I’m Bald And Sexy | SHAKE MY BEAUTY

BEING a teenage girl is stressful enough without hiding a deeply personal secret - your hair is falling out. Cayla Harder, 20, has alopecia totalis, an autoimmune disorder which attacks the hair follicles causing baldness. A hairdresser first discovered small patches of hair loss on Cayla’s head when she was in eighth grade of middle school. Now, the twenty-year-old from Sacramento, California says her bald head is ‘sexy’ and wants her newfound confidence to empower other people with alopecia. Cayla told Barcroft TV: “Any teenage girl has confidence issues in high school, but to have hair loss problems on top of that is unbearable. After being newly diagnosed with alopecia, Cayla found a sympathetic ear in a family friend going through hair loss. She started experimenting with wigs in high school to disguise the fact patches of her hair were falling out. “I started wearing wigs in my junior year because I couldn’t hide all of the bald spots anymore.” The twenty-year-old has owned 15 wigs through her alopecia journey. Currently she owns four wigs of different colours and length and wears them proudly. She sees them as a way of showcasing her gregarious character rather than hiding a disorder. “When I came out about my alopecia, the wigs weren’t really a scary hiding thing for me anymore. They were more a way of showing off my personality.” Cayla has alopecia totalis (AT) an advanced form of alopecia areata, that means hair will not grow on her head but can grow on other areas of her body. It is estimated 150 million people worldwide have some form of alopecia areata. The condition can also affect a sufferer’s self-esteem, changing their definition of beauty and self-confidence. Boyfriend of Cayla, Joel Perez, was the first person outside of her friendship group that Cayla opened up to about her alopecia. Tired of hiding her condition from her wider social network Cayla decided to post a picture to Instagram. Cayla describes the moment she shaved all her hair off and posted a picture as her ‘coming out’ moment. “It was like a freedom. It was this weight that had been lifted off my shoulders and I could finally just go out and do whatever I wanted.” At the age of twenty, Cayla is already forging a successful modelling career making appearances on television and growing her social media channel. She hopes sharing her story will inspire other people by making bald sexy.