A tomboyish girl who has suffered from depression and anxiety because of alopecia, is now determined to become a role model to others who share the condition.
Chanel Bennett, of Peterborough, England, was devastated when she found out two massive bald patches, approximately eight by five centimetres, appeared on her head.
The 26-year-old girl said: “It started off as a small patch on both sides of my head, then it gradually got bigger. I could lose all my hair. It’s a guessing game, you never know.
“I wasn’t feeling good. I was shocked.”
Throughout this period, the British Jamaican struggled with depression, and started to lose her friends.
She said: “I wasn’t keeping in contact with them. I became less sociable and just stayed at home the majority of the time. I missed many of my friends’ weddings and parties because I was self-conscious about my hair loss and very unconfident with that.
"I’ve got an afro, and I’m a tomboy, not girly at all, so extension wasn't an option for me. There was not really much I could do to hide it.”
Specialists did suggest she could apply to the NHS for a wig but that could take up to a year.
(Pic 1: Chanel's hair patches in 2019; Pic 2&3: Chanel's hair patches in 2021)
Until five months ago, Chanel started to bounce out of the depression. The facebook group -- Alopecia UK -- where people with different types of alopecia share their stories gave Chanel the support she needed, and became a much needed oasis for her.
She said: “You think you’re alone, and you think you’re the only person that has alopecia, but as I read people’s stories and shared my thoughts, I found there are people who have got a lot more stress than me.
“Reading comments about cancer made me realise you’ve only got one life. Just keep going and live your life because if you don’t, it will drive you mentally mad.”
Chanel first realised she was losing her hair in 2012. She spoke to doctors, who suggested iron deficiency might be the cause of hair loss and gave her a cream called Tacrolimus for improvement.
But since then, her hair loss worsened to two bald patches which were unstoppably getting bigger.
In 2018 she was finally referred to dermatologists and diagnosed with alopecia areata --- an autoimmune disorder that causes the hair to come out.
Unfortunately, neither gel nor cream prescribed by the dermatologists for her scalp worked for Chanel.
“I cried a lot because I was told they don’t know why it happens, and there is no cure. They just say it’s an autoimmune disease, and that my body is attacking my hair follicles,” Chanel said.
“Before that I thought my hair would eventually grow back, but now it seems impossible.”
She stopped taking the hair treatments after dermatologists told her there was nothing they could do to stop her losing the hair. Although she still gets depressed from time to time now, she is determined to be strong and accept her alopecia.
She said: “Alopecia made me a stronger person. Slowly I began to tell my friends of my hair loss, and I'm getting back to activities I like doing.
"I started playing football again. I used to do that when I had a full head of hair."
As a British born Jamaican, Chanel always had her hair in two pigtails until she noticed the two patches on her head.
She believes hairstyle is a big factor in hair loss, and when you pull your hair tight, more hair drops out.
“Now I just leave my Afro out and brush it upwards to make the bald patches less visible. I've also been washing my hair less, and trying to brush it less to keep more of the hair. That’s all I can do. Just stay strong and be positive about it. Don’t spend money on thinking that you can cure it because there’s no cure, and it’s just a waste of money,” Chanel said.
She originally tried finding products from all around the world to help her hair loss.
She said: “I’ve ordered some crazy products online from America before, and all these different places. I’ve spent quite a bit of money on natural remedies. But now I’ve just come to terms with, basically, this is who I am and there is nothing I can do to change it.”
Chanel’s hair loss patches have stayed exactly the same for seven years now since 2014. Two years ago, she also started losing her eyebrows, and so to stay positive, she started doing microblading.
“I still get depressed about my alopecia but I’m a lot more open about it, and I feel like it’s better to make people aware of what it is,” Chanel said.
“I want people to know they are not alone and do not need to suffer in silence.
“There is no cure or no known cause. Some people have made comments about people with alopecia looking as though they have cancer, as they have no hair and have to wear wigs. More people need to be aware of alopecia so that sufferers can avoid being questioned and feeling discriminated against.”
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