I'm not 18 years old still with alopecia. Probably the most memorable experience was going to school bald. It was a fear of mine since I was in the kindergarten, during my elementary years I was bullied and made fun of wearing a hat for the past 6 years. My middle school and 3 years of high school, I wore a wig. But my senior year was the year I choose to go to school bald.  I was born being bald, So I'd say permanent haha I can't see myself with hair. I used to be just like you, I couldn't even get out of the house with a hat or a wig. Having that fear of looking differently and people just constantly staring. But remember to never let someone's opinion stop you from being yourself, never let your hair loss stop you from doing what you love. Its great to different and look differently! Uniqueness calls for confidence!!! People loves uniqueness, and it's great to stand out in this world.   It was with great pleasure to speak with this Bald Kenyan Beauty Roshie Anne about her journey and how she became a Baldie. She shared with me that It took a while to get as confident as she is now but she's all about owning it. If she can inspire someone out there. Her work is done. I invite you to #BeInspired by her story and to see the world through her eyes, as a bald woman.  I became a baldie the summer of 2014. I had been rocking box braids and I was tired of them. I always used to switch up my hairstyles then get bored after two weeks. Having had short hair in high school, I figured I wouldn't look too bad if I went bald. I found a barbershop, walked in and told the barber I wanted to shave all my hair off. The look on his face was priceless. I felt like a brand new woman walking out the barbershop.  Being featured on here is going to be a memorable experience. Thank you so much for bringing us together Nell. Another wonderful experience I had was with my five year old niece who fondly calls me Auntie Baldie. She wanted to understand why I choose to go bald rather than let my hair grow long like hers. It must have been an hour long conversation answering her repeated why's but she thinks it's pretty and that's all that matters. My baldness is a choice and I want to be permanent. I haven't thought of growing my hair since the big chop and I don't think I ever will. I found a look that suits me so well.  Do not compare yourself with anyone.
You are beautiful. You are gorgeous. Let the world see you as you are. Love yourself unconditionally. To be able to love yourself as you are in a world that constantly places us in little boxes is the most amazing thing in the world. The self confidence will ooze out from you once you truly love and accept yourself. The world is yours darling, rock on!
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